Articles tagged #AVID
Articles tagged
#AVID

Australian Open Overview 2022

This year at the Australian Open, we provided equipment and engineers for a range of clients.

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Reboot Issue: MacBook Pro Important information from Avid HQ

“Avid is aware of the reboot issue affecting Apple Mac Pro devices running some Avid products, which arose late yesterday. This issue is a top priority for our engineering and support teams, who have been working diligently to determine and resolve the root cause. As we learn more, we will immediately publish information—directly to our customers and via our community forums and social media platforms—in order to resolve this issue for all affected customers and prevent any further issues. --- The Avid Team”

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Avid Introduces All-New Media Composer

Inventor of the nonlinear video editing category, Avid, reimagines its flagship Media Composer for a new generation of media makers and resets the bar for excellence Unveiled at Connect 2019, the industry’s most powerful gathering of media and entertainment users, Avid launches the all-new Media Composer 2019 [divider] With Media Composer 2019, aspiring and professional editors, freelancers and journalists will be inspired to work more creatively by taking advantage of a new user experience, a next generation Avid media engine with distributed processing, finishing and delivering capabilities, a customisable role-based user interface for large teams, and so much more. “After receiving input from hundreds of editors and teams across the media industry, and knowing where the industry is headed, we reimagined Media Composer, the product that created the nonlinear video editing category and remains the gold standard,” said Jeff Rosica, CEO and President at Avid. “Media Composer 2019 is both evolutionary and revolutionary. It maintains what long-time users know and love while giving them more of what they need today—and what they will need tomorrow.” Media Composer 2019 With Media Composer 2019, an editor can go from first cut to delivery without ever leaving the application. Whether they are a professional editor, freelancer or someone just starting out, Media Composer 2019 inspires creative storytelling.

  • New User Experience—makers can work at the speed of creativity with a paneled interface that reduces clutter, reimagined bins to find media faster, and task-based workspaces showing only what the user wants and needs to see.
  • Next Generation Avid Media Engine—puts more power at a user’s fingertips with features, such as native OP1A, support for more video and audio streams, Live Timeline and background rendering, and a distributed processing add-on option to reduce turnaround times and speed up post production.
  • New Finishing and Delivery Workflows—Now, users can create and deliver higher-quality content with editing, effects, colour, audio, and finishing tools without leaving Media Composer. Whether working in 8K, 16K, or HDR, Media Composer’s new built-in 32-bit full float colour pipeline can handle it. Additionally, Avid has been working with OTT content providers to help establish future industry standards.
  • Customisable Toolset—built for large production teams, the new Media Composer | Enterprise provides administrative control to customise the interface for any role in the organisation, whether the user is a craft editor, assistant, logger or journalist. It also offers unparalleled security to lock down content, reducing the chances of unauthorised leaks of sensitive media.
Media Composer | Enterprise 2019 The Media Composer family adds Media Composer | Enterprise for post-production, broadcast, media education and other larger production teams. Media Composer | Enterprise is the industry’s first role-specific video editing and finishing solution. Large production teams now have the ability to customise the interface and tailor workspaces for different job roles, providing end users access only to the tools and functions they need. This capability gives teams better focus so they can complete jobs faster and with fewer mistakes. Media Composer | Enterprise also integrates with Editorial Management 2019 to deliver collaborative workflow innovation for post production and enables creative teams to stay in sync. Media Composer | Distributed Processing Avid today also announced Media Composer | Distributed Processing, an add-on option that shortens turnaround times and accelerates post production by sharing the media processing load. Tasks that previously took hours can now be done in minutes, strengthening the competitive edge of post facilities while delivering high-quality programming. Media Composer | Distributed Processing also offloads complex processing tasks when working in today’s emerging high resolution and HDR media-rich worlds. Media Composer 2019 will be available in late May for all of its versions: Media Composer | First, Media Composer, Media Composer | Ultimate and Media Composer | Enterprise. For a full list of Media Composer features and benefits visit, www.avid.com/media-composer.

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NRL Scores with New Studio and Post Facility Designed and Built by Videocraft

Recently the National Rugby League commissioned Videocraft to design and build a new production and post production studio and facility at NEP’s Redfern HQ to take care of live and recorded online programming and content for their new Digital Network, www.nrl.com, including 16 clubs and 2 state associations sites and mobile applications. NRL media services manager Wayne Dakin explained, “Online properties such as nrl.com are hugely important now, as are the content they produce. With this in mind we engaged Videocraft to build us a studio and facility, based on their previous experience in this area, that would allow the creation of fast turnaround highlights edits of all matches, panel shows, pre and post-match content. As well as fast it all had to be reliable and cost effective.” With a strict brief from the client Videocraft designed the facility with quality, speed and efficiency in mind. Videocraft worked with NRL partners NEP and NRL production office provider to ensure that the solution design integrated seamlessly with existing NRL Bunker and new NRL NEP production infrastructure. The solution design integrates and utilises another NRL primary partner Telstra, utilising the DVN and satellite infrastructure for content delivery. Videocraft MD James Taylor added, “We saw very quickly that for the kind of fast turnaround that was required an EVS XS Server and IP Director production asset management system was definitely the way forward for the new nrl.com studio and post facility. There was also a requirement that the facility be able to manage all incoming feeds and studio records and then the playout of the material. In which case, as EVS is compatible with all of the NRL’s existing broadcast providers and partners such as NEP, Channel 9 and Fox Sports, this made the solution seamless.” With content for the NRL Bunker also managed by NEP the new Videocraft facility made it particularly easy for the NRL to continue down a well-proven path. Dakin continued, “Videocraft really thought through the design and build of the studio and with our specific requirements in mind made the studio Ross based with a powerful Ross Graphite production switcher at its core. They have used this switcher in studios many times before and it’s an ideal combination of power and reliability at the right price point for us. It also has a feature rich version of XPression 3D motion graphics, two channels of clip server and the RAVE audio engine all built in. This allows us to create very high quality graphics at a very reasonable cost.” The issues of cost and quality are not lost on Dakin who went on to explain their importance in the online space.

He added, “As a result of the Videocraft solution nrl.com now has very high quality graphics and a replay system which are comparable to TV but without the engineering resource required for a big studio. This means we get TV quality, but online. The reason for this is that Videocraft treat online production with the same approach and respect as they would for a free-to-air studio build. This in turn means we can now create the exciting, high quality content that’s critical for us to truly engage our viewers and we have Videocraft’s 45 years’ worth of knowledge, expertise and forward thinking approach to thank for that.” In addition to the Ross Graphite switcher the Videocraft solution also integrated a 400TB Avid Media Central system to help with the fast programme turnaround and NEXIS storage for its excellent reliability and interoperability with EVS systems. Wayne Dakin concluded, “The new studio, post production facility, edit suites and storage are an excellent example of a clever, efficient, integrated, high-end Avid solution. With EVS taking care of the ingest and live production workflow and Ross the graphics and vision mixing we have not just a state of the art system but a bulletproof one. The best compliment we’ve had yet is that the content you see on www.nrl.com looks just like it does on television. Great job Videocraft.”

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Videocraft brings state of the art Avid solutions to Studios 301

When Australia’s longest running professional recording studio, Studios 301 decided to upgrade their Pro Tools systems as part of planning it’s new multi-million dollar facility they brought Videocraft in to advise them on the best way forward, what equipment to use and critically what budget they would need to work within. Videocraft post production and pro audio sales manager Ian Parish explained, “Studios 301 brought us in at the early stages of this project because of Videocraft’s history in delivering Pro Tools HD systems and our extensive experience working with AVID solutions. There aren’t a lot of studios of this size that are being built from the ground up these days, and to be a part of that is unique in itself.” From that initial consultation the discussion expanded to include an AVID Pro Tools S6 modular control surface in a multi-purpose surround mix room and as Videocraft had already installed multiple S6 consoles around Australia, the team at Studios 301 sought their advice on how best to make this a reality. Parish continued, “This was a very large project as they were building an entirely new facility from the ground up with five control rooms, three mastering rooms, digitising facilities and vinyl pressing capabilities. It was clear, due to our experience in this field, that Videocraft’s role would be to supply and support all of the AVID hardware and software and the associated peripherals to make those systems work.” As the project plan developed the brief included 64 channels of analogue IO for the client’s Neve console in Studio One, 48 channels of IO for their SSL console in Studio Two and 32 Channels of IO plus an AVID S6-M40 for Studio Three. In keeping with the tech riders of their top tier international music clientele master clocking was to be provided by an Antelope unit and Apogee Symphony’s would provide AD/DA conversion. Parish continued, “This particular job didn’t require too much translation from brief to system design and quote as the stakeholders involved are all heavily experienced in the industry in particular on the technical side so we all worked incredibly well and efficiently together. Drawing on my experience upgrading Pro Tools HD systems to 64-Bit for SAE Australia, Box Hill Institute and also delivering new systems at Abbey Road Institute, I designed the most logical system that would meet Studios 301’s requirements. Another bonus for them was the fact that we could offer local support so that any issues could be dealt with promptly.” [caption id="attachment_3271" align="aligncenter" width="1440"]

Image courtesy of Studios 301[/caption] As a result of Videocraft’s system consultancy and design, Studios 301 took receipt of and had installed a new, state of the art AVID S6 M40 32 Channel console. The console was in a fully populated 5ft frame and has the addition of the master joystick module for surround panning. Parish explained, “This means that there is one more module than the console can accommodate, however the logic here was that, due to the multi-purpose nature of the room, the console could now either be configured as a classic 32-channel mix console or for post or surround music work with a spill zone and locked master faders and stem metering. The changeover time from one layout to the other is only 15 minutes, so it can easily be done in between sessions.” Whilst the AVID S6 M40 console might be viewed as the headline act just as exciting are the Pro Tools rigs. Parish added, “The backbone of each studio is HDX2 cards in a Sonnet Echo Express chassis, with Apogee Symphony Mk II interfaces handling the AD/DA conversion. AVID SYNC HDs act as loop sync masters and communicate with the automation computers of the analogue consoles whilst being fed word clock from Antelope Pure 2 Master Clocks. The exciting part about all this is the scale of these systems, the track counts and processing resources available. There’s also the fact that we have been able to selectively choose products from different manufacturers that are the best at their chosen role, as opposed to being locked to a single hardware set, so we have the very best results that fit the 301’s very specific needs.” Ian Parish had the privilege of being in Studio One for the first playing of audio, an experience he found quite special. He concluded, “The room was amazingly flat even before acoustician’s Tom Misner and Jochen Veith had applied any tweaks to the monitoring, which really is a phenomenal feet and the Studios 301 team has done a great job to plan and build such amazing rooms. As any musician, producer or engineer knows what is just as important as the technology in a studio is the rooms themselves. If they sound good and are comfortable to work in then you will want to go back and work there.”

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Mint Pictures chooses Avid NEXIS storage from Videocraft

Originally founded as North One Australia in 2007 Mint Pictures has produced content for all the major free-to-air networks – Nine, Ten, ABC, SBS and NITV – as well as Foxtel and Fox Sports, and overseas broadcasters, including the BBC. They have also produced content for some of Australia’s leading sporting organisations including Cricket Australia, Tennis Australia and Football Federation Australia. Recently the innovative production company decided to upgrade their in-house storage solution and for this they chose the Avis Nexis platform which they purchased from Videocraft. Mint Pictures Managing Director, Head of Programming Adam Kay explained, “We had been running for many years with Avid Media Composer, Symphony and an old Avid Unity Storage system. Around two years ago, Videocraft who have been supporting us for well over 10 years, upgraded all of our edit workstations. So, when we decided to upgrade our storage solution we also turned to them for their help and guidance.” After discussions and consultations with Videocraft Mint purchased an Avid Nexis E2 chassis with 60TB of storage and also installed a new Dell switch to support their infrastructure. Kay continued, “The Unity system we were on was very outdated and was holding us back in a variety of areas. It had little storage, ran hot and was not compatible with many modern computers and connections. So staying within the Avid line-up, Nexis was an excellent choice as an upgrade.”

Avid NEXIS is the world’s first software-defined storage platform that enables true storage virtualisation for any media application. Mint’s new Nexis system delivers significant media performance, scalability, and reliability to accelerate production in their most media-intensive broadcast and video post environments. It also offers them greater bandwidth to accelerate 4K/UHD and finishing workflows, plus new support for Pro Tools collaboration. Kay continued, “Nexis is a cost effective option for a company of Mint Pictures’ size. Its storage abilities and continued use and expansion on the Isis system that preceded it allows us to easily manage workspaces, which is another big plus. As always Videocraft made some key recommendations and walked us through the and pros and cons of choosing different configurations for our specific needs at Mint Pictures. Their explanations and breakdowns were very useful in making our decision.” With their new Nexis in place and running smoothly Adam Kay took the time to reflect on the performance of the new system and how pleased the team at Mint Pictures were with their choice concluding, “Firstly it gives us fast access to media. Then there’s also plenty of space to be able to cut at high res, without having to work with proxy files and we can efficiently organise workspaces according to our needs and the needs of individual productions we have in-house at any given moment. In other words the Nexis performs very well and does what it’s meant to. We’re also very grateful to Videocraft for their help with this purchase and their ever-constant and professional advice.”

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Videocraft supports Driving Oz with the Black Dog

Videocraft is proud to announce its platinum sponsorship of Driving Oz with the Black Dog — an incredibly important year-long campaign to raise money and awareness for Lifeline Australia and mindDog. We have been incredibly lucky to be able to collaborate with our industry partners Sony Australia and Avid Technology to be able to put together a video and photography production package to help Paul and Kirstine and their family document their travels to the remote areas of Australia, raising awareness of these two important organisations.

In deciding to support Driving Oz with the Black Dog, Videocraft's Managing Director, Jeanette Taylor says it was a straightforward decision. "For the team at Videocraft, we can all relate to the Roadley's mission of awareness and the importance of supporting services such as Lifeline Australia and mindDog. Within the production and broadcast industry, we have all seen how the stress of the job can take over, and some of us have had experiences with anxiety or depression. It is important for our industry to have the conversation and be open to help our colleagues through these times." So we have geared up Driving Oz with some key products that will assist them in spreading their message further while travelling around the remote parts of our country. As you can imagine space is limited, so we have put together a specific documentary and photography kit that will allow Paul to not only capture the action of travelling around our beautiful country, but also to gather interviews from the field, record events on the tour and capture the key moments to help build the campaign for their very relevant and important messages.      

So what's in the Driving Oz's case of production gear?

With the assistance of David Green, from Sony Australia's Professional Solutions Division, we were able to come up with a kit specifically chosen to work well in the varied climates and locations the Driving OZ team will travel throughout the year. As well as provide tools that can capture the footage and audio at professional broadcast quality. David and the team at Sony went above and beyond to support the Driving Oz with the Black Dog and to support both Lifeline Australia and mindDog. The Driving Oz production kit includes a Sony PXW-X70 Camcorder, Sony A7II Digital Mirrorless Camera, some 4K Sony Action Cams plus a Sony Digital UWP Wireless Microphone package, Sony Monitoring Headphones, Manfrotto Rolling Travel Case and a copy of the industry's best editing software Avid's Media Composer for post production. The package offers them the best in image and sound acquisition in an unbelievably lightweight and compact size — perfect for the Tetris-style packing required for a family to fit their lives into camper/trailer and car for the next year.   We will be staying up to date with the Roadley family on their adventures and encouraging our network of industry friends to helps us to help them in raising awareness and funds for this important cause. So please share their story, donate to their MyCause page and keep the conversation open around your workplace, community, friends and family.

Why do we need to help Lifeline Australia and MindDog?

Suicide remains the leading cause of death for Australians aged between 15 and 44. The overall suicide rate in 2014 was 12.0 per 100,000 in Australia. This is the highest rate in 10 years. The most recent Australian data (ABS, Causes of Death, 2014) reports deaths due to suicide in 2014 at 2,864. This equates to almost eight deaths by suicide in Australia each day. Most deaths by suicide in Australia are males, accounting for about three-quarters. However, during the past decade, there has been an increase in suicide deaths by females. The suicide rate amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is more than double the national rate. In 2014, suicide accounted for 5.2% of all Indigenous deaths compared to 1.8% for non-Indigenous people. For every death by suicide, it is estimated that as many as 30 people attempt to end their lives. That is approximately 65,300 suicide attempts each year. Lifeline is a national charity providing all Australians experiencing a personal crisis with access to 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention services. Somewhere in Australia there is a new call to Lifeline every minute.   mindDog Australia is a not-for-profit organisation that exists to help people procure, train and accredit psychiatric assistance dogs. A mindDog comes in many shapes and sizes, and may look different to other assistance dogs experienced by the public previously. Clients of mindDog are supported to find a suitable dog, train and eventually pass a public access test. Just like other assistance dogs, mindDogs are required access to public spaces in order to fulfill their duties. MEET LUNA Luna is Paul’s Mental Health Assistance Dog, MHAD (also known as a Service Dog). Luna is trained through mindDog Australia. Luna has saved Paul’s life by being there when he is really struggling. Luna senses Paul’s emotional/stress levels and responds when required, without being given a single verbal command. To read more about Luna - read her page on the Driving Oz with the Black Dog website   We also celebrated Kirstine's birthday with the Videocraft Melbourne team, so there was chocolate cake all around!

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The 3 most interesting ideas to come from attending AvidConnect 2017

Firstly, this is not an Avid press release! AvidConnect (the annual Avid Customer Association event) is in its fourth year, and while it is a way for Avid to show off some of their new offerings and partnerships, there has always been some really interesting discussions about the industry we work in, and where we are headed. This year was no exception, and I have put together some of my thoughts on what I have seen over the weekend, and how I see this affecting our future. Here are three key points I have taken from AvidConnect2017, feel free to comment!

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Firmware Update: Now Available: Avid NEXIS | FS v7.3.2

Avid NEXIS 7.3.2, the latest maintenance release for all Avid NEXIS systems, is now available. It provides resolution to a stability issue with Avid NEXIS client on Avid Interplay Media Indexer. This client side patch is compatible with all Avid NEXIS | FS releases and Avid ISIS v4.7.5 and later.

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Firmware Update: Avid NEXIS | FS v7.3

Avid NEXIS 7.3.0, the latest release for all Avid NEXIS systems, is now available. It provides the following new features and enhancements:

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Videocraft Provides Multi-Camera, Editing and Production OB Solution for Top Australian Cycling Events

Recently Videocraft provided a four camera OB solution with edit suite and EVS recording for some of Australia’s most prestigious cycling events. The events were produced and coordinated by one of Australia’s leading television services companies, Editrix.

Editrix Executive Producer Ian Gates explained, “Editrix has a long history of hiring facilities from Videocraft. The unique side to the relationship is that their MD James Taylor has a keen interest in cycling and understands exactly what I need to do the job properly. This year our brief to Videocraft was that we needed to provide fast turnaround daily highlights packages for all the events and to achieve this we would utilise their newly refurbished OB truck. As all the events I hire Videocraft’s production truck for are same day turnaround programmes for on-air, this requires a facility that can have a team of editors and producers efficiently working and sharing media.” The volume of work Editrix hired the Videocraft production facility for over the summer of 2015 included the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic (4 x 1 hour programmes), the Road National Championships (3 x 1 hour programmes + 1 x 1 hour combined highlights programme), the Subaru Track Championships (3 x 1 hour programmes + 3 x live stream telecasts) and the Jayco Herald Sun Tour (5 x 1 hour programmes + one international highlights programme). Gates continued, “Videocraft met all our technical, editing and production requirements but the star factor of the production is James Taylor’s knowledge as that enables us to get all the extras done. James and I have spoken about what is required to make the production less stressful and it basically means we need an extra editor and a clone of James who can split the, up to 18 hour, shifts!” Gates sees Videocraft’s newly equipped OB truck as essential to meet his tight deadlines and deliverables. The fully internally and externally refurbished, ten seat IP-based OB truck now has new air conditioning, racks, ergonomic production furniture and electrics throughout. The truck also has the ability to be configured as either a mobile edit facility complete with Avid edit suites, Isis storage and Avid Interplay, an EVS facility or as a traditional OB truck. As a facility for Videocraft’s clients the OB truck is a proper extension of what the company does best, post production integration featuring the latest in smart, IT-centric connectivity. Ian Gates concluded, “I honestly don’t think there is another mobile production facility to match Videocraft’s which would meet our needs in the market. The production values we were able to achieve by using the truck on this summer’s races were the best yet. Videocraft’s expertise, service and support were excellent. It’s a real labour of love for them and with James Taylor there to personally oversee each production we couldn’t ask for a better solution. We are very much looking forward to working with Videocraft on the next series of cycling events.”   Videocraft’s mobile editing, production and OB truck will be at this year’s SMPTE exhibition held at the Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park, NSW from 14-17 July.   For more information on Editrix go to: www.editrix.com.au

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C3 Church Presence Conference captures quality vision with Videocraft’s new Sony HDC2400 studio cameras

The system was designed by Videocraft’s engineering team and built onsite across 3 key areas: Videocraft’s Mobile Production Centre was configured as the Camera Control Unit production space for four CCU positions. Alongside was a site shed containing the system backbone including the extensive EVS and Avid ISIS 7000 systems. The external master control room was built in the back dock of the QCU Arena, utilising the latest in IP technology to minimise connectivity between these locations.

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We have always been big fans of Avid Shared Storage but the ISIS1000 model announced at AvidConnect2015 is a winner!

So in the lead up to the opening day of NAB2015 the Videocraft team have attended the AvidConnect2015 and here is the download from James Taylor (@VideocraftJames) on the real exciting moves forward for Avid. I suppose I make no apologies for my strong support of Avid, which has really come out of the years working with their products and always achieving great results. Their editing software and shared storage systems for me have been through the toughest projects, and when everything else around them may have failed, they have kept running time and time again! So, yes, I am a big fan of Avid!I am super excited about their latest shared storage offering, the new ISIS 1000. We have all been asking Avid for an ‘entry level’ ISIS, and they have delivered! Compact size, great price and the bandwidth you need to get the job done well. It comes in a 20TB capacity (16TB usable capacity), and is expandable as well. Best thing is that around $25K AUD, we have a system that uses the same ISIS software as their flagship ISIS 7500 and 5500 systems, all at a price that you would expect to pay for low end packages. ISIS is fully qualified with Premiere, FCP and of course Media Composer, so you are safe in the knowledge that your shared storage will just work, no matter if you are on Mac or PC (or even Linux!), and it can keep up with what editing system you choose to use as well. I think that the ISIS product line is probably one of the best product lines Avid makes, and I would strongly recommend looking at the ISIS 1000 if you are in need of a new storage system. It even makes sense on small systems too, as if you have a single edit suite, you can now easily add an ingest suite and spread the ingest and edit tasks, meaning you don’t have to stop editing to bring in lots of media. Even in small systems like this, the time savings in labour alone would go a long way to paying for the system. The ISIS 1000 would be great for feature film edits and the like as well, so check it out!Media ComposerSo, Media Composer continues to make steps each year, and this year is no exception. Media Composer 8.4 has just been announced, and the biggest news here is that we now have the ability to set your own raster size, so you have complete resolution independence. You want to do 8K, no worries! Also, Avid have optimised the playback for ProRes and XAVC codecs, so even more than ever Avid have the ‘go-to’ editor for the most demanding projects that will just work all day and all night. Here is a summary of the announcements made at AvidConnect 2015 Artist Suite Innovations New benchmark for live sound production: Avid introduces the flagship Avid VENUE | S6L live sound mixing system, featuring a modern, intuitive touch-based interface that enables audio professionals to easily handle the largest, most complex tours and events. Affordable licensing and subscription options: Avid introduces the next release of Sibelius®, the latest version of the world’s most popular music composition software, giving composers more choice over how they acquire and use their tools, create music scores, and collaborate with others. The release also offers new workflow and mobile features, including multi-touch gestures and Microsoft ® Surface™ Pro 3 support, and moves Sibelius on to the Avid MediaCentral Platform. Powerful, integrated high-resolution video production: Avid introduces Avid Artist | DNxIO, helping video professionals meet the growing demands of high-res video production with best-in-class hardware and the industry’s preeminent Media Composer® video editing software Free versions of industry-standard media creation solutions: Avid announced plans to open video editing to everyone with the upcoming Media Composer | First, a free version of the video editing software used by top Hollywood Oscar and Emmy winners. The company also announced that Pro Tools | First, the free version of its renowned music creation software, is starting to roll out to the more than 70,000 people who pre-registered for the product. Media Suite Innovations Open, end-to-end, integrated media asset management: Avid introduces Interplay® | MAM 5, enabling organizations both large and small to manage the entire content lifecycle and reduce media operation costs. This release completes the integration of all Media Suite modules into the MediaCentral Platform. Storage Suite Innovations Proven real-time shared storage for smaller teams: Avid introduces ISIS® | 1000 shared storage, bringing small production teams the same collaborative power proven on blockbuster films, prime-time television, and mission-critical news broadcasts—customized for their needs, at a price they can afford. The Avid Advantage: New Service Offerings and Initiatives Avid announced another important milestone and continued momentum of The Avid Advantage, the company’s vision to transform expectations for service delivery in the media industry. With the introduction of innovative new professional service offerings, education delivery options, certification programs, and customer care enhancements, Avid is helping customers maximize efficiency, accelerate their return on media production technology investments, and deepen their joint collaboration with Avid. Avid Everywhere for Education Avid Everywhere is driving the development of new solutions, training, and certification options that provide educators with more choice and flexibility and enable them to reach larger numbers of students. Students can now experience industry-leading Avid creative tools for free, and then step up to the full products with affordable subscriptions. Educators and students can collaborate and connect more effectively using cutting-edge cloud-based solutions. Additionally, it is easier than ever for students to get the industry recognized Avid certifications they need to succeed after graduation.

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Avid Announces New Innovations Delivering on Avid Everywhere for Audio

Avid® (Nasdaq: AVID) today introduced a comprehensive global ecosystem for the audio industry delivering on Avid Everywhere™. Enabled by the Avid MediaCentral Platform, these audio innovations bring together artists, technology vendors, media organizations, and publishers onto one unified platform so they can create, collaborate, and distribute music and audio content more powerfully, efficiently, and profitably. “The goal of Avid Everywhere is to provide a common platform where everyone—from aspiring pros to established artists and professionals—can come together and create their best work,” stated Avid Chairman, President and CEO Louis Hernandez, Jr. “Our comprehensive global ecosystem delivers on this promise, making it possible for content creators to tell their stories and connect to the world’s widest network of artists, film studios, broadcasters, and media organizations.” Pro Tools | First – Join the Avid community for free Opening music production to everyone, Avid introduced Pro Tools | First, offering artists, audio enthusiasts, and aspiring pros access to many of the same music creation tools used by top professionals and facilities—at no cost. Simple enough for beginners to learn, yet sophisticated enough for the experienced musician, Pro Tools | First enables everyone to experience the industry’s most trusted digital audio workstation so they can turn their musical ideas into fully realized, professional productions that stand out from the crowd. Pro Tools 12 - Flexible licensing options Avid announced Pro Tools 12 giving professionals more choice over how they purchase and deploy their tools, collaborate with others, and get more exposure for their work. Customers can now subscribe for as little as $29.99 per month, or buy Pro Tools software outright. With these new options, users can stay current with future software updates and innovations as soon as they are released via the cloud, at no additional charge. Avid Cloud Collaboration — The world is your studio Avid Cloud Collaboration, initially to be accessed by Pro Tools users with others to follow, is a groundbreaking set of collaboration capabilities that enable artists to compose, record, edit, and mix sessions working with other Pro Tools users in the cloud, as if they are all together in the same studio. New services in the Avid Marketplace The Avid Marketplace allows Pro Tools users to engage in a community of artists, acquire new plug-ins and apps as they need them, easily store their work securely in the cloud, and post their finished assets or Pro Tools session files for others to license in their productions. Sibelius | Cloud Publishing Underscoring Avid’s commitment to the music notation market, Sibelius | Cloud Publishing is a groundbreaking new publishing technology that revolutionizes the way sheet music scores are sold online. With a Sibelius | Cloud Publishing-enabled site, publishers can allow customers to view, play, transpose, print, and purchase scores using any current web browser or mobile device, including Android, iOS, and Linux.

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Avid Releases New Version of Media Composer Bringing Resolution Independence to Film and Television Production

Avid® announces the availability of the latest version of Avid Media Composer® | Software, which allows video professionals to acquire, manage, edit, and deliver native 4K and other high-res media faster and more efficiently than ever. Leveraging the new Avid Resolution Independence architecture and Avid DNxHR™ encoding, Media Composer offers the most complete and flexible end-to-end workflow for file-based editing of any resolution. This new release helps content creators deliver higher quality content in more collaborative, powerful, and efficient ways – a key part of Avid Everywhere™. Leveraging the Avid MediaCentral Platform, Media Composer is part of the Avid Artist Suite of industry-standard creative tools. Avid Resolution Independence provides a holistic, platform-centric approach that puts no limits to the resolutions customers can capture, edit, and output. Media professionals can work with the broadest variety of media in every resolution – SD, HD, 4K and beyond – using their existing infrastructure. Media Composer is the first Avid product to support Resolution Independence, with support for more products and solutions across the MediaCentral Platform coming soon. At the center of the Avid Resolution Independence architecture is Avid DNxHR, a new extensible media codec that makes it possible to edit and deliver high-res content within HD-capable infrastructures. Offering greater beauty without the bandwidth, DNxHR scales from lightweight proxies to mastering-quality high-resolution media. Other new capabilities in the latest version of Media Composer include enhanced color management, high frame rate support, high-efficiency proxy workflows, and timesaving background rendering of high-resolution media. Media Composer | Software gives editors at post production facilities, broadcasters, production companies and more, the tools, workflows, and options needed for professional film, television, video, and news creation. The new version of Media Composer | Software is available now through Videocraft so please call your local Post Production Specialist Melbourne (03) 9888 8511 Sydney (02) 9436 3050    

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#NAB2014 Products to Watch - Post Production

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Avid Continues Proven and Trusted Shared Storage Innovation with New ISIS 5500

Avid® today introduced the new Avid ISIS® 5500 online shared storage system, offering unprecedented value for small- to mid-sized post production, broadcast, education, and corporate facilities. The next-generation ISIS 5500 represents the continuing innovation of the company’s industry standard storage systems. It provides critical new capabilities to help small- and mid-sized media organizations more easily and efficiently deliver higher quality, inspiring content – by streamlining and accelerating editorial workflows. “Media organizations of all sizes are facing relentless pressure to increase content production while simultaneously improving operational efficiency and controlling costs,” said Chris Gahagan, senior vice president of Products and Services at Avid. “With double the storage capacity and a host of new software features, ISIS 5500 brings both critical capabilities and breakthrough value to small- and mid-sized facilities.” ISIS 5500, the successor to ISIS 5000, provides exceptional scalability; performance; media access, sharing, and protection; and real-time collaboration. The new 64 terabyte (TB) engine doubles storage capacity at the same price point as the ISIS 5000 32 TB system, delivering the value that media organizations urgently require. Further, Avid will continue to offer a 32 TB system at a 25 percent reduced rate. Specific features and benefits include: Exceptional scalability – A new 64 TB capacity that complements the existing 16 and 32 TB engines provides efficient, linear bandwidth scaling to sustain performance, making it easy to scale workgroups, bandwidth, and capacity. Media organizations can connect up to 90 content contributors at the same time, and scale workspaces and storage from 16 TB to 384 TB of raw storage, with up to six ISIS Engines and 1.8 GB per second of bandwidth.
  • New ISIS 4.5 software– Also available to existing ISIS 7000, 5000, and 2000 customers via a simple software upgrade, ISIS 4.5 software provides:
  • Real-time access, editing, and sharing ISIS-stored media using Red Hat Linux 6.2-compatible applications
  • Connectivity to ISIS online and nearline storage using Windows 8 clients
  • Increased file count, with up to eight million files for ISIS 5500
  • Enhanced File Gateway service to share all workspaces
  • ISIS 2000 scalability - to five engines for up to 1.2 PB of nearline storage
  • Failover protection with support for dual System Directors in ISIS 2000
Real-time collaboration – Allows media organizations to connect their creative professionals in distributed and complex workflow environments, enabling contributors throughout the facility—or around the world using Interplay Sphere—to work together using the same media assets. Tight integration and more open workflow – Provides maximum production efficiency and flexibility with tight integration with the AirSpeed® ingest and playout server, Avid Interplay® asset management, and Avid editing workflows. With support for many third-party applications, including Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere, users can easily integrate ISIS 5500 into existing infrastructures. Reliable performance – Delivers the same simultaneous media access, dynamic storage allocation, and reliable linear scaling as ISIS 7000, while intuitive, web-based system management tools provide an easy, reliable way to store assets, accelerate editorial, and scale capacity, access, and bandwidth. Support for HD and high-res files – Enables media organizations to house a vast amount of SD, HD, and other high-res content from a variety of sources and make it readily available everywhere. Interoperability – ISIS 5500 family of products use the industry proven ISIS file system and is backward compatible with existing ISIS systems. ISIS 5500 engines can be added to existing ISIS 5000 storage systems providing investment protection.  

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Avid Unveils State-of-the-Art S6 Control Surface that Redefines Sound Recording, Mixing, and Editing

Avid® today unveiled a major new addition to its industry leading family of control surfaces for sound recording, mixing and editing, further extending its leadership in the space. Avid S6 is designed for audio professionals in the most demanding production environments, delivering the performance needed to complete projects faster while producing the best sounding mixes. In addition, S6 provides mixing professionals with a state-of-the-art solution that easily scales to meet their current and future challenges. “Working in ever more complex environments with fast project turnarounds, mixers need intuitive, tactile control of editing and mixing, and the ability to easily work with other artists, engineers, and facilities,” said Chris Gahagan, senior vice president of products and services at Avid. “Drawing on more than 20 years of leading edge innovation, the S6 delivers the game-changing modularity, superior ergonomics, and streamlined collaboration to meet mixers’ changing business requirements.” Built on the same proven technology that is core to the industry-leading ICON and System 5 product families, the Avid S6 enables mixers to quickly turn around complex projects while swiftly handling last-minute changes. With its unparalleled ability to simultaneously control multiple Pro Tools® and other EUCON™-enabled DAWs over simple Ethernet, S6 also speeds workflows and enables network collaboration on a single integrated platform. Avid S6 redefines professional mixing with key features that include: Revolutionary modular design — Adapting to every stage of a user’s business, the S6 control surface can be customized with the addition of the modules needed to match current workflow. It can be horizontally and vertically scaled as the client base grows. Pre-configured S6 M10 or S6 M40 surfaces may be purchased with the required faders, knobs, etc. already provided or, with S6 M40, further personalized with different channel control combinations. Superior ergonomics — A traditional, familiar console layout allows easy transition from previous systems. The multipoint touchscreen quickly and easily accesses plug-ins, large track counts, surround panning and more, while top-lit status knobs and high resolution OLEDs add operational efficiency. Additional 12.1” displays on S6 M40 systems further enhance instant project overview by providing deep visual feedback on key items such as channel names, audio meters, routing, clip names, and scrolling waveforms. Ultimate recall enables quick location for last-minute mix changes. Intelligent studio control — Compatible with Pro Tools and other popular EUCON-enabled DAWs, S6 enables detailed work on up to eight audio workstations simultaneously, as well as the ability to switch sessions in seconds from a single control surface across the facility. High-speed Ethernet connectivity makes it easy to reconfigure operations as business requirements dictate. Availability and Pricing Avid S6 will be available at Avid resellers worldwide in Q4 2013. As a modular system, S6 is available at a variety of prices, with M10 configurations  

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Videocraft Produces Mobile Highlights Show for 2012 Tour Down Under

Furthering its expansion into full editing and production solutions Videocraft recently produced a one-hour daily highlights show for Beyond Productions, Channel 9 and the Tour Down Under cycle race. Videocraft sales director James Taylor explained, “In order to achieve 48 minutes of daily content on the move we had to use Videocraft’s mobile edit facility. This production was not like the Tour de France which is one continuous live broadcast. The Tour Down Under footage is created from scratch while the race is on. This is no mean feat and relies completely on the equipment you use and editors and producers who really know their jobs.” Videocraft’s mobile edit truck moved with the race as the cyclists powered their way across South Australia. Moving with them were multiple Sony PDW-700 XDCAM 4:2:2 cameras acquiring and storing footage on optical discs. Taylor continued, “We used Canon’s new image stabiliser lens for the main motorbike camera material which helped us get far more stable shots. It’s a great lens and perfect for this type of shoot.” Videocraft also provided all the technical management for the production and put together the workflow that included multiple XDCAM cameras feeding material into their edit truck. Inside the truck was an EVS XS server and IP Director which were used for all live stages, ingest from OB trucks and all playout of finished shows. Taylor explained, “We got material into the system and logged it to make the editors job easier. Then the producer could find all the shots they wanted from the OB and put together the highlights for news.” Videocraft also brought a level of functionality and flexibility normally associated with a fixed production house setup to a constantly changing mobile environment – all within 15 minutes of parking their editing truck. A cycle race involves long hours for all involved and the Tour Down Under was no exception. The production was based around 18 hour days every one of which saw producers and editors sitting alongside James Taylor in Videocraft’s edit truck so there would be no interruptions to the workflow. “It was a no frills set up, that’s for sure,” added Taylor. “The camera guys on motorbikes would drop their discs at agreed points and we would ingest the material into our edit system. The editors would then pick content from logs that the producer had created and we would add in graphics from within our system. The story was then put together and cleaned up with the final voice over added using Avid Media Composer’s audio punching tool. Once complete the finished edit was stored in the EVS server for playout later via satellite.” Videocraft also created and encoded news highlight packages for the Internet within their mobile editing facility for the entire duration of the Tour Down Under. All in all a complete production and editing solution. James Taylor concluded, “A production like the Tour Down Under is fast, furious and often hectic but at Videocraft it’s what we do best. In this case we used an Avid Media Composer, Nitris DX and Isis 5000 shared storage solution as this setup is perfect for the fast turnaround, high-pressure environment and critically, it delivers time and time again. Our discussions with our clients as we prepare for this type of production is always the same – what’s required is a reliable and trustworthy workflow with a systems integrator who can make it happen in far from perfect environments. After 40 years in the business, it’s something we pride ourselves on achieving.”

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Videocraft Provides Oprah In Australia with Editing, Post Production And IT For Sydney Opera House

When Harpo, Oprah Winfrey’s production company, first decided they were going to put on the Opera House Spectaculars, according to Videocraft Project Manager Dan Miall, they had one specific requirement, “To recreate the editing, post production and IT facilities they use in Chicago in Sydney.” Harpo initially approached Avid USA who in turn put them in touch with Avid Australia and Videocraft. Miall explained, “Harpo are an incredibly professional production company. To that end they were very specific in their technical requirements all of which were based around renting a series of Avid Unity Isis and Interplay systems.” As Harpo did their due diligence they discovered that Videocraft were the company in Australia who could provide exactly what equipment and infrastructure they needed to produce the Sydney Opera House shows for Oprah'sUltimate Australian Adventure. Miall continued, “We met with Radi Akel, Harpo’s General Manager, during the Commonwealth Games and showed him the OB edit system we had installed at Foxtel which took care of all the games’ highlights for Fox Sports. Radi was impressed and so we sat down to plan exactly what would be required for Oprah’s Sydney shows.” In all Videocraft provided eleven high-end edit suites with 64Tb of storage and Interplay digital asset management. Miall explained, “This was a major installation. The kit list included multiple Avid Media Composer Nitris DXs, Sony LMD-2450W 20-inch LCD professional video production monitors, Dynaudio Acoustics BM5A two-way Active Nearfield Monitors, Interplay Assist stations, Tektronix WFM5000 Multi-Format Waveform Monitors and Yamaha A/V. They really were eleven top of the line edit and post production suites.” In addition to the editing and post production facilities Videocraft also provided Harpo with all of their IT requirements which included 60 laptops, 18Tb of storage, printers, active directory sharepoint and integration. Dan Miall added, “This was one of the biggest and most unique temporary installations Videocraft has ever done. We knew we had to provide all of Harpo’s editing, post and IT requirements for two live shows and two tape-based shows at the Sydney Opera House, but then came the really tricky part - everything had to be installed on the 12th floor of the Intercontinental Hotel in just two days. In other words we had to build and convert the entire floor of a hotel into a fully functioning post facility in 48 hours.” With the project given the green light Miall and the Videocraft team began the unique installation and hotel floor conversion. In the meantime Harpo gave further details of the shows’ format. To celebrate 25 years of the Oprah Winfrey show 302 audience members from the USA came to Australia with the talk show Queen armed with mini DV cameras with which they were to record their adventures. Miall explained, “The audience members’ footage was recorded and ingested as low res .wmv files. The files were then logged in Chicago where the producers chose the shots they wanted and then these files were ingested for a second time into the Avid suites we built at the Intercontinental Hotel. The Sydney suites were then used to cut packages ready for broadcast within 24 hours. As often there were many versions of different packages, the suites had to run very smoothly and very efficiently, which I’m delighted to say they all did.” Commenting on the production of the Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure shows Harpo General Manager Radi Akel said, “Everyone at Harpo was amazed and delighted with what Videocraft did for us. The central equipment room they built was awesome and the level of equipment they provided along with their service was second to none. We discovered early in the project that they were the best company in Australia who could put this kind of system together and it became very clear why over the course of our time in Sydney. The installation was 100% on time and the entire Videocraft team were incredibly professional, flexible and nothing was ever too much trouble. They gave us everything we needed with a smile and a kind word – even when we switched from XDCAM to HDCAM one week before the shows were to be recorded. I really cannot thank Dan Miall and the entire Videocraft team enough for what was a seamless and perfectly executed project.”

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