Avid Cimema vs. Media Studio Pro

[The Comet]

Hey Guys - I'm very new at this but just want to aska simple question. I am about to install my new Matrox Marvel 400TV in my Pentium 2 running under Windows 98 (Not SE). Should I install Avid first or wait till I buy Media Studio Pro 6 that everyone seems to think is a better package.
I don't want all the trouble that I had with a previous Pinnacle product - I just want it to work so I can get on with editing.
System has 128 M ram
Using Sony CCD-TR910E and a Sony DSCF505 digital still camera. Will create .avi files and also export to s-video and composite for the creation of quality training shorts and PowerPoint inserts.

Thanks for being patient with a new guy!!

[The Comet]

Just a bit more system info:
Hard disk - 17 GB fast IDE
Pentium 2 350 Meg

If I go with Ulead Media Studio Pro will I have to go to a faster Pentium 3 processor or can I survive on what I have for the moment.

In anticipation ....

[Brian Ellis]

Halley

My guess is that you will get away with your current CPU, provided that you spend some time optimising your system. What you will need, IMHO, is a second master hard drive for the video.

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Brian (the terrible)

[KRSESQ]

Don't screw around with Avid Cinema. I worked with it for weeks trying to get it to function, with no luck. It could capture okay, but output to video didn't work. Others have reported scores of audio problems, for which there are scores of fixes, most of which don't work. Almost anything would work better. I turned my Avid Cinema install CD into a clock which (it turns out) doesn't keep time worth a damn. Do yourself a favor: avoid this product at all costs.

[The Comet]

Thanks for the input so far guys - What parts of the Matrox install set do I have to put in before I start to install MSP 6.0 - are there some special drivers or something or does MSP have all this for the Marvel 400TV

By the way - the system does have an independent 7GB drive for things OTHER than video

Thanks again

[jeff b]

If your Marvel is all installed and working, MSP will install and pick up the Marvel drivers for capture and playback options automaticially.

[dchip]

KRSESQ, it appears you never miss a chance to bad-mouth AVID CINEMA and pull out that tired old crap about the clock. Why not just say that AVID CINEMA did not function with your hardware/software combo and that the user might try it for him/herself? I have used AVID and it worked nicely. It's sad that many people new to computer video might get turned off by people like you and miss the opportunity to make their first video on their computers. Your experience with a AVID could have more to do with your unique setup than the quality of that product. AVID is certainly not the junk you would have folks believe it is.

[Brian Ellis]

dchip, I think you are being a little harsh. Like many others, I have never managed to get entry-level Avid working on two computers. Yet I have been able to get MSPro working on both, albeit on one with some problems and none on the other. Be honest with yourself and admit that it is, at least, a temperamental application. From what little I saw of it, at the best, it is far inferior to MSPro. My question is therefore, without "bad-mouthing" it, why bother with it, knowing that there is a chance one will have problems and, even if one doesn't, it won't do a fraction of what other apps will do?

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Brian (the terrible)

[The Comet]

Thanks for the feedback - I'll give it a try - I gather I only just put in the Matrox install disk and then load MSP6 over the top.
Thanks again - I'll see you with some more queries a bit later on!!

[rodgreen]

I have just bought a Marvel and am using the Avid Cinema software. It appears very basic (only one video, sound, music and text can be displayed at the one time) but works Ok for the time being. What I like about it is that (except for when text is used) takes little or no time to be previewed.

I have an older (ancient!) version of MSP (2.5b) and this is quiet slow when preparing the preview. Does MSP 6 also take considerable time with the previews compared to Avid?

My system is a PIII 500 with 128MB RAM and 17G ATA66 hard drive.

Rod

[dchip]

I am not one to get worked up like that but I happen to like Matrox. Many people come to this forum because they are considering a Matrox purchase. I think it is wrong to summarily dismiss a bundled product as useless when actually for many many people it works just fine. Strange as it may sound many people see the bundle and its usefulness as an importact factor in their buying decision. Avid Cinema is truly an entry level product but it can light a fire in a novice user that leads to a lot of enjoyment with computer video. It did for me.

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[KRSESQ]

DChip:
For the record, I salute your ability to get Avid Cinema working on your system. No small feat. But my comments are not based on my experience alone, but on the hundreds of posts by frustrated would-be users on the user forum on Avid Cinemas own website which, I might add, mysteriously vanished from the site one day without so much as a forwarding link. Maybe satisfied users simply don't post their experiences in the numbers that dissatisfied users do. That's something we should all consider trying to change.
Also for the record: I like Matrox, too. My Marvel G200 is without a doubt the best capture card I could hope to find for the money. The Matrox Video Tools provide excellent performance and features.
Maybe part of my dissatisfaction stems from my having cut my teeth on a Media 100. It's awfully easy to get spoiled on one of these. I know Avid Cinema is aimed at a fairly broad consumer market and as such has some understandable limitations. But Avid also makes some of the best non-linear editing systems money can buy. This only compounded my disappointment.
Okay, so I'll shut up about the clock. But I won't stop telling anyone who will listen that there are better products out there that won't bust their budgets.

[dchip]

You, or course, have that power, but, I still think you will make ATI buyers out of many of them. Continued success to you. Goodbye.

[Serengeti]

Well, thats not fair. You just explained that Avid Cinema was a poor product because of the fact that it has tons of conflicts and bugs. Now you're saying that Avid Cinema _should_ be better, since it's coming from the company that makes high end NLE systems... but Avid's high end systems run on VERY specific hardware, where Cinema is expected to run on countless numbers of clone hardware peices. Not to mention that all Avid's are Macintosh based (except the recent MCXpress, a scaled down version of their better products).

Avid Cinema may have problems, but this doesn't reflect the company itself - Cinema is designed for an entirely different market and purpose.

[DouglasTexas]

You mentioned the down scaled version for NT.3.0 express. Avid bundles these systems for a tidy sum of $54,000 and change. IBM Intelli-station 100 GIG barracuda HD'S.WOW!
How many of the class of editor's out there, that need our kind of help can afford that kind of system?
I wish I could.
Like you said the Avid package that comes with the G400TV for first timers, helps the beginners get their feet wet. Then they can grow from there.
I have been burning video for businnes to business presentations for the past eight years. I was so glad to see the MPEG2 format development come to rise. It has made our job so much more effective with the board band of video I can put into a custom presentation. Either on CD or back to tape.
Iam just waiting for a cost effective solution for producing CD inserts and CD face labels, without laying out $18,900.