Now is the time for Avid Media Composer 7 from Videoguys.com!

ATTN APPLE Final Cut Pro users:
NOW is the TIME to learn
Avid Media Composer 7

Are you still editing on FCP7? Are you still wasting hours upon hours logging & transferring or MPEG Stream clipping your file based HD footage into HD before you can even start editing? Still making due with clunky work-arounds that allow you to struggle through your projects, without any of the benefits of today's more efficient tapeless workflows?

While FCP7 is a dear old friend, it's time to realize that while it may have been a great choice a few years ago, it's time has come and gone. The unfortunate reality is that FCP7 can't tap into the power and performance of today's iMacs (or Mac Mini), let alone the brand new Mac Pro's. How much longer can you keep holding your business and your creativity back by sticking with FCP7? Now is the Time to learn Avid Media Composer and become an Avid editor.

Whether you’ve used Avid before or if you’ve just always been a Final Cut editor making the move to Media Composer 7 is not as hard as you think. You are not “starting over” by purchasing Media Composer 7. Your skills, workflows, media, and even sequences are directly translatable to the MC7 environment, making the move the fast and easy. This is the whole underpinning of the Get Started Fast with Avid for Final Cut Pro 7 Editors tutorial series mentioned in this guide.

You can download a FREE Trial of the Media Composer 7 software direct from Avid. Sign-up here and try the software free for 30 days.

Avid invented non linear editing

Not only did Avid invent non linear editing over 25 years ago, they remain the only company that is 100% focused on the needs of video and audio editors. When you watch a Hollywood movie; or a television drama, sitcom or reality show; or a documentary or news report - the odds are it was edited by an editor using Avid Media Composer. Over 85% of what you watch at home or in the movie theater was cut on Avid. As a result, Avid sets a standard for workflow efficiency and stability that must meet the rigors of broadcasters and Hollywood studios. Did you know that all of movies nominated for an Oscar last year used Avid products as an integral part of their post- production workflows? They did and I'm sure it will be the same this year as well. This means that when you edit with Avid Media Composer you too get that same level of professional performance and rock solid stability. No other NLE comes close to providing the tools and workgroup collaboration that Media Composer does.

Avid is Open and works great with 3rd party hardware and software

One of the misconceptions we still hear about Avid is that it doesn't work well with others and requires special expensive hardware or plug-ins. While this may have been true a few years ago it is no longer the case at all.

• You can use your old reliable AJA Kona or Black Magic I/O card or Matrox MXO2 or Bluefish444 hardware. If you need Thunderbolt you can put any of these cards in a 3rd party Thunderbolt chassis like those offered from Sonnet, Magma, mLogic or OWC. Or you can invest in a new Thunderbolt I/O device like the AJA IoXT.
  
  
• Avid AMA (Avid Media Access) allows you to use native HD files. Panasonic P2, Sony XD Cam, AVCHD & DSLR files can just be dragged and dropped into your Avid bins and sequences. Avid AMA supports ProRes files, so you can just bring in your existing files into Avid and start editing them immediately. DNxHD is Avid's virtually lossless DNxHD CODEC. Only Avid gives you the flexibility to use the CODECs you decide work best for you, for each project.
  
  
• Avid Media Composer runs great on an iMac, Mac Book Pro or even a Mac Mini. Avid is in the process of testing and certifying the sexy new Mac Pros. They've found a couple of issues that they are working on and I'm confident we'll be seeing a new dot release soon that will give full support for the new Mac Pros. Of course Avid also works great on Windows based machines, and you can configure your own following our DIY10 guide or check out one of our pre-configured HP z420/620/820 workstations. Follow this link for our recommended Avid Media Composer computer configurations.
  
  
• Avid gives you the option of using a dongle or system activation. With the dongle you can install Media Composer on as many machines as you like, but it will only run when the dongle is attached. You'll pay a premium of around $300 for the dongle, but for many folks it is worth it. If you choose to go with software activation, you can still install MC7 on more than one machine. As an example your Mac Pro and Mac Book Pro. You will need to de-activate it from one machine before you can activate it and run it on the other. This requires internet access and takes less than 5 minutes. Or even easier, purchase multiple licenses from Videoguys so you don’t have to do the activation shuffle” ;)
  
  
• Avid supports attached or shared storage, better than any other NLE. Period. End of discussion. If you use or plan on using shared storage in the future, nothing, I mean nothing, comes close to Avid. Just like they invented Non Linear Editing, they are the leaders in shared storage for video editing. Avid ISIS is in a league of its own for shared storage. But Avid also knows that not every company needs or can afford ISIS storage. Avid also supports shared storage solutions from EditShare, Promax, SmallTree and others.
  
  Avid editors can also use external Thunderbolt or USB3 storage solutions from G-Tech, Promise, CineRAID, ProAvio and others.
  
  For best results we recommend professional editors use a RAID5 configuration which gives you outstanding throughput and redundancy. That way you are protected - if a drive fails you will not lose any data and you can keep on editing!
  
  
• As a Final Cut editor we know that you also have a host of software plug-ins that you have used over the years to make Final Cut Pro work better for you. Most of these same plug-in makers also make versions for Avid. If you go to their website they will show you if your plug-in will run on Avid and many will offer you a free or low cost crossgrade to their Avid versions. Avid has many tools integrated into it for image stabilization, color correction, keying, compositing, creating mattes, and audio to name just a few.
  
  Avid Media Composer also comes with several very powerful and useful plug-ins.
  • Sorenson Squeeze standard the industries best encoding software. For a limited time Avid editors can upgrade to Sorenson Squeeze Pro 9 with DNxHD support for just $149!
  • Avid FX, a full-featured, professional-level compositing, animation, and text generation tool made by Boris FX that can be accessed directly on your Avid timeline.
  • Avid DVD, a windows only DVD & Blu-Ray authoring tool.

Avid Media Management

One thing that has always set Avid apart from ALL other NLEs is their media management. We know that it's not easy to keep track of all your video. If you are an independent video producer, event cinematographer or indie filmmaker you've got gigabytes video files to work with for each project. You have projects that have hours and hours of footage, from multiple cameras in a myriad of different formats. Media Composer is optimized for today's' HD file based workflows. Not only can Media Composer handle all of these flavors of HD, either natively via AMA (Avid Media Access) plug-ins or using DNxHD, but you get the tools you need to organize and track it all. You can add all kinds of metadata so that organizing, tracking, sorting and finding the clips you want, when you need them, is simple and easy. Media management is in Avid's DNA. You can rest assured that if television networks and Hollywood studios can depend on Avid media management with their huge networked ISIS installations, you can too. Now is the Time to let Avid manage your media.

Avid FrameFlex for 4K workflows.

Today we have the ability to inexpensively shoot 4K footage. I can't believe how quickly the industry has delivered new cameras that shoot 4K, with new ones coming out every few months. Unfortunately there really isn't any way to deliver 4K content to America's living rooms. While Netfilx has announced that their original programming will be delivered in 4K, it is just a small handful or programs. For the foreseeable future you will be limited to delivering HD footage to your customers. Avid thought about this dilemma, and came up with a really cool solution called FrameFlex. FrameFlex allows you to import and edit with your 4K footage, while delivering in HD. Not only is this a clever solution, it gives you total control over what part of the 4K image you want to use for your finished production. FrameFlex is optimized to ensure that you get the very highest picture quality with a an efficient workflow to produce HD projects from 4K footage. Check out this cool tutorial on FrameFlex here and learn more about how FrameFlex saves you time. Time is money. Now is the Time to move to Avid.

Avid Symphony Option for even more features and performance!

The Avid Symphony option costs $1,499 and adds Universal Mastering and Secondary Color Correction, as well as Boris Continuum Complete AVX 8 (BCC8) to the editors Toolkit. BCC8 alone is a $2000 plug-in! Combine that to Media Composer and it means that you'll get $4500 worth of software for $2500 (Videoguys is offering Media Composer 7 with Symphony Option for $1,999 bundle price!) BCC is such an integral part of many Avid editor's workflows. Once you learn it, you will find you are using BCC in just about every project you work on, because it gives editors a real reason to stay in their NLE, and not be constantly exporting to AE. More time in the NLE means projects get done faster. Time is money. Media Composer 7 with Symphony option save you time!

Join the Avid Community

One of the strengths of Avid is their loyal and helpful customer community. This is the place where Avid editors of every level come to share their experiences and get help from others. Each forum is moderated by several people, from all over the world, who will help you find the answers and information you need. You'll also find expert users and professional Avid editors sharing their own tips and tricks and secrets. You won't find a stronger community of video editors anywhere else on the internet.

In addition to the Avid customer forums, you'll find post production experts on Avid Blogs, which will keep you informed of the latest Avid offerings and technical updates. Avid has also produced a series of videos over the years featuring some of the most respected editors in Hollywood sharing their workflow stories on their projects. Many of which have been nominated for Oscars & Emmy's and several which have won. Now is the Time to join the community of Avid Editors.

Great Tutorial Series to Learn Avid

Our good friend Kevin P McAuliffe has been creating and posting a bunch of videos on Avid Blogs Post Production called Get Started Fast with Avid. When he posted on the Avid Editors of Facebook Group that he was looking for ideas for new tutorials. I jumped in and requested a series aimed directly at FCP7 editors. To make upgrading to MC7 easier, faster and less threatening. Please check out the first two videos in the series. They are each 30 minutes long, and they will give you a nice overview of the Avid interface, and help you see that upgrading to Avid isn't going to be as difficult as you may have imagined. Now is the Time to Learn Avid.

Watching the videos will be helpful, but nothing is better than actually giving the software a try. Here is the link to the Avid 30 day trial. I urge you to see for yourself how powerful and efficient Media Composer is. Not just for professional editors and broadcasters, but for independent film makers, event cinematographers, corporate video producers and educators. If and when you decide you want to purchase it, just give us a call or order it online. We'll send you over the activation codes to turn your trial version into a full license, so that you will own it. Forever. Now is the Time to buy Avid Media Composer!

FCP editors save $50 with coupon FCP2MC on Avid Media Composer!

Videoguys is now offering an additional discount for FCP users who want to make the move to Avid. Use coupon FCP2MC and save $50 on your purchase of Media Composer! This coupon can not only be used on the full version of Media Composer 7, but also on any and all of our bundles that include it. So as an example we offer a special bundle of Media Composer 7 together with the Class On Demand Sapphire card for $975. You can use this coupon to get it for just $925!!

Note : This coupon does not apply to student or educational version or upgrades. Avid's already low price on these is a fantastic offer and is you qualify, you owe it to yourself to take advantage of them.

The Class on Demand Sapphire card is a $199 value. It gives you unlimited access for a full year to all of COD's on line training. So in addition to their in depth Avid titles, you can access any and all of their training for a full year!

You can also take advantage of our Media Composer bundles with G-tech storage, NewBlueFX plug-ins, Pioneer Blu-Ray burners and more! Now is the Time to Save $50 on Media Composer 7 or any of these bundles with coupon FCP2MC