Avid Technology, Inc. has announced the availability of Avid Interplay—the world's first nonlinear workflow engine, which fuses integrated asset management, workflow automation, and security control into a single system to deliver a business-wide solution for postproduction and broadcast customers of any size. Introduced at NAB 2006, the Avid Interplay system is a client-server engine capable of connecting teams to shared-data, managing the flow of projects, and eliminating time-consuming production tasks. With a broad range of tools for searching, archiving, viewing, logging, automatic transcoding, dual-resolution encoding, and intelligent tracking of multi-resolution proxy files, Avid Interplay is open to any media production environment - accommodating more than 100 different media and non-media file types - and can link to production tools from virtually any other company. Several Avid customers, who were among the first to order Avid Interplay and evaluate a beta version of the system, are on-schedule to complete their installations by the end of September.
"After beta-testing Avid Interplay, we now have it connected to 25 editing stations running on Avid Unity ISIS(TM), and we are seeing immediate benefits," said Peter Bruggink, chief technology officer of Avi-drome, a leading postproduction company in The Netherlands. "Clients are using Interplay Assist to browse content and do a 'pre-edit' before they enter a formal editing session, which allows them to save up to 60% on session time. Other Avid Interplay services such as archive, transcode, dual-resolution encode, and multi-resolution versioning allow us to work more efficiently and take our business to the next level by offering differentiated services that our competitors simply cannot match."
Chas Smith, vice president and general manager for Avid's Video division said, "Since unveiling Avid Interplay at NAB, we've had strong interest in the system from both post production and broadcast customers. They see that Avid Interplay can help them solve some of their toughest problems by streamlining their workflow and removing the complexity that is created in today's file-based world. The ability to log and view media with Interplay Assist and to transcode media with Interplay Transcode provides real-world utility that customers can use to save valuable time in any production environment. With support for third-party applications, such as AfterEffects files, Photoshop images, spreadsheets or legal documents, Avid Interplay truly connects all parts of the production pipeline and provides facilities with the extra edge to meet their deadlines."
THE AVID INTERPLAY SYSTEM
Avid Interplay is a highly scalable workflow solution with functionality and entry-level pricing to meet the needs of broadcast and post facilities—both small and large. With the ability to add optional toolsets, customers can easily expand the system to handle the complexity of enterprise-class workflows and to replace time-consuming tasks with automated processes. The base configuration of the Avid Interplay system includes:
- Interplay Engine—a PC server that connects to an Avid Unity media network and provides secure access to active and archived media assets by all Interplay services.
- Interplay Access—the user interface for the Interplay Engine, bringing media search, check-out/check-in, revision control and management capabilities to standard desktops and laptops on the network.
OPTIONAL TOOLSETS
- Interplay Assist—a simple yet powerful tool for networked desktops and laptops to play video, select shots, and add markers and locators with comments to eliminate time-consuming information searches before editorial begins.
- Interplay Transcode—a networked media service that automatically and transparently converts source media to whichever production format is required, according to pre-set user preferences.
- Interplay Low-Res Encode—a hardware-assisted ingest system that captures low-resolution material from any tape or feed while the high-resolution version is simultaneously captured into the same shared storage.
- Interplay Archive—a network service to enable review of archived material at a low-resolution proxy for easy selection directly from the editing interface, or through the Interplay Access client.
- Interplay Transfer—a network service that allows users to initiate background media transfers between workgroups or archives across WANs, while tracking files and avoiding redundancy.
TOTAL SERVICES FOR AVID INTERPLAY
Given the unique set of infrastructure and workflow requirements in broadcast and post production environments, Avid's Total Services provides customers with the advanced consulting, design, health monitoring, and technical support that they need to take advantage of the most comprehensive set of Avid Interplay features. These services are:
- Avid Support Contracts—provide 24/7 technical assistance, software updates and extended hardware warranties.
- Workflow Analysis and Needs Assessment—includes site surveys and hardware audits to evaluate system migration, operational, and training needs, and to manage the solution design, architecture and installation.
- Workflow Design and Implementation—provides customization of the Interplay database to establish user permissions, folder structures, and folder properties.
- Network Design and Validation—builds a bridge between customer IT and engineering departments to ensure that existing network environments meet Interplay file-based workflow specifications.
- System Administration Training—delivers courses that give users essential skills for administering and monitoring the maintenance, licensing, user management, and personnel settings associated with Avid Interplay.
AVAILABILITY & PRICING
Avid Interplay is available immediately through Avid's worldwide reseller channel as well as the company's direct sales force. Pricing for the Avid Interplay system, with the Interplay Engine and Access toolsets, begins at $18,000 USMSRP. Total Services for a base-configuration Avid Interplay system typically start at $17,000 USMSRP, but may vary based on the specific requirements of each customer.
Avid Interplay is supported out-of-the-box with the latest releases of Avid Media Composer (v2.6), NewsCutter (v6.6), iNEWS Instinct (v1.6), Symphony Nitris (v1.6), and Avid Unity systems (v4.2.1). Customers on Avid Support can upgrade to these versions for no additional cost.
For more information about the Avid Interplay system and compatibility with Avid NLEs and shared storage systems, please visit www.avid.com/interplay.
