Avid Ships Avid DS Nitris 8.0; New version offers 4:4:4 HD-RGB format support for high-resolution workflows.

TEWKSBURY, Mass. -- Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced the worldwide availability of the Avid(R) DS Nitris(TM) 8.0 system, which offers a native 64-bit software architecture and dual-link I/O hardware to support high-resolution and digital intermediate (DI) workflows. The new version also ships with dual-boot capability, allowing editors to use either the DS or Symphony(TM) toolset with the Avid Nitris hardware. Avid also announced the availability of the Avid DS Assist Station(TM), a software-only version of the Avid DS 8.0 toolset that customers can deploy on lower-cost workstations to tackle specialized tasks such as rotoscoping, compositing, and conform checks.

"The 4:4:4 HD-RGB log format is valuable for our work because it provides better color accuracy than 4:2:2 HD linear when moving from film negative to digital post production and back," said Matt Schneider, director of technology at PostWorks New York. "We do a significant amount of 2K digital intermediates, but with 4:4:4 HD-RGB support and expanded memory in version 8.0 of Avid DS Nitris, we have an attractive alternative to 2K that is a good fit for many projects. We can now input HD-RGB directly to Avid DS Nitris from our film scanner. PostWorks has always been a big fan of Avid DS Nitris and this release takes the system to the next level. By the end of the year, we plan to add three additional DI pipelines built around the expanded capabilities of Avid DS Nitris."

Matt Feury, senior product marketing manager at Avid added, "Our television and film finishing customers are an extremely dedicated user base who swear by the Avid DS Nitris toolset and its ability to help them work faster and more creatively on the hi-res, bandwidth-intensive projects they face every day. More importantly, they have been anticipating the arrival of advanced workflow features in the system - and Avid DS Nitris 8.0 delivers. By adding HD-RGB support, we've significantly advanced the system's capabilities to support the unique finishing needs of an online community that continues to blaze new paths in HD, 2K and even 4K post production workflows. With a powerful feature set for demanding HD and DI projects - we believe that Avid DS Nitris will have a huge impact across the primetime television and digital film finishing markets we serve."

New Features for Avid DS Nitris 8.0

With real-time, multi-stream, 10-bit HD performance, a deep creative toolset, and expanded hardware, Avid DS Nitris 8.0 is the ultimate editing and finishing system for SD, HD and 2K/4K DI work. Highlights of the new system include:

--Dual-link HD-SDI connectivity - offering new integrated I/O hardware that provides the necessary bandwidth for capturing and editing 4:4:4 HD-RGB formats, such as HDCAM SR.

--Dual-boot capability - expanding the flexibility of HD finishing options by allowing editors to run either Symphony or Avid DS software on the same system.

--Native 64-bit system and software support - leveraging the advantages of workstations that feature 64-bit processors for faster performance through access to greater physical memory, a critical component when working with high-bandwidth, high resolution files.

--Support for 720p50 sequences - providing European customers transitioning to HD with capture, conform, finishing, and mastering tools in the 720p50 standard.

--Support for Avid Unity ISIS(TM) - allowing the system to work with Avid's newest shared-storage system to exchange and share media assets with other connected systems.

Pricing and Availability

The Avid DS Nitris 8.0 system is available now through Avid's worldwide reseller channel. Pricing for the Avid DS Nitris 8.0 system is $147,995 USMSRP as a turnkey system, which includes a CPU workstation, monitors, 2.5 TBs of RAID storage, and one license for Avid DS RP (remote processing software for offloading computationally intensive tasks). Existing Avid DS Nitris 7.6 customers with assurance contracts can upgrade to version 8.0 with dual-boot capability for $9,995 USMSRP, and can purchase the Avid dual-link HD-SDI card for $9,995 USMSRP. The Avid DS Assist Station is available for $9,995 USMSRP.

For more information, please visit www.avid.com/dsnitris/.

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 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) 2006 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 Avid office or reseller for prices outside the U.S. and Canada. Avid, Film Composer, Digidesign, Pro Tools, Symphony, Nitris, Avid Unity ISIS, and Avid DS Assist station are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. 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.