AVoption|V10 Requirements
With Pro Tools 6.9.x and 7.x for Windows XP Systems

For additional product information, please see the following:

Please Note: AVoption|V10 has unique compatibility requirements and is only compatible with Pro Tools|HD and Pro Tools|HD Accel systems when used with Pro Tools 6.9.1 and higher for Windows XP Professional SP2. If the information on this page appears to contradict information listed elsewhere in these Compatibility Documents, please adhere to the information listed on this page when configuring a system which includes AVoption|V10.

Important Information: For further compatibility information when used with Expanded Systems, see the following pages in the Digidesign Compatibility Documents:

Supported Video Resolutions

AVoption|V10 currently supports capture and playback of the following video resolutions:

  • All Avid-created standard-definition ABVB, JFIF, DV25, DV50 and MXF files, including single-field, interlaced and progressive scan
  • IMX MPEG50 files supported for playback. MPEG30/MPEG40 are not supported. OP1a IMX files are not supported.
  • AVoption|V10 hardware and Media Station|PT software do not support playback of QuickTime files, though QuickTime files may be imported into Media Station|V10 as Avid files, then exported to Pro Tools. Conversely, Media Station|PT can export Avid video and audio files as QuickTime movies.
  • ABVB files created with versions of Media Composer earlier than v7.0 are not supported with either AVoption|V10 hardware, Media Station|PT software or Pro Tools.

Avoption|V10 supports capture of DV25-quality video directly in the Pro Tools application. For capture resolutions supported with Media Station|PT software, see the Media Station|PT for Windows XP compatibility pages.

Pro Tools|HD & Pro Tools|HD Accel System Requirements

With AVoption|V10 and Pro Tools HD 7.0/7.1 for Windows XP

With AVoption|V10 and Pro Tools 6.9.1/6.9.3 for Windows XP

Digidesign Hardware Supplied with AVoption|V10 System

  • AVoption|V10 Digital Nonlinear Accelerator Video Break Out Box

Digidesign Software Compatibility

Note: New purchases of AVoption|V10 or Media Station|PT include a free upgrade to Pro Tools HD 7 software.

Pro Tools TDM 6.9.1/6.9.3

  • AVoption|V10 supported
  • Media Station|PT 1.6.1 supported
  • QuickTime 6.5 or higher (Required, not included. QuickTime Downloads)

Pro Tools HD 7.0/7.1

  • AVoption|V10 supported
  • Not compatible with Media Station|PT
  • QuickTime 7.0 or higher (Required, not included. QuickTime Downloads)

Pro Tools HD 7.1cs1

  • AVoption|V10 supported
  • Media Station|PT 1.8.2 supported
  • QuickTime 7.0 or higher (Required, not included. QuickTime Downloads)

DigiTranslator 2.0 (included with AVoption|V10)

Media Station|PT (included with AVoption|V10)

  • Media Station|PT v1.6.1
    • Pro Tools TDM 6.9.1/6.9.3 for Windows XP only (Required, not included)
    • Free update to Media Station|PT v1.6.1 for Media Station|PT v1.6 and Media Station|V10 owners, only available on CD at the DigStore
  • Media Station|PT v1.8.2
    • Pro Tools HD 7.1cs1 for Windows XP only (Required, not included)
    • Free update to Media Station|PT v1.8.2 for Media Station|PT v1.6 and Media Station|V10 owners, available for download
  • Media Station|PT1.8.2 Information & Downloads
  • Media Station|PT for Windows XP Compatibility

MachineControl (option, purchased separately)

When using MachineControl option, 9-pin video transports must be connected to the serial port of the host computer using the cable provided with the MachineControl option. For more information on MachineControl option, see the following compatibility page:

Required Hardware Components (not supplied)

  • Pro Tools|HD or Pro Tools|HD Accel system
  • Primary Audio Interface: Digidesign 192 I/O, 192 Digital I/O, or 96 I/O
  • Digidesign SYNC I/O
    • Firmware version 1.1.1 required for Pro Tools 6.9 and higher, included with Pro Tools installer, or download from the SYNC I/O Download Page
  • Black Burst or other video reference source. AVoption|V10 has strict standards for the reference signal that it will accept. AVoption|V10 and other Avid video peripherals are tested with some or all of the following: Horita BSG-50, Burst, Video Accessory Corporation (VAC) VB/BBG-3, SIGMA Series 2100.
  • External NTSC or PAL video monitor

Supported CPUs

When using AVoption|V10, these computers are qualified to provide 64 tracks of 48 kHz audio and one stream of uncompressed video (48 tracks when used with Avid Unity). Your performance may vary based on number of audio tracks, edit density, automation, and plug-in usage. Dual Processors are required for AVoption|V10 with all models:

Click on above links for important information about each CPU, including known issues with early HP xw8000 models.

System RAM Requirements

  • 2 GB (2048 MB) minimum required
  • More RAM increases overall system and Pro Tools performance, and is especially recommended for working with:
    • Sessions with large amounts of audio, large DSP engines, high edit density, or large DigiBase databases
    • Options like MachineControl and DigiTranslator 2.0

System Software Requirements

Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 Required

Windows XP SP2, Microsoft DEP and PACE InterLok Drivers Update

  • if you encounter unexplained blue screens, freezes or spontaneous reboots when launching Pro Tools with Windows XP Service Pack 2, please update your PACE InterLok drivers:
  • The current InterLok drivers solve the described problems without having to disable Microsoft's DEP (Data Execution Prevention) feature introduced with Windows XP Service Pack 2.

AGP Graphics Card

AVoption|V10 is qualified with the following AGP monitor cards on the following systems:

  • NVIDIA Quadro FX 1100 AGP Card on the HP Workstation xw8000
  • NVIDIA Quadro4® 980 XGL AGP card on the HP Workstation xw8000 and Dell Precision Workstation 650
    • This card requires Nvidia driver version 67.22. This driver is available for download from: http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
    • The NVIDIA Display Driver Service should be disabled. To disable this service, select START-> MY COMPUTER-> MANAGE-> SERVICES. Right-click the Nvidia service. Choose Properties and disable.

PCI Express Graphics Card

The HP Workstation xw9300, HP Workstation xw8200, and Dell Precision Workstation 670 do not use AGP graphics cards. Instead they use PCIe Graphics (dual monitor capable) cards, listed as options when configuring the HP xw8200 or Dell 670. Avid has qualified the following PCI Express Graphics card for use with AVoption|V10:

Fully qualified configurations of the HP Workstation xw8200 and Dell Precision Workstation 670 are available from your Authorized Digidesign Dealer.

Storage Requirements

SCSI Host Bus Adapter Requirements

  • HP xw8200 and HP xw8000: These computers have built-in dual channel SCSI that have been qualified by Digidesign and a SCSI HBA is not required.
  • Dell 670, Dell 650, and other computers: A single Digidesign-qualified dual-channel SCSI HBA (Digidesign SCSI|128 or ATTO UL3D) is required. Unlike AVoption|XL, AVoption|v10 does not require audio and video drives to have separate HBAs in order to play uncompressed video. The Audio and Video can be on separate SCSI channels of a dual-channel SCSI HBA.
    • The built-in internal SCSI on the Dell 670 and Dell 650 is a single-channel SCSI HBA that can be used for either audio or video, but not both.
    • Keep in mind that the use of mixed storage (such as video on SCSI, audio on FireWire) is not supported with AVoption|V10.
  • ATTO UL3D BIOS version 1.68 or higher required for both the Digidesign SCSI|128/ATTO UL3D. For more information, see "Checking and Updating ATTO Firmware" on page 19 of the following:
  • Both of these documents, as well as the ATTO Utilities folder, are on the Pro Tools installation CDs. Also available from the Digidesign Technical Document Library
  • The ATTO Utilities folder from the Pro Tools CDs are also available from the Storage Downloads Section

SCSI Drive Requirements

  • Pro Tools with AVoption|V10 requires separate SCSI drives for audio and video.
  • The audio drives and the video drives should each be connected to separate SCSI channels. For more information, see "Setting Up Local Storage" on page 17 of the following:
  • Striped Drive Requirements (Video Storage Only): Striped drives are configured so that multiple hard drives behave as if they are one hard drive. This makes higher data throughput possible. Requirements will vary depending on the drives. For example, the 5th-Generation DigiDrives™ (released November 2001) require 2-way striped drive sets when capturing or playing uncompressed (1:1) video. For earlier generations of drives, 4- way striped drives or greater (4 or more drives acting as one) are required when capturing or playing uncompressed (1:1) video; and 2- way striped drives (2 drives acting as one) are required when capturing or playing 2:1 and 3:1 compressed video.
  • When "inheriting" a drive containing audio and video data from an Avid system, we recommend you connect this drive to the SCSI channel dedicated to video storage. There is no need to copy the audio data from such a drive to your dedicated audio drives, however we recommend that you not record any additional audio tracks onto this drive.

Turn Off Windows Drive Indexing

To turn off drive indexing for external audio and video drives:

  1. Choose Start > My Computer
  2. Control-click each external audio or video drive
  3. Right-click on the selected external drives and choose Properties
  4. In the Properties dialog, uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching"

FireWire Storage

The Avid MediaDrive rS80, DigiDrive FireWire 80, and third-party FireWire 400 drives with the Oxford 911 chipset have been qualified for record and playback of video with data transfer rates equal to DV25 or less. FireWire storage must be connected to a PCI FireWire card:

SATA Storage

SATA storage has not been tested with AVoption|V10.

PCI Expansion Chassis (Optional)

Because AVoption|V10 connects to the internal FireWire bus, a chassis is not required. However, AVoption|V10 requires the complete bandwidth of the FireWire bus, as well as the segment of the PCI bus which that FireWire bus utilizes. Therefore, no other devices can be attached to the same FireWire bus as the AVoption|V10, and no PCI cards can be installed in the PCI slots that share that segment. This leaves the HP computers with only three available PCI slots for Pro Tools cards or additional FireWire PCI cards, and the Dell computers with only two available PCI slots after the required ATTO SCSI HBA card is added.

  • The Digidesign Expansion|HD expansion chassis, Digidesign 64-bit 7 slot expansion chassis and the Magma 64-bit 7 slot expansion chassis (Model P7R464 or P7R464-D1) are the only models supported with AVoption|V10 for use with Pro Tools PCI cards.
  • For use with Avid Unity Shared Storage, these chassis have been qualified in combination with the HP and Dell computers listed above
  • Other chassis have not been tested with Pro Tools 6.9.x or Pro Tools HD 7

CPU & Optional Expansion Chassis Slot Order Information

For information on slot order with AVoption|V10, please see the following:

And these individual CPU pages:

PCI FireWire Cards (Optional)

The AVoption|V10 will not function if any other device is connected to the same FireWire bus (FireWire video cameras may connect directly to the AVoption|V10). However, if you wish to have other FireWire devices connected to your system, you must install a PCI FireWire card to create an additional FireWire bus:

Avid Unity Shared Storage

  • AVoption|V10 and Pro Tools 6.9.1/6.9.3/7.x are qualified with Avid Unity MediaNetwork v3.5.x
  • AVoption|V10 and Pro Tools 7.x are qualified with Avid Unity MediaNetwork v4.0
  • ATTO 3300 Fibre Channel HBA with firmware v2.40 and driver v2.4a required with MediaNetwork v3.5.x and 4.0
  • Avid Unity Media Manager is not supported

CPU Slot Order Information

For information on slot order with AVoption|V10, please see the following:

And these individual CPU pages:

Maximum Performance Guidelines

  • Virtually all the testing for AVoption|V10 was done with a baseline of 64 tracks (48 tracks when used with Avid Unity) of 24- bit/48k audio and one stream of uncompressed video data (record and/or playback). These test configurations generally included one drive for every 16 tracks of audio. One way to achieve higher track counts is to dedicate more drives to the audio tracks.
  • On a supported configuration, you should be able to easily achieve this performance baseline, even with a high degree of edit density on each track. The higher the edit density, the more heavily taxed will be the storage subsystem.
  • You may find much better results than this baseline, since Digidesign's performance tests are designed to stress the storage subsystem more heavily than the average "real world" usage.
  • There are other possible steps that can be taken to maximize the performance of a Pro Tools system with AVoption|V10. For more information, refer to the Avid Video Peripherals Guide in the Technical Document Library of the Support/Tech Support section of the website, on your Pro Tools CD, and here:

Avid Media Station|PT Information & Compatibility Requirements

Digidesign Compatibility Documents Index