(NAB 2006, Las Vegas --Booth #SL701 – April 26, 2006) Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) announced at NAB major enhancements to a wide range of systems within its Broadcast News, Production, On-Air Graphics, and Play-to-Air product groups. With robust updates to a range of systems – including version 3.3 of the Avid® MediaStream™ playout server; version 2.6 of the Avid iNEWS® system; version 4.0 of DekoCast™ software; version 7.0 of the Avid Thunder® system; version 3.3 of the Avid MediaStream playout server; version 1.5 of the iNEWS Instinct™ system; and version 6.5 of the NewsCutter® product family – Avid is further integrating its broadcast-focused products and the operating efficiency of its industry-leading all-digital broadcast workflow.
In addition, Avid’s end-to-end digital news production environment now offers tight integration with Avid Interplay™ – the world’s first nonlinear workflow engine that breaks new ground for broadcasters and media production organizations (announced today in a separate release: (www.avid.com/company/releases/2006/060423_interplay_avid.html).
“Our broadcast production environment continues to be the preferred choice among broadcasters who are transitioning from tape-based to all-digital newsrooms – and the depth and breadth of the integrated workflow we can offer only gets smoother and more comprehensive with each product enhancement that we make,” said David Schleifer, vice president of Avid Broadcast and Workgroups. “Our customers continue to look for ways to improve and adapt their workflows as demands for new cameras, formats, resolutions, and higher quality graphics introduce new challenges. In updating the major systems in our end-to-end production environment, we’ve improved integration with the tools we acquired from Pinnacle last year, and we’re breaking down even bigger barriers with support for our new nonlinear workflow engine, Avid Interplay. No other vendor comes close to Avid in offering the level of system interoperability, efficiency, and ROI of our all-digital production workflows.”
Extensive Updates Across the Avid Broadcast Product Family
With major enhancements to a broad range of nonlinear systems in the Avid Broadcast product family, Avid’s end-to-end tapeless production environment offers seamless integration for every facet of the news creation, management, and delivery process, including feed ingest, newsroom operations, editing, production and asset management, on-air graphics, and automated multi-channel playout. Updates to specific systems include:- Avid MediaStream version 3.3 – delivering new playout capabilities, including broader support for up to 16 channels for greater flexibility, enhanced system performance, integration with Avid editing systems for MPEG I-Frame (IMX) editing and Long GOP (group-of-pictures) SD and HD native editing support, and smoother interoperability with NewsCutter craft editing systems, eliminating the need to transcode media when moving files to and from the MediaStream server.
- Avid iNEWS version 2.6 – delivering a completely new user interface, designed to mirror the workflow of today’s newsroom professionals, enabling journalists, producers and operators to work more efficiently. Avid iNEWS v2.6 offers thorough integration of Unicode for a truly global newsroom computer system with broad support for multiple languages and the ability for users to choose from any installed dictionary at any time.
- Avid iNEWS Instinct version 1.6 – providing journalists with powerful new production tools, including full integration with the new Avid Interplay nonlinear workflow engine for comprehensive project sharing with anyone in the production workflow. With the iNEWS Instinct system connected to the Avid Interplay system, NewsCutter editors can easily collaborate with journalists as they make changes, allowing story assembly, transition, graphics, and effects work to occur simultaneously. The Avid Interplay system also facilitates sophisticated multi-resolution functionality with iNEWS Instinct, enabling journalists to use any available resolution when creating a voice over (VO), voice over sound-on-tape (VOSOT), or Package (PKG), and ensuring that only the correct resolution is played to air.
- Avid NewsCutter family version 6.5 – updates to both NewsCutter XP and NewsCutter Adrenaline™ systems include Avid Interplay integration for broader access to media and non-media assets and instant coordination within the news production staff. Both NewsCutter systems also offer increased HDV performance with Long GOP editing; enhanced support for P2, XDCAM, and Editcam acquisition systems; and smoother interoperation with both Avid Thunder and MediaStream servers.
- Avid DekoCast version 4.0 – providing broadcasters with a single, integrated system for automating delivery of station branding and customizing content for local viewing audiences. Deployed to support news crawls, weather alerts, financial tickers, stocks boxes, school closings, station IDs, promos, and in-program information graphics, version 4.0 of DekoCast offers a full-featured HD system configuration, enhanced crawl capabilities for displaying animated logos, and integration with the Avid iNEWS system to streamline the creation of content and display of real-time graphics for news headlines or breaking news information.
- Avid Thunder version 7.0 – combining the capabilities of a traditional video clip and still image store with advanced real-time DVE effects, on-board and remote database support, and powerful graphics capabilities. The release also offers an HD model to support broadcasters who are migrating to HD news, as well as integration with the new Thunder Station system, a tightly integrated package of Avid video ingest and editing, graphics creation and management, and playout systems (announced today in a separate release: (www.avid.com/company/releases/2006/060423_graphics_avid.html).
Pricing and Availability
Pricing for the individual Avid Broadcast systems is as follows:- Pricing for Avid iNEWS v2.6 starts at $36,000 USMSRP for a standard 20-seat system;
- Avid iNEWS Instinct version 1.6 is priced at $3,995 USMSRP;
- NewsCutter XP and NewsCutter Adrenaline version 6.5 are priced at $5,995 USMSRP and $26,995 USMSRP, respectively;
- Pricing for Avid DekoCast version 4.0 starts at $26,995 USMSRP;
- Pricing for Avid Thunder version 7.0 starts at $19,995 USMSRP; and
- Pricing for Avid MediaStream version 3.3 starts at $62,995 USMSRP.
With the exception of Avid MediaStream, all systems are expected to be available in Q2 2006. MediaStream is expected to be available in Q3 2006. For more information about Avid Broadcast systems, please visit www.avid.com/broadcast.
About Avid Technology, Inc.
Avid Technology, Inc. is the world leader in digital nonlinear media creation, management, and distribution solutions, enabling film, video, audio, animation, games, and broadcast professionals to work more efficiently, productively, and creatively. For more information about the company’s Oscar®, Grammy®, and Emmy® award-winning products and services, please visit: www.avid.com.
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