On the first day of AES in New York Avid has announced the latest release of Pro Tools 2019, primarily focused towards post-production users, which will support higher video resolutions and frame rates, including support for 4K video and new Dolby Atmos Workflows.

4K Video And Custom Aspect Ratio Support

With the demand for more high-resolution video content to be captured in 4K, the latest version of Pro Tools 2019 will enable playback and display of 4K resolution files and higher frame rates. The flexibility to select frame rates and resolutions independently, and work with non-standard video sizes, is becoming essential to support a range of projects such as web-based video, gaming, or new formats that become popular in the future.

With the next version, Pro Tools will mirror Media Composer in its support for high-resolution video, allowing users to be able to import media directly into Pro Tools without the additional step of transcoding the file format or resolution. With these video engine improvements enabling users to work with a wider variety of video file types in sessions, Avid has also added smoother H.264 video playback to their list of Avid Video Engine Improvements.

Dolby Atmos Workflow Improvements

Pro Tools 2019 also improves Dolby Atmos ‘in the box’ mixing workflows and delivery of multiple mixes in a single file. With full Core Audio support of the Dolby Audio Bridge, users can now send 130 channels from Pro Tools (up from 32) to the Dolby Atmos Renderer, simplifying Dolby Atmos ‘in the box’ mixing and playback workflows with Pro Tools | HDX and other Core Audio devices. The Dolby Audio Bridge is a major improvement over the 32 channels what was all that was possible before and also replaces the previous Send and Return plugin workflow.

Pro Tools HDX users can now send to both the HDX busses and outputs whilst they simultaneously send the Core audio paths into either the Dolby Atmos Production Suite or Mastering Suite because the Dolby Audio Bridge can be selected and used as a playback device and then routed on to the HDX paths in the Dolby Atmos software. This has been designed to drastically reduce session complexity with routing. It will also help to eliminate the tedious managing of delay compensation. It also means that users will be able to set up a session created with the Dolby Atmos Production Suite in Pro Tools Ultimate in exactly the same way as to how their session would be set up using the Cinema Renderer. As a great bonus, it’s worth noting that HDX users can relish in the fact that HDX is now fully compatible with the Dolby Audio Bridge, which can be selected and used as a playback device.

Multi-mix WAV Bounce

Another new feature added in the latest version of Pro Tools 2019 is the ability to bounce multiple stems, interleaved into a single WAV file. This time-saving feature has been designed to reduce the complexity of deliverables for audio post engineers, by streamlining stem selection and rendering workflows, removing the need for using workarounds.

Netflix Post Technology Alliance

Although not a specific new feature with the release of the next version, Pro Tools will join the Netflix Post Technology Alliance (PTA). This alliance was set up in 2018 as a Netflix-designed program for products that manage and produce sound, image, and/or metadata for post-production. Products that have the Netflix Post Technology Alliance logo have been through a rigorous testing program to make sure that they meet all Netflix’s technical and workflow requirements. We understand that Avid has been working closely with Netflix with a number of these new features to make sure that workflows for Netflix content production are as streamlined as possible to ensure Avid’s solutions support technical and workflow requirements today, and into the future.

EuCon 19.9.1 Now Supports iOS13

Avid has released the latest version of the EuCon software which resolves the issue with iOS13 devices as well as a couple of other issues…

Pro Tools Control

• The Pro Tools Control app is now compatible with iOS 13 when used on qualified iOS devices.

S4/S6

• It was possible for the MTM app and surface to struggle or fail to connect when loading a session.

All Systems:

• It was possible for excessive log files to accumulate.