P.S.

I am overjoyed to hear that the MC 3 will be released Monday. Will the Symphony Nitris DX also be released on Monday?

Thanks

TCurren:

     Has it occurred to you that they may be planning more feature sets added that will widen the gap between the two systems? 

 

Dunno Terry.  Maybe 12 flying boxes (no drop shadow)?  :-)

Ya think you add all these great features after you devalue the product?  Of course it IS the Avid marketing department, so maybe that answer is yes...

but certainly Symph as it stands is not worth $20k more than MC for the color corrector alone, would you agree?

Symphony is being sold as a turnkey system with CPU and monitors.  that's half the difference in the price from Media Composer right there.  as i understand it turnkey systems for Media composer start at around $24,000.

so it is roughly $11k for the advanced color correction and universal mastering, not the $20k  figure people keep throwing around.

Is it possible to get the Symphony without the CPU and Monitors? Seeing as how I want to build my own systems, that are actually above spec.

 Hey everyone, here's a video demostrating the new products.

Larry Rubin:

Hey everyone, here's a video demostrating the new products.

Andrew McCarrick:

Is it possible to get the Symphony without the CPU and Monitors? Seeing as how I want to build my own systems, that are actually above spec.

I highly doubt it.  Avid is really sensitive about having non-qualified workstations as the backbone of their flagship products.  If you start getting errors and playback problems you'll likely get a "You're running Symphony on a WHAT?  no wonder it's not working right.  Buy an HP and we'll talk." *Click*

FunkyDragon:

Symphony is being sold as a turnkey system with CPU and monitors.  that's half the difference in the price from Media Composer right there.  as i understand it turnkey systems for Media composer start at around $24,000.

so it is roughly $11k for the advanced color correction and universal mastering, not the $20k  figure people keep throwing around.

According to the innitial press relese;

Symphony Nitris DX with HP XW8600, $36 000, or €27 000

Media Composer Nitris DX with HP8600, $22 000. or €17 000

That is a different of $14 000 or €10 000.

I think this is a Lexus vs Toyota case. You have a top high margin mark there You can introduce the extras and some years later, depends on demand and competition, You can introduce them to the Corollas.

FunkyDragon:

I highly doubt it.  Avid is really sensitive about having non-qualified workstations as the backbone of their flagship products.  If you start getting errors and playback problems you'll likely get a "You're running Symphony on a WHAT?  no wonder it's not working right.  Buy an HP and we'll talk." *Click*

 Okay... do you think they'd be willing to certify a custom made system? Cause I'm talking a computer with specs like:

4 Quad Core 3.0GHz (Overclocked to the next to highest stable speed)

32GB of Mem.

NVidia Quadro FX5600

And was hoping to add on a nVidia Tesla and Quadro Plex, but apparently they would have to code in support for that to work.

Andrew McCarrick:

Okay... do you think they'd be willing to certify a custom made system?

There would be too many combinations to qualify DIY boxes. It does not mean they dont work (look at my specs). I just don't think Avid will be qualifying them any time soon.

Dom Q. Silverio:

Andrew McCarrick:

Okay... do you think they'd be willing to certify a custom made system?

There would be too many combinations to qualify DIY boxes. It does not mean they dont work (look at my specs). I just don't think Avid will be qualifying them any time soon.

 

Like Dom says, too many variables to test, but go ahead and DIY... Just don't expect Avid to jump through hoops to troubleshoot your system.

they've been really fogiving in the Xpress DV/Pro qualifications, and slightly less so in the Media Composer applications. (Mojo)

but it would not supprise me if they drew hard lines with the DX products like they did with Meridan systems.  If you didn't buy it from a qualified vendor, you're on your own. 

Frankly i agree Symphony should be sold only as turnkey.  One product, one price, and one place to go for your technical needs.  Plus, HP offers 3 years on-site service, and Avid's 1-year-next-day hardware swap policy has served me well when i have needed it. (be sure to keep your computer store reciepts)

FunkyDragon:

Like Dom says, too many variables to test, but go ahead and DIY... Just don't expect Avid to jump through hoops to troubleshoot your system.

they've been really fogiving in the Xpress DV/Pro qualifications, and slightly less so in the Media Composer applications. (Mojo)

but it would not supprise me if they drew hard lines with the DX products like they did with Meridan systems.  If you didn't buy it from a qualified vendor, you're on your own. 

Frankly i agree Symphony should be sold only as turnkey.  One product, one price, and one place to go for your technical needs.  Plus, HP offers 3 years on-site service, and Avid's 1-year-next-day hardware swap policy has served me well when i have needed it. (be sure to keep your computer store reciepts) 

Okay, then Media Composer it is.....I've never liked HP computers, so I'll just go with MC Nitris DX. Not to mention I'm going to be working out of my house, so I wouldn't want on-site service at all.

I've never liked HP computers

That seems weird to me. If you are going for a SNDX, you are getting yourself an editing system. The fact that it runs on a computer is barely relevant, IMHO. Also, I've not ever regretted using an HP workstation.

But if you feel more comfortable on a different computer, I guess going MCDX is a valid option.

I used to be a Mac only guy. Forced into Windows NT land with the original Symphony. Now, with XP vs. OSX, the differences are negligible. And when I'm editing, they are nonexistent. 

So that leaves the hardware. Any time I have had an issue with the HPs, some guy shows up the next day and replaces all the parts. Problem solved.

Every time I've had a problem with the Macs, I have to take it and leave it at the Mac store or ship it back to Apple. They won't guarantee that anything on my hard drives will return to me. they won't guarantee a time frame for return. And unless I paid for the extra insurance, they are only covered for one year as opposed to HPs three years.

The remaining factor is performance. Since Apple historically hasn't played as nicely with Avid as HP or Compaq has, the better performance seems to always go with the PC side. That may be changing, but it probably means buying a new computer every year or two as that seems to be Apple's model of business. You know, the new processor, motherboard, PCI? slot, etc. has changed and nothing old will work as well, if at all, anymore...

TCurren:

but it probably means buying a new computer every year or two as that seems to be Apple's model of business. You know, the new processor, motherboard, PCI? slot, etc. has changed and nothing old will work as well, if at all, anymore...