Avid is pleased to announce the September release of Media Composer 2018 which is available as of today, September 14th, 2018 at 4:30 AM ET.  

Location: This release is available from Avid Master Accounts, Application Manager, and the Avid Download Center (login and password required). 

Operating System Update:  Depending upon your hardware the qualified Operating Systems are:

• Windows v7 64-bit SP1(Professional) and Windows v8.1 (Professional and Enterprise), Windows v10 64-bit (Professional, Creators, and Enterprise).
• Macintosh v10.11.6, 10.12.6, 10.13.6 (NOTE: 10.10.x is no longer qualified with 2018.8 and 2018.9) 

What’s New:  

• Live Timeline Additions - You can solo, mute, and change audio gain during playback. You can also choose to set certain Edit Marker window behavior during playback.
• AMA File Export Change - Export options have been updated.
• DNxUncompressed - With the introduction of DNxUncompressed, it is now possible to import, render, transcode and mix-down at uncompressed quality.
• Default Stream Count Limitations in Media Composer - Real-time streams are no longer limited to 12.
• DPX Export Improvement -  Exporting DPX files is much faster than in previous releases.
• HLG Scope: Display 75% graticule for Graphics white - The HLG scope waveform displays an orange horizontal line to show graphics white at 75%.

What is fixed in 2018.9:  The following have been resolved in 2018.9.

• Bug Number: MCCET-2465. You might have received an “CM_INVALID_SPLIT” error when trimming promoted motion clips.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2466. The project name, sequence name, and date of printout was missing in the header of the marker printout.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2498. In some instances, the editing application would crash if all bins were closed and the Capture Tool was open.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2533. Intermittently, you might have received an “Exception Failed to find coincidence point on tape” error when trying to capture or batch capture into Media Composer.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2548. Finding a frame by entering timecode value in the Source monitor did not work when searching on an audio mixdown.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2580. Activating Play Standby would start playing too fast if you had played the sequence at double speed prior to pressing Play Standby.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2585. After installing the editing application and creating a new project, you might have received an “assertion” error when opening the Tool Palette on the Source/Record Monitor.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2589. (Windows OS) When using a Japanese locale, the source clip name did not display in the Timecode Window.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2596. Match-framing a Multigroup clip with Symphony Color Correction applied, would match frame to the group clip instead of the main Multigroup clip.

Limitations in 2018.9: The following are limitations with the 2018.9 application.

• Bug Number: MCDEV-9781. You might see the following issues if Run Length Encoded is enabled:               

                • “Core Consistency Check Failure” errors when recreating animated Marquee titles

                •  Media size might not be accurate when working with interlaced projects

• Workaround: Disable Run Length Encoded (RLE) in the Import Settings Image tab.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9676. Intermittently, the blue bar in the Source and Record monitors does not move. The blue bar does move in the Timeline. Workaround: Restart the editing application.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9523. When linking with the Avid Generic Plug-in, audio waveforms do not build properly in the Timeline when playing back an H.264 movie with AAC audio.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9460. Windows 7 systems with Nvidia Maxwell or Nvidia Pascal cards might experience playback issues that could result in “Play Consumer timeout” errors.Workaround: Select “Disable GPU Effects” in the Render Settings dialog box.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9142. You might experience hangs or crashes when performing a video mixdown with a 16K project on systems with less than 64GB RAM.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9329. (Avid Artist DNxIV and DNxIQ) When playing back immediately captured media, the video might freeze after approximately one second but the audio continues. You might need to restart the editing application.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9269. (Media Composer | Cloud) After performing a remote download operation on a sequence containing AVC-I 100 remote media, the downloaded media appears as XAVC-I 100. Workaround: Download the entire master clips.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9011. Intermittently, when working with the XDCAM Nablet Plug-in, you might see “Failed to get the sample position from the AMA Plug-in” errors if you have waveforms enabled in the Timeline.
• Bug Number: COGS-2560. While working in the Script Window, text operations (cut/copy/paste/delete/editing) can only be done in edit mode. See “Editing a Script” in the Help.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-5650. When working with Panasonic LongG media, you might receive an “SFPlayConsumer Timeout” error if audio waveforms are enabled.Workaround:Turn off audio waveforms.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-5385. MultiCam editing with Panasonic LongG media is not supported with this release.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-5384. Currently, when working with LongG media, you might see dropped frames when editing 4 streams. This might occur when playing from a single stream to multiple streams (and from multiple streams back to a single stream). The dropped frames usually display around the edit point (transition to a different stream).

A few important reminders:

 - Avid DX Driver Separate Installer:  The Avid DX Driver is not automatically installed when you install the editing application. If you need to install the Avid DX Driver to work with your Avid IO device, you can install it separately.  Note:  For Windows systems, there is a Win7 driver and a Win10 driver in the Utilities folder. The Win7 driver works for both Windows 7 and Windows 8 systems.  The installer is located:

            • (Mac) /Applications/Utilities/Avid Utilities

            • (Windows) Program Files\Avid\Utilities\DXDrivers

- Application Installers:  Previously, a separate installer was required for Media Composer | First. With this release, you have a single installer for Media Composer and Media Composer | First. Note: The option to run as Media Composer | First is now include in the Avid Media Composer Activation window.

New Computers Qualified:  The following have been added to the Knowledge Base.  

• HP Zbook 15”, 17”, Studio, Studio XPS and “V” model laptops
• Lenovo P52, P72 and P1 (thin and light) laptops
• HP Z2 G4 tower and SFF and Z2 G4 mini
• Dell 3430 SFF, 3630 tower and 1U rack 3930
• Lenovo P330 Tower and SFF plus P330 Tiny

The below links are live now.

1. Avid Qualified Systems and IO hardware for Media Composer, Interplay Assist, and Avid Instinct (http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/compatibility/en422411)
2. Avid Configuration Guidelines and Slot Configurations (http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/User_Guide/en269631)

ReadMe and What’s New Guide: The ReadMe and “What’s New” Guide for the September release of Media Composer have been uploaded to the knowledge Base Media Composer 2018 Documentation page.   

How customers will obtain the September Media Composer 2018.9 Update:  

1.  Customers who have already installed the latest version of Media Composer will be notified of the availability of the upgrade via the Application Manager. The Apps tab also provides a link to download and install the update when desired. 

2.  New customers who purchase Media Composer will receive the update in their Avid Master Account.

3.  Customers on current Update plans can download the Media Composer update either from their Avid Master Account or the Avid Download Center (login and password required.) 

4.  Customers NOT on a current Upgrade & Support contract must purchase either a new Media Composer Subscription or Perpetual license to receive this update. 

Reminder: This release of Media Composer requires an active Upgrade plan.

No mention anywhere about whether the baselight and title tool bug has been fixed yet. MCCET-2577

I'll be using 2018.4 for abit longer then!

AntCaladine:

No mention anywhere about whether the baselight and title tool bug has been fixed yet. MCCET-2577

I'll be using 2018.4 for abit longer then!

I was just emailing back with Peter at Filmlight about this.  they know what is causing it as of 2 days ago so now to fix it for the next release I hoe.

Marianna

Thanks

I'll happily beta test it for you !

email me directly and I will get you the beta login etc...

Marianna

I've been using this release all day on a uhd doc with over 16tb of footage. not 1 crash yet.,

win10 (1703 pro no updates), 1080ti, 128gb ram, mc 2018.9, software only (i stopped using hardware a while ago)

Nice work avid.

Bugs in 2018.9 (reported to Avid already):

1. Color Picker unusable with UHD-monitors set-up with 150% scaling (as recommended by Microsoft). The color cannot be selected due to misalignment of picker's postion and actual color. This bug is present since more than 6 months.
2. Activating "Hardware I/O" (for NewTek's NDI technology) slows down playback of a sequence by about 20%. Audio is chopped in remote display (NewTek's Studio Monitor). MC crashes after 2 minutes playback when "Play Local Audio" is activated in "HW-I/O".
3. Insert Edit does not work with sequences with more than two audio tracks and the original sequence was exported in "Mixdown to Stereo" mode. In this case Insert Edit corrupts the exported sequence. Mixed down audio from tracks 3 and higher gets lost.

So AMA file export is now in the old school export method.

Im not getting the same cpu performance now.  I used to get 100%, definitely not maximixing cpu like before.

And my drives are definitely not the bottle neck.

Hello,

This Issue,

Export h264 with a shorter audiotrack then the videotrack - still ends up in an never ending export.

Isn`t this problem there for more than a year now? It's so anoying when you forget to save your last changes.

Kind Regards

C.

CeeBee:

Hello,

This Issue,

Export h264 with a shorter audiotrack then the videotrack - still ends up in an never ending export.

Isn`t this problem there for more than a year now? It's so anoying when you forget to save your last changes.

Kind Regards

C.

ceebee

are you on MC or MC | First?   

Marianna

I don't know if this is a bug or if it has been reported already or even a selectable user setting!  But I have MC 2018.9/Z420/Matrox MXo2 with the J&L buttons not ramping/incrementing up the speed when J or L are tapped.

ShadenFreude:

I don't know if this is a bug or if it has been reported already or even a selectable user setting!  But I have MC 2018.9/Z420/Matrox MXo2 with the J&L buttons not ramping/incrementing up the speed when J or L are tapped.

I could not reproduce this on my system. Does the behavior persist if you change to a new user/project?

CeeBee:

Hello,

This Issue,

Export h264 with a shorter audiotrack then the videotrack - still ends up in an never ending export.

Isn`t this problem there for more than a year now? It's so anoying when you forget to save your last changes.

Kind Regards

C.

I saw this too on MC 2018.5, even on sequences with audio tracks of the same lenght of the video tracks...

Marianna:

ceebee

are you on MC or MC | First?   

Marianna

Hi Marianna,

I am on Media Composer with Symphony Option 2018.9

Kind Regards from Berlin

C.

camoscato:

ShadenFreude:

I don't know if this is a bug or if it has been reported already or even a selectable user setting!  But I have MC 2018.9/Z420/Matrox MXo2 with the J&L buttons not ramping/incrementing up the speed when J or L are tapped.

I could not reproduce this on my system. Does the behavior persist if you change to a new user/project?

 

The symptom disappeared for a while and then came back next morning on reboot.  It was persistent across different users.  FYI, the editor is using a Wacom tablet.