Avid @ PVT

What a great NAB for Avid - with a great new software release, great upgrade promos(including for you Symphony Nitris owners) and some great press. If you're ready to upgrade, just drop us a line at avid@provideoandtape.com and we'll take care of you.

New in Media Composer 5

Directly access and edit RED files through AMA, without transcoding (images are scaled to HD frame size)
This is very cool - you have many choices of how to playback or render the file (LUTs, etc...)
Work natively with QuickTime video formats, including Apple ProRes and H.264
Very nice!
Edit video and audio by dragging and dropping elements in the timeline
Keep high-end finishing projects in-house and gain great color precision with HD-RGB support (including dual-link I/O support with Nitris DX systems)
Monitor video externally with support for the Matrox MXO2 Mini
Mix and match frame sizes and aspect ratios — in addition to formats, frame rates, and resolutions — in the same timeline
Take a break during long renders and have your system email you when the job’s done
Import AVCHD files directly from cameras and other devices
Capture to and edit XDCAM HD and DVC PRO HD formats from baseband without additional hardware
Access low-res XDCAM proxies for offline work, with full-quality audio
Import text-based ancillary data and embed it in the video signal with the new “Data Track” and SMPTE 436M support using Nitris DX- and Mojo DX-based systems
View stereo audio tracks as single channels in the timeline for easier handling
Create high-quality sounds and mixes with support for RTAS audio processing plug-ins
Natively access and edit 4:2:2 MPEG-2 media from the new Canon cameras using AMA

An that's just the beginning. Look for Media Composer 5 mid-June.

Even before NAB, the news was pretty good...

Post Magazine Special Report: Avid Lives!
With Version 4’s Mix and Match capability, Avid more than stepped up to the plate against FCP, surpassing Apple’s mixed-format, mixed frame rate implementation — even in software-only systems. New tools were added for stereoscopic editing and production suite tools were updated. Avid even opened up Unity, allowing FCP usage alongside MC — something inconceivable a few years ago.

Even dyed-in-the-wool FCP users took notice: Shane Ross, an LA-based editor/blogger says, ”While MC 3.0.5 turned my attention back to Avid, I still liked FCP more. But now with MC 4, my interest in going back to Avid is piqued.” More...
Walter Murch - "What it's like going from Avid to FCP and back to Avid"
The much celebrated director has made waves in Hollywood for his early adoption of Avid and subsequent switch to Apple's Final Cut Pro. Now Murch is making a very public return to the Avid - speaking about it at the LA Final Cut Pro Users Group. (watch from links to his presentation coming soon.)

Avid Nitris DX for Media Composer and Symphony

Avid Nitris DX is the complete HD hardware solution for Avid Media Composer and Symphony.

Avid Symphony Nitris DX
Real-time Editing, Finishing, and Mastering you can count on

When you run an online session, time isn't just money, it's big money. In a client supervised session, it's the time to focus on quality, efficiency, and productivity. The Symphony Nitris DX system integrates the Symphony finishing toolset with Avid Nitris DX hardware for the real-time horsepower you need for high-throughput, high quality HD and SD finishing. All with a remarkable palette of creative tools and now running on the latest Mac and Windows platforms.

The new Avid Nitris DX architecture tightly connects the host graphics chip, multiple CPU cores, and PCI Express I/O hardware into a single high-bandwidth, high-performance effects engine. The architecture is optimized for highly responsive real-time editing using the latest generation of HD codecs, including HDV, XDCAM-HD, AVC-I, and Avid DNxHD, in a multi-threaded effects pipeline engineered to take maximum advantage of the host CPU and GPU resources.

The Symphony Nitris DX system features the refined editing, finishing and color-correction tools, integrated media management, and seamless conform that the world's top online editors count on, day after day.

Avid Media Composer Nitris DX
Professional film and video editing with comprehensive SD & HD I/O and DNxHD acceleration

When you edit high-profile films, television programs, or commercials for a living, your editing system becomes an extension of yourself. Media Composer Nitris DX integrates the Media Composer toolset with the new Avid Nitris DX hardware for a remarkably responsive, high performance, multi-codec SD and HD editing solution. The result is the most powerful Media Composer system ever built, supported by a company and community you can count on.

Avid Media Composer Mojo DX
Integrated hardware and software for multi-format film and video editing

You're always balancing quality, cost, and the next deadline. The new Media Composer Mojo DX combines the complete Media Composer film and video editing toolset with new Avid Mojo DX hardware to give you a head start on all three. Save time and boost quality with native XDCAM-HD and P2 editing and the real-time effects architecture combined with the new Media Composer Mojo DX. Create DVD, Blu-ray, and Web media. And always count on the support and expertise of the worldwide Avid community.

Avid Mojo SDI is still available as a standard definition I/O device.

Avid Media Composer Software
Best choice for offline, file-based, and mobile editing

If you're a creative editor, you want an editing tool that not only makes storytelling simple, but helps you track your project, organize your media, and pull you through the trouble spots. That's why so many professionals trust their best ideas to Avid Media Composer. Unsurpassed creative tools, rock-solid media management, and the highest quality effects and output make Media Composer the most powerful editing solution available.

Avid Unity MediaNetwork
Shared storage solutions for facility-class environments

Designed specifically for storing, accessing, and sharing media in collaborative workgroup environments, Avid Unity MediaNetwork systems offer significant advantages over simple storage area networks (SANs). Avid Unity MediaNetwork solutions integrate seamlessly into your production process to deliver real-time, high-resolution media to creative workstations. In addition, Avid Unity MediaNetwork systems offer stable performance in demanding environments; ease of administration; flexibility and scalability; and seamless interoperability with a powerful suite of asset management, media transfer, transcoding, and archiving tools.

With Avid VideoRAID the latest technology SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) interconnect provides simple plug and play setup, while parity RAID prevents losing media because of a failed drive.

Local Storage - Avid VideoRAID ST and SR
Ultra-high performance disk arrays

Introducing Avid VideoRAID ST and SR disk arrays: Avid's next generation SATA- based direct attached storage solutions. Avid VideoRAID ST and SR offer maximum flexibility, performance and value in today's demanding HD environments. Available in either a 5 drive mini-tower (ST), as well as a 16 drive 3U rackmount chassis (SR), Avid has a configuration option to meet your needs.

Add powerful features to your Avid

Boris: Boris Red is the only integrated 3D compositing, titling and effects application to deliver unparalleled performance at an affordable price to over twenty nonlinear editing applications. Designed specifically for editors, Boris Red offers an unprecedented range of features and adds the Red Engine for standalone rendering. Red integrates advanced 2D and 3D compositing, titling, paint, rotoscoping, a full suite of tools to create and extrude vector objects, robust 3D creation and animation, and the industry–leading software DVE technology in a single application.; Boris Blue — the best of Red in real time.; Boris Continuum unlocks the power of your NLE or compositor with an expansive plug–in filter set that lets you create effects from the practical to the inspired directly in your native host interface for unprecedented workflow. Over 150 filters include advanced keying, matting, compositing, image processing, distortion, temporal effects and motion tracking. These filters provide the creative freedom to animate your graphical elements or video at any speed, acceleration, or position you want.
EditShare: From field to finish – offline to uncompressed HD - EditShare products are designed to maximize media sharing and storage for multi-user editing environments. Leveraging the power and cost effectiveness of Gigabit Ethernet, EditShare technology enables users to easily and economically share media and work collaboratively.

EditShare is the only shared-storage solution to offer true Apple and Avid Project Sharing.
Facilis: Facilis TerraBlock is the dedicated Post Production and Digital Intermediate shared storage system that outperforms the competition, and undercuts traditional high-performance SAN pricing. It's due to the architecture; SATA drives; optical fiber channel connectivity; virtual volume workflow; intelligent disk management and more.

Every post production, content creation and animation facility can benefit from one of of the TerraBlock product offerings. From small corporate video departments to the giant Hollywood studios, when you're a Facilis customer, you're in great company.
Cache-A: Cache-A make a line of LTO-4 based archiving appliances - crucial for backing up media in the new world of file-based media.

All of these great solutions and more are available directly from Professional Video & Tape. Please contact our Avid Specialist Dave Spraker for more information and pricing.