Question for the Avid folks monitoring the forums:  Will Avid Media Composer ever support 3rd party hardware such as Blackmagic Decklink or Multibridge for HD capture & playback?

The price drop for Media Composer Software was much needed and should have been done a while back, but the expense (and technical limitations) of Adrenaline is still a problem for my business.  And I consider Mojo to be nearly worthless except for maybe capturing BetaSP.  I prefer Avid as an editing tool and I really like their P2 workflow, but there are BIG cost and workflow advantages to Adobe and Apple's software, not to mention that one can buy a whole suite of good professional apps for less than what Avid used to sell Xpress Pro for.  I'm almost at the point of dropping Avid, but I'd hold out a little while longer if I knew there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Any light to be had at the end of that tunnel?

In all honesty - I doubt it. Avid, like Apple, AJA, Blackmagic, etc are in the hardware business. Software is just a means to an end. If people stop buying Avid hardware their profit will drop like a rock. Less hardware clients means also less service contracts, thus Avid's probably biggest revenue sources (hardware and service) will take a huge hit. Software like XPro and MC is just not profitable as many would think. That is not their core business like Adobe (with a much deeper software line up and market penetration). Apple sells FCP Suite because they can make up the money from the inevitable MacPro, Cinema Display, XServe, etc sale.

What Avid needs to do is introduce hardware alternatives that is as affordable as AJA and BM. And make more expensive hardware like Adrenaline justify its cost (like add PCI-e based connection and etc).

Dom Q. Silverio:

What Avid needs to do is introduce hardware alternatives that is as affordable as AJA and BM. And make more expensive hardware like Adrenaline justify its cost (like add PCI-e based connection and etc).

And also make their hardware "open".  If they really want to make money from hardware then the best way is to have their I/O hardware the first choice, whatever NLE you may wish to use.