Anybody here using AVID FREE ?

[ahhaa]

The more I fool around with AVID, the more I like it. The free version has frame accurate editing, insert mode, and doesn't ignore audio controls. Its meant as a first step to the globally used pro products. http://www.avid.com/freedv/

They have a nice set of Flash tutorials, but I'm finding many undocumented or once-overed features, like powerful keyboard shortcuts, & a host of output options- like returning rendered EFX to the DV camcorder via Firewire.

Thought mebbe AVID users could use a point of contact here? I'd especially like to hear about hardware setups that people are pleased with...

[zoobie]

Here's a thread I started a while ago...Nobody seemed too impressed with this ap
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=297616

[ahhaa]

hi zoobie- thanks for the reply & nicetameetcha!

well I'm going to continue with Avid, I had many of the screw-ups people were mentioning until I actually made a few notes about the procedures mentioned in the tutorials, and actually followed them.

one was to make subclips in a separate bin and use it as the storyboard.
another was the keyboard shortcuts, a big help speeding things up & functions not on the mouse (like delete)

also, finding the temp file assignment and moving it to a big empty partition helped a lot. (that advice I got here! )

Its a pro interface, and its not forgiving; any more than a piano 'forgives' hitting a wrong note- I can see that. Learning it seems like a marketable skill, and more worthwhile than some video game..

Other than the big HD, a minimum of 1 Gig RAM is required- overlooking that may cause a lot of grief.

My interest right now is getting a handle on output options.

The installed AVI export codecs are:
Cinepak Codec by Radius Version 1.10.0.6 (92-95)
Microsoft Video 1 w/variable Temporal Quality compression slider Version 1
Intel Indeo Video 4.3 (94-97) w/Quick Compress, Scalability, Bidirectional Prediction, Transparency, Quality, Access Key, and Viewport size settings.
Full Frames (Uncompressed)

There are also QuickTime options.

Also there are settings for custom width & height (size to fit and Crop/Pad) which I'd like to use to trim off the squirrely bottom of my transferred VHS (sorta making a fake letterbox shape).
And there are settings for frames per second, RGB/601 File Field order (Odd/Even/Single)

And that's just the video- then there's the audio setup panel!

None of this is fully explained in the tutorials of course- some isn't mentioned.

So I was Kinda hoping for an actual Avid user to recommend a basic set of these options for AVI output, which would be transcoded to MPEG2 or 4 which is what Google videos require.

[dcsos]

Only 2 ways to export HIGH-QUALITY AVI from AVID
1. Light Compression using the DV codec.
2. No Compression (uncompressed gigantic file is output)

Only workaround.
1. Output a QUICKTIME REFRENCE MOVIE instead.
This is not an actual movie file but a series of intelligent pointers to a potentially edited version of the original which can be used by other applications..IE:: import the quicktime reference movie created in AVID to the next application up (TRANSCODER or AUTHORING)

[ahhaa]

Only 2 ways to export HIGH-QUALITY AVI from AVID
1. Light Compression using the DV codec.
2. No Compression (uncompressed gigantic file is output)

Only workaround.
1. Output a QUICKTIME REFRENCE MOVIE instead.
This is not an actual movie file but a series of intelligent pointers to a potentially edited version of the original which can be used by other applications..IE:: import the quicktime reference movie created in AVID to the next application up (TRANSCODER or AUTHORING)

Hi dcsos- thanks for the reply... sounds good, but you lost me! It said it exports to DV, but none of these codecs say they are DV, and I can't find exactly where I'd turn that function on.
On the reference movie, the QRM is like a cutting script? that would mean no EFX, right?

I've been making those huge AVIs by just outputting 'scenes' of shots & thought I could assemble them in other software, but its pretty awkward except for really simple work.

[dcsos]

On the reference movie, the QRM is like a cutting script? that would mean no EFX, right?

No a QuicktimeRefrence movie can have those efx also..its a high developed solution usually used on macs.
But as to why you can't see the DV codec coice
Please download a standalone apple or avid DV codec for windows that will add it to your list of
CODECS in the DROP DOWN menu

Otherwise, the DV codec could be "wrapped" in a QuickTime file on your system, if this has happened, your DV choice appears as a QUICKTIME DV codec instead of the more familiar DV.AVI that we WINDOWS users get familiar with
ALSO if the TRANCODER fails to see the resultant QUICKTIME.DV RENDERED CLIP
you may need QUICKTIME PRO..not so much to TRANSCODE (whick it does great by the way)
but to RESAVE for input to other WINDOWS APPS

[ahhaa]

DC- OK, I'm in way over my current knowledge here...

I found a FAST-EXPORT QUICKTIME NTSC in Settings>Export; but it only opens the same window as described above.
In the Top Toolbar, there is Special>Enable Digital Video Out, but that doesn't change the codec options in Export; I think it just sends the processed DV back to the camcorder?

Are you saying I can add a better codec to the available list? We're talking Avid Free, right?

I will study up on what you said til tomorrow- thanks!

[Cornucopia]

Since AVIDs are OMF-centric, with Quicktime as the File I-O engine, you need to think in terms of what kind of codecs are available to QT.

On the QT MOV container side, there's a whole bunch.
On the AVI container side, you need to understand that QT only understands VFW codecs, NOT Directshow (IIRC). So your choices are much more limited.
But all is not lost!...
On one of my PC's (the one with a copy of AvidFreeDV), I've got these AVI choices:

• Cinepak
  MS Video1
  MS MPEG4, v2
  MS MPEG4, v3
  (On2)VP6.0 - Simple Profile
  (On2)VP6.1 - Advanced Profile
  Indeo 4.5
  3ivX D4 4.5.1
  ffdshow
  Lagarith Lossless
  Full Frames (Uncompressed)

You should also be able to add some of these to the list:

• Radius SoftDV
  AVID DV
  Ceodicia DV
  Indeo 5.1
  Other VFW-based codecs

Also note that the ffdshow is italicized--it is a window to all the Directshow codecs you'd normally like to use. However, there may be instability going that route...

If you're having trouble with efx in your exports, you can always do a "Video Mixdown" to the timeline, basically pre-rendering the movie before export (need more space though). This evens out all the rough edges with layers, fx, etc. Save a copy of the original sequence and you can always go back and revise and rerender.

There are other tools, workarounds, hidden features and shortcuts available--even for AVID Free, as it does share many features with it's bigger cousins (likely just a crippled version of AVID XpressDV or AVID Xpress--and you never know what they didn't cripple until you compare with the shortcuts of those). Personally, I'm spoiled by AVID Composer, but I'm getting to really like Vegas!

Scott

[ahhaa]

Corny & all-

I dl'd a bunch of your recommended codecs today, I'm on rural tincans&string dialup, so made a trip to the hotspot coffeeshop for that.

I'm more confused than ever, but will read up on this a bit more before installing anything. Most of the info I've found seems to be about playback issues, not encoding for best quality to archive raw material off-tape. That's one thing I need to do. The other is the non-fussy MPEG2/4 output for uploading to Google & handing out on DVD so it looks/sounds good on a home player- which sure ain't 320X240 WMVs...

I'll take any advice, I'm not proud! :P

[Cornucopia]

My advice--If you can work with AVIDDVfree and like it, use it for the editing. Don't use it for the conversions.
Make a simple DV/Lossless/Uncompressed AVI or Quicktime, and then use a good conversion program to do the final conversion with (Procoder is very good, Sorenson Squeeze, Cleaner, etc). You could even make better use of something like Virtualdub for that kind of work, as opposed to AVIDDVfree. Yeah, it's an extra step.

Scott

[ahhaa]

Corny- like that old ad- thanks for your support!

I used to be a clockmaker; one thing I noticed whas that most people would do a pretty fair job on the woodworking, but then just slobber on a terrible finish, which downgraded their work.

I used to edit analog video too, and struggled with the generational quality loss.

Now I'm a bit surprised to find something similar in digital editing; wonder if there's some 'rule of creativity' involved here?

Anyway, thanks to you guys, I got some codecs and some approaches; next to find out if I can get'em installed & tried out without something going blooie !