I work for a small doc film company. Use Avid Express pro 4.8.4 on a G4 Powerbook and up until last week on the latest version of Tiger. Then my boss (working on a Macbook Pro with Avid 5.8 and using Leopard) got Leopard and thought it would be good to put on mine. Now we have the following problems:

1. Avid wouldn't work initially with Leopard so went to upgrade to 5.8 - downloaded fine but then Avid kept saying I was not licensed to run this software. So figured out we needed a dongle upgrade. Unfortunately when I bought this system 2 years ago and registered it, I didn't hang onto some number that I don't have now and Avid doesn't have, so I can't get the dongle upgrade at all, meaning it won't work.

2. Tried to revert back to Tiger, but when you put the disc in my laptop and do the restart it asks for, it only gets as far as the apple sign with the spinning thing at the bottom and then just goes to blue screen with the disc stuck in there. Managed to get the disc out, but cannot reinstall Tiger on my laptop. So now I have a laptop with Leopard but no Avid and a dongle that's apparently useless. Since I have projects backing up, my bosses OK's me to purchase the academic version of Xpress Pro 5.7, upgrade to 5.8 and see if that works. That won't be arriving until tomorrow, so until then I guess I have to sit tight. I can't even do an archive and install for Tiger.

We thought Avid Xpress pro worked with Leopard - and it does with my boss's computer - but for some reason it just isn't working on mine. Need a newer computer? Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm supposed to be getting a new computer (Macbook Pro) this year, but one boss is a bit reluctant to fork out the money for one. This is very frustrating for me as I love my job and my work and hate sitting around doing nothing!!!

There is no version of Xpress 'Pro that is supported to work with Leopard. With 4.8.4, the latest approved version of the software is 10.4.6.

You can launch the 5.8.x releases in Leopard but there are may compatibility issues and, of course, you can't get support on it.

In order to run a qualified system, you will need to upgrade to Media Composer 3.0 in order to run Leopard. Xpress 'Pro is end of Life and will no longer be updated.

As for going back to Tiger, Attach your PB to another Mac using a FW cable and boot into FW disk mode by holding down the "T" key after you hear the chime. Use the second CPU to erase your Hard drive and THEN install Tiger from the second CPU's optical drive.

lozzie:

I didn't hang onto some number that I don't have now and Avid doesn't have, so I can't get the dongle upgrade at all, meaning it won't work.

If this is referring to the Dongle ID number, that and the system ID number are available in the console tool window.

What Larry meant was that you can use the Dongle Dumper or Dongle Manager application to read the System ID and the Dongle ID from your dongle.  That should be enough to give to Avid to confirm your prior registration.

I now have a new computer - bought the new Avid Express Pro 5.8 and it won't work on the system at all. And before you all go telling me that yes, I was aware about Avid and Leopard, but my boss put his XPro on his Leopard several weeks ago and it works fine. I guess we just got caught in the transition phase. The support at Avid said that now we need to get Avid MC 3.0 - but my company can't afford to buy me that system brand new. Is the academic version out yet? And if so - where can you get it? I couldn't find it on the Avid downloads page.

Sorry if I seem a little 'green' at all of this.

"... but my company can't afford to buy me that system brand new. Is the academic version out yet? "

Yes.  But it doesn't matter.  You're not permitted to use the Academic Version for commercial purposes.

You're right. But what would you do in this situation when you have clients depending on you for finished projects?

lozzie:

You're right. But what would you do in this situation when you have clients depending on you for finished projects?

Buy the commerical upgrade for $495. Or, do a Bootcamp partition on your hard drive and run XPro on Windows XP. You have no other choices that I can see, unless you rent-a-system or know someone who has one who will let you use it.

Good Luck

"I was aware about Avid and Leopard, but my boss put his XPro on his Leopard several weeks ago and it works fine."

What OS is your new computer running? What are the system specification of your new computer?

lozzie:

what would you do in this situation when you have clients depending on you for finished projects?

If you have paying clients... as Randall said... buy the 3.0 upgrade for $500, if your company can't float $500 to get a job done your company needs to re-consider it's effectiveness in video production.

$500 is one decent editor's day rate.

 I agree completely. Pay the $500, get the upgrade. In the professional environment, that's pocket change and an investment you'll never regret.

Or use your boss' set up as it "works fine"