Below is a complete summary of changes and fixes in this new release. You can download the original PDF here

Changed in Avid Media Composer v3.1

This release includes compatibility with Pro Tools v8.0 which includes the Video Satellite feature. For information, see the Video Satellite Guide provided by Digidesign®.

Fixed in Avid Media Composer v3.1

The following have been fixed in this release.

You might have had problems checking out sequences that contained Boris effects from
Avid Interplay. The effects might have appeared unrendered. This has been fixed.

With the previous editing application releases (Media Composer v3.0, Symphony v3.0 and
NewsCutter v7.0), render times might have been slower than earlier releases. Render times
have now been improved.

The Avid Interplay Administrator limits custom metadata fields to 31 characters. Previous
releases did not limit the custom metadata fields. Therefore, you might have received
“Exception, ATTR_INVALID_NAME” errors when trying to restore archived media that
did contain custom metadata fields longer than 31 characters. The restore process now
allows you to access the archived media and the metadata is truncated to 31 characters.

Previously, advanced keyframes might not have been deleted from the Record window even
if they had been deleted from the Advanced Keyframe editor. This may have occurred
intermittently. This has been fixed.

(Macintosh) Previously, you might have received assertion or bus errors when consolidating
MXF media or performing an AAF export. This has been fixed.

Previously, the memory usage would climb when opening the Advanced Keyframe
parameter graph and switching from one clip to another. This has been fixed.

Reverse play was not working properly when in MultiCamera mode. This has been fixed.

When in Effects Mode, if you dragged a wire frame, you might have experienced low
memory conditions. This has been fixed.

Previously, memory reporting was incorrect on the Macintosh. This has been fixed.

EDL Manager might have crashed when trying to create events from clips containing motion
effects. This has been fixed.

FilmScribe XML data stored in master clips was not appearing in lists following an
Autosync. This has been fixed.

You might have received an overrun error when creating an Assemble Weblist while Pullin
Source was enabled in FilmScribe. This has been fixed.

(Macintosh) You might have received a DISK_FILE_NOT_FOUND error when attempting
to create a WebList with FilmScribe. This occurs if you have an illegal character in the
sequence name. You will now receive an error message indicating you have an illegal
character in the sequence name and advising you to rename the sequence title in the CutList
or ChangeList tool.

You might have received a “MainThread” error when attempting to open a bin containing
23.976 footage in FilmScribe. This has been fixed.

FilmScribe was creating lists with missing data. This has been fixed.

You might have experienced a memory leak when using MultiCamera mode with editing
applications using Nitris DX. You might have also experienced memory leaks with Software
only editors or editing applications using Adrenaline.

(Macintosh) You might have received “Segmentation fault” errors while using JKL. This has
been fixed.

QuickTime 7.4.5 and 7.5 causes washed out video if you use Motion JPEG-B, Avid
recommends that you use the Avid codecs when using these versions of QuickTime.

You can capture or import indexed media from an external drive, that was attached to a
Macintosh Power PC, without causing it to rescan and index again when you reconnect the drive to a Macintosh or Windows Intel machine or vice versa.

In 1080p24 projects running Adrenaline hardware, audio and video might have been out of
sync by 2 frames. This has been fixed.

You might have received “Rational Overflow” errors when trimming advanced keyframe
effects. This has been fixed.

Previously, deleting Matte Keys from bins left the LRELE8-A files on the Avid Unity ISIS
workspace. This has been fixed.

(Nitris and Adrenaline) Previously, you might have seen a slight vertical line down the right
side of the image from HD component output. This has been fixed.

You might have experienced audio crackle on output after toggling between 4 and 8
channels. This has been fixed.

During playback, you might have received “Overrun on transmitting Midi data” errors if a
Command 8 was turned On. This has been fixed.

You might have received “Bus Error on Main Thread” errors when performing a Dual rolling
trim. This has been fixed.

Batch Imported clips (media created from Meridien systems) might have stuttered during
playback. This has been fixed.

Exporting AAF caused errors when all tracks were selected. This has been fixed.

Performing Send To QuickTime on the Macintosh was not working properly. This has been
fixed.

Occasionally, when working with Matte key layers, parts of the motion path display would
not appear if the path was writing over itself. This has been fixed.

When using EDL Mgr: v24.05 motion effects did not conform properly. This has been fixed.

An exported QuickTime from AfterEffects may have looked aliased within the Avid editing
application. This has been fixed.

(Macintosh Power PC) You might have had distorted sound on 24-bit XDCAM audio
imports. This has been fixed.

Previously, if you double-clicked an item in the Interplay Window, the item was checked out
from Interplay. If it was a master clip that had local changes, the checked out clip was
discarded and the local clip was loaded into the monitor. If it was a sequence with local
modifications, the incoming sequence replaced the local sequence and was loaded into the
monitor. The local modifications to the sequence were lost. Now, when you select a master
clip or a sequence that has local modifications a dialog is posted that lets you choose
whether to update. If update is chosen, then the check-out will occur and the local changes
will be lost, and the updated item will be loaded into the monitor. Otherwise the local copy
of the item will be loaded into the monitor.

For those working on the Mac version of Avid’s Media Composer 3.0 with XDCAM EX footage shot with Sony’s new PMW-EX1 camera, there is an issue with importing that you should be aware of. This video Quick Tip will walk you through it. Take a look.

Many of us who have been cutting on the Mac version of Avid’s Media Composer have felt a bit neglected over the last few years, and to a certain extent, rightfully so. We sat and watched as Avid got the wind knocked out of it by Apple’s introduction of Final Cut Pro. Apple’s lower prices and integration with newer versions of the Mac OS came as a great step forward in the democratization of media and Apple ran a full court press on Avid’s dominance of the digital editing tools market. Avid struggled to find their way as the price of editing tools dropped, and the company that created and dominated modern digital editing found themselves having to play catch-up.

Today I write about the first manifestation of Avid’s “new thinking”, Media Composer 3.0. With a new team of top executives, lower prices and an emphasis on customer satisfaction, Avid is not only talking the talk, they are walking the walk. Media Composer version 3.0 delivers on the company’s promise to do business in a new way, and with the exception of a few minor hiccups (self-imposed as I quickly learned) my transition from 2.8 to 3.0 was not only painless, it was downright fun.

Ever the digital editing daredevil, I decided to do the upgrade right in the middle of locking a feature film. (Actual stunt editor. NOT recommended for sane users) The footage, which was originally captured to an Avid Unity on Adrenaline, had subsequently been transferred to a 1TB G-RAID and had been knocking around town on several different systems for almost a year. I backed up all my project data in the event of catastrophe. (I’m crazy, not stupid) I installed the upgrade, restarted the computer and….

Kernal Panic….Argh!

That’s right, the grey screen of death. I’m thinking, what a drag. Why do I always do this to myself?

I call Avid support and explain my situation. It’s here I have a chance to see some of Avid’s “new thinking” in action. Now get this, the person on the other end of the line actually empathizes with me! I’m stunned. In the old days I would have had to pledge my first born, or purchased a very expensive yearly support contract. Avid now offers what I believe is a fair price for per-incident support but better than that, on this call they were kind enough to comp me a 24 hour support ticket! I thanked them profusely and proceeded to contact TS. After a short wait I got someone on the line. The voice had a thick accent, but at least I could understand him. He seemed pretty stumped when I first describe the problem, but after a short discussion we figure out that it was… (trying to look innocent) something I did. How surprising.

In the upgrade “Read Me” (which, BTW, I did read) there are installation notes for Mac users that say to install only on a “clean” version of Leopard. This was a bit much for my little head. Did it mean clean as in “wipe and reformat” clean or clean as in “upgrade” clean? Michael Phillips, Solutions Manager, Content Production at Avid clarified this for me saying Mac users can uninstall Composer 2.8 from Tiger, upgrade to Leopard with no need to wipe and reformat the drive and install 3.0. My issue stemmed from immediately installing 2.8 on Leopard when I first bought it. Why you ask? Because, I didn’t read the “read me” file. (Ugh!) Confirmation once again that it pays to RTFM (read the fabulous manual). After walking me through uninstalling and then deleting some remnants of the previous version, I re-installed, rebooted, and voila, problem solved.

This is where it got fun. Media Composer 3.0 booted fast and clean. While doing so, it notified me that it needed to update my Mojo SDI firmware and proceeded to do so without a hitch. (I have been told that some users have had issues upgrading their original Mojo boxes, so check Avid’s knowledge base for the latest information). The software loaded, (cue angelic music from the beginning of “Simpson’s” episode) and immediately I could tell something was different. You might say, how can you just tell something like that? Well let me tell you, after 16 years of editing on this software, when something is different, you CAN feel it. Adrenaline on Mac didn’t feel robust to me. In fact if felt kind of frail and my experiences with it confirmed this. I crashed more often than Meridian, it was not as responsive and after cutting a feature in HD on Final Cut Pro, it was a drag to have to go back to using Tiger.

I start putting 3.0 through it’s paces and at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, it is ROCKING. No latency, no glitchiness, (my word, Colbert) picture quality is noticeably and substantially better and the playhead  is slicing through multi-layer, real-time effects and title comps like “butta”. I’ve got reels with 20 audio tracks, 3-5 video tracks, I’m deleting, re-patching, copying and pasting, I make tons of cuts and changes and Media Composer doesn’t flinch once. I start getting a warm and fuzzy feeling and think, this is a beautiful thing. These guys have really done their homework.

Yes, Media Composer 3.0 is solid. Yes, it’s fast. Yes it works on Leopard which really gooses the (Mac) editor satisfaction meter (Mac heads rejoice!) but one feature I immediately found worth the price of the upgrade is the new real-time “Timecode Generator” effect. This feature gives you the ability to generate window burn with a variety of options. No more Horita boxes, no more rendering, this seemingly minor addition works perfectly, and will save editors and assistants countless hours and headaches when having to make outputs for collaborators on the post production team. 3.0 includes many other new enhancements and features but that’s beyond the scope of this “First Look”, and I will cover them in depth in future video segments.

It has taken the company some time but with it’s executive makeover, lower price structure and now the release of Media Composer 3.0, Avid seems to be regaining its footing. Filmmakers of every level will enjoy working with the application’s time and battle tested editing interface. The fact that it runs flawlessly on Apple’s latest operating system and hardware is the ice cream on top of the pie. From my first week of working with it, Media Composer 3.0 is a winner.