Major Releases of Symphony, Media Composer, Film Composer and Avid Xpress Offer More Than 100 New Enhancements at Lowest Upgrade Prices Ever
Feature enhancements in editing, effects and compositing, along with stronger interoperability, constitute the largest release for Meridien hardware-based systems in Avid history.
Avid Technology, Inc. announced, on April 7th, major releases to the Symphony™, Media Composer® XL, Film Composer® XL, and Avid Xpress® product lines with more than 100 feature enhancements in editing, effects and compositing. Among the new features in this largest release for Meridien™ hardware-based systems in Avid history are MetaSync™, a new revenue-generating capability within the Avid timeline; next-generation image and motion effects; a new Marquee® titling tool; and a DV option for Media Composer and Avid Xpress systems. In addition, these new versions offer highly customizable user interfaces and the strongest interoperability to date with Avid solutions and third-party applications.
Avid's new MetaSync capability, a major highlight in all the new versions, enables editors to synchronize virtually any kind of metadata with traditional video and audio content. With this technology, users can create or import pointers to assets in the timeline and modify the timing of these assets accordingly. With the addition of third-party developers, MetaSync technology will encompass a wide range of applications, allowing facilities to offer additional services that tap into new revenue streams in the ITV, broadband, DVD and converging media markets.
"With this major release, our objective was to meet customers' needs head on, pack these solutions with the industry's most powerful editing, effects, compositing and workflow capabilities, and do it for the lowest upgrade price ever," said Matt Allard, product marketing manager for Avid's high-end postproduction products. "With more than 100 feature enhancements and capabilities, we have made these industry-best solutions even better, giving professionals better quality and performance for the price. If you want to digitize, edit and deliver creative content faster and more efficiently, to a wider variety of formats and distribution channels, these are the solutions you've been waiting for."
The new versions of Media Composer and Avid Xpress systems feature an option that enables native support of DV-format media, including input and output of DV25 media through a standard IEEE 1394 (FireWire) connection; real-time playback and mixing of both DV25 and DV50 resolutions; and real-time 2D and 3D DVE effects performance. A Media Composer system with the DV option can exchange DV25 format media natively with a portable Avid Xpress DV system, enabling users to take projects out of the edit bay and onto the road. Broadcast customers can also use Media Composer systems with the DV option, ideally on a networked Avid Unity™ MediaNet system, to complete projects natively in the DV50 format and output with a NewsCutter® system.
"With Media Composer v11.0, Avid has once again increased my productivity and profitability potential," said John Hawkes, owner of John H. Hawkes Productions, an Avid beta site. "Avid is synonymous with reliability, and this was never more evident than on a recent project. We pushed the system to its limits, using almost every track available in the first two minutes of the show, and the Media Composer never let us down, both in terms of quality and performance."
"Existing Symphony and Media Composer users will immediately notice how the new features in Symphony v4.0 and Media Composer v11.0 make them more productive and creative," said Alan Miller, principal of Moving Pictures, a New York-based production and post-production studio and Avid beta site. "We have been begging for better motion effects for years, and these new versions prove it was worth the wait. Likewise, the Keyframe Graphs now enable much more interesting and complex effects work, and the addition of Marquee opens up new creative possibilities that are beyond the ability of the old title tool. Now, Media Composer users can have their title tool graphics automatically translated into Marquee finishing."
Additional New Features and Functionality
- New Keyframe Model
This new interface for setting and manipulating keyframes for the new Timewarp Motion Effects (see below), 2D PIP and 3D Warp Effects gives editors an ideal environment for creating subtle and outrageous variations of these effects with Bezier, spline and linear motion controls.
- Timewarp Motion Effects
These keyframeable, high-quality motion effects allow editors to perform dynamic speed changes common in the online process. These effects offer full keyframe control that enables users to ease into slow motion before bringing the action to a complete halt. On Symphony systems, the new Timewarp Motion effects offer the choice of rendering using Avid's new FluidMotion™ technology, which uses motion-prediction algorithms to produce motion effects of unprecedented smoothness.
- Marquee Title Tool
Full Symphony-level Marquee titling functionality is automatically enabled on Windows-based Media Composer and Film Composer systems equipped with qualified OGL graphics cards. The Marquee title tool is a true 3D environment, featuring a built-in 3D DVE that is accelerated via the OpenGL graphics card - so working with animated light sources, textures and greater video resolution is fast and responsive.
- Media Chunking
Media Chunking allows users to begin working with a shot even before it has completed digitizing. As media is digitized, it will be automatically divided into chunks that can be manipulated as soon as they are written to disk.
- Photoshop Layer Import
Photoshop-native .PSD files can be directly imported and manipulated as a corresponding multi-layer sequence in Media Composer.
- Image Effects
A set of 30 image effects has been added to expand the creative possibilities for editors,
Availability and Pricing
The Avid Symphony v4.0, Media Composer XL v11.0, Film Composer XL v11.0 and Avid Xpress v5.0 systems are expected to be available through Avid's worldwide reseller channel in Q2 2002. Pricing for Avid Symphony v4.0 starts at $90,000 USMSRP. Media Composer models start at the following prices: $12,000 USMSRP for Media Composer Offline; $40,000 USMSRP for Media Composer 1000; $68,000 USMSRP for Media Composer 9000; and $53,000 USMSRP for Film Composer. Avid Xpress pricing starts at $5,999 USMSRP. Software upgrades start at the following prices: $2,500 USMSRP for Symphony v4.0; $1,500 USMSRP for Media Composer; and $500 USMSRP for Avid Xpress v5.0. Customers purchasing Avid Assurance will receive free software upgrades.
www.avid.com
