sverkalo:

BLKDOG:

George, is that avi going only 8 mins because the avi codec is limited to a 2 gig file? Could that be the reason?

Why PP and all the others can export it?

MC doesn't use Open-DML but the .avi 1.0.

They don't use it.

And this severely affects Avid's sale at the bottom lines, as most of the lesser TV Channel play out AVI so they want it delivered it thatway in an external hard disk. as it is two more steps more for the house that owns an Avid they also suffer.

camoscato:

"Because Avid is a U.S. publicly traded company, we have to abide by certain accounting rules.   These rules limit the ability of publicly traded companies to discuss product roadmaps, timetables, future features and functionality in public forums such as this one."

That's a very interesting take on things... Not sure if it applies to this discussion - it would depend on what Avid said to us. For example, they could simply state that they are listening to our concerns and consider this forum a valuable source of information regarding customer needs bla bla bla - generic and not legally damning but at least a 'hello'.

I'm not expecting them to post to this forum a detailed roadmap of how they intend to get out of this mess without bankrupting the company

I wonder if an e-mail to registered users would be ok, though (not a public forum, but a message to Avid Stakeholders)....

BarkinMadd:

For example, they could simply state that they are listening to our concerns and consider this forum a valuable source of information regarding customer needs bla bla bla - generic and not legally damning but at least a 'hello'.

That's essentially what BLKDOG said in his post.

BLKDOG:

So, I say to you, I can't tell you WHEN they will be there, because we are not permitted to. Not even the COO of the company is allowed to do that.

Strange reading, when in this thread regarding future support for the Classic Nitris and Adrenaline the following was posted:

BLKDOG

.......In the mean time, it is true that software going forward will not support the Classic Nitris box nor the Adrenaline box.

So users, and the general public, can be informed about soon to be EOL products - but not about if and when Avid are going to make a few working changes to a current product!!!!

No one here is asking for the release of any secrets in a future product version, they are just asking for the return of some helpful work methods in the one that they own.

Gerry

Add mem to the list of those who hate the advanced keyframes.  I just had a 15 minute effect take me an hour while i had to fiddle with splines and extra keyframes.

And how about making cutting and pasting of keyframes work properly?  Or even dragging them.  Those have been flaky on Avid since day 1.  Sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn't. 

In short, please make what we have work proeprly before adding new features.

Hi Gerry,

Yes, that's how it works. Adrenaline and Nitris Classic were announced as EOL a few months ago so it's not a problem to let you know when Avid will be dropping support for those boxes.

Where we are restricted is discussing when features will or will not be included in software that is not yet released from product management.

Because there are impacts on future revenue that come directly from product feature announcements, they are covered under Sarbanes/Oxley rules of reporting. We can debate the merits of the law all day but, when it comes down to it, thanks to Enron, the folks that sign our paychecks tell us we can't on an open forum so that's the way it is.

So, to sum up...

1. Is Avid considering making the ST completely configurable - Yes those discussions are happening because of your input

2. Is avid aware of the discontent around the UI changes? - Yes.

3. When will these changes be addressed? - in a future release.

4. Can we give you release dates or roadmaps for these changes - No.

I hope that helps. I realize that nothing short of a release with the changes you want will be enough to satisfy the frustration you feel but we are working to make the best editor in the market that appeals to as broad a demographic as is humanly possible. As the saying goes, you can't please everyone, but I do see a lot of people working very hard in Burlington to try. Your input is very important to that process so please know that Avid does welcome the discussion.

BLKDOG:

So, to sum up...

1. Is Avid considering making the ST completely configurable - Yes those discussions are happening because of your input

2. Is avid aware of the discontent around the UI changes? - Yes.

3. When will these changes be addressed? - in a future release.

4. Can we give you release dates or roadmaps for these changes - No.

I hope that helps. I realize that nothing short of a release with the changes you want will be enough to satisfy the frustration you feel but we are working to make the best editor in the market that appeals to as broad a demographic as is humanly possible. As the saying goes, you can't please everyone, but I do see a lot of people working very hard in Burlington to try. Your input is very important to that process so please know that Avid does welcome the discussion.

[like]  Thanks Todd, I think that is about as clear as you can legally make it. 

BLKDOG:

As the saying goes, you can't please everyone, but I do see a lot of people working very hard in Burlington to try. Your input is very important to that process so please know that Avid does welcome the discussion.

Todd,

Coming from you, that's good enough for me.  I'll wait and hope . .

My 2 cents!

I'm not expert and have just been learning MC5 through tutorials here and on Lynda. I was one of those "Liquid People", you know the semi pros, that migrated to MC with that great offer by Avid. I haven't spent a lot of time with MC5 but from the time I have spent there are plenty of irritants that I can list. Some have already mentioned it. But heres what I would love to see in MC in the future(if there is one!)

Background Rendering- In Liquid you were able to turn this off and on but it was able to render effects in the background and allowed you to keep editing! In MC and FCP you're not able to do it! I can't believe these "professional" software are not able to do this! Blows my mind!

Snapshot tool- Need a freeze frame in your timeline? One click is all that it took in Liquid.. Did this quite a bit in my wedding videos.

Auto Save- This was a life saver when Liquid 7 first came just like MC5 was not a stable at all! Remembers all your actions unlike in MC5 where it auto saves every 5 mins or whatever you would like it to do.

Easily Nesting effects- Need more than 1 effect in a clip? Just drap and drop it to the clip!

Easy 2d 3d effects, ease of resizing tracks, better organization of effects menu. There is certainly is more but just dont want to list them all! The great things about MC5? Great amount and powerful effects, AMA and other than things i've listed MC5 is very responsive. Sorry to make this another Liquid vs MC thread I know it was more of a MC5 fixes thread. 

Also the background color doesn't bother me much.. Probably because of you my young eyes! But having tried FCP I do like how its background its a very light greyish color. It just makes the videos i'm editing look much better for some reason. Probably because of the greater contrast it has with its background!

Oh another thing can they do something about the search button in this forum?? I use it quite a bit and works great but hate the fact that it defaults to "relevance" and pulls up thread as old as 4 years ago! I know you can just click on advance search and change it to date but in Apple's support website it searches does both relevance and newest post first! So it takes 1 click in Apple while 3 clicks here!

BLKDOG:

Hi Gerry,

Yes, that's how it works. Adrenaline and Nitris Classic were announced as EOL a few months ago so it's not a problem to let you know when Avid will be dropping support for those boxes.

Where we are restricted is discussing when features will or will not be included in software that is not yet released from product management.

Because there are impacts on future revenue that come directly from product feature announcements, they are covered under Sarbanes/Oxley rules of reporting. We can debate the merits of the law all day but, when it comes down to it, thanks to Enron, the folks that sign our paychecks tell us we can't on an open forum so that's the way it is.

So, to sum up...

1. Is Avid considering making the ST completely configurable - Yes those discussions are happening because of your input

2. Is avid aware of the discontent around the UI changes? - Yes.

3. When will these changes be addressed? - in a future release.

4. Can we give you release dates or roadmaps for these changes - No.

I hope that helps. I realize that nothing short of a release with the changes you want will be enough to satisfy the frustration you feel but we are working to make the best editor in the market that appeals to as broad a demographic as is humanly possible. As the saying goes, you can't please everyone, but I do see a lot of people working very hard in Burlington to try. Your input is very important to that process so please know that Avid does welcome the discussion.

Thanks for your honest and open answer. I -we here, aren't attacking people in person. We are just asking for answers to things that we have problems with.

My previous post wasn't meant to drive you, or anyone else, into a corner - and I thank you for response.

Gerry

I also am one of the new Liquid to MC folks. I do agree with the concens listed here but as one that went straight from Liquid to MC 5 I never really know if the arkwardness I feel in trying to do something was me just not knowing the best way to do it or as has been pointed out here the ability to "flow" in MC5 is not well designed or thought out.

I appreciate all the input and do hope that Avid makes the needed changes.

Ya'll have a good day!

Jeff

BLKDOG's response has satisified me as well. Although Avid has had many mis-steps lately, they have also done a fairly good job responding to the inevitable backlash (specifically, the reversal of the brain-dead decision to eliminate the dongle).

So, I'm fairly confident that Avid will correct these issues. My only real concern now, is who is making these decisions? And why is he getting SO many chances before being handed his walking papers?

Regardless, I'm looking forward to the future of Avid.

But remember - we're watching.

BLKDOG:

Hi Gerry,

Yes, that's how it works. Adrenaline and Nitris Classic were announced as EOL a few months ago so it's not a problem to let you know when Avid will be dropping support for those boxes.

Where we are restricted is discussing when features will or will not be included in software that is not yet released from product management.

Because there are impacts on future revenue that come directly from product feature announcements, they are covered under Sarbanes/Oxley rules of reporting. We can debate the merits of the law all day but, when it comes down to it, thanks to Enron, the folks that sign our paychecks tell us we can't on an open forum so that's the way it is.

So, to sum up...

1. Is Avid considering making the ST completely configurable - Yes those discussions are happening because of your input

2. Is avid aware of the discontent around the UI changes? - Yes.

3. When will these changes be addressed? - in a future release.

4. Can we give you release dates or roadmaps for these changes - No.

I hope that helps. I realize that nothing short of a release with the changes you want will be enough to satisfy the frustration you feel but we are working to make the best editor in the market that appeals to as broad a demographic as is humanly possible. As the saying goes, you can't please everyone, but I do see a lot of people working very hard in Burlington to try. Your input is very important to that process so please know that Avid does welcome the discussion.

...and was that so hard???? as answerable as it can get. but still.

My two cents:

I took advantage of the Liquid to MC upgrade offer. I haven't even installed the other programs in the package yet because I'm still so uncomfortable in MC by itself. It took a while to get MC to reliably start up. It runs now. But months later, I'm still not comfortable enough with it to use it for business. A lot of people complained Liquid was hard to learn. I caught on in a few weeks. Not so with Media Composer.

I've experienced one quirk after another. It seems that most of the issues are small. Definitely not show stoppers INDIVIDUALLY. However, COLLECTIVELY,  all the little issues really add up. MC 5 seems CUMBERSOME to me, and not reliable.

From reading the forums, I'm not alone. It's disturbing to a new "user" like me that so many long time users seem to be so ticked! People who've earned their livelihood from MC for years. I was hoping to learn my livelihood from it too, since Liquid reached end of life.

I'm to the point that I've essentially put MC on the shelf. That's why user above is in quotes. My business has picked up.  Although an end of life product, Liquid is working reliably for me. I simply don't have time to fight with MC right now. I've used so many software packages in the past 30 years.  A fair number of those programs were for video editing, not only on the PC, but even on Amiga systems. I've had thirty years of experience trouble shooting systems in the clinical laboratory too.

Right now, I don't feel like even messing with MC until the dust clears. Patch after patch released, but warned to not install them, unless the patch fixes something I need fixed. Well, I'm experiencing not show stoppers, but am experiencing so many quirks that I don't know what to do next.  Buy a new system to run MC? Really? When people with top of the line qualified systems are unhappy too? Maybe I should uninstall MC5 and try the MC4 that came on disk instead. A lot of long time users seem to have stuck with earlier versions for stability reasons. I dunno.

Apparently I'm part of a market that Avid targeted. Not a broadcast industry person, but an event videographer, a one man shop, with customers to satisfy. I don't have deep pockets, and I don't think Avid understands my needs, or the needs of it's long time users either.

When I get the chance, maybe I'll try my luck with MC4, on my present system, in the seperate partition, and see what happens. Frustrated.

Roger,

Speaking as one who is using the Newscutter equivalent of MC 4, I say go right ahead and install MC 4 and test it out. It is more stable, reliable and the GUI is more flexible and customizable. And you can indeed establish and maintain the momentum I spoke of earlier in this thread. Hopefully, it will change your overall opinion about Media Composer as a whole. And then, when the dust settles and the storm over MC 5 dissipates, an upgrade may be in order, if you believe the new features are a necessary enhancement to your particular workflow. Don't give up.