User Manual

38 Open I/O Support
With the Media Composer family of products, Avid has implemented a Hardware SDK allowing
3rd party vendors to develop plug-ins for their hardware I/O devices. The plug-ins will enable
3rd party I/O hardware to interact with the Avid editing applications (Media Composer,
Symphony, and NewsCutter). Currently, the 3rd party vendors who have access to develop
plug-ins for their hardware in order to work with Avid editing software are AJA, Matrox,
Blackmagic Design, Motu and Bluefish444.
The 3rd party I/O hardware can be configured through a software control panel developed by the
3rd party vendor. Functionality, such as output type for capture, input type for different
connectors, up convert, downconvert, crossconvert, hardware reference clocking, HD progressive
frame type, etc. can be controlled by the 3rd party control panel.
It is important for you to install the editing application first and then install the 3rd party
plug-ins. The plug-in will not install properly if the editing application is not already
installed.
Note the following when working with the 3rd party Open I/O devices:
• The Video Input and Video Output items on the Tools menu are replaced with a Hardware
Setup menu item. Choosing the Hardware Setup option opens the 3rd party Control Panel.
• The Video Input and Video Output settings in the Project window will launch the 3rd party
Control Panel
• The “Cp” and Video Tool buttons in the Capture Tool will open the 3rd party Control Panel.
• The “Cp” button in the Hardware tab of the Audio Project Settings will open the 3rd party
Control Panel.
Open I/O Limitations
With this release, the 3rd party hardware plug-ins will not be able to support the entire feature set
of the editing application and therefore will not support the following in the Avid editing
application:
• Ancillary Data
• LTC Input and Output
• Stereoscopic Full Frame Capture and Output