camoscato:

Take it down a notch; "rant warning" means the person typing the message is about to rant.  It wasn't directed at you.

ciao,
Carl 

OK. My apologies. I did think he was directing that at me. Just like old times on this list. Time to leave and lurk (again) bye !

 

Kenton.VanNatten:

consider how inconvenient it is that AMA automatically mounts a Bin for any network share that contains a QT file on it whenever you connect to it

I'd ignored that one!  I'm using AMA to load draft versions of animation on my current project.  I've also been receiving art on thumb drives.  Most of them also have H.264 versions of the media for which the art is intended.

I've lost count of the number of AMA bins that I didn't want that I've had to trash.

Larry Rubin:

high on that list is uninterrupted playback when entering other commands in the interface, a complaint made continuously almost from Avid day one.

At the time that Avid was created twenty-odd years ago this was a necessary constraint, given the speed and power of the computers of the day.  In 2011 it's an absurd relic.  That would be a change I would welcome.

Except based on our experience with ST, it would probably turn on and off unpredictably.  And that would probably be marketed as a plus!

drbgaijin:

Maybe we can take a look at your AvidDVD problems at a later date and see if I can do anything to help.

Regards,
Douglas

drbgaijin:

However, I am not calling you a liar. I quite believe that you may be having problems with AvidDVD. Quite a few people do have problems.

Hi Bruce:

               I would appreciate that. When I author Blu-ray titles, I always use Sorensen (Slow Poke) Squeeze to encode my MC sequences as elemental streams of Microsoft VC-1 with AC3 audio. I bring those into Avid DVD 6.1.1 and author in the usual way. I usually make a Blu-ray Volume, because many software blu-ray players can play volumes and most burning software can burn a Blu-ray disc from a volume. This is part of our QA workflow. Avid DVD will malfunction and lock up, or try to re-encode these elemental files at least 50 % of the time. I have no difficulties with NTSC SD DVD title production.

What is amazing in this thread is the amount if issues being brought up.  Of course not all of them can be addressed soon or ever, but one has to feel a bit of sympathy for Avid when in development.  Dammed if you do, dammed if you don't.  

I think Andrew brought up the point of being able to turn on and off new "features" based on workflow.  For the Avid user base, maybe that is best.  Are there other commonly used softwares (in our industry) that have done just that?  

Mark Job:

Hi Bruce:

               I would appreciate that

Bruce? Try Douglas

I'll contact you about this Mark. It is not really on topic here...
Regards,
Douglas

 

drbgaijin:

Bruce? Try Douglas

 

Sorry about that Douglas.

Mark J

news flash 01 25 2014 avid releases this news bulletin.... the reported uninterrupted playback instability issues in media composer 17.9.04r2  are actually a built in cpu saving algorithm giving the app the necessary computing  power to still not need back ground rendering  ... no one from the company could be reached for comment ......

Hello.

Uff, I read the entire thread to here. It's quite exhausting and frustrating.
Cuts in AVIDs product is already about 10 years. My summary of the difficulties MC5:

1st Fundamental change in control of key frames leads to a substantial slowdown set of simple effects. (Once I started to NLE systems from Sony and the transition to Avid, I figured that putting insert headline was about 10:4 in favor of AVID clicks.) So the advanced set of key frames should be optional!

2nd Function ST is really unpredictable and requires great precision in the mouse settings. (Try enabled smart tool set as soon as possible TRIM different tracks against each other). So the function of the ST would be optional and switchable.

3rd Set the user interface is really another step back. But on the other hand, do not see a big problem.

4th Conversely, consider a fundamental problem that has not yet released a stable version. I'm not one who would like to install each patch, but just not yet released version, which should not mistake affecting my workflow, and therefore at least bothers me constantly monitor their workflow. (Something positive - with falls in MC5.0.3.5 Marque script, I learned how to use subtitles in Avid FX).

Now MC5 positive function:

1st Possibility to connect MXO2.

2nd AMA QT files, but with reservations. The fundamental problem is the inability to manually set the field order, and sometimes impossible to consolidate. (I work mostly with projects Pal or 108i50 and rearrange frames in DV PAL Codek than standard PAL is really revenge engineers. Codek DV Avid is trying to remedy, but in the end it brings more confusion).

3rd Since version MC5.0.3 export QT reference materials longop even need to buy a codec. (Saves a lot of time, but most places)

I have arranged.

William

Kenton.VanNatten:

consider how inconvenient it is that AMA automatically mounts a Bin for any network share that contains a QT file on it whenever you connect to it

 

WOW! I never got that far.  My frustrations with MC5 were so many that I never attempted to open it while certain volumes on our unity were open.  That ALONE would have been a deal breaker for me.

camoscato:

Hi Joe,

Joe M:

regardless of where these UI advantages come from... it should definately be consider as a part of MC now or in the future (For example... and first on my list of suggestions was Background Rendering).

Background rendering (as I understand it) isn't an interface thing, it's more of a feature.  It would be cool if Media Composer had it, though.

Joe M:

Premier Pro's UI is far more flexible and more intuitive than MC's...

"Flexible" and "intuitive" are not objective characteristics.  

ciao,
Carl 

Perhaps I should be more specific and objective when I say flexible and intuitive..

A UI that would be nice in MC would be to be able to move any tab to any window... that would be flexible... and, as a result would become intuitive to the person creating the window and it's tabs.  Same is true for buttons... any button in any window on any part of window border.

That would be cool...

Joe M:

A UI that would be nice in MC would be to be able to move any tab to any window... that would be flexible... and, as a result would become intuitive to the person creating the window and it's tabs.  Same is true for buttons... any button in any window on any part of window border.

That would be cool.

More along the lines of Lightworks, then?

Lightworks?   Don't know for certain... since, I only used Lightworks for only about a week before I realized it was WAAAY too much beta (or an alpha application at best) for my taste.... but, I plan to revist this application after some very basic problems are ironed out since there are definately some very good UI aspects to this application.

But... if you want a comparison... at the expense of being considered a heretic... Adobe PP and AE allows you to move tabs to different windows... and, Avid L-word {dodging stones} allowed you to add buttons to any location on the window border areas.

AndrewAction:

Joe M:

Until then... being gun shy will probably become the norm with future AVID MC developments in the near term.

WHY???  Just ADD new features and UI features as user selectable options to the existing program.  Keeps everybody happy (well as happy as we are each capable of being)

I agree... why?  I wish I knew the answer to that question... because from a marketing standpoint that approach would be a potential win-win.

One challenge in making so many optional modes is the complexity introduced to the QA testing process. The complexity of testing grows geometrically with the number of variations in workflow. Flexibility is great, but it does cost $$$ in testing and potentially leads to product instabilities.

 

and we all know how little avid is putting into testing so watch out