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MillimeterProducts: Avid
May 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Dan Ochiva
Avid's new leaf
Avid has been attending NAB since it debuted its gear in 1989, so who could expect Avid to stay away even though it didn't buy a pricey booth on the show floor this year? No one.
Ensconced in a hotel next to the convention center, Avid introduced its new CEO and VP of the video division and held user meetings and press briefings, all to emphasize that it was still very much in the game as it delivered next-gen versions of Media Composer (3.0), NewsCutter (7.0), and Symphony (3.0), as well as new hardware configurations.
Simplifying the product lineup, along with some price drops, looks key to keeping Avid competitive with Apple. Avid has emphasized the Media Composer name, using it for software alone ($2,495); in the Media Composer Mojo DX system ($9,995); Media Composer Nitris DX ($14,995); and the full-on Symphony Nitris DX($35,995), available on the Mac for the first time.
A new architecture delivers responsiveness even when working with multiple streams of HD. Based around the latest PCI Express 2 standard, it includes a 10Gbps bus working with an outboard control box that acts as an I/O bridge. www.avid.com
