It’s not quite on the same level with peace in the Middle East, but Avid clearly felt it had a certain level of reconciliation at NAB. It led its show announcements with the news that Avid had qualified Final Cut Pro to run on Avid Unity MediaNetwork and ISIS. For example, users can now run Avid and FCP on the same shared-storage system.
Officials pointed out that Avid’s storage systems are still optimized for Media Composer and vice versa. Still, acknowledging Final Cut in a formal way was a significant step for the company, which came to Las Vegas touting not just a fancy new semi-abstract logo but also its spirit of “openness.”
With Panasonic and Sony, Avid highlighted native support for P2 and XDCAM HD media across its editorial platforms. In the run-up to NAB, Avid announced native support for Red’s .r3d file format via MetaFuze, Media Composer and DS.
With Omneon, Avid touted integration between Avid’s iNEWS Command and Omenon’s MediaDeck and Spectrum production systems, allowing users to edit XDCAM HD media without transcoding. Exporting finished stories to Omneon servers for playback will be a dropdown menu selection in the Avid.
The company’s Sundance Digital Titan and FastBreak NXT broadcast automation systems support Omneon’s MediaDeck GX broadcast channel-playout server. And v5.2 of the Deko 3000 on-air graphics package now supports FBX and Collada file formats, simplifying the use of 3D models and animation created in software from Autodesk and Maxon. Deko 5.2 will be available for download in June.
Even Avid’s own products got in on the integration action, with Avid showing a workflow using its Video Satellite software to connect a Pro Tools|HD system with an Avid Media Composer. That integration fit with the announcement that along with Avid’s new logo comes a “fusing” of its various businesses — Avid, Digidesign, M-Audio, Pinnacle, and Sibelius will now operate as a single company. Believe it or not, Avid says NAB 2009 was the first time audio and video products had been shown side-by-side, in integrated workflows, throughout the exhibit.
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