In the News

• Avid releases Media Composer Adrenaline 1.1 software and now supports the new PowerMac G5 platform. more

• Alliance Digital leverages the knowledge and expertise of its parent company Virtual Media, the leading Avid Premier reseller on the continent, to provide Avid rental or purchase solutions to major US broadcasters and leading postproduction and entertainment companies across the country. more

• Avid ships Real-Time HD and SD Finishing Systems:  Avid Technology, Inc.  today announced the worldwide availability of Avid DS Nitris and Avid DS Nitris Editor more

• Avid Xpress Pro and Avid Mojo Now Available - Avid Xpress Pro offers unprecedented real-time video, film, and audio editing power for professionals;Avid Mojo adds dedicated real-time performance to host CPUs more

• Avid Media Composer Adrenaline Now Shipping product delivers unparalleled price/performance and HD scalability more

• Edit Review Apple Final Cut Pro 4  The new version of the popular editing program is more than just an NLE more

• Boris FX Announces Red 3GL Availability. The Only Solution for Integrated Titling, 3D Compositing and Effects inside an NLE - more

   

Avid Technology - Nov 2003 - Concurrent with the release of Media Composer Adrenaline v1.1, which is scheduled to begin shipping on November 21^st, Avid is pleased to announce support for the following Apple Power Mac G5 CPU: 

• Power Mac dual 2.0 GHz G5 running Mac OS X 10.2.8

Avid DNA technology harnesses the increased power of Appleís new G5 platform helping to make Mac-based Avid editors more productive then ever before.  The new G5 offers a faster front-side bus and a higher clock rate resulting in a significant performance boost for Media Composer Adrenaline users.  Performance enhancements include the ability to play an additional stream of uncompressed video in real-time on the G5 platform as compared to the earlier G4 platform. Additionally, Avid is pleased to announce support for the following new PC platform: 

• Hewlett-Packard xw8000 dual 3.06 GHz Xeon running Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1

Performance of the Media Composer Adrenaline system on this new PC is comparable to the earlier HP xw8000 dual 2.8 GHz CPU (and in some cases slightly more responsive).

Availability

Media Composer Adrenaline v1.1 will be provided at no charge to all customers covered under current Avid Assurance contracts.  This release will be available for downloading by Avid Assurance customers at www.avid.com/downloadcenter.  Customers not covered under Avid Assurance may purchase this software update separately. 

Additional Features

In addition to adding support for the two new systems listed above, Media Composer Adrenaline v1.1 adds several new features including the following:

• New Shared User Profile model

• Inclusion of Sorenson Squeeze Compression Suite and Sonic ReelDVD LE

• Capture, play and edit support for MPEG50 (MPEG IMX 50Mbps)

Mac OS X Support

Media Composer Adrenaline v1.1 requires Mac OS X 10.2.6 or 10.2.8 on Mac G4 systems (10.2.8 is recommended).   Mac OS X 10.2.8 is required on Mac G5 systems.  Due the significant changes introduced in Appleís new ìPantherî Mac OS X 10.3 release, Avid is continuing its development efforts to add support for this new operating system.  Mac OS X 10.3 support is expected to be introduced by Avid in a separate Q4í03/Q1ë04 release.  

Specifications for the qualified G5 system are as follows:

Specifications for the newly qualified PC system are as follows:

SCSI Cards

Currently only the ATTO Ultra160 UL3D SCSI host bus adapter is qualified by Avid for use with Media Composer Adrenaline on either the Power Mac G4 or G5.  Qualification of the ATTO Ultra320 UL4D SCSI host bus adapter is underway.   Updates will be sent as soon as they are available.

Markee Magazine - 2003 - If it is Avid-related, we'll help you, says President Lee Golinello. We get creative about ways to make our customers job

s easier, more efficient and more cost effective.
To that end Alliance Digital often sets up custom rent-to-own programs. For example, A new episodic series is picked up for 13 weeks, but then what? If it gets renewed, it would make sense to own an Avid. But the producers don't know the future at the outset, Golinello notes. So we can rent them an Avid system for the first 13 weeks and convert to a rent-to-own scenario later, applying a portion of the rental fee to the purchase. That way there's no buyer's remorse.

Alliance Digital provides Avid editing systems for clients' special events such as Wimbledon, the NASCAR circuit, PGA Tour, US Open Tennis, Disney's special events, and Discovery Channel's Air Venture, the world's largest air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. In addition to editing systems they provide networked Avid unity storage solutions, Digidesign Pro Tools audio systems and graphic workstations.

The company is believed to be the only one offering clients state-of-the-art support capabilities such as remote technician access and control of Avid systems anywhere in the world for immediate diagnosis, modification and repair during time-critical situations. If there's a problem with an Avid, within moments our engineer can go on-line, log in and assume control of the Avid, diagnosing and correcting the problem just as if he were sitting at the system, Golinello explains. This is all done in a fully-secure environment with total client visibility and permission so there's never a compromise in security.

Some customers are eager to test drive new technology like DVD authoring, streaming and media management which they can easily do at Alliance Digital. They have to show their management the cost effectiveness and ROI of these technologies so they'll rent them and get a demonstrable product before making a major capital purchase, says Golinello. With offices in New York City, New Jersey, Miami and Orlando, Alliance Digital offers a complete array of Avid systems including Symphonys, Media Composers, Xpress DV, Newscutters and Unity. It is one of the few companies renting Avid|DS HD systems. Alliance Digital can also package a turnkey configuration of Avid products to meet clients needs, and deliver and support those systems anywhere in the world.

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Tewksbury, Mass.  October 15, 2003 Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced the worldwide availability of Avid DS Nitris and Avid DS Nitris Editor the only finishing systems on the market to deliver real-time effects and color correction with two streams of uncompressed 10-bit HD media and eight streams of 10-bit uncompressed SD media. Starting at only $78,995 US MSRP, the Avid DS Nitris family supports a wide range of high-quality formats, from compressed SD to 2K, and delivers a deep set of video and audio editing capabilities including Symphony-style color correction.

When I sat down at the Nitris system, the first thing I did was digitize uncompressed 10-bit HD media, throw on some color correction, hit play, and bam! It all played back in real time. It absolutely blew my mind, said Gus Comegys, lead editor at Digitalize, a Los Angeles-based online facility and Avid DS Nitris beta tester. Avid|DS HD is rapidly becoming the de facto standard for HD finishing. With Avid DS Nitris on the market, I can imagine why anyone would consider using another nonlinear product for completing HD projects.

Alan Hoff, director of Editors Product Management for Avid, commented, Avid DS Nitris is revolutionary because it brings all the real-time performance of an SD finishing system to HD  with zero compromises. The system offers the industry's most extensive creative toolset, including advanced editing, compositing, vector paint, titling, 3D effects, and Symphony-style color correction features. Its capable of handling just about any task you throw at it. Hoff continued, Professionals in the rapidly growing HD finishing markets for primetime television and commercial postproduction no longer have to waste time rendering even when working with the highest-quality media. With Avid DS Nitris, they can complete projects faster and have more time to take on creative challenges by tapping into the systems deep functionality.

The Avid DS Nitris and Avid DS Nitris Editor systems are the most powerful members of the Avid DNA family, the industry's only hybrid architecture designed to leverage the capabilities of both host-based software processing and hardware-based acceleration, delivering unparalleled performance that scales with the power of host CPUs. The Nitris hardware is software programmable for future codecs, real-time effects, and other functions via the Web or CD.

The Avid DS Nitris family supports the industry's broadest set of input/output (I/O) capabilities, including SDI and HD-SDI digital video and eight channels of digital audio at 24-bit 96 kHz. The systems work with both AAF and OMF media, which enable them to seamlessly conform any project from a Symphony, Media Composer Adrenaline, Media Composer, or Avid Xpress system. Avid DS Nitris and Avid DS Nitris Editor systems can also share media with other Avid, Softimage, and Digidesign systems in a collaborative workflow with the Avid Unity MediaNetwork system.

For more information about the features and functionality included in the Avid DS Nitris family, visit www.avid.com.

Pricing and Availability

Avid DS Nitris and Avid DS Nitris Editor are now available through Avidîs worldwide reseller channel. Pricing is $78,995 USMSRP for the Avid DS Nitris Editor system and $145,000 USMSRP for the Avid DS Nitris system. For existing Avid|DS HD customers, hardware upgrades to Avid DS Nitris systems start at $35,000 USMSRP.

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Avid Xpress Pro and Avid Mojo Now Available

Avid Xpress Pro offers unprecedented real-time video, film, and audio editing power for professionals;Avid Mojo adds dedicated real-time performance to host CPUs

Tewksbury, MA - September 29, 2003 - Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced that Avid Xpress Pro software and the Avid Mojo Digital Nonlinear Accelerator (Avid DNA) are now available worldwide. Customers can purchase both award-winning products through Avid's global reseller channel, the Avid store (www.avidstore.com), or other Avid international Web sites.

Avid Xpress Pro with Avid Mojo was a hit when it debuted at NAB, and the momentum has been building ever since, said Steve Chazin, senior manager of product marketing for Avid. Working on both Mac- and Windows-based systems, video professionals now can use the latest, industry-standard product from Avid that sets a new price-performance benchmark for software-based nonlinear editing tools.

Howard Smith, a feature film editor whose credits include Point Break and the upcoming Warner Brothers release Torque, commented, I used Avid Xpress Pro to cut a full-length documentary, and I was amazed at the software's real-time performance and stability. Avid has really taken a quantum leap forward giving users access to an affordable editing product that will outperform other products in its price range. Smith added, With Avid Mojo, the performance is even more impressive. I can hook up a client monitor in perfect sync with the desktop, which gives me the accuracy I need to do precision fine-tuning and advanced color correction. I can also output full resolution video in real-time to tape. Competitive software doesnt even come close to delivering the same kind of professional results.

As standalone software, Avid Xpress Pro offers award-winning Film Composer technology, which includes 24p film editing capabilities and support for the Panasonic AG-DVX100 24p camera, as well as support for various offline formats, including 15:1s, 35:1p, 28:1p, and 14:1p. The software also offers automatic expert color correction and advanced 2D and 3D OpenGL technology-based effects. When paired with the portable Avid Mojo accelerator, Avid Xpress Pro software benefits from the industry's only hybrid architecture designed to leverage the power of both host-based CPU processing and hardware-based acceleration. Together, Avid Xpress Pro software and the Avid Mojo accelerator deliver professional video, film, and audio editing capabilities, including true real-time digital and analog output. Both products are qualified to run on a wide range of Windows-based CPUs as well as on the Power Mac G5.

No other solution in its class delivers as much breakthrough technology  including automatic color correction, which can correct an entire sequence with a single click, eliminating what has traditionally been a tedious, time-consuming process. And when you add Avid Mojo, you get unprecedented real-time performance and the ability to mix uncompressed graphics and titles over DV25 media, said Chazin.

Availability and Pricing

The Avid Xpress Pro and Avid Mojo products are now available through Avid's worldwide reseller channel. Pricing for the Avid Xpress Pro software is $1,695 USMSRP, with Windows XP and Macintosh OS X versions included in one box. Pricing for Avid Mojo, which is sold separately, is $1,695 USMSRP.

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Tewksbury, MA  May 29, 2003  Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced the worldwide availability of its new Media Composer Adrenaline system. This revolutionary product combines feature-rich, next-generation Media Composer software with the powerful new Adrenaline hardware to offer real-time, multi-stream, uncompressed standard-definition video editing and 10-bit high-definition media expandability. The Adrenaline hardware is part of Avid's new family of digital nonlinear accelerators (Avid DNA), the industry's only hybrid architecture designed to leverage the power of both host-based software capabilities and hardware-based acceleration, delivering unparalleled performance that scales with the power of the host CPU.

When we unveiled Media Composer Adrenaline at NAB this past April, the reaction was unbelievable. Customers were not only impressed by the new features, such as HD expandability and enhanced color correction, but also by the real-time performance and responsiveness that the system delivers, said Dana Ruzicka, director of product marketing for Avid. And what really blew them away was the price. Never before has a product with this depth of functionality, compatibility and performance been so affordable.

Media Composer Adrenaline is the industry's first system to support uncompressed SD video over a standard FireWire connection. The product offers a robust feature set, including 24p Film Composer offline editing functionality, 24-bit audio capabilities and a powerful real-time color correction tool that can automatically correct an entire sequence with a single click. The Media Composer Adrenaline system can also operate in a collaborative workflow with Avid Unity MediaNetwork and natively supports Avid Meridien (JFIF), ABVB (AVRs), DV25, DV50, IMX and uncompressed 601 media all mixable in the same timeline.

"Media Composer Adrenaline is fantastic because it's compatible with Meridien and even ABVB media, which makes the 14 other Media Composer systems we already own even more valuable," said Rick Breniser, technical director at Los Angeles-based FilmCore, a division of Ascent Media, and a Media Composer Adrenaline beta tester. "It's a fast editor, and it's extremely flexible in terms of file formats. We can use it on location because it's portable and professionally capable. We can also use it in the machine room to get multi-format media into and out of the facility, and between systems. It's a great addition no matter where we put it, and it can handle whatever we throw at it."

Pricing and Availability
The Media Composer Adrenaline system is now available through Avid's worldwide reseller channel. Pricing is $24,995 USMSRP. More information on the Media Composer Adrenaline system, including a list of certified hardware and software can be found at www.avid.com.

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Video Systems, Aug 1, 2003: Apple's Final Cut Pro 4.0 is far more than an upgrade from version 3. True, the application has been enhanced in several significant areas. Version 4, however, encompasses far more than an NLE application.

Apple bundles four additional supporting applications. To create dynamic titles, Apple's LiveType application supports animated fonts. To create soundtracks, Apple includes Soundtrack. You can use Apple's new Compressor application to handle a wide range of encoding jobs. To support film production, Apple has bundled its second generation of Cinema Tools. And in 1,500 words, I'm going to provide you with an in-depth review of all the new software  not. Reality dictates that I cover only a few significant enhancements to FCP. On p. 51, Frank McMahon provides a comprehensive review of Soundtrack.

Final Cut Pro 4 introduces an entirely new realtime architecture that Apple calls RT Extreme. The architecture supports both software- and hardware-based accelerated realtime effects. RT Extreme takes advantage of multiple CPUs and is optimized for the G4 and G5 Velocity Engine. Unlike FCP 3, which supported only one or two streams of video, RT Extreme supports multiple streams. The number of streams, of course, is limited by your system configuration. The faster the system, the more simultaneous streams of video you can work with in realtime.
After clicking the RT Extreme popup menu in the Timeline, you can choose between two sets of options. Select Safe mode and Final Cut Pro 4 provides guaranteed perfect playback of realtime effects. Select Unlimited mode, and FCP plays as well as possible multiple streams of video. When Unlimited is selected, almost 200 FCP effects, filters, and transitions can be used in realtime.

If you select Low- or Medium-quality video playback, you will see preview-quality realtime effects. Conversely, if you select High-quality video playback, you will see full-resolution, full-frame-rate playback of realtime effects. Apple claims that many effects can be output to tape without having to be rendered when you select Safe mode and High-quality video playback.

I decided to experiment with RT Extreme using the dual-1.4GHz G4 PowerMac that Apple sent me for this review. (The PowerMac had a single ATA100, 120GB drive.) I used DV25 material and created a dozen short clips that I placed into a Sequence. First, I color-corrected every clip. Then I joined every set of four clips with three 1- to 2-second transitions: dissolve, clock wipe, and cross-stretch. For the experiment I created four audio tracks.

In Safe mode at High quality, all transitions became red, indicating the material had to be rendered. Thus to output to tape at full quality without rendering, it seems you may have to confine yourself to only a single video stream. In Unlimited mode at Maximum quality, all transitions (plus the remainder of the clip after the cross-stretch) became orange, indicating the capabilities of the system to play perfectly had been exceeded.  At either Medium or Low quality, the clock wipe became yellow (meaning some aspect of the effect, such as edge softness, would be ignored), while the stretch became orange. In all cases, however, I could play through the series without stuttering.

I then layered a second series of four clips, set at 50% transparency, above the first. I staggered the set so transitions were never above other transitions. The second layer added a stream so whenever a transition occurred, three streams were required. In Unlimited mode at Maximum quality, the entire series of clips went orange. Playing through the four clips resulted in severe stuttering and pauses. In Unlimited mode at Medium or Low quality, areas with three streams went orange. However, I could play both tracks with no apparent problems. So far, so good.
Next I layered a third series of four clips, set at 50% transparency, above the first two layers. At several points, two transitions overlaid each other. I immediately noticed that when I placed the Timeline cursor where there was no transition in the top layer, only the top layer was visible.
Placing the cursor above an upper-layer transition resulted in all layers being rendered for the selected frame. It was as if the upper layer's transparency level was being ignored between transitions.
Sensing an FCP bug, I trimmed the top layer so that only areas with transitions remained in the upper track. The result was areas with one, two, three, or five streams. With FCP set to Unlimited mode with Medium quality, the three- and five-stream areas were marked orange. Nevertheless, the entire three tracks, requiring up to five streams, played fine.

Naturally, I couldn't resist placing a dissolve  requiring two more streams  above the area with two vertical transitions. I wasn't surprised when playback stuttered severely through the area that required seven streams. This dual-processor system easily supported realtime preview of five streams with five filters, plus two transitions. These positive results pushed me to add a lower-third super to the fourth video track. Once again, RT Extreme played through the entire segment with no stutters. Fundamentally, these tests indicate that for most DV25 productions, rendering lulls will not slow your creative process.

In my testing I used only Apple's DV25 codec with RT Extreme. FCP has several capabilities that benefit owners of Panasonic DVCPRO and DVCPRO 50 equipment. First, a DV50 codec is now supplied. As you might expect, this increases system bandwidth requirements. The bandwidth required is 7MBps for 29.97i, or 5.7MBps for either 23.98p or 24p. Second, via the reverse 2:3:3:2 pulldown function in Cinema Tools 2, 480p24 editing is supported for material shot with a Panasonic DVX100 or SDX900 camcorder. FCP 4 itself supports the realtime application of 2:3:2:3, 2:3:3:2, or 2:2:2:3 pull-up to FireWire output, thereby supporting an NTSC monitor. When your production is complete, you can use Cinema Tools to apply 2:3:2:3 pull-up so you can record it to NTSC tape.
Using RT Extreme, those editing DV or using Apple's OfflineRT codec  can view effects simultaneously onscreen (DVI monitor or laptop LCD) and on an NTSC monitor driven by a camcorder or deck via FireWire. Of course, if you have a PCI board or FireWire-based video I/O box, this hardware can take advantage of RT Extreme for greater realtime processing power.

Underneath RT Extreme, Final Cut Pro 4 has a new render engine. Render modes are supported on a per-sequence basis: 8-bit RGB, 8-bit YUV (default), 10-bit YUV, and High Precision YUV. Additionally, FCP includes uncompressed 8- and 10-bit SD and HD formats (4:2:2 YUV) that are optimized for both multiple processors and the Velocity Engine.  When rendering, codecs convert video data to 4:4:4:4 and pass it to the render engine. Final Cut Pro always renders using 4:4:4:4 sampling, even when the sources have a lower sampling ratio. While High Precision YUV  also known as 32-bit floating-point or HDR (High Dynamic Range) does not increase color space, it does provide maximum rendering quality because intermediate calculations do not suffer from fixed-point rounding errors.

Final Cut Pro 4 provides the editor with a new Time Remap tool. You can speed up, slow down, reverse, or ramp playback speed over time. These options are supported by an addition to the user interface that allows you to remap time graphically directly in the Timeline. Your decisions are based on the video, not on percentages or frame rates. With the Time Remap tool, the link between frames and time is not fixed. Thirty frames do not have to be one second long. You can pick any frame from the source clip and place it anywhere in time. This results either in stretched (slow-motion) time or shortened (high-speed) time for the video on either side of the new keyframe. I found this new feature to be both useful and a whole lot of fun.

When you've completed a production, you can export it to tape as a QuickTime (FCP) movie, compress it using any QuickTime codec, or pass it to the new Compressor application bundled with FCP 4. When you open Compressor from the Final Cut Pro Export menu, even realtime effects in Final Cut Pro 4 can be encoded. Integration means it's no longer necessary to create an intermediate file, which saves both time and disk space. Compressor, which features a batch-encoding capability, can also be used as a standalone application.

Compressor takes advantage of multiple processors and the Velocity Engine for high-performance encoding. Compressor's MPEG-2 codec is a second-generation Apple encoder that supports one- and two-pass variable bit rate encoding, advanced motion estimation, and the ability to control GOP size and structure. Compressor also lets you encode projects using MPEG-4.

Other than the glitch I encountered while putting RT Extreme to the test, I ran into no problems using FCP 4 on the dual-processor review system, or on my 1GHz iMac. A few years ago, I predicted in these pages that ultimately one would need to pay no more than a $1,000 for a professional NLE. With the enhancement of Final Cut Pro, plus the inclusion of the other four production packages, Apple has more than made that prediction come true.

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BOSTON, MA (September 11, 2003) - Boris FX, the leading developer of integrated titling, compositing and 3D effects technology for video and film production, today announces the availability of Boris RED 3GL on September 17, 2003. Boris Red 3GL is the only solution for editors who require broadcast-quality features for titling, effects, compositing and 3D directly inside their nonlinear editing system. Red 3GLs seamless integration is unsurpassed  editors, effects artists and compositors experience the performance, workflow and breadth of features to meet the demanding requirements of cutting-edge production. Boris Red 3GL is a powerful and versatile application that integrates advanced 2D and 3D compositing, industry-leading software DVE technology, robust 3D modeling and animation, native vector titling, motion tracking, vector paint, rotoscoping, as well as Adobe Illustrator file animation and extrusion and more, all in a single plug-in and standalone application.

With over 300 new features, Red 3GL gives users more creative options than ever. Users of Red 3GL work in one application, their nonlinear editor. Red provides instant gratification since editors see the results of their work immediately. Red 3GL delivers faster performance with support for OpenGL hardware acceleration and optimized processing in addition to many new features from expanded 3D compositing and title animation to new animated charts for corporate and broadcast applications. Red 3GL offers numerous user enhancements that provide power and speed directly in your editing system. There is no other application in its class.

New Red 3GL Feature Highlights

•  OpenGL Hardware Acceleration
•  Expanded 3D Effects Environment
•  2D and 3D Animated Charts
•  Advanced Title Animation
•  Direct Placement and Editing of Titles on a Video Image
•  Over 40 New Filters
•  Optical Flow Technology

•  Instant Effects

•  Workflow Enhancements

•  Faster Renders

•  New Hardware and Software Integration

Boris Red 3GL is the first product that allows video editors to take advantage of OpenGL technology, the industry's foundation for high-performance graphics, directly inside their NLEs, says Boris FX founder and president Boris Yamnitsky. OpenGL support is the latest in a long list of features that Boris Red was the first to integrate into NLEs, including native vector titling and graphics, motion tracking, vector paint and rotoscoping, and advanced 2D and 3D compositing. Working with Red 3GL and OpenGL technology, video editors will dramatically expand their effects capabilities and increase their productivity.

Boris Red 3GL greatly expands the range of compatible hardware to provide video preview of effects and titles to broadcast monitors, including the native FireWire connections built into many new computers. For the first time in Boris Red 3GL, video-out preview capabilities are also available in the standalone Boris Red Engine. This release also introduces support for Sony Pictures Digital Vegas and extends support for the latest NLE releases from such companies as Adobe, Apple, Avid, in-sync, Incite and others. For editors who prefer to build effects outside their NLEs, Red 3GL now offers the option to import NLE sequences using Media 100's Sequence Import plug-in or Automatic Duck Pro Import for Avid and Final Cut Pro.

Boris Red 3GL will be demonstrated at the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) 2003 from September 12-16, 2003, Amsterdam RAI, booth number 7.649.

Pricing and Availability

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