Avid Media Composer 5.5 Advanced Editing Software Review

Videomaker by Dan Bruns

With its top-of-the-line media management tools, generous suite of high-end software, and impeccable history, the Avid Media Composer 5.5 suite is perfect for any editor who is looking to take their editing to the next level.

Ever since introducing Media Composer back in 1989, Avid has claimed a large section of the video editing market by making its editing software a standard for others to live up to. This was due not only to Avid's early foray into the world of nonlinear editing, but as a direct result of its strong media management support and useful editing tools. However, with so many editing programs on the market today, Avid has more pressure than ever to make every software update count. With the release of version 5.5 of its popular Media Encoder editing software, Avid is clearly looking to do just that.

What's New

The answer is quite a bit... for a point five update that is. In keeping with its recent policy of third party hardware support, Avid has added the ability to capture, monitor, and output with AJA Io Express in Media Composer. It has also added the HDCAM SR Lite codec to its popular Avid Media Access tool, more support for control surfaces from their recent acquisition of the Euphonix company, along with better search capabilities with the exciting new PhraseFind tool, better integration with their extremely successful Pro Tools audio software, and the ability to tweak transitions with the Smart Tool feature. With these new tools and updates, Avid is showing that it has no intention of giving up its highly respected spot in the editing world.

Hardware Support

When Avid announced support for the Matrox MXO2 Mini at NAB 2010, it literally sent shockwaves through the editing world. Up until that point, the only way to increase the quality of video capture and to monitor high quality footage in real-time was with their specialized Nitris DX and Mojo DX hardware which could cost a pretty penny. With the support of the MXO2 Mini, Avid was signaling its intention to give its editors more cost effective options for capturing and monitoring video, putting Avid editing back into the hands of the smaller shops. read more...