We are are about to buy a bunch of new Media Composer suites for our post facility (we currently have xw8400's running Mojo SDI's and Sony CRT monitors). This is what has been suggested to us by our reseller.
HP Z420 Xeon E5-1650 3.2GHz/8GB/Nvidia Q2000/1TB HDD/win7-64bit
Avid Media Comp. v 6.5 Dongle Option
AJA Io Express
LG E2442V 24" 1920 x 1080 LED Monitor
NEC Multisync EA243 WMBK 24" LED Widescreen Monitor
Mackie 402 VLZ3 4 Channel Mixer
Yamaha HS50m Active speakers
What do people think? They are mainly offline rooms - working at DNx36, DV-PAL or 4:1. My main concerns are with the AJA IO Express and the mixer. What are other people using? Is there anything better/cheaper?
The I/O Express works very well for me. My main concern is that you have no way of ingesting analogue material.
Perhaps say an Aja LHE card on one of the systems would solve that problem.
-Or keep one of the old systems with the Mojo.
The mixer is mainly going to be used as a volume control so should be fine.
I have just realised that without analogue inputs it is impossible to record VO into the suite from an analogue mic. Something that for us is a necessity.
Back to the drawing board.
What is the lastest with USB mics and Avid Media Compoer on a PC? Whenever I have tried in the past it hasn't worked.
USB Mikes work fine on Macs, but I think only if you disable the I/O box.
That would be a real pain.
Audio embedder that you could float between the suites?
https://www.rcblogic.co.uk/p-12-blackmagic-audio-to-hd-sdi-mini-converter-embedder.aspx
We use Editors Keys USB mics - not in house, but for mobile news editing with MC 5.5 on a windows laptop. Works fine.
We have also used a balanced audio XLR to USB converter (can't remember manufacturer) for the same purpose - worked as well. From memory it uses the windows mixer so you gave to tuen off deck control in the capture tool to allow you to select the windows mixer audio source. I have never tried it with audio punch in.
As far as I am aware the IO toggle has disappeared in Media Composer 6. This would mean that the Windows Mixer option wouldn't be available. Anyone got a USB mic working in Media Composer 6 or above with a IO device?
Have you thought about a different Aja Kona card? Both the LHe Plus and LHi have analog audio inputs.
So after a bunch of research and speaking to our reseller it seems that USB mic support in Avid is sketchy at best. It worked with Media Composer 4 but not 5 or 6. It seems to have reurned with Media Composer 6.5 but who knows about 7. And even when it does work the only way to access it is to deactivate the video I/O and use the capture tool set to Windows Mixer - not very elegant.
So this leaves me with 3 options...
1. Get the AJA IO Express and use a USB mic and Media Composer 6.5 and hope that USB mic's are supported in Media Composer 7.
2. Get a AJA LHe and carry on using analogue mics via a mixer.
3. Avid have announced the "Fast Track Solo" which allows analogue mics to connect to Media Composer. Not available yet so I'd like to see the thing in action first.
I would get the LHe, not much more than an I/O express.
Then if you need to digitise from a Beta SP or similar you can handle that as well.
Also you don't have to remember to switch the I/O on before you start the computer.
I have a system with the AJA Express box and diable the I/O to capture audio via a USB small mixer with analogue mic input. Works fine.
I'd probably look at a bit more RAM on the systems although 8GB is ok for offline work
You really don't need a 1TB internal drive but you do want it to be a fast drive 7200 RPM or possibly ecven a smaller SSD drive.
Not sure how well an LED screen will show you field issues if you work with interlaced content.
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Pat Horridge:8GB is ok for offline work
I beg to differ. Has more to do with the amount of video and audio tracks and with the complexity of your sequence, really. 8GB might be fine when cutting 50 minute shows with one or two v-tracks and 8 or less audio tracks, but a show with 8 or 12 video tracks with effects on them plus 24 audio tracks is likely to eat a whole lot more RAM.
Job ter Burg: Pat Horridge:8GB is ok for offline work I beg to differ. Has more to do with the amount of video and audio tracks and with the complexity of your sequence, really. 8GB might be fine when cutting 50 minute shows with one or two v-tracks and 8 or less audio tracks, but a show with 8 or 12 video tracks with effects on them plus 24 audio tracks is likely to eat a whole lot more RAM.
Yes I should have been clearer and definded 8GB as ok for simple jobs.
For us offlines are normally simple and its the direct onlines that get complex.
RAM is cheap nowadays and you really can't have enough.
If you plan to be doing AMA linking then you will want to max out the RAM.
smokescreen_tk421: So after a bunch of research and speaking to our reseller it seems that USB mic support in Avid is sketchy at best. It worked with Media Composer 4 but not 5 or 6. It seems to have reurned with Media Composer 6.5 but who knows about 7. And even when it does work the only way to access it is to deactivate the video I/O and use the capture tool set to Windows Mixer - not very elegant. So this leaves me with 3 options... 1. Get the AJA IO Express and use a USB mic and Media Composer 6.5 and hope that USB mic's are supported in Media Composer 7. 2. Get a AJA LHe and carry on using analogue mics via a mixer. 3. Avid have announced the "Fast Track Solo" which allows analogue mics to connect to Media Composer. Not available yet so I'd like to see the thing in action first.
I have tried the Blue Nessie and it did work on Media Composer 7.0.4 but only if you disengage the I/O box. Also you need to plug the mic in before launching media composer.
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