Verified User in Broadcast Media

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

1/14/2016

"Steep Learning curve that will keep you in demand"

4/5

What do you like best about Media Composer?

I love how broadly media composer is used, Every news station I have worked at has used it to some degree. The tools and techniques Media Composer offers are reflected in many other NLE's. Sure there is a lot to learn, but once you learn it you will find yourself fine tuning great projects with ease. The bin system is easy to use and very simply laid out. It's focus on work flow makes it a must for a professional environment. there is a reason Avid has been an industry standard for so long. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Media Composer?

I find it has a pretty sparse library when it comes to supported file types, Often times videos are being converted before I can touch them in media Composer. The sheer control offered over projects can get really out of hand, and if you stray too far from your frequently used tools you'll soon find yourself in unknown territory. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Media Composer:

If you are a video professional who has never touched an Avid product before you are doing yourself a disservice and need to experience it first hand to understand why so many professionals rely on it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Media Composer solving and how is that benefiting you?

In a film and News environment Media Composer offers professional quality with little need for other programs. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Kevin Sandoval C.

Director

Entertainment

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

1/8/2016

"An Avid Editors Dream!"

3.5/5

What do you like best about Media Composer?

The feature set is more robust than other NLE software. Being the industry standard it's compatible with other elite industry standard software like Da Vinci Resolve and Pro Tools. There is a lot to be said about its ability in integrating various files from different projects. Being the industry standard for so many years is also makes Avid a great investment that will hold up the test of time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Media Composer?

It has pretty steep learning curve making it difficult to pick up. I really love this software any issues i've had have been resolved timely and efficiently. There are some limitations with importing footage and need to work with MXF files. Making it extremely inconvenient to work with. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Media Composer:

Getting some kind of training tutorial, book or training course is crucial when switching over to Avid. It really is a great strong program with a wide variety of applications but it will seem daunting at first. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Media Composer solving and how is that benefiting you?

There is a large amount gained from the team sharing options it provides. Makes moving our raw stock footage library in between projects is extremely easy. Being the industry standard makes this a very easy company investment to make. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Francis Andrew B.

Rental Equipment Services

Entertainment

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

1/8/2016

"Immensely Powerful"

5/5

What do you like best about Media Composer?

Media Composer is incredibly powerful for non-linear editing, the bin organization system is incredibly customize, and the ability to share bins between projects without having to re-import or re-transcode footage is a huge time saver for the frequent editor with large stock footage libraries. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Media Composer?

The learning curve on Media Composer is quite drastic. It requires a lot of time to figure out how Media Composer handles and organizes media files and how the menus and settings are sorted. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Media Composer:

Media Composer takes time to learn. If you are able to learn from another editor, or if you have a lynda.com account to learn how the software works then it will help you immensely when you switch over to AVID MC. There are also tons of books that will teach you how to improve your workflow, and will explain some of the more complicated MC elements in a way that you can understand. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Media Composer solving and how is that benefiting you?

Media Composer has allowed me to increase the professionalism of my post-production work, and it helps me when I am working with a team of professional post personnel. As an industry standard software, it works well with DaVinci Resolve for color and Pro Tools for sound. Round-trip workflows are easy to implement, and any AVID based editor can quickly jump onto my system and easily find the tools they need. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Keith R.

Junior Photographer

Retail

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

5/31/2016

"Artist"

3.5/5

What do you like best about Media Composer?

I think it does a good job at organizing clips into a sequence and I can easily teach others to use it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Media Composer?

I think that the user interface is a little challenging to use. It takes time to understand. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Media Composer:

I think the program could be more user friendly. Helpful tips on start up would be nice Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Media Composer solving and how is that benefiting you?

We use it for editing video at our company. I prefer it over premiere because of its wide range of tools Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Entertainment

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

1/27/2016

"An industry standard for a very good reason"

5/5

What do you like best about Media Composer?

AVID Media Composer is considered to be the standard for professional editing in film and television thanks to it's robust feature set. Media Composer features excellent organization options and easy to find places to store metadata for editors that 's very useful when working in groups. Media Composer is not tied down to one operating system, and is available for both Windows and Mac OSX, providing me cross-platform flexibility and support. It helps make it essential for a Stereo 3D workflow, as the majority of those tools are Windows-based. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Media Composer?

While it's a very powerful tool, it takes some time learning where each of it's tools are. It's color correction options are limited, and transcoding for an AVID Media Composer workflow will frontload the preparation time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Media Composer:

Figure out what kind of projects you are wanting to make. If they are even remotely edit intensive, you will want to strongly consider AVID Media Composer, especially if you are working in a Windows workflow. For those working in an OSX workflow on a project for the web, you may be better off using Final Cut Pro X, as it's organizational tools are in some ways superior to Media Composer, though it's video exporting formats and quality leaves much to be desired. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Media Composer solving and how is that benefiting you?

AVID Media Composer is a central part of making my freelance projects a reality. There are other products out there that can do an adequate job for video editing, but AVID Media Composer allows you to keep the vast majority of your workflow inside the one application. It also allows me to collaborate with other users easier than other solutions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Media Production

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

1/14/2016

"Avid Media Composer Review"

1/5

What do you like best about Media Composer?

I like the intricacy offered by Resolve. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Media Composer?

I dislike the user interface and lack of updates. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Media Composer:

Do not use Avid Media Composer. It is from my experience the outdated and prehistoric version of Premiere that doesn't want to update. It seems that in the industry I work in, everyone and their mother believes in the power and ancient ways of Avid. Most of the editors I meet use Avid presets and have a rigid Avid-mindset, for lack of a better term. They are unwilling to adapt or learn new ways of thought in post because of Avid. Maybe I'm just biased but I think Avid's interface has great potential but is unwilling to adapt to today's society. It's a workhorse that can't learn any new tricks. So if you like a sturdy companion Avid is your go to bet.

While I do understand differences in offline editors. I've worked my way around how to use Avid and am now fairly competent in how it works. But it's worked this way for as long as I've been alive. Adobe constantly pushes out updates and has the best customization possible. Avid not so much.

The last thing that bothers me about Avid is the way it imports and stores media. It is the only of the three major editing systems that locks its' media into a file format only compatible with selective software. Final Cut and Premiere both have a more 'sharing is caring' interface while Avid does not. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Media Composer solving and how is that benefiting you?

I'm solving most of our offline editing needs. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Entertainment

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

1/14/2016

"The Industry Standard"

2/5

What do you like best about Media Composer?

What Media Composer excels at is making global changes. For example, I once had an audio edit I did in Final Cut Pro 6. Every twenty frames I needed to remove the beep of a fire alarm. To do this in FCP, took hours, even creating hotkeys to speed the process. The same change would have been a few keystrokes within Media Composer. That sort of ability can make our break a deadline. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Media Composer?

I dislike how cludgy it is. There are system errors it gets that, if you trace them back, have occurred on and off for the last fifteen years. It's not an NLE that has kept pace with technological innovation. For as acclaimed as Media Composer is by the film industry, one would think it would get a facelift, but it maintains the same backward interface it's had since the late nineties. I've no doubt changes have been made under the hood, but what's on the surface isn't known for its ease of use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Media Composer:

Weigh what sort of content you are creative and whether or not this is the ideal NLE for it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Media Composer solving and how is that benefiting you?

I think it's still a great application for longer-form projects. What Media Composer is great at is database management. When you have a project that could be anywhere from one hundred minutes to over six hours, this is the NLE that you can depend on to reliable find and back up your data. Your chances of losing assets critical to your project are slim. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Broadcast Media

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

1/14/2016

"Avid Review"

4/5

What do you like best about Media Composer?

Great editing tool for both commercial and personal products. It's the industry standard. It works with both tape and tapeless formats and in multiple frame rates. This production is fairly reliable. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Media Composer?

Newer versions can be buggy, wish they would bring back scriptsync and sometimes it will crash or be slow for no reason. It would be great if the error messages were more intuitive. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Media Composer:

Great and reliable product for editing and exporting media. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Media Composer solving and how is that benefiting you?

I use avid as an editing tool for several series. It's the industry standard. Most people I work with are well versed and can work quickly on Avid. It's possible to export multiple file types for viewing and delivery. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Paige G.

Senior Manager, Marketing and Strategic Alliances

Marketing and Advertising

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

12/20/2015

"Used Avid in student newsroom"

2/5

What do you like best about Media Composer?

Once you're comfortable with Avid, editing is a dream, but it takes a long time to master. If you're only an occasional editor, I would not use Avid. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Media Composer?

I use Avid once a week for editing. Most other days, I use Final Cut Pro. Despite refresher courses every six months, Avid can be a complete bear to use. The software doesn't offer a lot in "help" or "tutorials." Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Media Composer:

I would recommend a trial period with each main editing software. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. If you're looking for an inexpensive, bare bones technology, then use Avid. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Media Composer solving and how is that benefiting you?

It's cheaper than Final Cut Pro to mass-implement, so it made perfect sense for a student newsroom. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Media Production

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

1/15/2016

"TV Assistant Editor's thoughts on AVID"

3.5/5

What do you like best about Media Composer?

It's widely used in the industry, and the ISIS server it utilizes is flawless. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Media Composer?

There's a very steep learning curve. If you're not already familiar with the program, it may take some time to get used to, even doing simple edits. In addition, the latest version does not have ScriptSync intregrated with it. Now you must pay for third party software to use it. In previous versions, you had to pay a license, but the software was built in. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Media Composer:

It's pretty much the industry standard, and a very valuable tool for anyone wanting to be in TV production. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Media Composer solving and how is that benefiting you?

It's very easy to work on huge TV shows with multiple people editing them in different bays, as long as it's connected to ISIS. No need to copy files from hard drive to hard drive. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.