Avid Unveils Liquid Chrome Xe with AJA Support

Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today unveiled Avid Liquid Chrome™ Xe, the newest member of the Avid Liquid family. With support for the AJA XENA LHe board, the Avid Liquid Chrome Xe system offers customers a powerful, low-cost SDI I/O option and support for uncompressed SD and HD video formats. Avid also announced version 7.2 software for all products in the Avid Liquid family, adding support for a variety of new camera formats from JVC, Panasonic, and Canon, as well as 24p support for JVC cameras. Using Avid Liquid products, videographers can create and output high-quality SD and HD video productions in a variety of formats for tape, DVD, the Web, cell phones, iPods, and PlayStation® Portable (PSP) devices.

“Many of my colleagues have switched or added Avid Liquid to their arsenal of editing apps. The price and the workflow are just too good to overlook, especially when working with JVC Pro HD,” said Stephen Noe, owner of szn89productions, an independent production company based in Chicago. “With the new capabilities of Avid Liquid Chrome Xe, I can produce HD material and easily transfer it to HDCAM, while also previewing it in real time. My customers have been astounded at the high quality and the trouble-free editing I can do while they are there with me. I can make changes to the timeline in real time and play out sequences for their review right then and there. It’s great, and saves a lot of time for me -- and money for them.”

The Avid Liquid Chrome Xe System
The Avid Liquid Chrome Xe system is software that works in conjunction with the AJA XENA LHe board. After installing the AJA XENA LHe board with the Avid Liquid Chrome Xe software, customers can easily work on uncompressed HD video projects. The Avid Liquid Chrome Xe system also offers a wide range of I/O capabilities including SD and HD analog and SDI I/O; analog composite/component video I/O; 10-bit broadcast-quality hardware HD to SD down conversion; TBC via analog inputs; analog and digital stereo audio I/O; 2-channel analog audio I/O; and 2-channel AES, and 8-channel embedded audio. Users can also preview their projects in real time from the timeline on an external monitor in HD.

“Videographers have long sought a low-cost/high-performance solution that would allow them to use a great editor like Avid Liquid to capture, edit and playback uncompressed HD or SD video or audio in real time, ” said Thad Huston, Windows Desktop product manager for AJA. “With new support for our XENA LHe board, we’ve been able to give Avid Liquid users a way to do that. We’re excited to work with Avid to continue to deliver on the needs of video professionals.”

Enhancements to the Entire Avid Liquid Family with Version 7.2 Software
Version 7.2 of Avid Liquid software offers a number of enhancements to the entire product family, including Avid Liquid – a software-only editing package; Avid Liquid Pro – the Avid Liquid software bundled with a USB-connected analog SD breakout box; and the new Avid Liquid Chrome Xe system.

Each Avid Liquid software package combines video, audio, DVD, and effects creation in a single application, supports a variety of new camera formats and equips users with enhanced secondary color correction, multi-cam support for up to 16 cameras, multiple streams of HDV in real time and Avid’s industry standard Open Timeline for editing and playing back different formats and resolutions in real-time.
New enhancements to Avid Liquid v.7.2 software include:

--Improved HD workflow capabilities, via new video format support, including:
-JVC HDV 720 24p/25p/60p – from the GY-HD 100 and 200 series of cameras, including native capture, editing and play back;
-Panasonic DVCPRO HD. Users can import via P2 and edit material in 1080 interlaced and progressive formats; and,
-Canon 1080 24F/25F/30F capture from the XL H1 camera; (supports four channels of audio).
--Big Splash CD now standard, with three additional content creation applications,
-Title Deko® Pro, Hollywood FX Pro, and Magic Bullet Movie Looks.
“With support for the AJA board and an expanded array of cameras and formats, we’re truly enhancing the openness of Avid Liquid as well as the entire media production experience for our users,” said Hans Venmans, worldwide product marketing manager for Avid Liquid. “The Avid Liquid product family can meet the needs of a diverse range of customers, from the serious event videographer who wants to work with a variety of native HD formats down to the independent producer looking to output creative work to a portable device like a PSP. With a range of flexible configurations, the Avid Liquid family meets the needs of any type of videographer.”

Pricing & Availability
Pricing for the Avid Liquid family of products begins at $499 USMSRP for Avid Liquid software. Avid Liquid Pro software with the analog SD breakout box is priced at $999 USMSRP. Pricing for the Avid Liquid Chrome Xe system requires two components: the Avid Liquid Chrome Xe software for $999 USMSRP, and the AJA XENA board -- sold separately from AJA -- for $1,790 USMSRP. All Avid Liquid configurations can be purchased through any Avid Liquid dealer. All configurations are expected to be available in Q2 2007.