The new AMA functionality in Avid Media Composer 5 makes working with Canon DSLR footage a lot easier, but at some point it’s probably going to become necessary to transcode it to another format, so which resolution is best?
Well the first thing to consider is what the Canon footage is natively. And then how that compressed data is going to be recompressed into the various codec options Media Composer offers.
For at least the last six years, and really even before that, Apple’s Final Cut Pro and Avid’s Media Composer have been the leading products for professional editing, with FCP having carved it’s way into Avid’s market share quite substantially in some sectors.
The typical head-to-head comparison of non-linear editors now is between Final Cut and Media Composer, with FCP often coming out on top in many people’s estimation, but in the last few years Avid has been adapting to meet these challenges. And the recent release of Media Composer 5 with some dramatic new features in the pinacle of that adaptation.
So, now with the release of Media Composer 5, how does the Final Cut Pro vs. Media Composer argument shape up? Has Avid created an FCP killer in the latest version?
Years ago when I was a student at film school I really wanted my own copy of Avid at home. I even tried to get a cracked copy (it didn’t work very well at all). In the end I had to contain my editing to school time.
Students now, however, are offered a fantastic offer by Avid. If you are a student and have any interest in editing, or think you might want to get into it in the near future, you should really consider this.
There are a large range of external plugin packages for Avid Media Composer, so I’ve decided to test as many as I can with Media Composer 5.0
My tests are not exhaustive, and are limited to my system. I am testing with:
Avid Media Composer 5.0
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
DNxHD Footage
To test I am generally adding the plugin to a clip, applying a few presets and playing with some sliders. I’m not stacking any effects, and I’m not usually rendering either. I’m only testing with DNxHD footage, not any AMA media or new codecs.
I will continue to update this page as I test more.
Avid’s newest version of their flagship NLE, Media Composer, hits the shelfs in June 10 and I’ve had the opportunity to give it a test drive over the last week or so. In some ways Media Composer 5 marks a very substantial change for Avid in how it deals with media, and some of it’s new features could be seen as very direct responses to long-standing criticisms by Final Cut Pro editors…
So, how does it stack up?
