Avid 1997 Annual Report Download - page 10

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establish the Open Media Framework Interchange (“OMFI’’) as an industry standard media file interchange format
to facilitate the transfer of various media types, such as video, audio, animation, film, and graphics, among various
systems and applications used in the media production processes. The Company has published the OMFI file
format and is seeking to promulgate it as an industry standard. Hundreds of vendors and end users endorse the
OMFI standard and more than 40 vendors are supporting the OMFI standard in their products.
Products
The following lists the Company’s products within the three principal markets in which they are sold. A description
follows of the major products and product families in each of these categories.
Video and Film Editing and Effects
Media Composer:
The Media Composer system is Avid’s original product offering and still accounts for a significant portion of its revenues.
The Company believes that the Media Composer product line holds a greater unit market share than any other digital non-
linear editing system in professional video editing markets. The Media Composer product line now includes four models
(the Media Composer Off-line, 1000, 9000 and Media Station), which provide various levels of capability and functionality.
The Media Composer is a disk-based digital, nonlinear editing system designed primarily for use by professional film and
video editors. The Media Composer system converts visual and audio source material on tape to a digital format and stores
the converted material on a range of hard disk storage devices. Once digitized, the stored media can be previewed, edited, and
played back. The Media Composer family of products is used to create high-quality productions such as television shows
and commercials, feature films, music videos, corporate videos, and other non-broadcast finished videos.
Film Composer:
The Film Composer system is a 24 frames per second (“fps”) editing system for projects that originate and finish on film.
Film footage can be converted to video signals for editing, but because video runs at 30 fps and film at 24 fps, a standard 30
fps video editing system will not yield an accurate 24 fps film cut list from which to cut a master. The Film Composer
includes software that determines which frames on the videotape are actual frames from the film source material and allows
the creation of a frame accurate cut list. The Film Composer software also includes special features to meet the specific
needs of film editors. The Company believes that Film Composer holds a greater unit market share than any other digital
non-linear editing system in professional film editing markets.
Avid Xpress for Macintosh:
Avid Xpress for Macintosh (formerly known as MCXpress for Macintosh) is a digital, nonlinear video editing system
designed to meet the needs of professional media entrepreneurs involved with video and multimedia production for a variety
of distribution mediums including videotape, CD-ROM and the Internet. Avid Xpress for Macintosh has a streamlined user
interface and editing model targeted for this category of user. This attribute allows existing Media Composer users to easily
migrate to Avid Xpress systems and provides media and project interchange between the products.
MCXpress for Windows NT:
MCXpress for Windows NT is a digital, nonlinear video editing system designed for the same market as Avid Xpress for
Macintosh, but is targeted to users who prefer Windows NT-based computers. MCXpress for Windows NT offers
professional picture quality and editing features, support for multiple media delivery options, AVI output, integration with
third-party Windows applications, a built-in titling tool, and a plug-in effects architecture.
Avid Cinema:
Avid Cinema is a desktop editing product designed for people who have had no previous video editing experience. Avid
Cinema is targeted at users in home, school, and corporate environments. A simple interface guides users through the
process of making their own, near-VHS-quality movies to save to videotape, put in a slide presentation, or post on a web
page. These movies can include video, transition effects, narration, titles and music. Avid Cinema currently employs
Apple’s QuickTime technology and allows users to save QuickTime files for various distribution formats.