Avid Unveils Industry’s Most Complete All-in-One Professional Production Suite: Avid Xpress Studio
New solution is first to integrate industry-leading video, audio, 3-D animation, compositing and titling, and DVD authoring applications – plus dedicated hardware – at a breakthrough price
NAB 2004, Las Vegas (Booth #SL4761) – 18 April 2004 – Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today introduced the Avid Xpress® Studio system – the industry’s first all-in-one content creation suite for DV professionals that includes highly integrated video editing, audio production, 3-D animation, compositing and titling, and DVD authoring software products combined with professional video and audio production hardware. All of the applications in the Avid Xpress Studio system interoperate seamlessly together on the same computer, empowering individual content creators to work across multiple media disciplines in a single production environment.
“Today’s DV professionals do much more than just edit. They’re facing increasing pressure to include a broader range of creative elements in their work – while trying to get jobs done faster, and for less money. The Avid Xpress Studio is the first package to truly cover all the bases, and represents a stunning value,” said Tim Wilson, senior manager of product marketing for Avid. “As the only company with expertise in developing software and hardware for the video, film, audio, and 3D industries, Avid is positioned to deliver a complete package of seamlessly integrated production applications that offer new creative possibilities for professionals doing a wide range of work – including commercial production, corporate/industrial projects, event videography, music videos, and independent films.”
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Industry-Leading Applications Working Together, Also Available Separately
The five powerful software applications included in the Avid Xpress Studio system, which are also available for individual purchase, are:
Avid Xpress Pro. Avid Xpress Pro software provides professional film and video editing capabilities, including multicam support, OneStep Auto Correct colour correction, real-time moving alpha channels, MetaSync™ tracks, and collaborative editing with support for the Avid Unity™ LANshare EX networked-storage environment. The software also offers image stabilisation, real-time pan and zoom, 24p editing, script-based editing, and support for a wide range of export formats, including Windows Media 9 HD, MPEG 2, and Macromedia Flash.
Avid Pro Tools® LE. Based on Academy Award®-winning Pro Tools technology from Avid’s Digidesign® division, Avid Pro Tools LE offers flexibility, power, and simplicity for audio editing and effects. The system supports up to 32 tracks of sample-accurate, 24-bit/96-kHz audio and up to 256 MIDI tracks. In addition, Avid Pro Tools LE includes the Digidesign DV Toolkit software package and a wide range of audio plug-ins that allow users to shift pitch, clean up background noise, replace dialogue, and instantly change the tempo of audio files.
Avid 3D. Featuring the industry-leading 3-D animation and effects capabilities of SOFTIMAGE®|XSI® software, Avid 3D offers a powerful new 3-D creation and effects environment designed for the needs of video editors. The product also features a library of customisable 3-D models, texture maps, and animation scenes – all of which can be modified by users.
Avid FX. Based on the award-winning, industry-leading Boris Red titling and compositing package, Avid FX operates as an AVX plug-in for the Avid Xpress Pro application and offers more than 1,500 customisable title, effects, and transition templates. Avid FX also delivers advanced compositing, DVE technology, native vector titling, motion tracking, vector paint, and rotoscoping.
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Avid DVD by Sonic™. Developed expressly for Avid by Sonic Solutions, the leader in DVD creation software, Avid DVD by Sonic supports the OpenDVD standard, which allows DVDs to be edited without requiring re-authoring. Avid DVD by Sonic smoothly combines 4:3 and 16:9 media in a single project (when encoded by Sorenson Squeeze, included with Avid Xpress Pro), supports double-layer discs, and offers additional integration enhancements, including creation of chapter marks and thumbnails in the Avid Xpress Pro timeline. A future release will support Windows HD DVD authoring.
The Avid Xpress Studio will be available in two versions – Avid Xpress Studio Essentials and Avid Xpress Studio Complete – that combine these five powerful software applications with different levels of professional hardware.
Avid Xpress Studio Essentials – includes the Digidesign Mbox™ hardware, a 2-channel USB audio peripheral that integrates audio and MIDI recording, editing, and real-time mixing.
Avid Xpress Studio Complete – replaces Mbox hardware with the eight-fader Digi 002®, which provides professional audio and MIDI I/O connections and touch-sensitive motorised faders for automation control designed to work with both the Avid Xpress Pro and Avid Pro Tools LE applications. Avid Xpress Studio Complete also includes the Avid Mojo™ Digital Nonlinear Accelerator™ (Avid DNA™), which offers simultaneous real-time output of multiple streams of video and 3-D effects to client monitor and tape, the ability to mix uncompressed graphics and animation with DV media in real time, and many more performance-enhancing capabilities.
Unparalleled Interoperability
The software and hardware components of the Avid Xpress Studio system have been optimised to work together using open standards, such as MXF, AAF, OMF®, MetaSync, and the AVX™ plug-in architecture. The extensive list of interoperability options includes the ability to:
create DVD chapter marks and poster frames within the Avid Xpress Pro timeline, and then easily export these elements for DVD encoding;
designate a section of the Avid Xpress Pro timeline to be opened within Avid 3D using MetaSync;
have MXF-rendered footage from Avid 3D appear automatically in an Avid Xpress Pro bin;
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use Avid FX motion tracking, rotoscoping, and advanced title and graphic animation with Avid Xpress Pro software, creating a robust compositing environment inside the editing application;
display an Avid 3D camera view and Avid FX composite window on an external broadcast monitor in real time using the Avid Mojo accelerator;
use the Avid Mojo accelerator for video connections and the Digidesign Mbox or Digi 002 for audio connections while maintaining sync;
use the Digi 002 control surface to adjust audio levels in both the Avid Xpress Pro and Avid Pro Tools LE applications.
Pricing & Availability
Avid Xpress Studio Essentials is priced at €3,695, compared to a total retail value of more than €8,000 for purchasing the products individually. Avid Xpress Studio Complete is priced at €6,495, compared to a total retail value of more than €12,000 for purchasing the products individually.
Prices for the individual applications are:
Avid Xpress Pro: €1,699 (available for both Mac and Windows)
Pro Tools LE, including Digidesign DV Toolkit software and Mbox hardware: €1,495 (Mac and Windows)
Digi 002, including Avid Pro Tools LE and Digidesign DV Toolkit software: €3,695 (Mac and Windows)
Avid 3D: €1,495 (Windows only)
Avid FX: €1,595 (Mac and Windows)
Avid DVD by Sonic: €1,895 (Windows only)
Avid Mojo: €1,699 (Mac and Windows)
Avid Xpress Studio Essentials and Avid Xpress Studio Complete are expected to be available in Q2 2004 through Avid’s worldwide reseller channel and the Avid store (
www.avidstore.com). Both versions are currently qualified to run on CPUs from HP – Avid’s preferred PC platform provider for Windows-based systems. The individual components of the Avid Xpress Studio will also be available for purchase. Upgrade pricing for existing Avid Xpress DV, Avid Xpress Pro, and Avid Mojo customers is available on
www.avid.com.
For more information about the Avid Xpress Studio, please visit:
www.avid.com.
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