AVID and Toaster compatablity

[Captain Zinc]

Here is zee question!

Can I do my preliminary work on the toaster and then
create an editing decision list that is compatable with
Avid or even Final Cut Pro?

The more I look at Avid the more frustrating the
actual cost becomes. I like the Avid DV express,
but it will not work with uncompressed formats
and the AVID systems start at about 25,000 even
before a computer! Not a good investment without
a huge budget.

I still do not know enough about the toaster editing
capablities, but at the very least it should
be good for my initial work, but it would be
good to know that I could finish my work easily
on an avid symphony.

Any info will be greatly appreciated.

[videoguy]

i dont think you understand the full power of the toaster 3. if the toaster cant do it something that its plugged into can such as its support for after effects and digitial fusion.i would take a much more in depth look at the toaster 3

[Captain Zinc]

I definitely want to know more about the toaster,
but the question still remains if I can easily do
finishing work on an Avid symphony.

I am in an industry that involves so many others
that want access to AVID or other high end
post production tools.

[Paul Lara]

Originally posted by Captain Zinc
...the question still remains if I can easily do
finishing work on an Avid symphony.


Yes, you can, using in-sync's Speed Razor 5.5, which allows you to import/export AVID edl's.


Paul

[Captain Zinc]

I just read this article on "speed razor" it implies that
the company is on its way out.

http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/2001/03_mar/editorials/chazzletter19.htm

So basically are you saying that the toaster, itself, will
not produce a compatible EDL? Or that I would still
have to purchase editing software to be able
to do work with other professionals in the industry?

I'm not looking to make wedding videos, but
serious professional documentaries and features.

[Paul Lara]

Originally posted by Captain Zinc
So basically are you saying that the toaster, itself, will
not produce a compatible EDL?

I didn't say that.

VT [3], due in wide beta soon, provides import and export of CMX, Grass Valley and Sony EDL's. AVID can read any of those.

[Captain Zinc]

x-o lent!

I also was reading another forum that where people
were wimpering about no batch edit.

Its this resolved in VT3 too????

[RomainR]

Hey Captain,

go and red up the feature list for VT[3] It should answer a many a question.

VT[3] (http://www.newtek.com/products/videotoaster/info/vt3/index.html)

[Lightwolf]

Paul,
from my experience AVID tends to be quite picky about the EDLs it swallows. I've hade some problems with transferring them from our discreet edit to media composers and vice versa (especially slo-mo'ed clips and reversed clips behave differently).
Have there actually been any interoperability tests? Will there be?
Will VT3 be able to use any log formats?
Any chance of supporting OMF(I), or even AAF? Will there be at least hooks for developers to create that kind of support?
Cheers,
Mike

[Paul Lara]

Originally posted by Lightwolf
Any chance of supporting OMF(I), or even AAF?

AAF is more likely to be supported in VT's future, due to its open-source nature, as opposed to AVID's proprietary framework.

[JReble]

From several years of experience editing on an Avid, I've found them to be very picky about most things. I don't know why on God's green Earth some people still equate Avids with superior results over other systems like the T2 for example. Hell, I'd take a lousy matrox card over an Avid these days if given a choice.

[RomainR]

You can say that again.

[Lightwolf]

JReble,
I whish it was as easy as that.
WE've been trying for the last four years to compete with the installed Avid systems in our area, and haven't made as much as a dent in their market (We're running a full Matrox DS with edit 6.0). Technically we're far superior (or at least were until AVid caught up and discreet, unfortunately, killed edit). Our price/performance ratio is much better as well.
Reasons:
Most producers/directors have their favourite cutter. Most of them are Avid trained, and bascially refuse to even bother with another system. Some at least have an Apple Laptop with FCP as an alternative, but that is just the young, wild bunch ;)
So we basically can't draw producers to our facility that who on their editors (in Germany we have the term "creative cutter" coined for them), because we don't have an Avid.
We actually had a couple of them re-trained, and they loved discreet edit for the speed, but still found some quirks back with the 4.5 release, so they never switched. I assume most of them are glad, since edit is a dead system.
That is another thing that goes for Avid, they've been here for ages, and their basic paradigms aren't gonna change soon, so it is a safe training investment.
More specialized, or actually diversified, one-stop shops and small boutiques (like my company) can still squeeze every last pixel out of a non-standard system. A pure rental studio, or a studio that relies on rental in a big way, needs to be Avid based.
Cheers,
Mike

[Lightwolf]

Originally posted by Paul Lara
AAF is more likely to be supported in VT's future, due to its open-source nature, as opposed to AVID's proprietary framework.
Very cool. That would give us instant compatibility to dps, quantel, discreet and avid. And it would go beyond EDLs as well...
Now, how 'bout dat 10bit HD Toaster? ;)
Cheers,
Mike

[SBowie]

Originally posted by Paul Lara
Yes, you can, using in-sync's Speed Razor 5.5, which allows you to import/export AVID edl's.
Paul Paul, you're not indicating here that SR5.5 will be a part of the VT[3] release bundle, are you? I don't want to misunderstand you...

[Paul Lara]

SR 5.5 will not ship with VT [3].

[ScorpioProd]

Like Paul suggests, for certain things, SR 5.5 could be a good investment for VT[2/3] owners.

There are things like plug-ins, EDL compatibility, and other cool things in SR if you like it. Of course, the main negative is that it doesn't take advantage of the real-time transitions via the VT card that VTedit and Premiere with Bob Tasa's plug-in do.

But that's one of the nice things about the VT hardware, it can work with many different software packages.

[SBowie]

Originally posted by Paul Lara
SR 5.5 will not ship with VT [3]. Thanks, that was my understanding.