Avid Media Composer and Film Composer Release 10.5 Release

Special Notes

This section contains important information about system-level changes that affect the way your Avid software and hardware operate.

Warning Regarding Your Application Key

The application key, commonly referred to as a dongle, allows your

Avid application to operate. Protect your application key from loss or theft; your Avid system cannot function without it, and acquiring a new key from Avid involves a fee.

For information about installing the application key, see the Avid

Composer Products Setup Guide for the Macintosh Operating System.

About the Two-Button Mouse

Your Avid system ships with a two-button USB mouse. This release does not support the right mouse button.

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Only Macally software drivers Version 3.0 or later support shuttling and scrubbing with the mouse.

USB Mouse Not Responding

If your Avid system is not used for a period of time (approximately

1 hour), the mouse might not respond when you move it. If this happens, disconnect the mouse cable from the keyboard and then reconnect it. n

You can perform this procedure with the Avid application open and the

Macintosh system turned on.

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MediaDock LVD

In its default configuration, the MediaDock™ LVD with MediaDock

160/LVD shuttle packs must run alone on the Ultra 160 LVD SCSI controller board SCSI bus. If you connect a standard MediaDock LVD to an Ultra 160 LVD SCSI controller board and populate the chassis with any MediaDock 160/LVD shuttle packs, do not daisy chain the

MediaDock LVD with any other SCSI devices. If your configuration requires daisy chaining under these conditions, you must order and install the Avid MediaDock SCSI Repeater Module

(PN 0010-04633-01). This limitation does not exist if you are using the

UL2D LVD SCSI controller board.

Optimize for Batch Speed Option

When you select the Optimize for Batch Speed option in the Batch tab of the Digitize Settings dialog box, the system speeds up batch digitizing by allowing the deck to continue to roll forward between adjoining clips. For more information, see the input and output guide for your Avid system or the Help.

For this release, this option digitizes without preroll only if the tracks to be digitized for each clip are the same. For example, if one clip has a video track only, and the other has a video track and two audio tracks, and the system is set up to digitize both audio and video tracks, the system must preroll between them. However, if the system is set up to digitize only video (that is, only the track selector for video is on, the selectors for audio are off, and the “digitize tracks selected” setting is on), the system can digitize without prerolling for the second clip.

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Using Help

The Help system for this release requires Internet Explorer Version 4.5 or later. Avid recommends using Internet Explorer Version 5.0.

The Help system automatically starts through Internet Explorer. If

Internet Explorer is not on your system, a message warns you that using a different browser might cause system problems.

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If there is not enough free memory on your Macintosh system, the search function of Help might not work. See

“Built-in RAM” on page 10

and

“Changing the Memory Allocated to the Application” on page 13

.

For information on using Help, click the Using Help button in the

Help browser window.

AVX Plug-ins and Memory

Multiple AVX plug-ins that you have applied to a sequence are now kept resident in memory at the same time. When you close a bin containing the sequence, the plug-ins are also closed, freeing the memory. If you find your Avid system running out of memory and you are using many plug-ins:

1. Choose Console from the Tools menu.

2. Type the command

closeallavxplugins

in the Console window.

3. Press Return.

This command closes all currently opened plug-ins. They will automatically open again when needed.

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MultiCamera Edit Mode Playback

If you notice frames are dropping during playback in MultiCamera edit mode, decrease the size of the Composer window until playback becomes smooth.

Importing QuickTime Files Created with an Avid Codec

If you are importing a QuickTime file created with an Avid codec, and the file’s resolution does not match the current import setting, a dialog box appears by default. This dialog box asks which resolution you want to choose, and to which files you want to apply your choice.

Make your choices, and click OK to continue with the import.

You can choose how to import these files in the OMFI tab of the Import

Settings dialog box. The default choice is “Ask me to set the resolution for each file that is different from the current import resolution setting.”

Recording with a TAO Media Systems Device

Avid Media Composer and Film Composer allow you to load a new machine template and use the LPort422™ to control devices that use the Control-L protocol, including many DV and Hi8

™

camcorders and

VCRs.

The machine template for use with the LPort442 has not been fully tested at this time and is not supported by Avid.

For more information on the LPort422, see the TAO Media Systems

Web site: http://www.taosys.com

To acquire the latest machine template for use with the device, contact

Avid Customer Support.

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Fibre Channel Configurations

If your Avid system is configured with a Fibre Channel board and the

Avid Fibre Channel driver is enabled, make sure:

• There are drives connected to the Fibre Channel board and they are turned on.

• The connection is on for Avid Unity MediaNet configurations.

The Fibre Channel driver searches for drives. If none are connected to the Fibre Channel board or if the Avid Unity MediaNet connection is off, the performance of Media Composer or Film Composer is affected.

Disable the Fibre Channel driver if no drives are connected to the Fibre

Channel board or if the Avid Unity MediaNet connection is off:

1. Quit Media Composer or Film Composer.

2. Choose Extensions Manager from the Control Panels in the Apple menu.

The Extensions Manager window opens.

3. Click Duplicate Set to Duplicate the current set of extensions.

4. Type a name in the “Name duplicate set” text box.

5. Deselect Avid Fibre Channel Driver on the duplicated set of extensions.

6. Restart the Macintosh.

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For information on striping Fibre Channel drives, see

Knowledge Center for Information” on page 7

.

“Accessing the

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Using FilmScribe or EDL Manager

If your Avid system includes FilmScribe or EDL Manager, and your projects contain complex sequences or large bins, you might need to increase the minimum memory size for FilmScribe or EDL Manager.

For information about changing the memory size, see

“Changing the

Memory Allocated to the Application” on page 13

.

Media Cleaner EZ, Media Cleaner Pro, and Cleaner 5.0

Your Avid system ships with Terran’s Media Cleaner EZ. This release supports the following versions of Terran products:

• Media Cleaner EZ 4.0

• Media Cleaner Pro 4.0

• Cleaner 5.0

New File Name Extension for PICT Files

The default file name extension for PICT files has changed from .pic to

.pct for exporting PICT files to third-party applications that require the

.pct file name extension.

Setting Up the Edit Monitor

Make sure the color depth for the Edit monitor is set to Millions. For a procedure on setting up the Edit monitor, see the Avid Composer

Products Setup Guide for the Macintosh Operating System.

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