Avid DS Nitris Family Delivers Powerful New Features and HD Workflow CapabilitiesLAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 18, 2004--

New versions of Avid DS Nitris systems offer enhanced editing, compositing, and interoperability features, plus Avid DNxHD high-efficiency encoding for 10-bit HD

    Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced version 7.5
of its Avid(R) DS Nitris(TM) and Avid DS Nitris Editor systems - the
industry's most powerful real-time finishing systems for SD, HD, and
digital intermediates 2K/4K projects. This latest version of the Avid
DS Nitris family offers extensive new editing, compositing, and
workflow capabilities, and introduces support for Avid DNxHD(TM) - a
revolutionary 10-bit HD encoding technology that enables collaborative
HD postproduction via the Avid Unity(TM) MediaNetwork with the same
storage bandwidth and capacity requirements as SD files. The Avid DS
Nitris family is also fully compatible with the Media Composer(R)
Adrenaline(TM) system, creating an efficient, transparent
offline-to-online HD postproduction workflow.
    "HD is rapidly becoming a leading format in a wide range of
markets - from primetime television to commercials to
corporate/industrial production - and we want to make sure that our
customers have access to the most feature-rich, high-quality, and
high-performance systems to handle virtually any HD editing,
compositing, or mastering project that comes through the door," said
Dana Ruzicka, director of Post Solutions for Avid. "We've packed the
latest versions of Avid DS Nitris full of enhancements to give editors
and artists the ultimate in quality, real-time performance, automatic
conform, and creative versatility, and to enable them to easily share
HD media across collaborative editing environments. No other company
offers the same power and flexibility in a single system."
    Key new capabilities in the Avid DS Nitris and Avid DS Nitris
Editor 7.5 systems include:
    Avid DNxHD Encoding Technology
    The new Avid DNxHD encoding technology operates in a 4:2:2 color
space and is available in three user-selectable bandwidth
configurations: 220 megabits per second (Mbps) for both 10-bit and
8-bit video, and a highly efficient 8-bit configuration requiring only
145 Mbps for 720p and 1080p/i HD resolutions. Avid DS Nitris customers
working with Avid DNxHD technology can create multiple streams of
full-resolution effects - such as color correction, DVEs, transitions,
and titles - in real time. The Avid DNxHD technology uses the Material
Exchange Format (MXF), an open media file wrapper that enables direct
media interchange between Avid and third-party MXF-compliant products.
Version 7.5 of the Avid DS Nitris family also delivers MXF support for
common SD formats, such as DV25, DV50, IMX, and Meridien(TM) JFIF.
    Extended Digital Intermediates/Film Functionality
    Version 7.5 offers new 2K/4K digital intermediates capabilities,
including a large number of preset sequence types for various film
scanning resolutions and apertures; a feature that enables users to
read timecode from, and output timecode to, DPX files; a timecode view
for looking at multiple timecodes from either sequence or source
clips; and an HD proxy working resolution that leverages the real-time
power of the Nitris Digital Nonlinear Accelerator(TM) (Avid DNA(TM))
hardware while working with a native 2K/4K RGB sequence.
    Powerful New Effects and Compositing Capabilities
    Extensive color-correction enhancements to the Avid DS Nitris
family include soft-clipping and RGB-clipping options; the ability to
adjust the gain, gamma, and offset parameters on a per-channel basis;
and the capability to adjust black and white points without affecting
the gamma value. The Avid DS Nitris 7.5 family also offers improved
anti-aliasing and blurring of mattes and graphics shapes, as well as
enhanced Effects Tree compositing controls.
    For more information about the Avid DS Nitris family or Avid's
other products and services, please visit www.avid.com.
    Pricing & Availability
    Pricing will be $147,995 USMSRP for the Avid DS Nitris 7.5 system
and $78,995 USMSRP for the Avid DS Nitris Editor 7.5 system. Avid DS
Nitris and Avid DS Nitris Editor customers with Avid Assurance
contracts will receive free software upgrades. Both the Avid DS Nitris
7.5 and Avid DS Nitris Editor 7.5 systems are expected to be available
through Avid's worldwide reseller channel in Q2 2004.
    About Avid Technology, Inc.
    Avid Technology, Inc. is the world leader in digital nonlinear
media creation, management, and distribution solutions, enabling film,
video, audio, animation, games, and broadcast news professionals to
work more efficiently, productively, and creatively. For more
information about the company's Oscar(R), Grammy(R), and Emmy(R)
award-winning products and services, please visit: www.avid.com.
    (C) 2004 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Product
features, specifications, system requirements, and availability are
subject to change without notice. All prices are USMSRP for the U.S.
and Canada only and are subject to change without notice. Contact your
local reseller for prices outside the U.S. and Canada. Avid,
Digidesign, Avid DNA, Avid DNxHD, Film Composer, Pro Tools, Nitris,
Media Composer, Adrenaline, Meridien, Digital Nonlinear Accelerator,
and Avid Unity are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid
Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All
prices are USMSRP for the U.S. and Canada only and are subject to
change without notice. Contact your local Avid office or reseller for
prices outside the U.S. and Canada. Avid received an Oscar statuette
representing the 1998 Scientific and Technical Award for the concept,
design, and engineering of the Avid Film Composer(R) system for motion
picture editing. Digidesign, Avid's audio division, received an Oscar
statuette representing the 2003 Scientific and Technical Award for the
design, development, and implementation of its Pro Tools(R) digital
audio workstation. Oscar is a trademark and service mark of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Emmy is a registered
trademark of ATAS/NATAS. Grammy is a trademark of the National Academy
of Recording Arts and Sciences, Inc. All other trademarks contained
herein are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Avid Technology Inc. Alice Eubank, 978-640-3325 alice_eubank@avid.com or Weber Shandwick Laura Shea, 617-520-7015 lshea@webershandwick.com

SOURCE: Avid Technology, Inc.