Rendering color correction on an HDV clip on an AMD 4800 can't be equated with a time is money statement. Also 6.1 's Mpeg render engine was not the fastest, add the conversion of HDV to STD DVD, and an rather patient individual is called for... 

I would be VERY interested in a base MC at the academic price. Last year, the 3.5 demo ran without any problems on my AMD Qcore and Radeon graphics. This box is very stable, can't remember ever crashing. 

Igor, Wait and see may be fine for retirees, hobbiests, and the ''artisan'' . There are shops that do weddings, corporate stuff, and social events. These people have little time to invest learning and re-learning NLE's. They may even bring someone in part-time to do some editing work while they are out shooting. FCP is hugely tempting for these ...

Good intent, Gary. Lets see what Avid says. 

I agree completely Thomas. I already have DVDitHD, Authoring Works 4, TmpGe Express 4, Boris Fx, Mercalli, Bluff Titler, SonicFire. The bundled apps with MC are replication of things I already have.

A nice thought Bill, I'm not sure worrying how we feel is keeping anyone awake though.

Closer to $1000 is better than not....I might be tempted around the 1K mark....fold at the current $2495. I have witnessed firsthand the capabilities of MC, I simply believe the entry cost is putting off a lot of potential customers. 

Excellent tool      TMPGEnc Xpress 4

There seems to be a feeling out there that because MPEG2HL  came before AVCHD it is somehow inferior. Dave, as you state, when run at a high enough bitrate, 25mbs or more, mpeg2 edits easily in Liquid and delivers a fine result.

No.