A somewhat overlooked piece of the Media Composer 3.0 story is that the current bundle gives customers a complete suite of tools - something many have been clamoring for. Avid FX for compositing and motion graphics, Squeeze for compression and transcoding, Sonicfire Pro for music scoring, and Avid DVD by Sonic rounds out a complete package that includes the full Boris Continuum Complete filter set. It's a very solid package.
Yes, Avid has a suite. Every copy of Media Composer 3.0 is a complete suite. It's that simple. The applications are tightly integrated with the host NLE. Avid FX is an AVX plug-in. Add the effect on any clip in the timeline, and you're ready to go. No "sending" the clip to a companion application is required. The base layer of the composition is already in place. Avid FX is the full version of Boris Red, available within Media Composer. No heavy lifting required. (And fully documented within the Avid help system, so there's no reason not to give it a try.)
For years Avid editors have complained of Title Tool's anemic toolset and Marquee's complex UI. Avid FX can now be their titler of choice. Admittedly, using Avid's Pan and Zoom tool for stills animation is a bit like trying to paint with a fork, but Avid FX makes quick work of stills animation. Just give it a try and you'll never go back.
Sorenson Squeeze is the best compression and transcoding tool available in any NLE bundle. Fully featured, with a plethora of presets and codecs, it's available directly from the Media Composer menu.
The Avid suite has a nifty advantage over competing solutions. Unlike the Apple and Adobe suites, the complete Avid suite doesn't have to be loaded onto a single machine. For example, Squeeze can be installed on a separate Mac or PC. Avid FX can be used as a standalone application on a separate machine as well. The NLE need not be tied up as graphics are being composited or files transcoded.
Certainly many customers will continue using tools outside the bundle. It's impossible to overlook the popularity of Adobe's After Effects for motion graphics work. But that's exactly where the discussion gets interesting. The integrated suites offer the compelling story of being a full post production studio in a box, but upon closer examination very few editors and video designers end up using only one solution.
If every editor and every facility has its own needs, why offer the bundle? They are going to shop a la carte anyway. Because even to the customer who buys additional tools, the suite offers value. Many customers will only need one additional application outside the suite. To those users, the suite still saves money and streamlines the workflow. I may need a very specialized, high performance third party compression tool for web video, but I can make do with a variety of compositing and DVD authoring solutions. A suite still would save me from purchasing those useful, but less than mission critical applications. In a multi-seat environment, those costs can add up quickly.
Now that Avid has offers a suite with every Media Composer, editors can rely on these tools being available as long as they are running the current release.