The 7th installment of Avid's powerhouse NLE, Media Composer, is an impressive upgrade to previous versions. Not only is Media Composer considerably cheaper than it has ever been, but it also takes some cues from the competing NLE's, and adds some major time-saving features that make it a better fit into many of our editing workflows. Alex Walker, an immensely talented DP, has put together a quick video showing his favorite new features in Media Composer. Check out the video and see how MC7 can save you some time:


My favorite new feature in version 7 of Avid is definitely the ability to automate transcoding tasks, and then have those tasks run in the background while you continue to edit. In the past, if you wanted to transcode media inside of Avid, it would render the rest of the program useless while it was doing its thing. No longer. As long as your machine has the processing power to handle both the transcoding and running Avid, then you should experience a major boost in productivity.

Another significant upgrade to Media Composer 7 is with the functionality of the "Source Settings" panel. Not only have crucial settings been added for those who work natively with .R3D files inside of Avid, but for those who are working with flat log footage, it is now possible to apply various look up tables to your clips directly inside of Avid. Additionally, reframing your high-resolution footage is now much simpler with the Frame Flex tool. All of these changes are non-destructive.

You can check out the rest of the new features in Media Composer 7 on Avid's website.

What do you guys think? What are your favorite new features in Media Composer 7? What features would you like to see in future versions? Let us know in the comments!

Link: Four Minute Runthrough on Avid Media Composer and Avid Symphony -- Cinescopophilia