Avid DS Review
- Details of your nearest reseller can be found through the Avid website for pricing details
- Full turnkey solution for high end digital video editing
- Integrated hardware/software solution for top quality HD video editing
- Real time uncompressed HD editing with visual effects
- Sophisticated paint, compositing and effects tools built into the editing and finishing interface
- Powerful quad core HP workstation with 8Gb RAM
- Integrates seamlessly with other Avid products
- Advanced and powerful visual effects engine
- Support for remote processing on multiple CPUs
- Integrated image stabilization tools
- Motion tracking functionality
- Avid DNxHD engineered to maintain mastering-quality images while consuming a fraction of the bandwidth of uncompressed HD
- Dedicated support and training programs available
- Trial version available
- Avid DS is only available as a combined hardware and software solution
Avid DS is a high quality video production solution really only suitable for commercial use due to its eye watering price tag. It is sold only as a combined hardware and software solution so that the whole system can take advantage of the full processing power. If you are not a professional producer and would like software to run on your home computer check out some of the other products we have reviewed in this category.
The most attractive feature of Avid DS is its ability to edit HD footage and add effects in real time. Software only products still struggle to do this and a lot of time can be wasted waiting for effects to render. Avid DS delivers 2 streams of uncompressed HD footage or 8 streams of uncompressed SD footage with real time editing functionality.
Avid DS also provides advanced motion tracking and image stabilization tools for finishing a production. These can be used to correct shaky camera footage and merge real and synthesized elements on the screen. They are some of the most advanced in the industry and are far superior to the types of tools available in a software only solution.
One of the most useful features for time constrained professionals is the ability to use the Avid DS remote processing feature to do the rendering of effects in the background on a remote system. This can be slightly complicated to set up but offers huge advantages over rendering and editing on the same system. For the best performance this can be combined with Avid DNxHD encoding which is engineered to maintain mastering quality images over multiple generations while consuming a fraction of the bandwidth of uncompressed HD footage.
Avid DS is a very high end solution and not at all suitable for the home user. However, it is an extremely powerful system that, when used in the correct setting, can have a huge performance benefit in the production workflow. For some more affordable software only solutions you can use at home take a look at some of the products in our top ten list.
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