PT LE 8 To PTHD 9 ?

[kikadisa]

Hi everyone.

I'm asking me a question.
On this page (http://www.avid.com/US/products/family/Pro-Tools/compare) we can see that ProTools HD support mbox 2 Pro.

So Can i update my protools LE 8 to a protools HD 9 with my mbox.
i don't have any DSP, but i could have for 400€ a HD with Input monitoring, Trackpunch, VCA... That 1600€ less than a complete production toolkit.

but maybe i do a mistake...

[Holly73]

You can't buy PT9HD standalone (or an update from LE to HD). Only PT9. So, there is no way around the CPTK2 if you want the additional features.

[Tragic Dog]

Are you sure about that? according to the readme pdf, if an HD 9 license is found on the ilok than HD features are used, if a non HD license is found then the HD features are not used. This is the upgrade path I'm thinking of doing, and I would like a straight answer from avid.

Can I buy the LE 8 to HD 9 upgrade found in the store for 349.00 and get all the features of HD w/o needing HD hardware?

[mike connelly]

I wonder if that HD upgrade is really eligible for LE owners. If it shows up as an option you could always try buying it and see if they let you.

[spkguitar]

To get the HD version of the software, you need to own currently and upgrade, or purchase new HD hardware.

[SumItAnalog]

Are you sure about that? according to the readme pdf, if an HD 9 license is found on the ilok than HD features are used, if a non HD license is found then the HD features are not used. This is the upgrade path I'm thinking of doing, and I would like a straight answer from avid.

Can I buy the LE 8 to HD 9 upgrade found in the store for 349.00 and get all the features of HD w/o needing HD hardware?

I think that it true. However in order to get the "HD" license to begin with, you would have had to purchase some HD hardware at some point.

So I believe the PT9 + CPTK2 is the same as PT9HD but without TDM.

But yes clarification from Avid is always best. :)

[lillloyd]

If I were upgrading from LE to PT9, and had any desire at all to get the CPTK2 kit to "equalize it" with PTHD9, I'd strongly consider picking up a used HD PCI-X card on Ebay. These are selling for about $900 these days.

Even if you never did anything with the HD card at all, you'd be spending $900 (instead of $2000 for the new CPTK2!) to get the PT HD9 version, which is equivalent to PT9 + CPTK2 and can be used on any machine, regardless of whether it has HD cards or Avid hardware.

Of course you'd have to have a PC or Mac with an older-style PCI slot to actually *use* HD. But my understanding is, you just need a registered SN from any HD card (it doesn't matter PCI-X or PCI-e) to upgrade to PT HD9.



Just my $.02

[mike connelly]

If I were upgrading from LE to PT9, and had any desire at all to get the CPTK2 kit to "equalize it" with PTHD9, I'd strongly consider picking up a used HD PCI-X card on Ebay. These are selling for about $900 these days.

Good point. But now that PT9 is out and word gets around, I wouldn't be surprised if most people who have one of those to sell do the PTHD9 upgrade themselves before they sell the card (and I assume digi will only allow one upgrade per hardware serial number). They could either keep the software or probably sell it for a decent buck considering the alternative is $2600, of course I'm sure digi wouldn't approve of that.

[lillloyd]

Good point. But now that PT9 is out and word gets around, I wouldn't be surprised if most people who have one of those to sell do the PTHD9 upgrade themselves before they sell the card (and I assume digi will only allow one upgrade per hardware serial number). They could either keep the software or probably sell it for a decent buck considering the alternative is $2600, of course I'm sure digi wouldn't approve of that.

I suppose that's true. But unless AVID suddenly starts blocking license transfers and sales I'm not sure what they could do to stop it.

Interesting though--I guess the 2nd hand market for old PCIX cards will go up once people figure out that AVID's essentially assigned a $2000 value to them (ie price of CPTK2)

[lillloyd]

Good point. But now that PT9 is out and word gets around, I wouldn't be surprised if most people who have one of those to sell do the PTHD9 upgrade themselves before they sell the card (and I assume digi will only allow one upgrade per hardware serial number). They could either keep the software or probably sell it for a decent buck considering the alternative is $2600, of course I'm sure digi wouldn't approve of that.

@Tragic: we're talking about *core* PCI-X cards here obviously.