I have replaced a very old XP desktop I used for general "business  non-editing use with an MC7 qualified laptop (PC) which will become my "all in one" business/editing computer (my "office" I can travel with).  I also have a 4 year old MC qualified desktop I only used for editing. The laptop has faster CPU and GPU than 4 year old editing desktop.

So I am thinking there should be ways I can still use the older editing desktop to augment or accelerate or assist in editing chores and work I will now be doing mostly on laptop.

For instance, desktop could be transcoding AVCHD video to DNxHD while I use laptop for non-editing applications (right now my version of Squeeze does not transcode to DNxHD so would have to be using MC7 on desktop for transcoding). Then I guess I could "move" the transcoded files from desktop to laptop for editing (I am working through Douglas's Media Management tutorial to see good way to "move" projects from one computer to another). 

Accordingly, I would appreciate suggestions on how I could use the "old" editing desktop to work together with laptop to speed up or otherwise take some load off laptop for editing projects.  Thank you, Dennis

What I often do, since I don't have multiple MC licenses, is run Squeeze transcoding things that aren't quite right for MC to either ingest or export on a different system while I edit something on one system.  I activate/deactivate Squeeze between systems as needed.

As far as using projects and media on more than one system, I map network drives so I can access projects and media from any system on my network.  So, it doesn't matter where I started a project or where I last worked on it.  I can start work again from any system on my network.  So, I don't move projects.  I just share them.  Using the "shared" location option when starting a project makes it easy.  Just map a network drive to the Shared Avid Projects and you can access them without needing to move or copy projects.

I also map network drives to allow me to store titles, renders, transcodes, exports, or anything I wish from one MC system onto a drive on a different system that has more space than I have on the MC system I'm working on.

To be honest you'll likely find the old system so slow and limited the time taken to move things back and forth not worth the effort of maintaining two systems. Is the old desktop windows 7 or XP?

Thank you for suggestions Scott.  I don't have multiple MC licenses either so as we know only one of computers can be active with MC at any one time.  Dennis

Thank you Pat.  The "old" video editing machine is WIN 7 Pro 64 bit (not the XP non-editing machine I also mentioned).  As you may note from its specifications in its day it was a good budget system.  At 4 years old I understand in "computer years" it is close to retirement, but still has some life left in it and I would like to continue employing it.  Dennis

What version of Squeeze are you on?  I've been able to make a custom QuickTime preset to encode DNxHD with the Avid bundled Squeeze application since Squeeze 7.  If you're still on MC 6.5.xx, you still have the bundled Squeeze 8, right?

One word of caution - this works well EXCEPT for frame rate conversions.  Don't try to convert 29.97fps material to 59.94fps as Squeeze doesn't keep the lip sync properly.  You must keep the footage in the same frame rate when converting to DNxHD.

MondoNo5:

What version of Squeeze are you on?  I've been able to make a custom QuickTime preset to encode DNxHD with the Avid bundled Squeeze application since Squeeze 7.  If you're still on MC 6.5.xx, you still have the bundled Squeeze 8, right?

One word of caution - this works well EXCEPT for frame rate conversions.  Don't try to convert 29.97fps material to 59.94fps as Squeeze doesn't keep the lip sync properly.  You must keep the footage in the same frame rate when converting to DNxHD.

Thank you Jonathan.  I have Squeeze 8.5.0.41 (but not the PRO version) and running MC7.0.2.   As you note Squeeze 8 was included with earlier version of MC.  Then Squeeze had a promo to upgrade to Squeeze 8.5 which I did but at the time you needed to upgrade to Squeeze 8.5 Pro (more money) to get the DNxHD transcoder and I did not buy the PRO version.

Later on when I installed MC7 I did not include Squeeze 8.5 in that "bundle" since Squeeze person said the Avid bundle included the same version of Squeeze 8.5 which I already had--not the PRO version.

Long historical answer, but bottom line is I don't think my version of Squeeze 8.5 (nor the latest Avid bundled Squeeze 8.5) includes a DNxHD convertor.

Dennis

Dennis,

I think that Scott has the right idea.  Keep the work on a network drive (NAS) so it is accessible by all computers and then activate/deactivate as needed to do either transcoding or editing wherever you wish on the network.  Please note that if the laptop is connected to the network via WiFi, it will be slower than if using a wired connection.

MondoNo5:

What version of Squeeze are you on?  I've been able to make a custom QuickTime preset to encode DNxHD with the Avid bundled Squeeze application since Squeeze 7.  If you're still on MC 6.5.xx, you still have the bundled Squeeze 8, right?

One word of caution - this works well EXCEPT for frame rate conversions.  Don't try to convert 29.97fps material to 59.94fps as Squeeze doesn't keep the lip sync properly.  You must keep the footage in the same frame rate when converting to DNxHD.

Thank you Jonathan.  I have Squeeze 8.5.0.41 installed and I am using MC7.0.2. 

As you note, Squeeze 8 was bundled with earlier version of MC.  Then Squeeze had a promo so I bought Squeeze 8.5 but not the PRO version which cost more.  My version of Squeeze 8.5 does not include a DNxHD transcoder that is included in PRO version of Squeeze 8.5.  Squeeze person told me Squeeze 8.5 bundled with MC7 also did not include DNxHD converter so I did not install the MC bundled Squeeze 8.5.  Bottom line is I don't think I have a DNxHD transcoder outside of the one in MC7.  Dennis

VE7AXO:

Dennis,

I think that Scott has the right idea.  Keep the work on a network drive (NAS) so it is accessible by all computers and then activate/deactivate as needed to do either transcoding or editing wherever you wish on the network.  Please note that if the laptop is connected to the network via WiFi, it will be slower than if using a wired connection.

Just an FYI, when I edit on my laptop with Wireless-N WiFi either using Avid MXF media from a network drive or using files AMA-linked across the network, I can almost always edit without choppy playback or other similar issues.  Almost any time I have choppy playback with AMA or imported media is with a file that just isn't right somehow and also does the same on MC on the same computer the file is on.  So, my wireless network isn't giving me trouble accessing media.  And, yes, I'm a little surprised.

For trascoding, copying, moving, etc. across the network a wired connection is certainly good to speed up transfers.

Dennis,

The Squeeze person is correct - they do not include the full version of the Avid Codecs with any version other than PRO.  However, any PC or Mac with Media Composer installed will already have the full version of the Avid Codecs, which let you encode from any program that will export to Quicktime.  This includes Squeeze, Quicktime Pro, and Adobe Media Encoder.

I now realize this probably doesn't help for your everyday workflow since Media Composer isn't on your old system, but it may help in a pinch if you ever need to do a DNxHD transcode outside of Media Composer (for example, from a format MC can't AMA or Import such as MPEG2).

Regards,
Jonathan