Avid publishes native versions of Media Composer and Xpress Pro

Avid, the leading industry pioneer in non-linear video editing, offers Xpress Pro for editing DV, SD and HD material as well as film. It incorporates the standard Avid editing environment, real-time mixing of different formats and resolutions, 24p tools, multi-camera editing, and other features.

Media Composer is the latest version of Avid’s “original” editing system, providing the same editing environment that has been used for years for the production of television shows, movies, and advertising work.

Among the novelties of both versions is the expansion in the support of formats, including the possibility of dumping for the formats corresponding to Sony XDCAM and Panasonic P2, as well as support for the European broadcast standard 720p50 HD.

Third-party applications provided as part of the product are Sorenson Squeeze Compression Suite 4.5, used for encoding video formats; SmartSound SonicFire Pro 4, which allows the creation of dynamic music tracks; and in the case of Media Composer also includes Boris Continuum Complete 4.2.2, a package of effects and filters.

Media Composer 2.7 adds ScriptSync, a script-based editing tool used for phonetic speech recognition, which helps to synchronize text with material; as well as Avid DNxHD 36, a new HD codec used for offline editing and which operates at transfer speeds of 36 megabits per second to work with the maximum HD resolution.

Media Compser is priced at $ 4,995, with upgrade prices starting at $ 195. Xpress Pro is priced at $ 1,695, with upgrade prices starting at $ 49.95.

Web: www.avid.com