Media Composer 2018.4 Released and FAQ
Media Composer v2018.4 was released today, Saturday, March 7th, 2018. We launch this at Avid Connect 2018 to the public and it will be available in My Avid, AppMan and the Download Center (login and password required).
Media Composer | Ultimate: This product will be available for purchase on the Avid Webstore and through our channel partners starting Saturday April 7, 2018.
Exciting New Price Offerings: Media Composer will be available for $19.99/month (annual commitment) and Media Composer | Ultimate will be available for $49.99/month (annual commitment).
Installers: There are Media Composer Mac and Win Full Installers.
FAQ: The Media Composer Product family FAQ is available on the Knowledge Base.
What’s New”: The following improvements have been made to Media Composer v2018.4.
Support for latest iMac Pro – Media Composer now supports the latest Apple iMac Pro. Note that systems using NEXIS will require the 18.3 client.
Perform Insert Edit to an Export File - With this release you can perform a file-based insert edit to an already exported sequence. Currently this supports XAVC-I material only, but more codecs will be added.
Generating iXML Metadata When Creating WAV Media - WAV media generated using Audio Export, as well as managed media in OMF (Wave) format, will include iXML metadata.
Timeline Clip Notes Window Representative Frame - You can now display a representative frame in the Timeline Clip Notes window.
Timeline Clip Notes Quick Find - You can search for text in the Timeline Clip Notes window.
Customizing Timeline Views - You have more control when customizing Timeline Views.
Setting Pre-roll for ScriptSync and PhraseFind - You can enter a pre-roll value when searching in the Find Window and the Script Window.
Adjusting Font and Font Size in the Timeline Clip Notes Window - You can change the font and font size in the Timeline Clip Notes Windows.
New Script Lock Icons - New script lock icons help you when working in a shared script.
Color Adapters Listed in the Effect Editor - Color adapters are now listed in the Effect Editor.
Updates to the Marker Window. - A number of updates have been included with the Markers Window.
Run Length Encoding for Alpha - You to choose to import an alpha channel as either Uncompressed or as Run Length Endcoded (RLE).
What’s fixed: The following issues have been fixed in Media Composer v2018.4.
Bug Number: MCCET-2320. In some instances, the Script Bin did not get saved with Auto-save.
Bug Number: MCCET-2285. If Effects mode was enabled, adjusting frames using keypad did not display the text box with the entered numbers inside Source/Record window.
Bug Number: MCCET-2317. When importing monophonic files in the Source Browser, they imported as multiple master clips rather than one master clip.
Bug Number: MCCET-2320. The Audio time-code rate in the Link Settings Link Options did not work when using BWAV Files (BWF).
Bug Number: MCCET-2244. (Mac) The editing application would intermittently freeze when entering Trim mode.
Bug Number: MCCET-2338. When Dupe detection for video was activated, the same clips had different color even though they were duplicates.
Bug Number: MCCET-2231. Dupe detection was not working properly on clips that had Spatial adapters.
Bug Number: MCCET-2224. In some instances, you could not resize the Tool palette.
Bug Number: MCCET-2323. Audio files linked with the WaveAiff plug-in did not have the correct timecode.
Bug Number: MCCET-2326. Cyrillic characters displayed as ??? in the Timeline Clip Notes window.
Bug Number: MCCET-2361. (Mac) When in an Interplay environment, you might have experienced a crash when exiting the editing application.
Limitations: The following are known limitation in Media Composer v2018.4.
Bug Number: MCDEV-9011. Intermittently, when working with the XDCAM Nablet Plug-in, you might see “Failed to get the sample position from the AMA Plug-in” errors if you have waveforms enabled in the Timeline.
Bug Number: MCDEV-8037. If you start a Long GOP capture on an AirSpeed system with a data track and without specifying a duration (a “crash record”), send to playback from Assist or Media Composer of a sequence using this in-progress clip might fail with the status of Canceled when TMF export should begin. Workaround: Specify a duration for the capture, turn off ancillary data for the capture, or use the STP Encode service.
Bug Number: COGS-2560. While working in the Script Window, text operations (cut/copy/paste/delete/editing) can only be done in edit mode. See “Editing a Script” in the Help.
Bug Number: MCDEV-5650. When working with Panasonic LongG media, you might receive an “SFPlayConsumer Timeout” error if audio waveforms are enabled. Workaround: Turn off audio waveforms.
Bug Number: MCDEV-5385. Multicam editing with Panasonic LongG media is not supported with this release.
Bug Number: MCDEV-5384. Currently, when working with LongG media, you might see dropped frames when editing 4 streams. This might occur when playing from a single stream to multiple streams (and from multiple streams back to a single stream). The dropped frames usually display around the edit point (transition to a different stream).
Important Notes:
1. NVIDIA Driver: The editing application supports Nvidia Driver v390.77. Avid recommends that if you are on a Windows 7 system and working with the v390.77 Nvidia driver, you should enable desktop composition. See this article for details: http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/how_to/Enable-Desktop-Composition-in-Windows-7
2. Interplay: Media Composer v8.7 and higher requires Avid Interplay client v3.7 and higher.
3. Upgrading to Mac OS v10.11.x: (Mac) If you upgrade to Mac OS 10.11.x, you must uninstall Media Composer. Reinstall Media Composer after you perform the OS upgrade. If you use Avid Artist DNxIO, you must also uninstall the Desktop Video software and reinstall it after the OS upgrade.
4. Dongle not Recognized on High Sierra (OS 10.13.x) - in some instances after upgrading to High Sierra, the Avid dongle is not recognized by the Mac so upgrading through AppMan is not possible. In order to update the dongle for use with High Sierra, please read this Knowledge Base article.
5. System Drive and High Sierra - With the release of Mac OS v10.13.x (High Sierra), Media Composer cannot write (i.e. capture, import, render) to the system drive. Workaround: You can partition the Mac drive and choose the partition or an external drive when selecting drives in the Media Creation Settings.
AvidBlog: Wim has put together a lot of articles that highlight the new offerings for Avid. This will “Go Live” Saturday during the April 7, 2018 Connect Event. Specific to the Media Composer product family are:
How customers will obtain the April Media Composer v2018.4 Update: The latest update to Media Composer and Media Composer | First will be made available on Saturday, April 7, 2018.
1. Customers who have already installed the latest version of Media Composer will be notified of the availability of the upgrade via their Application Manager. The Apps tab also provides a link to download and install the update when desired.
2. New customers who purchase Media Composer will receive the update in their MyAvid Master Account.
3. New customers who purchase Media Composer | Ultimate will receive the Software in their MyAvid Master Account. Note: They will NOT have to activate the options (ScriptSync, PhraseFind, Symphony and NewsCutter) separately – they will be automatically enabled with the activation of Media Composer | Ultimate. They will need to install the language packs.
4. Customers on current Update & Support plans can download the Media Composer 2018.4 update either from their Avid Master Account or the Avid Download Center (login and password required.)
5. Customers NOT on a current Update & Support contract must purchase either a new Media Composer Subscription or Perpetual license to receive this update. See note above on new monthly price offerings for Media Composer and Media Composer | Ultimate.
Reminder: This release of Media Composer requires an active Update & Support plan or a new license. Please remind customers of this before suggesting they install this update.
Questions, let me know
Marianna