Print Page 9/8/2009

PORT MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: Video processor Blackmagic Design has acquired da Vinci Systems, a specialist in film coloring and restoration based in Coral Springs, Fla. Financial terms of the deal were not released.

Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO and founder, said that the company will focus on improving engineering and marketing for da Vinci’s Resolve and Revival lines.

“The team for Resolve should be three to four times bigger in about two months time, and we have a lot of good ideas to work on,” Petty said in an e-mail statement about the acquisition. “Resolve is just incredible and deserves more resources.”

As for Revival, Petty said that it needs a new user interface and extra features and that “it will also have more engineering added to it.” He also said that Blackmagic will stop marketing 2K-based systems, focus on marketing Resolve and honor all current support contracts. “But we are not going to sign any new ones,” he added.

Petty said that the company has streamlined its workforce in da Vinci’s Florida facilities and is hiring new engineers, and rehiring former da Vinci engineers. Blackmagic bought da Vinci for its “performance,” but added that the company was losing money. He declined to indicate whether the acquisition will result in lower-cost da Vinci products.

Blackmagic Design has a history with da Vinci. In 2008, Blackmagic Design Singapore, the company’s sole post production facility, installed a Resolve R250 digital imaging suite and accompanying Impresario control panel and upgraded its da Vinci Resolve RT with the new Resolve R350 as part of a facility expansion and upgrade. -- from TV Technology   Print Page