Hands On Review of Avid Media Composer 8.5

Avid recently released a pretty big update to Media Composer - version 85. It's got a bunch of new features including High Dynamic Range (HDR) support, 64 Audio tracks, and official support for Windows 10 and Mac OSX 10.11 (El Capitan) and more. If you are a subscriber to Media Composer, or you have a current annual support plan you can log into your Avid.com user account and download it.

Cinema 5D by Thomas Price Avid Media Composer 8.5 was released not too long back and brought with it quite a few nice features, including HDR support, an overhauled menu, improved drag and drop within the timeline and more. This update seems aimed at improving workflow while simplifying the interface—both welcome additions by any Avid editor’s standards.

Avid Media Composer 8.5 Installation Issues

Before I begin looking at the features that 8.5 has delivered, it’s probably worth noting that a few people have had difficulty with downloading the update through the Application Manager. If you’re one of those people, make sure you’re using the most recent version of Avid App Manager—if your manager is up to date and it still doesn’t work, a reinstall may be the solution (or you can go old school and install 8.5 manually). With that out of the way, it’s time for a quick look at what Media Composer 8.5 brings to the table.

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Support

Avid have jumped on the HDR wagon. That’s right. Media Composer users now have color spaces for HDR available for Dolby Vision, Sony S-Log3, BBC/NHK, and ACES profiles! This provides support for higher ranges of video signal, enabling automatic transformations dependent on the selected color track for a given project.

High-Visibility Timeline Editing

The timeline has been fired into the modern era, with clips remaining visible until they are dragged—at which point, they turn transparent so that you’ll be able to keep tabs on the overall layout of your timeline. Furthermore, if you have waveforms turned on, they’ll remain visible to ensure that clips can be lined up easier. read more...