Archive notice: This article was originally published on March 25, 2017. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Both features were so popular with MC users that some editors and studios remained on version 7 and did not update. Based on Emmy Award-winning technology from Nexidia, PhraseFind and ScriptSync are tools with which enormous quantities of footage can be elegantly organized.
Find Words
PhraseFind is a dialogue search tool with which editors can search the complete footage for specific spoken words or recurring phrases. Speech recognition is said to have been improved in version 8.8 and now also identify shorter or less distinct sound sequences as well as dialects.
Script Synchronization
When a script serves as the basis for editing, ScriptSync can automatically index all dialogues and conenct them to the screenplay. Users can therefore search page by page or via scene number and find all available takes with a particular line of dialogue. ScriptSync has also been updated and now offers the same undo/redo functionality as Media Composer and expanded colour schemes for clip organization.
Price
Unfortunately, neither feature is automatically integrated into Avid software MC 8.8; they must be purchased separately on top of the Avid licence or subscription. The price depends on whether an upgrade is being made from an earlier version or and/or whether both tools or only one is purchased. Prices range between €165 and €570. The standalone bundle of ScriptSync 2 and PhraseFind2 costs €611.77. For educational purposes, both tools are available in a bundle for €59.
