Avid Xpress 3.0/3.5, impression?

[Fred H]

My basic video editor is MSP 6.51 but I’ve had the opportunity to test Avid Xpress DV3.0 (W2K).
It is a hi-pro editing program and I found that it is very difficult to just start and play with it.
After hours of playing with it I was unable to create a simple (not only dissolve) transition and export it as an MPEG2 with sound and all. I feel like to shoot an elephant with a slingshot.
Xpress 3.0/3.5 have a completely different way to edit, not like MSP or Premiere.
It’s not my intention to continue edit with Avid Xpress, just curious to try. I am satisfied with MSP6.51, but it would be funny to know if somebody are using it, in which environment, how user friendly it is, impressin, etc.

Fred H

[landrover]

Hi Fred

Avid ExpressDV is Avid´s first serious "software only" video editing app (the discontinued Avid Cinema not counted as "serious").
Their other products are software/hardware combo systems, editing software for PC or Mac with dedicated video hardware for broadcast quality video editing. Avid Express has been around for many years now as one of their major products. When the DV-format became popular in the pro-sumer market, Avid decided to adapt it´s Express software to the format and release it as a software-only product, aimed at high end users in the consumer segment. Their interface has always been pretty complex and ExpressDV is no exception. Once you´re used to it, it turns out to be very functional and versatile. It´s the only video editor I know with a customizable interface, for example. However, it´s intended solely for use on the DV-platform. By my knowledge it´s not even possible to edit some stuff in DV and export it as Mpeg2 from within the ExpressDV. Discreet´s (formerly Terran) Media Cleaner EZ is included in the package for converting the output video to Mpeg2 or streaming media.

landrover

[Jerry Jones]

In my personal opinion, Avid's day has come and gone.

The learning curve on their editors is so much higher than it is on ULEAD MediaStudio Pro on the PC, for example.

Or Final Cut Pro on the Mac.

I might choose to use Avid if I were in a very, very large, corporate multi-user work situation.

On the other hand, even in that circumstance I have a hard time thinking of what I could do with Avid that I could not do faster and easier with ULEAD MediaStudio.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Fred H]

Thanks for the replies.
It was really interesting to read your comments about Avid Xpress.
They confirmed that it is a very complex toy, not for amateurs.
When I started to edit video, with my first (and actually) video card, I tried the attached Avid Cinema on the Matrox’s CD, but never liked it.
It was not my intention to go with Avid Xpress, instead of the trusty MSP 6.5, not even parallel with it, but my thought was to play a while with it, to convince myself that I can handle almost any video editor… and I’ve just had a possibility to try AX 3.0 now.
It is always funny to try and play with new porgies, just for curiosity, but I realized that it was a wasting of time with A X.
Now it is confirmed, at least, what JJ said about the high learning curve on AX.
For a “low-activity” video amateur, like me, the MSP 6.5 is more than enough, and I am very glad with it.

Regards
Fred H