Announcing The Avid "Perfect Pitch" Contest!

Do you have a unique, compelling story concept? Are you looking for help getting your film made? Give us your best 60-second video pitch and see what the world and our panel of industry experts have to say. You could win prizes such as:

• A trip to the Sundance Independent Producers Conference
• Your film trailer cut for free by Hollywood Trailer House, Secret Headquarters Incorporated
• Consulting time with distribution expert Stacey Parks
• A membership to www.filmspecific.com
• Consulting time with cinematographer Jon Fauer, ASC
• Red Giant Magic Bullet software for color and VFX
• An HP 8710w mobile workstation
• Avid editing software and hardware (grand prize winner and four runners up)

Quick Tips and Tricks

New Boris AVX Plug-in Boris Blue - Create 3D Titles inside Avid FAST!

Available as an AVX 2 plug-in as well a standalone real time 3D compositor, Boris Blue is designed for Avid editors who want to create true 3D looks without the complex learning curves and render times associated with 3D applications. In this Boris Blue tutorial we will show you just how fast and easy it is to create high quality 3D titles right within your Avid timeline.

Supported Devices for Avid Editor Products

The link to the document below provides a list of input/output devices that have been tested and qualified for use with the Avid family of editor products. As it is not possible to test all decks of all manufacturers you might not find your specific device listed in there. In that case it is not possible to give a clear statement on the device.
Download the Supported Devices List

Avid On-Line Tutorials

Whether you are new to editing or a seasoned professional, Avid's on-line training & tutorials are designed to help you explore the endless opportunities of editing. From working with specific media types, to using specific product features to adding effects and titling capabilities and more, these tutorials provide a step-by-step guide to enhance your editing skills.

Note: All tutorials require the latest flash plug-in. If you do not have the latest plug-in, you may download it for free from the Macromedia download center. Additionally, this page uses popup windows. If you have a popup blocker be sure to disable when using this site.

Featured Tutorials

Creating Graphics and Mattes for Avid Editing Systems with Adobe Photoshop

Designed for the experienced Avid Media Composer or Avid Xpress Pro editor, this course demonstrates how to prepare still and moving graphics for import into Avid editing systems using both SD and HD formats.

Cropping still images for use in video

Creating Alpha Channels with the Magic Wand Tool

Modifying an Imported Matte Key's Contents

Troubleshooting

Using Task Manager to Troubleshoot Performance Problems and Viruses on Windows XP

Applications and Services can run in the background on Windows meaning that they are using resources, but there is no visible sign of them running to the user. This includes viruses. Some programs run services to automatically check for software updates and can interrupt Avid. Real time virus scanning should always be disabled.

To find out if there are any background processes that could be impacting performance:

1 With all applications closed, Hold Control and Shift on the keyboard and press the Escape key to open the Task Manager

2 Choose the Processes Tab to display a list of all running processes and then click the CPU column twice (not double-click) to sort the list by CPU usage in percent. With all applications closed, System Idle Process should be at 99 percent CPU usage. If it is not, then look to see what process is next in the list. The name will not be descriptive, but you can find out what it is by searching for the full process name on http://www.google.com/

"Assertion failed: threadDied" error message when quitting out of Media Composer Software

When exiting version 2.5.x Media Composer Mac on a Dual Core G5, the following errors occurred:

"Exception: FATAL_ERROR,msg:Assersion failed: threadDied"

Deleting MC State, site settings and site attributes from the settings folder fixed the problem.

Metatrack fails to export in Xpress Pro HD

When using the "Send To->Avid Studio->Encoding for Avid DVD by Sonic" the meta track fails to export (with Avid_DVD_Producer.aeo added to it) to XML file. Metasync Publisher will post an error and the .XML file will not be created. However the audio and video will be encoded fine. This is caused if you are running an incompatible version of Metasync with Xpress Pro HD. If you are runnng Xpress Pro 5.1.x with Studio Toolkit you should be running Metasync 22.1. Attached below are links to download the Metasync Manager and Metasync Publisher installers. You must install both for the "Send to" function to work properly.
Learn More

Files I've exported to P2 can't be read by my camera...

I've exported a sequence using the "Export to Device > P2" command, but the camera doesn't display the video. The issue is the version of firmware recently loaded on that camera -- the HVX-200. As noted in the Media Composer 2.7.2 ReadMe:

"A Firmware update for the Panasonic AG-HVX200 causes clips written to the P2 cards via "Export to Device->P2" to not be properly recognized by the P2 camera. The 4.05-00-0.00 firmware update for the Panasonic AG-HVX200/HVX202, which was released to support 16GB P2 cards, introduces a regression in the "Export to Device->P2" capability. Clips exported to P2 cards from the editing application will not be correctly recognized by the P2 camera with that firmware.

A red "X" appears on the camera's display in place of a thumbnail."

Do not load the 4.05-00-0.00 firmware update if you use 'Export to Device->P2' feature. If you have already loaded this firmware version, you need to reinstall an older firmware version to be able to use this feature.

Can I download the Latest Updates and Hotfixes for Microsoft Windows on my Avid system?

Click the link below for Avid's latest supported Microsoft Service Packs and Hotfixes.

Microsoft Service Pack and Security Bulletin Support Addendum

Current Avid Software Releases

Below is a list of Avid software downloads currently available with their release dates:

Please note that software downloads are typically available for customers with an active Avid Assurance contract or customers who have purchased an upgrade. There are some free upgrade downloads available for certain Avid products (Click link below). Customers on Unity products should check release notes for all storage and attached client systems before upgrading any software.

Access the Avid Download Center