Does the Avid Liquid PRO breakout box work with USB1?

No. The AL PRO breakout box requires USB2.

Does Avid Liquid PRO work with every USB2 system?

No. A limited number of USB2 controllers do not support the bandwidth required to output video to the AL PRO breakout box. Below is a list of certified USB2 controllers:

How can I tell which USB2 controller is on my system?

From your Windows desktop:

-         Right-click on My Computer

-         Select Manage

From the Computer Management Dialog box:

-         Select Device Manager

 Information about the devices installed in your system appears in the right hand pane of the dialog.

-         Scroll down to “Universal Serial Bus Controllers”

-         Click on the “+” to expand your view.

 You will see something looking like this:

What do I do if my onboard USB2 controller is listed as incompatible?

Pinnacle recommend an Adaptec AUA-3100B PCI card. It is also sold as the Adaptec USB2connect 3100LP.

http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/product/proddetail.html?sess=no&language=English+US&prodkey=AUA-3100LP&cat=%2fTechnology%2fUSB%2fUSB+Adapters

We have not yet tested this card at DVC.

Is there a Cardbus solution certified for Avid Liquid PRO?

At the present moment there is no certified third party Cardbus solution for laptops. However, many of the certified USB2 controllers are found on a wide range of laptops.

 Will having other USB2 devices connected to my system affect the performance of Avid Liquid PRO?

Yes. Having additional high-bandwidth USB2 devices like hard disks connected to your system may compromise the bandwidth to Avid Liquid PRO.

When I am previewing to my monitor with Avid Liquid PRO, I am getting fewer layers in real-time then when I am not previewing to the monitor. Is this normal?

Yes. Processing the video to come back from the graphics card and send it to the USB port takes some system and GPU performance. Although some systems in our testing showed no difference in real-time performance with the Avid Liquid PRO box connected, typically systems will output one less layer than their maximum with the Avid Liquid PRO. Systems capable of playing back 6 layers of real-time with no preview option selected would play back 5 streams in real-time when using Liquid Edition output.

Do I need a specific graphics card to work with the new Avid Liquid PRO breakout box?

Yes. A DirectX 9 compatible graphics card is required for multi-stream real-time previews. The following DirectX 9 graphics cards have been tested with Avid Liquid version 7.

Can I use my old Liquid Edition Pro graphics card (ATI Radeon 8500) with the new Avid Liquid Pro USB2 breakout box?

No.  However the Edition Pro card will still work as it used to - giving all your effects out live to TV.  We have had some problems with systems which have a second PCI graphic for a second screen.  As before the clips will not play from the second screen but now they will also not play to TV as well.  Also if you move a playback window from the second (PCI) screen to the main screen the screen will briefly flicker black.  This makes you second screen more for organising your project window and clips than for any editing.

We would definitely recommend budgeting for a change of graphic card if upgrading to Pro.  We can supply a card that we have tested at DVC for this purpose. 

Is it worth changing?

Yes - with the proper dual head card you can get overlay and playback on both screens, not just one.  Plus you get MPEG capture through the analogue connections.   Make sure that your computer is faster enough, however, and has a compatible USB port as well!