By Elina Shatkin, December 10, 2004
Avid Technology, Inc. announced plans to ship the Media Composer Adrenaline HD 2.0 system – the next generation of its industry-leading Media Composer Adrenaline product – worldwide later this month. This major upgrade brings powerful HD editing capabilities to Media Composer Adrenaline software for the first time. In addition, customers can augment their systems with the new Avid DNxcel HD board and experience extensive HD functionality, including comprehensive I/O and broad support for a range of formats and resolutions from all popular HD decks and cameras. The optional Avid DNxcel board installs into the open expansion slot on the Avid Adrenaline hardware.
The Avid DNxcel board also supports Avid’s mastering quality, 10-bit Avid DNxHD format, which is the only encoding technology on the market that maintains superior HD image quality throughout the postproduction process and enables professionals to work with 10-bit HD media in real time in a collaborative shared-storage environment. The Media Composer Adrenaline HD system also provides real-time multicamera functionality in both SD and HD, and allows customers to mix multiple HD, SD, and DV formats and resolutions in the same timeline.
The HD functionality of the Media Composer Adrenaline HD system powered by the Avid DNxcel board includes the ability to:
∑ Edit 10-bit Avid DNxHD media in real time and preview it on an HD monitor.
∑ Capture from – and output to – all popular formats via an HD-SDI interface.
∑ Down-convert to SD in letterbox, anamorphic, or center crop modes.
∑ Use a Digital Visual Interface (DVI) output for low-cost HD monitoring
.
∑ Work with popular HD resolutions and frame rates: 720p/59.94, 1080p/23.976, 1080p/25, 1080i/50, and 1080i/59.94 will be initially supported, with 720p/23.976, 1080p/24, 720p/50, and 720p/29.97 planned for 2005.
∑ Capture and output DVCPRO HD media via an IEEE-1394 connection.
Enhanced software features of the Media Composer Adrenaline HD 2.0 system include new RGB offline capabilities for file-based workflows with the Avid DS Nitris system, IEEE-1394 support for DVCPRO 50 media, new SpectraMatte™ high-quality 16-bit HD/SD chroma keyer, and a rich effects and keying framework with the new AVX™ 2.0 effects architecture.
The Media Composer Adrenaline HD 2.0 system – which comprises the Media Composer Adrenaline HD 2.0 software and the Avid Adrenaline hardware – is scheduled to ship later this month for $25,000 USMSRP. The optional Avid DNxcel board may be added for $9,995 USMSRP and is also scheduled to ship later this month. These products will initially be qualified for the HP xw8200 and xw8000 workstations, as well as other existing Media Composer Adrenaline Windows XP platforms. Support for the Mac platform is planned to follow in 2005.
Customers who do not require extensive HD I/O capabilities or real-time functionality for previewing HD effects – but wish to import, natively edit, and render Avid DNxHD and DVCPRO HD media – can purchase the Media Composer Adrenaline HD system without the Avid DNxcel board. Upgrades to the Media Composer Adrenaline HD 2.0 software are available for free to existing Media Composer Adrenaline customers on Avid Assurance.
.
|