Media Composer 7 will be released in June 2013, Avid unveiled at NAB last week. The nonlinear editing (NLE) solution features accelerated and simplified file-based workflows including optimised HD delivery from high-res source material and automated media operations. In addition the new release offers Interplay Sphere for Mac support. “Today’s video professionals are faced with a media landscape of new formats, fewer resources, and tighter budgets,” said Chris Gahagan, senior vice president of products and services at Avid. “Media Composer 7 tackles these challenges with unparalleled file-based workflows, background processing, and automation. Plus, with its new lower price point [Media Composer 7 (standard) — £719 (Ex Vat), Media Composer 7 Interplay Edition — £1099 (Ex Vat)], Media Composer is now more accessible than ever to editors who previously had to compromise on quality with other tools.” Media Composer 7 offers a wide array of key new features, including AMA media management, dynamic media folders, FrameFlex tool and LUT support, Master Audio Fader, Clip Gain, Symphony Color Correction option and Interplay Sphere for Mac. Mark Futa, head of post production at The Ant Farm, said, “As we journey further into a tapeless post production world, managing a wide range of dissimilar digital media is a major challenge. What excites me about Media Composer 7 is not only its ability to speed up the ingest of both high-res and HD source media via AMA, but also the introduction of background processing so our editors can keep editing while the application handles non-creative tasks like media transcoding and consolidation.” At product availability, Avid will offer a choice of two Media Composer software configurations: Media Composer provides the full Media Composer editing feature set as well as support for ISIS workgroups. Media Composer Interplay Edition includes all the features in Media Composer, plus the ability to connect to Avid Interplay. Media Composer 7 will be available in the online Avid Store and from Avid resellers worldwide. Customers can purchase Media Composer 6.5 now and receive a free upgrade to version 7 when available. www.avid.com
