Avid is pleased to announce the September release of Media Composer 2018 which is available as of today, September 14th, 2018 at 4:30 AM ET.  

Location: This release is available from Avid Master Accounts, Application Manager, and the Avid Download Center (login and password required).  Note:  The Download Center will go live at 4:30 am ET.

Operating System Update:  Depending upon your hardware the qualified Operating Systems are:

• Windows v7 64-bit SP1(Professional) and Windows v8.1 (Professional and Enterprise), Windows v10 64-bit (Professional, Creators, and Enterprise).
• Macintosh v10.11.6, 10.12.6, 10.13.6 (NOTE: 10.10.x is no longer qualified with 2018.8 and 2018.9) 

What’s New: 

• Live Timeline Additions - You can solo, mute, and change audio gain during playback. You can also choose to set certain Edit Marker window behavior during playback.
• AMA File Export Change - Export options have been updated.
• DNxUncompressed - With the introduction of DNxUncompressed, it is now possible to import, render, transcode and mix-down at uncompressed quality.
• Default Stream Count Limitations in Media Composer - Real-time streams are no longer limited to 12.
• DPX Export Improvement -  Exporting DPX files is much faster than in previous releases.
• HLG Scope: Display 75% graticule for Graphics white - The HLG scope waveform displays an orange horizontal line to show graphics white at 75%.

What is fixed in 2018.9:  The following have been resolved in 2018.9.

• Bug Number: MCCET-2465. You might have received an “CM_INVALID_SPLIT” error when trimming promoted motion clips.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2466. The project name, sequence name, and date of printout was missing in the header of the marker printout.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2498. In some instances, the editing application would crash if all bins were closed and the Capture Tool was open.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2533. Intermittently, you might have received an “Exception Failed to find coincidence point on tape” error when trying to capture or batch capture into Media Composer.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2548. Finding a frame by entering timecode value in the Source monitor did not work when searching on an audio mixdown.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2580. Activating Play Standby would start playing too fast if you had played the sequence at double speed prior to pressing Play Standby.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2585. After installing the editing application and creating a new project, you might have received an “assertion” error when opening the Tool Palette on the Source/Record Monitor.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2589. (Windows OS) When using a Japanese locale, the source clip name did not display in the Timecode Window.
• Bug Number: MCCET-2596. Match-framing a Multigroup clip with Symphony Color Correction applied, would match frame to the group clip instead of the main Multigroup clip.

Limitations in 2018.9: The following are limitations with the 2018.9 application.

• Bug Number: MCDEV-9781. You might see the following issues if Run Length Encoded is enabled:               

                • “Core Consistency Check Failure” errors when recreating animated Marquee titles

                •  Media size might not be accurate when working with interlaced projects

• Workaround: Disable Run Length Encoded (RLE) in the Import Settings Image tab.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9676. Intermittently, the blue bar in the Source and Record monitors does not move. The blue bar does move in the Timeline. Workaround: Restart the editing application.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9523. When linking with the Avid Generic Plug-in, audio waveforms do not build properly in the Timeline when playing back an H.264 movie with AAC audio.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9460. Windows 7 systems with Nvidia Maxwell or Nvidia Pascal cards might experience playback issues that could result in “Play Consumer timeout” errors. Workaround: Select “Disable GPU Effects” in the Render Settings dialog box.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9142. You might experience hangs or crashes when performing a video mixdown with a 16K project on systems with less than 64GB RAM.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9329. (Avid Artist DNxIV and DNxIQ) When playing back immediately captured media, the video might freeze after approximately one second but the audio continues. You might need to restart the editing application.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9269. (Media Composer | Cloud) After performing a remote download operation on a sequence containing AVC-I 100 remote media, the downloaded media appears as XAVC-I 100. Workaround: Download the entire master clips.
• Bug Number: (Mac). You may occasionally see the menu bar flash followed by a brief beach ball. To fix this, deactivate “Displays have separate spaces” under System Preferences > Mission Control settings.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-9011. Intermittently, when working with the XDCAM Nablet Plug-in, you might see “Failed to get the sample position from the AMA Plug-in” errors if you have waveforms enabled in the Timeline.
• Bug Number: COGS-2560. While working in the Script Window, text operations (cut/copy/paste/delete/editing) can only be done in edit mode. See “Editing a Script” in the Help.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-5650. When working with Panasonic LongG media, you might receive an “SFPlayConsumer Timeout” error if audio waveforms are enabled. Workaround:Turn off audio waveforms.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-5385. MultiCam editing with Panasonic LongG media is not supported with this release.
• Bug Number: MCDEV-5384. Currently, when working with LongG media, you might see dropped frames when editing 4 streams. This might occur when playing from a single stream to multiple streams (and from multiple streams back to a single stream). The dropped frames usually display around the edit point (transition to a different stream). 

A few important reminders:

- Manual approval of loading Kernel Extensions (KEXTs): With the release of Mac OS v10.13.x (High Sierra), Apple requires manual approval of loading Kernel Extensions (KEXTs). (For example: Avid Nitris DX, BlackMagic, and AJA IO devices install Kernel Extensions.) At installation time, you should get a dialog saying that the KEXT was not loaded. You must go the “Security & Privacy” system preference and manually approve the KEXT. Keep the Security & Privacy pane open after you install the I/O device drivers so that you will see the notice that the driver has been blocked and press the “allow” button within 30 minutes of installing or the driver will be permanently blocked.

- Avid DX Driver Separate Installer:  The Avid DX Driver is not automatically installed when you install the editing application. If you need to install the Avid DX Driver to work with your Avid IO device, you can install it separately.  Note:  For Windows systems, there is a Win7 driver and a Win10 driver in the Utilities folder. The Win7 driver works for both Windows 7 and Windows 8 systems.  The installer is located:

            • (Mac) /Applications/Utilities/Avid Utilities

            • (Windows) Program Files\Avid\Utilities\DXDrivers

- Application Installers:  Previously, a separate installer was required for Media Composer | First. With this release, you have a single installer for Media Composer and Media Composer | First. Note: The option to run as Media Composer | First is now include in the Avid Media Composer Activation window.

New Computers Qualified:  The following have been added to the Knowledge Base.  

• Mac Book Pro 13” and 15” quad and 6 core i7/i9 (MC 2018.8 required)
• HP Zbook 15”, 17”, Studio, Studio XPS and “V” model laptops
• Lenovo P52, P72 and P1 (thin and light) laptops
• HP Z2 G4 tower and SFF and Z2 G4 mini
• Dell 3430 SFF, 3630 tower and 1U rack 3930
• Lenovo P330 Tower and SFF plus P330 Tiny 

The below links are live now.

1. Avid Qualified Systems and IO hardware for Media Composer, Interplay Assist, and Avid Instinct (http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/compatibility/en422411)
2. Avid Configuration Guidelines and Slot Configurations (http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/User_Guide/en269631)

ReadMe and What’s New Guide: The ReadMe and “What’s New” Guide for the September release of Media Composer will be uploaded to the knowledge Base Media Composer 2018 Documentation page at launch.   

How customers will obtain the May Media Composer 2018.9 Update:  

1.  Customers who have already installed the latest version of Media Composer will be notified of the availability of the upgrade via the Application Manager. The Apps tab also provides a link to download and install the update when desired. 

2.  New customers who purchase Media Composer will receive the update in their Avid Master Account.

3.  Customers on current Update plans can download the Media Composer update either from their Avid Master Account or the Avid Download Center (login and password required.) 

4.  Customers NOT on a current Upgrade & Support contract must purchase either a new Media Composer Subscription or Perpetual license to receive this update. 

 

Reminder: This release of Media Composer requires an active Upgrade plan. Please remind customers of this before suggesting they install this update.

Wow, has this one not been fixed?

• Bug Number: MCDEV-9676. Intermittently, the blue bar in the Source and Record monitors does not move. The blue bar does move in the Timeline. Workaround: Restart the editing application.

This is causing me major headaches. Also, sometimes my audio meters work and sometimes there are no levels until I stop and then resume playback. I'm also still not happy with any of the hardware i/o implementations. There always seems to be some catch 22 with 3rd party i/o whether it's BMD or AJA. Today, running through T-Tap, playback would all of a sudden start repeating audio. I'm longing for the day when editing systems can be as reliable as appliances (well, before planned obsolescence started to happen). Hopefully the bugs above gets fixed soon. 

yes this was fixed and an updated ReadMe was added to the nowledge base.

Several affected responded that it was fixed when they went to 2018.9

Marianna

Hi Marianna,

Any news or prediction on when we could be seeing the new titler?

Roni

Absolutly unuseble with AJA.

Bad work, Avid!

gorky:

Absolutly unuseble with AJA.

Bad work, Avid!

 

I would check to see if Aja has new drivers. Software upgrades will often require new drivers. 

No new driver. I have the same problem, i guess. Playback with hardware enabled is horrible.

I have installed the latest AJA driver (v14.2.1 - August 2018)

i was going back to 2018.8.0 but the problem remains the same!!!

Was not there before.

I have a Aja IO XT with the latest driver.

I never had a problem with aja before!

For me last usable version is 2018.7.1 with old AJA drivers 12.5.1. Don't use 14.2.1. With them even 2018.5 stopped at playback. But AJA support advised me go back to 2018.4.

And Avid support claimed it's Avid problem but Avid support claimed it's AJA failure.

But what can we do?!!!

 

hi there,

 

I was trying to update MC from 2018.7.1 to the newest 2018.9, but I found the media composer is now in the plug-ins section in the avid manager, and it shows "no update".

Im an annual subscriper. OSX 10.13.6.

 

Thanks,

Luigi

Gorky et al....

I am working with AJA on this. Just sent a note to my contact there.  I do know that with the earlier version there were 2 issues

Audio loop – AJA have it fixed (at least testing now shows good) and so we’ll have a new beta for that possibly this week

Frame dropping – this is still in debate. Looks more likely to be a bug in Media Composer… but we are still going back and forth.  I will get scoop on this Monday.

Marianna

Marianna, thank you for looking into this. You are doing your best to keep all of this stuff straight and I appreciate the work you are putting in.

I've had my concerns about the current model being used by software companies which allows the marketing team to get things out there quickly and then let support fix the bugs along the way. I'm in the process of writing an article that will address this, specifically with the post production industry. We live in an amazing time, where powerful tools are available to us at a fraction of the cost a decade ago. While this is a positive in many ways, there is also a dark side to this business model and one I think needs addressing. I'm still gathering research and have key players I need to talk to, but I am hopeful this article will shed some light on things.

Marianna:

Frame dropping – this is still in debate. Looks more likely to be a bug in Media Composer… but we are still going back and forth.  I will get scoop on this Monday.

I have been seeing this issue on 2 sites and the only way found to stop these dropped frames is going back to AJA drivers 12.5.1.

On a 3rd Mac site things are a bit more problematic as there 2018.4 is the last version working nice with AJA, but that version won't open sequences created in 2018.8 (not tried 9 yet). 

Marianna, please keep me in cc if there are any developments and Avid and AJA find solutions. I would like to let the customers know the right people are looking into it and that it has high priority.  

I tried this new version, and all seemed well and snappy, until a spinning ball appeared while scrubbing audio in the player. I had to force quit and restart. The same thing happened again and again, with different clips. I experimented with uninstalling Desktop Video, to see if that made Media Composer 2018.9 more stable. But negative. So reluctantly I reinstalled 2018.8. 

 

It seems like each time Avid solves a problem in an update it also introduces a new bug. 

In this version spacing between characters in subcap is different then say 8.9.4 and earlier. For me unusable

See:

MC 8 9 4 and MC 8 6 1

https://ibb.co/e4UJ4z

MC 2018.9

https://ibb.co/kQy0HK

 

Maybe spacing between characters should be adjustable. Then everybody can make what he wants.