Avid releases new versions of workhorse products

In response to customer feedback, Avid has released new versions of its most popular editing systems, including the Media Composer (v5.5), NewsCutter (v9.5) and Symphony-Nitris-DX (v 5.5), which bring new features and expanded third-party hardware support to further streamline collaborative workflows with added control integration and format flexibility.

There’s also new support for AJA Video’s Io Express input and output interface, allowing seamless interoperability with new Media Composer and NewsCutter systems. This adds to the previously announced support for Matrox MX02 Mini monitoring hardware (in Media Composer Version 5). Editors can also now leverage Artist Mix, Artist Control and Artist Transport control surfaces to handle media transport and audio and effects parameters within Avid editing systems. The fine adjustment controls and physical interfaces of these external controllers are ideally suited for customers working with projects that require extensive audio manipulation.

A new Avid PhraseFind add-on option, developed by Nexidia, offers phonetic searching that helps streamline clip and project management. This, in turn, makes editorial faster and simplifies the dialogue editing and logging process

The new Avid Nitris DX AVC-Intra video accelerator now enables editors to work with Panasonic AVC-Intra material, and there’s also new native support for the Sony HDCAM SR Lite format. This facilitates the high-quality file-based media transfer of the Sony tape-based format over a GigE connection to reduce costly deck usage.

In addition, Media Composer is now compatible with Pro Tools hardware for greater workflow flexibility, including audio capture and monitoring of Media Composer projects through Pro Tools hardware and voice-over recording into Media Composer to enable faster collaboration between sound and picture departments.