How To Update to Avid Media Composer 8.3 from 8.1 for Perpetual Licensees Without Dongle.

Update (2-23-15):

Avid has a new article about updating Media Composer. Read it here:
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/faq/Media-Composer-Software-Born-On-Date-Licensing-FAQ/


Old rant and how-to (12-30-14) below:

Of course Avid has to make things complicated for you.

The Application Manager is of no help whatsoever.  It will display confusing messages as you try to read info / update either Application Manager or Media Composer itself.

At first there is no Update available for MC, then if you check the info under App Manager you get cryptic message: no need to update if you plan to update MC...

Well... How?  If you update App Manager, then there is an Update button that shows for MC, but it is not working!  Avid tells you that you need to buy or subscribe and that no Update is available to you.  Great.



So for you mindful users wanting to update to MC 8.3 from MC 8.1, in case you are a Perpetual Licensee, with a Yearly Plan Subscription and do not use a dongle, do this:

1 (one) De-Activate and Re-Activate Media Composer from the Licensing tab in Application Manager.  (No idea why Avid wants you to do this, but just to be safe.)

2 (two) In your web browser, log-in into your Avid User Account, go to My Products and Subscriptions.

3 (three) Click on Products Details and Download Links "Show"  (Why Avid has to hide the good stuff under irate pull-down menus like "Show" / "Show Info" / "More Info" / "Details" ... Is beyond me. Usually it's hiding three lines of important info that would be just fine being displayed right there in plain sight, that would make the experience much more straightforward.

4 (four) Download the Media Composer 8.3 installer.

5 (five) Open and Install Media Composer from the installer.

6 (six) Restart your computer.

7 (seven) Check that Application Manager and Avid Media Composer are current. Yeah!


Now go edit some 4k stuff!