Avid Media Composer & Boris FX - The perfect match

Over the past few weeks I’ve found several great tutorials on using Avid & Boris FX together. Some of them have already been posted on PVC, some haven’t. I wanted to put them all together into one place. Media Composer ships with both Avid FX (a special Avid version of Boris Red) and Continuum Complete. When you put it together it makes for an extremely powerful compositing and FX solution.

Now that Boris has released Boris Continuum Complete 6 AVX for Avid, it seemed like the perfect time to post the links.

Using Avid FX or Boris FX Engine for Avid Media Composer
All retail versions of Avid Media Composer ship with a program called Avid FX. When you see Avid FX think Boris FX , that’s because it’s the same exact program. I’ll warn you, if you plan on regularly using the Avid FX plugin, you’ll want to make sure that you have a beefy machine with plenty of RAM. Avid FX is much more than a software plugin, it’s an entire compositing program. When it comes to building complex effects Avid FX is extremely useful. However, one issue you may run into is the amount

BCC Chroma Keying Workflow in Avid Media Composer
Achieving a convincing chroma key composite is more than just slapping in a background and keying a foreground. It requires the use of integration techniques to marry the image elements together to give the impression they were shot with the same camera at the same time. This five-part tutorial demonstrates how to build a chroma key composite using Boris Continuum Complete (BCC) AVX plug-ins inside Avid Media Composer. Compositing tips will be shared and you will see just how easy it is to nest and pass a matte to multiple BCC effects in your segment. The end result will be a seamless composite.

Boris FX – Rockin’ with BCC6
Boris FX is one of the most prolific producers of plug-in filters and compositing applications. Factor in all the host applications covered by the Boris products – like Boris Continuum Complete, plus the hosted and standalone versions of Boris Red, Blue, FX and Graffiti – and you can easily see how so much video is touched by this talented team of developers.

Tutorials for Continuum Complete @ Boris FX
Looking to improve your Boris skills? The tutorials below can can help you achieve your goals and improve your video effects projects.

• Overview of the BCC Glow, BCC Colorize Glow, and BCC Glow Alpha Edges filters
• Working with the Optical Stabilizer Filter
• Corner Pin Compositing Inside Avid
• Working with the BCC AVX Motion Key Filter
• Creating Precise Keys in Continuum Complete AVX
• Applying Multiple Filters to Avid Titles

There you go. A bunch of tutorials about using Boris FX and Avid. As an Avid editor, you owe it to yourself to take the time to get familiar with these great tools that are included in your Media Composer.

Gary

Now Shipping! Focus Enhancements FS-H200 Solid-State Direct To Edit Recorder

When I first heard the news from Focus about this new version of their Firestore technology, I was BLOWN AWAY! This was what so many of our customers had been asking for. All of the advantages of the FS-5 (light weight, small footprint, silent operation, long running times) combined with swappable solid state storage. Since HDV footage requires 13GB per our, you’ll get over an hours worth on a single 16GB card. Because of the demands of video, you will need the more expensive Type 1, UDMA, 266x minimum Compact Flash Cards. Today you can get 16GB for about $125, while 32GB will cost you $250. Of course these prices will tumble over time.

New FS model brings rugged, inexpensive Compact Flash media and QuickTime file formats to DV or HDV camcorders

The FS-H200 is the first portable Direct To Edit (“DTE”) recorder for use with DV or HDV cameras that features removable solid-state media allowing for easy swap-out of industry standard Compact Flash (“CF”) cards. Once recorded, user supplied CF cards can be easily mounted to both Windows and Mac systems either via USB 2.0 from the FS-H200 itself or via standard memory card readers for Direct To Edit workflow with popular NLE systems. Designed for use in the most extreme conditions including high temperatures (up to 50 degrees C / 122 degrees F), high altitudes, and extreme shock environments, the FS-H200 performance is outstanding.

“We have been frequently asked by our customers for an acquisition device that provided the DTE workflow they rely on together with the many advantages of solid-state media,” said Matt McEwen, director of product management for Focus Enhancements. “We believe that Compact Flash has now reached the required capacities, performance and low-cost that our customers are demanding to make this a viable choice for our award winning FS recorder family.”

Highlights of FS-H200:

- Support of popular DTE formats such as QuickTime and M2T for HDV and RawDV, AVI Type 1, AVI Type 2, Matrox AVI and Canopus AVI for DV
- Side located, removable Compact Flash slot that accepts standard Type 1, 266x Compact Flash Cards (currently available up to 32GB)
- Polymer dust cover for shock and moisture protection
- Record over 2.5 hours of 720p or 2.2 hours of 1080i HDV on a single 32GB card
- 6-pin FireWire interface to DV or HDV cameras
- Fast USB 2.0 interface to Mac or Windows based NLE systems
- Supports large file sizes with UDF disk format on CF cards
- Ultra compact design weighs only 12 oz and features silent fanless operation
- Color back-lit LCD for menu navigation and status
- Back-lit scroll wheel for easy menu navigation
- Removable 3-hour (record time) Li-Ion battery pack
- 12V power input and supplied AC adapter

for more info

Matrox MXO2 Mini Now Supports Cineform

Right after NAB I reached out to the folks at Matrox and Cineform urging them to work together. It’s a perfect combination. I am so excited that they were able to get this working so quickly. Still to come will be support for direct capture via HDMI or analog inputs of MXO2 Mini into Cineform CODEC. Down the road we hope to see both companies full product lines supported and working together.

Matrox MXO2 Mini Now Provides Inexpensive HDMI Monitoring for AVCHD Editing
with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and CineForm NeoScene

(Montréal, Canada—June 29, 2009) Matrox® Video Products Group today announced Matrox MXO2 Mini support for the popular CineForm NeoScene editing workflow that streamlines AVCHD editing with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 on the PC.

The Matrox MXO2 Mini I/O device provides inexpensive HDMI monitoring with 10-bit 4:2:2 color precision. It turns an HDMI screen into a professional-grade video monitor with Matrox’s unique color calibration tool. Controls for hue, chroma, contrast, brightness, and blue-only are provided. Users get accurate color representation so that an inexpensive HDMI monitor can be used even for color grading. Matrox MXO2 Mini even provides 1:1 pixel mapping on HDMI displays that support this feature so video will not be stretched and distorted by the monitor.

“CineForm users appreciate the high visual fidelity and realtime editing capability NeoScene brings to their AVCHD workflow but until now, they have not been able to enjoy full-screen previews of their work,” said Francesco Scartozzi, Matrox sales director. “Matrox MXO2 Mini provides an affordable, high-quality, video output solution that greatly improves the AVCHD editing experience.”

“The AVCHD camera format is designed for recording, not editing, but now with a few simple steps editors can benefit from professional realtime editing performance,” said David Taylor, CineForm co-founder and CEO. With NeoScene, users can easily convert difficult-to-edit AVCHD files into CineForm’s professional 10-bit Wavelet compression format for faster editing performance, plus conversion to 24p (24 progressive frames) for users who desire a cinematic presentation. We’re excited about our collaboration with Matrox because of the enhanced editing experience that results; users can now drop their CineForm content on a CS4 timeline using a Matrox project preset and enjoy realtime playout through MXO2 to their preferred monitor or television.

Key features of Matrox MXO2 Mini

  * Works with Mac and PC, laptops and desktops
  * Small, lightweight, external box that’s easily connected to cameras and monitors
  * Capture high definition video via HDMI or analog component; NTSC and PAL via analog component, S-Video, or composite
  * Playback high definition video via HDMI and analog component; NTSC and PAL via HDMI and analog component or HDMI and S-Video and composite
  * Output HD and SD video simultaneously
  * Turns an HDMI screen into a professional-grade video monitor with color calibration tools including blue-only
  * High-quality 10-bit hardware scaling engine for realtime upscaling, downscaling, and cross conversion on capture and playback
  * Stereo RCA and up to 8 channels of HDMI audio input and output
  * 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound monitoring on the HDMI output
  * Easily edit AVCHD footage by capturing into an edit-friendly compressed or uncompressed format
  * Works with leading applications including Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Photoshop, and many more
  * Also available with Matrox MAX™ technology for faster than realtime H.264 encoding
  * Three-year hardware warranty and complimentary telephone support

For more info

H.264 encoding accelerator - Matrox MXO2 with MAX now shipping

Encoding your HD video to H.264 gives you the very best possible quality video on Blu-ray and Flash. Unfortunately H.264 encoding takes lots of time. How much time? Right now a fully loaded 8-core Mac Pro tower will take several hours to encode one hour of ProRes HD video to H.264 - with the Matrox MAX Technology it will take less then an hour! That’s right faster then real-time encoding - even on a slower Mac.

Montreal, Canada - June 15, 2009 — Matrox® Video Products Group today announced that versions of its popular I/O devices for the Mac (Matrox MXO2, Matrox MXO2 Rack, and Matrox MXO2 Mini), are now available with Matrox MAX technology1 for faster than realtime high definition H.264 file creation. The unique Matrox MAX technology uses a dedicated hardware processor to accelerate the creation of H.264 files for Blu-ray, the web, and mobile devices. By using specialized hardware acceleration, jobs are finished with amazing speed2 and system resources are liberated for other tasks. Quality and flexibility are ensured through direct integration with Apple Compressor on the Mac. As an added benefit, the Matrox MAX technology allows direct export to higher-quality H.264 Blu-ray compliant files from Compressor.

“Content creators today need to deliver material in resolutions ranging from HD to iPod and H.264 has become their codec of choice due to its high-quality and low bandwidth requirement,” said Wayne Andrews, Matrox product manager. “By incorporating Matrox MAX technology into our popular MXO2 devices, we are providing our customers with the extra productivity boost they need to profit from today’s most popular workflows on laptops as well as towers.”
Key features of Matrox MAX Technology

  * Faster than realtime creation of H.264 files, for resolutions ranging from iPod to HD, at bitrates up to 50 Mbps
  * A specialized, dedicated hardware processor liberates system resources for other tasks
  * Accelerated encoding for Blu-ray, PS3, Apple TV, YouTube, Flash, web formats, and mobile devices including iPhone and iPod from various video sources including 2K files
  * Direct integration with Apple Compressor3 on the Mac to simplify workflow
  * Creation of Blu-ray H.264 files that can be authored in Adobe Encore CS4 and Roxio Toast 10 then burned without re-encoding
  * Support for Apple Qmaster to take advantage of multiple systems with a Matrox MAX processing engine for distributed encoding across a network
  * Works with Intel-based MacBook Pros, Mac Pros, and Apple Xserve systems

Price and availability
The Matrox MXO2 product line is available through a worldwide network of authorized dealers. Matrox MXO2 Mini with the MAX option is priced at $849 US (£644, €758). Matrox MXO2 with the MAX option is priced at $1,995 US (£1,495, €1,695). Matrox MXO2 Rack with the MAX option is priced at $2,395 US (£1,749, €1,995) not including local taxes.

Blu-ray burning bundle for Mac

Question: How do I burn Blu-Ray discs on a Mac

Answer: This has been one of the most frustrating issues for Mac editors. In fact a couple of petitions have started up on the web urging Apple to add Blu-ray support with the next version of Final Cut Studio. Unfortunately no one really knows when FCS3 is coming or what new features will be in it. 

We’ve been listening to these complaints, listening to our customers editing HD video on a Mac, and listening to our manufacturer’s and I’m happy to say that we’ve put together a bundle that works great and is available TODAY! 

Now, you may continue editing with Apple Final Cut Studio 2 and burn your final production to Blu-ray disc using Roxio’s Toast 10 Titanium Pro software. You’ll also need to add a Blu-ray disc burner to your Mac like the Pioneer BDR-203. There are solutions and cables available to install the Blu-ray disc burner in a Mac Pro or you can take the easier route like we did in our exclusive Videoguys Mega Bundle and install the drive in an external housing that simply connects to an eSATA or USB2 port. Either solution will work great and give you the ability to burn your high-definition discs.

With this solution you can edit your video on your Mac and burn it on Blu-ray. It’s not high end authoring and it doesn’t have all the Blu-ray goodies, but it allows you to deliver your HD content to your HD customer. All for under $400.

Check out Allan’s review on PVC here.

Videoguys.com Introduces “Just the FAQs” to the Pro Video Coalition Community

Videoguys.com is a family owned and operated business that has proudly served videographers and producers like you for the past 25 years. For three generations, we have been shooting footage of our growing families and have spent countless hours editing. We actually install and use the equipment we sell and we love to share our experience and expertise with you.

Over the years we’ve heard just about every question that might be asked about how to edit and produce great looking videos and about the products we use. And, as you might guess, there are some questions that get asked a lot! The combination of our own experiences and our relationships with the top product designers from Avid, Adobe, Apple, Matrox, G-Tech, Focus and others make us uniquely qualified to answer these questions – or at least know where to find the answers.<p>We hope you find these FAQs and other posts helpful and if you have any suggestions for questions you’d like answered please send us an e-mail to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Be sure to include PVC FAQs and your PVC member name in your e-mail. We’d be happy to help in these areas (and more):

 
• Video editing & production equipment and products
 
• Technology questions related to HD, DV, MPEG2, MPEG4, HDV, P2, DVCPro HD, XD Cam, AVCHD and more.
 
• Video delivery including Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, and multimedia video including video for the web, YouTube and iPods.
 
• System recommendations, storage requirements for post-production workstations and compatibility issues
   

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