Media Composer 6

System Requirements and Supported Devices

For optimal performance and reliability, be sure that your computer or laptop meets the following minimum system requirements for Media Composer 6, Symphony 6, or NewsCutter1 10 software.

Important: Avid dedicates a significant amount of engineering resources and time to test and qualify specific platform configurations. Please note that we cannot provide support should you choose to use a non-Avid-qualified system.

Minimum requirements for Avid video editing software

Windows

  • Computer: Avid-qualified Windows-based computer or laptop2 (see details)
  • OS: Windows 7 Professional SP1 (64-bit) (Still need 32-bit? Learn more about Media Composer 5.5)
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33 GHz processor or faster
  • Memory: 4 GB of RAM (6+ GB of RAM recommended)
  • Graphics Card: NVIDIA Quadro FX family3 (FX 560 or higher)
  • Internal Hard Drive: Minimum 80 GB 7200 rpm hard disk

Mac

  • Computer: Avid-qualified Mac-based computer or laptop2 (see details)
  • OS: Mac OS X Lion (64-bit)(Still need 32-bit? Learn more about Media Composer 5.5)
  • Processor: Intel Dual or Intel Dual Core 2.66 GHz Xeon processor or faster, or Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33 GHz processor or faster (laptops)
  • Memory: 4 GB of RAM (6+ GB of RAM recommended)
  • Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce family3 or ATI Radeon family (as supported by Apple)
  • Internal Hard Drive: Minimum 80 GB 7200 rpm hard disk

Supported devices and additional requirements

Learn more about these hardware options for Media Composer.


Avid video interfaces

  • Nitris DX—Avid-qualified Windows- or Mac-based computer with a PCIe x4 card slot
  • Mojo DX—Avid-qualified Windows- or Mac-based computer with a PCIe x4 card slot, or Avid-qualified laptop4 with an ExpressCard slot and the optional Avid ExpressCard Hardware Interface Board


Avid audio interfaces

  • Pro Tools|HD—Avid-qualified computerwith Media Composer 5.5, Symphony 6, or NewsCutter 9.5 or higher software
  • Pro Tools|HD Native—Avid-qualified computer with Media Composer 5.5, Symphony 6, or NewsCutter 9.5 or higher software
  • Mbox/Mbox Mini/Mbox Pro—Avid-qualified computer with Media Composer 5.5, Symphony 6, or NewsCutter 9.5 or higher software


Avid control surfaces

  • Artist Control—Avid-qualified computer with Media Composer 5.5, Symphony 5.5, or NewsCutter 9.5 or higher software
  • Artist Mix—Avid-qualified computer with Media Composer 5.5, Symphony 5.5, or NewsCutter 9.5 or higher software
  • Artist Color—Avid-qualified computer with Media Composer 6, Symphony 6, or NewsCutter 10 software
  • Artist Transport—Avid-qualified computer with Media Composer 5.5, Symphony 5.5, or NewsCutter 9.5 or higher software


Third-party video interfaces

  • AJA Io Express—Avid-qualified computer with Media Composer 5.5, Symphony 6, or NewsCutter 9.5 or higher software
  • Matrox MXO2 Mini—Avid-qualified computer with Media Composer 5, Symphony 6, or NewsCutter 9 or higher software
  • All other third-party interfaces—Avid-qualified computer with Media Composer 6, Symphony 6, or NewsCutter 10 or higher software (see Hardware Options)


Additional compatibility information

  • QuickTime: Avid has tested and qualified Apple QuickTime X for Mac users and QuickTime 7.6.9 for Windows users
  • Windows Media Player: Microsoft Windows Media Player 11 is required to export certain formats and to work with VC-1 material
  1. Please note that NewsCutter is available for Windows only.
  2. Uncompressed video on laptops is limited to one stream of uncompressed SD video, except for Windows-based Intel Core i7 laptops (Quad Core with Hyper-Threading) with eSata external storage, which can play multiple streams of 1:1 uncompressed SD.
  3. NVIDIA cards are recommended; full-screen playback requires a minimum of 128 MB of graphics memory.
  4. DNxHD capture with Mojo DX is only supported with Windows-based Intel Core i7 laptops (Quad Core with Hyper-Threading).