Hello All you guru's out there!  

Im currently in the process of re-building my Personal edit bay.  Im a recent Media Composer convert and I love it!  I just purchased the new 2013 Macpro and I'm looking for an easy way to set up my edit bay to support 5.1 surround, with media composer of course. 

What hardware do I need?
What suggestion or things that are working for you gurus out there?

I am a recent final cut guy previously using  AJA kona cards but always stereo out but I would really like the option for both. 

Since the past year I have convinced the company I work for to switch to media composer also but they only work in stereo out since our jobs are often commercials. So  cant ask anyone there so I turn to you.

I initially thought that I could get the nitris dx connected through my thunderbolt expansion chassis and use the optical out to a 5.1 home theater system. But I feel like that's a real crap way to do it.If anyone is out there doing that I'll DO IT!!!  but I need help to not do it a GHETTO WAY.  Sound is not really my string suit but I want to be be better equipt at it. So even if I can just get a black magic card or Aja and a mixer and some pro monitors for front rear and sub I would be willing to learn about that set up also. 

Please help gurus!

Any input would change my life. 


Thank you

Obviously my opinion here will be biased ;) However if you are on the new Mac Pro, I would suggest using the AJA Io 4K here with its Thunderbolt 2 support and you can use the multi-channel analog break out capabilties to send up to 8 tracks where desired. This would allow you to skip what may be an unnecssary expansion chassis as well.

The Io 4K supports SD/HD/UHD and 4K workflows with up to 60p support for 4K playout.

Its a fairly simple operation to set your tracks up to send out discretely for this kind of purpose.

http://www.aja.com/en/products/io-4k

Your other option is to get an audio disembedder and break out the audio from the SDI output if you wish.

Thanks, I was also looking into this I love AJA.  SO would the 5.1 set up be done through something like the AJA control panel of whats Left right and so on and then that is routed to a mixeer or would the Breakout cable just go straight to Front L/R Rear L/R speakers and a sub?  is that correct.  thanks so Much for being there for me on this one!  

You do all your setup within MC.

In Media Composer 6 and up you can edit and mix in 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound inside Media Composer.

WIth the expanded view of the mixer panel you can use this mixer to set the position of any piece of audio in surround sound space. 

You can mix surround sound even on a system with stereo speaks - you just can't monitor it.  The best way to monitor is to use an output device like the Io 4K and it will output surround sound through the HDMI outputs - so you can decode this if plugged into a surround sound amplifier with HDMI inputs.  

Or indeed use the DB-25 (Tascam style) cable purchased seperately to go straight to the F L/R R L/R and sub as you identified. 

I recommend taking a look at this thread as well as there are a number of tricky little details for 5.1 work within MC for you to sort through as well: http://community.avid.com/forums/t/114677.aspx

AJA Video Systems:

so you can decode this if plugged into a surround sound amplifier with HDMI inputs.  

As long as the decoder accepts PCM 5.1 and not just Dolby encoded surround. Remember that Avid outputs 5.1 as PCM (uncompressed non encoded).

With AJA or Nitris, Avid will send the first 6 channels as 5.1 or 8 channels as 7.1. The order of each channel (L, R, C, LFE, Ls & Rs) will depend which 2 standards you choose in Avid.

Using the Audio Mixer tool you can manipulate the surround panning, including what percentage goes to the LFE channel (subwoofer). Your decoder or subwoofer will dictate the crossover frequency and/or low-frequency filtering.

thank so MUCH for your help and input it helps a great deal!

Cheers

thank so Much!  I appreciate your input!

Life Changing!!

SO only PCM 5.1 there is no way around that?  I know this may be a dumb question but.  I will have no audio output if the decoder only accepts all the varies versions of Dolby and DTS?  I have to Find an amplifier that specifically accepts PCM?

thanks again

Ctjones:

SO only PCM 5.1 there is no way around that?  

Nope. There is no native Dolby or DTS encoder within the software.

Ctjones:

I will have no audio output if the decoder only accepts all the varies versions of Dolby and DTS? I have to Find an amplifier that specifically accepts PCM?

I think worse case scenario is most home audio receivers will only read the first 2 channels (2.0 PCM).

And yes you will need an audio receiver that can understand up to 8 channels of digital audio.

Another possible solution is to do a digital to analog converter from AJA or Nitris (HDMI to analog, AES or ADAT to analog) and feed that straight to 5.1 speaker systems.

Most 5.1 desktop computer speakers accept analog audio (usually in analog RCA and/or 1/8" headphone jacks).

Ctjones:

I have to Find an amplifier that specifically accepts PCM?

But you can walk into a home cinema shop and ask them to connect a BD player with DTS/DD decoders to the HDMI amp you would like to buy, and set the BD player to PCM out and play back 5.1 or 7.1 content. Tells you if it 'gets' all channels.

Hello CTJones,

To achieve 5.1, or even 7.1 audio monitoring the Bluefish444 AVID certified Create 3D Ultra provides 8 channels of AES audio allowing the most direct 48KhZ 24bit audio monitoring. Genelec provide near field studio monitors with selectable AES digital audio inputs and when configured correctly will provide emersive theatrical audio monitoring for your Avid Suit.

It is also worth mentioning that Bluefiash444 provide a custom Avid control panel with 8 channels of AES audio mapping, the audio mapping allows you to have a custom channel configuration for monitoring while maintaining another audio channel configuration inside Avid Media composer.

The other option which I believe was mentioned previously is to use the 2 analogue audio outputs of the Create 3D Ultra, bluefish444 again provide a means to map any of your output channels to the left and right speaker thus maintaining the Avid mixer setup between working on different aspects of your 5.1 audio.

To use any bluefish444 hardware with Thunderbolt enabled computers support is provided through Sonnet, Magma, and Netstor thunderbolt expansion chassis which not only allow the use of bluefish444 hardware for your Avid but also provide extra expansion capabilities and the option to load 4 HDD with a 3rd party raid controller.

Get more details at www.bluefish444.com

Regards,

Tom Lithgow

Bluefish444

Job ter Burg:

I'm fairly certain that supporting PCM is a requirement for receivers with HDMI inputs.

Unfortunately, only stereo PCM is required. Any additional channels are optional.

so your saying that any high quality home reciever would work?

thats a great option I didnt even think of.

thanks

Ctjones:

so your saying that any high quality home reciever would work?

As long as it supports more than stereo PCM. HMDI can support up to 8 channels under the standards. However, only stereo (2 channels) are required. More than that is optional.