Where I've worked it's always been a negotiated deal. Editors ususally handle simple things like lower thirds, more sophistictaed stuff went to designers. Everybody hates typing blocks of text. Union rules look like they can be argued either way. I know, not too helpful.

Just think of how many lower thirds you could have typed in the time it took you to write this post! -- signed an editor.

You can transcode your linked media within Avid at any stage of the process and relink your sequences to that. To use the Transcode option: 1. Select a clip or sequence in a bin. 2. Select Clip > Consolidate/Transcode. There is also the option to have it work as a background process.

First, try to remux or rewrap the h.264 file into an .mp4 or .mov container rather than re-encode it. (Shutter Encoder is a good tool for that.) If you MUST use Handbrake, use a much higher bitrate to retain quality. Link the file into Avid and transcode within Avid. You will see a difference between DNx36 and higher flavors, so whatever resolution

Proxy media and rendered effects are two completely different functions -- both in Avid and Premiere. You can use the Transcribe/Transcode function (right click on the clip in the bin) to transcode a clip to an easier resolution. You can then relink it to an already cut sequence or use it to edit, and re-link to the original before outputting. (Premiere

This is one of the few instances where I import rather than link. That's why I go to the higher rez project. Resolve should be able to link to the Avid Media Files.

It's kind of a workaround, but I just change the project settings to a suitably higher resolution -- 4K, 8K, -- import the still, go back to 1080 and manipulate with Frameflex. That gets me through 90%+ of the work. The other 10% gets moved over to After Effects for finalizing.

The on-screen info is being added at the output of whatever device you are using to feed the signal into the UltraStudio. See if there is a way to turn it off there -- possibly a menu item. That said, DVCam should really be aquired through firewire/ IEEE 1394 which is a 1:1 data transfer.

PNG sequence as Pat suggests always works. You can also output ProRes 4444 in a qucktime container choosing RGB+Alpha which is slightly quicker.

In your new project Use the Media Tool to explore the clips on your system. Sorting by drive and project (and maybe date) you can find the correct clips and drag them into a bin.