New Avid Logo


[4/23/09: Updated with logo image.]

Las Vegas, NV, April 20, 2009…It starts with the logo. Gone is the Avid logo we’re all familiar with, changed into a clever use of (still purple) triangular arrows: up, down and fast forward to indicate the new, streamlined Avid. Bigger news is the fact that Avid has now brought all five companies–Avid, DigiDesign, M-Audio, Pinnacle and Sibelius–under one company structure, and also created more customer-centric support programs.

Ironically enough, in a year that Apple is a no-show, Avid is showing Final Cut Pro on its stage, interfaced with Avid’s Unity storage. It’s all about openness, says director of segment marketing for post & broadcast Patrick McLean, who notes that Avid has a history of openness with such initiatives as OMF.

The post story from Avid this year is three-fold: RED, 3D and file-based. With regard to RED, executive Ted Schilowitz will appear at the Avid booth to tout the integration of the RED cameras with Avid’s post workflow.

With regard to stereoscopic filmmaking, Avid is showing 3D stereoscopic editing with the Avid Media Composer. And Avid is also emphasizing its AMA (Avid Media Access) architecture and its tight integration with Sony’s XDCAM HD and Panasonic P2 formats. “It’s all about the formats,” says McLean, who notes that the integration means that editors no longer have to log footage since the AMA architecture; metadata is automatically imported into the bins.

Avid is also showing integration between Avid Media Composer and ProTools via Video Satellite, an Avid product that lets the user slave a Media Composer to a ProTools system, for automatic synch. “Nobody has to export or import anything,” says McLean.