After catching a hint on the forums that 5.8.3 enables the use of EX1 35 mb/sec footage I gave it a try.

IT WORKS JUST GREAT. It takes me about 30 secs to import +-70secs of footage! Once imported it looks good and considering it's HD, plays back off an external USB drive(500gig 7200rpm) just fine. Obviously a RAIDed setup will be much better.

Some limitations on my machine: (and I'm not sure if a better faster machine will help)

1. When playing back in full quality mode the effects all need to be rendered. (For me a minor issue)

2. There is no Quicktime reference export due to the Long GOP footage.

3.When exporting I exported as Uncompressed with Animation codec and the result is a very washed out image. I tried several other codecs including the AVID DNxHD one with the same result. Must still try transcoding within AVID and then exporting.

4. The footage I worked with is 1080 25p which views nicely on my SD monitor once the project output is switched to Pal 25p.

The workflow seems smooth to me and beats the cr@# out of FCP workflow so far. Well done AVID!!!

You mean except for the teeny weeny export problem. If QT Animation doesn't work then what does? I guess we all wait for MC 3.0 and hope it works well there

 That sounds great, I'll have to try it.

Where do I find 5.8.3?  I can't seem to find it in the download center.

IT is in the DL center. You have to make sure that you are registered to get a password for access. The first page is not the actual DL page.

Thanks!

Rignold:

 Must still try transcoding within AVID and then exporting.

I tried transcoding the clip in AVID to DNxHD 185 and then exporting a Quicktime Ref. This seems to work fine.

 I tried to register but there was no response.  I tried to email but no response.  It would appear (although it's not too clear on the page) that this is only for those with "maintenance contracts", is this true?  If not, I'll try again.

How long ago CC?

It is not only for Maintenance customers so, if it's been more than 4 days, email me with your name, company name, location and system ID and We;ll get it taken care  of.

 It's been two days so I'll hang in there and hope for a response.  If I don't hear from them I'll let you know, thanks so much for the help.

I have an EX-1 and would like to use the feature.  In the past I've been using a utility to transcode to DNxHD but it's a bit slow.

Thanks!

 They finally sent me this message:

Dear Len,

Go to the link below to register, then you will be
able to request a Download Center Account.

http://www.avid.com/download

Kind Regards,
Avid Technical Support

Of course the link doesn't work.  Do you happen to have the real link?

Thanks

Hi Len,

I think they mean avid.com/downloadcenter. 

Haven't you done  that registration already?

 Yes I have.  The reason I'm confused is that it asked for a product number that was under a maintenance contract (which appears to be manditory).  I have two seats of Xpress pro but no maintenance contract.  The registration would not complete without it.  I entered my product number anyway but haven't heard back.

 It seems to have been resolved.  They just sent the login and password.  Thanks for your help!

 I've installed 5.8.3 and I have to say it seems to work great!  I haven't tried all frame rates and resolutions yet but 1080 24p seems fine.

Also, I noticed full screen playback on all projects seems much better.  Nice!

Exporting sequences to DNxHD is probably the best workaround for the lack of long GOP support.