Avid Releases Xpress Pro 4.8 for Mac Tiger
September 01, 2005
Tewksbury, MA - Avid Technology announced the availability of the Avid Media Composer Adrenaline 1.8 ($24,995) and Avid Xpress Pro 4.8 ($1,695) editing solutions, optimized for Mac OS X Tiger to deliver improved performance and features that the company says are unavailable from any other nonlinear editing manufacturer. In addition, Avid says that the new Media Composer Adrenaline and Avid Xpress Pro systems include bundled tools that tap the Core Image units of the Mac OS to create an entirely new category of video effects.
“The Mac is an important creative platform for a wide range of professionals who use Avid’s content creation tools – and optimizing our products for Tiger is a key step in serving the needs of these customers,” said Chas Smith, general manager of Avid’s Video division. “Our engineering team, along with Noise Industries, an AVX development partner, has enabled us to utilize power within the Mac OS Tiger that is untapped to date. In fact, in recent product demonstrations, our customers told us that they were blown away with how we’re pushing the bounds of our products. We’re confident that any Mac customer using an Avid product with Tiger will experience a significant boost in performance and functionality.”
“We recently finished a documentary project using the beta versions of both Media Composer Adrenaline and Avid Xpress Pro running on Tiger,” said Chris McClintock, editor at True Image Productions, a mid-sized production house in Dallas, TX. “The performance from our Tiger-based Avid systems exceeded our expectations and allowed us to complete the project ahead of our deadline. The truth is, Avid understands the needs of professionals and how to maximize the performance of the Mac in ways that are useful to our business. Other NLEs flaunt superficial and flashy gimmicks, but Avid continues to add intuitive features that make all the difference for the seasoned pro.”
Tapping Tiger’s Core
Customers purchasing new Media Composer Adrenaline and Avid Xpress Pro systems can unlock Tiger-only advanced image processing through the bundled Noise Industries Factory Tools, which tap the system’s visual building blocks, or Core Image units, to provide over 80 real-time effects. Groups of Core Image units can be combined to create Quartz Compositions, highly stylized visual effects, filters, and transitions that can immediately be applied to individual clips, titles, or entire Avid sequences.
“Other manufacturers have developed software that hints at the power available in Apple’s Core Image architecture, but we have gone deep to tap the full potential of this technology, expand the degree of customization it offers, and enable its application in a professional editing environment,” said Tim Wilson, senior product marketing manager at Avid.
First-on-Tiger Features for Professional Editors
Using Mac OS X Tiger-based Media Composer Adrenaline and Avid Xpress Pro systems, users can take advantage of a wide range of features that according to the company are unique to Avid systems, including:
Multiple resolutions in a single sequence – Avid’s Open Timeline allows multiple resolutions to exist on the same timeline in real time, each in its native resolution, without rendering.
Auto color correction – One double-click corrects an entire sequence, with each clip individually analyzed and custom corrections provided virtually instantly.
Region stabilization with auto zoom – Instead of requiring additional processing to scale stabilized footage, Avid stabilizes and fills the frame in a single pass for faster, higher-quality results.
Script-based editing – Avid’s script-based editing provides a fast, easy path to a rough cut by matching scene editing with the actual text script. Editors simply open a script created with industry-standard screenwriting software, drag takes from the bin directly to the script page, review each take of a given scene with one click, and, with one more click add the selected take to the Avid timeline.
Media management – With these releases, Avid’s time-tested, enterprise-class media management capabilities are now available to Tiger-based editors.
Real-time collaboration at the file level – Avid Unity™ MediaNetworks, including the Avid Unity LANshare system, allow multiple editors on Mac OS X Tiger to use the same sequences, bins, and files in real time, for unprecedented real-time collaboration.
Avid Marquee® – Previously included with Media Composer Adrenaline systems, Marquee is now included with Avid Xpress Pro systems and offers the first integrated 3D and advanced 2D title animation for professional editors on Tiger, without having to resort to external applications.
Pricing & Availability
The Media Composer Adrenaline system 1.8 is available immediately at $24,995 USMSRP. Current Media Composer Adrenaline 1.6 users who want to tap the new performance and OS tools can receive an upgrade for $995 USD. Participants in the Avid Assurance plan receive the update at no additional charge. Both of the new Mac editing solutions are available through Avid’s worldwide reseller channel.
The Avid Xpress Pro 4.8 system is available immediately at $1,695 USMSRP. For current Avid Xpress Pro 4.x users, version 4.8 will be available as a free download.
For more information visit:
Avid Tiger
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