Rumors: Avid continues development of Symphony

Avid MC (Media composer) is the famous Avid editor while Symphony is the online editing (conforming) and finishing tool with identical interface to the editor (Avid DS is another compositing and finishing tool from Avid but with its own interface).

Three things have always distinguished the Avid MC from the Avid Symphony:

. Until now the hardware Symphony used was superior to that of the MC, which allowed it to work with higher quality video formats. Currently both use the Nitris DX.

– Symphony has “universal mastering”. This means that it performs conversions from any frame rate to any other hardware frame rate in real time. Currently MC has native “mix and match” which allows the mixing of frame rates in the same timeline in real time and without hardware (although it is true that if you want extra quality you need a render, but still no hardware is needed).

– Symphony has a more advanced color corrector than MC, ideal especially for broadcast work. Although “standard” this is still the case, the reality is that there are cracks on the web that “release” the Symphony color corrector in the MC, which means that the standard program has the color corrector “capped”.

So what justifies the price difference between one and the other?

These reasons led the network to believe that Symphony and MC would be merged in future releases (or that Symphony would be discontinued altogether).

However, to reassure Symphony users it seems that Avid has announced that they will continue development of Symphony in future versions. What they have not yet said is how.

The tip comes via one of the channels through which the best Avid news and rumors are published. The Avid L-2 Yahoo group. A group that I suggest all professional Avid editors join.

I will let you know as soon as more is known.