Avid Media Creator Specs

• Avid Media Composer lets anyone edit videos. computer image by Orlando Florin Rosu from Fotolia.com

  Avid Media Composer lets users edit raw video and audio into high- and standard-definition films. Version five of the software was released in June 2010. Version 5 is compatible with both Windows and Mac, but it requires certain capabilities in both. The specifications for the Avid software call for similar features in both operating systems.

Operating Systems

• Windows and Macintosh composers can use Avid's software. PC requirements are either Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7. Media Composer runs in both 32 and 64 bit. Mac requires OS 10.6.3, dubbed Snow Tiger. Anything older than Version 5 of the software will not work. However, you may run older versions on older operating systems.

Hard Drive

• Editing raw video into standard- or high-definition film with high-quality audio requires plenty of free space on the hard drive. Avid recommends 80 gigabytes (GB). This free space is needed not only for the videos but for the actual software itself. Users editing multiple large films may want to purchase an external hard drive to save space on their internal hard drive.

Memory and Processor

• Avid Media Composer requires at least 2 GB of RAM when using the software. However, Avid recommends 4 GB. The processor required is Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33 gigahertz (GHz) at least. This is needed for both Windows and Macintosh. The editing process uses a large amount of memory and can slow down a computer, so the more RAM in your computer the better.

Other

• A high-powered graphics card such as an Nvidia Quadro FX or GeForce is needed to run the Media Composer. Your computer must also support a DVD drive to install the software. You may then need to burn your finished videos to DVD afterward.