Avid Offers Special Crossgrade Promotion for Final Cut Pro Users

BURLINGTON, MA. - Customers can integrate Media Composer into professional editing workflows to eliminate bottlenecks and focus on storytelling

Avid® (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced it is offering a limited-time Final Cut Pro Crossgrade promotion for qualified Final Cut Pro customers. Available now, this crossgrade offer is designed to provide a fast, cost-effective path for Final Cut Pro users to implement Avid’s award-winning professional editing solution—Media Composer®. With Media Composer, designed and built for Mac OS and Windows operating systems, customers can boost productivity and advance the storytelling process with capabilities such as native support for a wide range of formats, multicam support, easy media and project sharing, and integration with third party systems, among others, that are critical to supporting today’s professional production requirements.

“We are pleased to provide existing Final Cut Pro users with the opportunity to obtain Media Composer and augment and complement their existing workflows,” said Paul Foeckler, vice president, creative professionals products and solutions for Avid. “Users who may be facing uncertainty now also have access to a Mac OS native industry-leading editing solution from Avid – a company that is dedicated to listening to their needs through our commitment to openness, collaboration and innovation in professional editing workflows.”

What Users Making the Move to Media Composer are Saying:

Director and Editor Rodman Flender, who used Media Composer for the first time to edit the recently-released documentary Conan O’ Brien Can’t Stop, said “Faced with more than 8TB of Sony EX & JVC HMU footage, being able to take advantage of Avid Media Access (AMA), among other features found in Media Composer, were huge time savers. I think this project has made me an Avid editor for life.”

Jonathan Alberts, a feature film and television editor, who recently cut the 2011 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Like Crazy and is currently editing the third season of HBO’s Hung on Media Composer said, “I’m enjoying working on Avid again as part of my latest project. It’s good to see the company opening up and extending this offer to Final Cut Pro users so they can experience how the flexibility and speed of Media Composer can benefit their creative process.”

Recent enhancements to Media Composer include support for third-party video interfaces from AJA and Matrox, expanded native format support with AMA, as well as Avid PhraseFind and ScriptSync—unique, time-saving features that dramatically accelerate the editing of scripted and unscripted material. Moreover, Mac and Windows support, real-time mix and match, integration into industrial-strength professional workflows, and interoperability with Pro Tools®, Symphony™, and Avid DS, as well as popular finishing systems, make Media Composer one of the most powerful and versatile editing solutions on the market. For more information about Media Composer, please visit www.avid.com/mc

Offer Pricing and Availability

The Avid Crossgrade offer for Final Cut Pro is available now. Final Cut Pro (excluding Final Cut Pro X) users can purchase Media Composer 5.5, with the Production suite and free online training to help them move from Final Cut Pro to Media Composer, for $995 USD. This limited-time offer expires September 30, 2011. For eligibility requirements and more information, please visit www.avid.com/specialoffers

About Avid

Avid creates the digital audio and video technology used to make the most listened to, most watched and most loved media in the world – from the most prestigious and award-winning feature films, music recordings, television shows, live concert tours and news broadcasts, to music and movies made at home. Some of Avid’s most influential and pioneering solutions include Media Composer, Pro Tools, Interplay®, ISIS®, VENUE, Oxygen 8, Sibelius®, System 5, and Pinnacle Studio™. For more information about Avid solutions and services, visit www.avid.com, del.icio.us, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube; connect with Avid on Facebook; or subscribe to Avid Industry Buzz.