Avid and Matrox Join Forces To Bring Video Editing Solution To The Mass Market

Business Wire,  July 1, 1998  

Tags: Avid Technology Inc., video, video editing

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TEWKSBURY, Mass. and MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 1, 1998--

Companies Will Deliver Affordable and

Easy-To-Use Video Editing Solution for Home and Business PC Users

Avid Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:AVID), an industry leader and pioneer in digital video editing solutions, and Matrox Graphics Inc., a world leader in the graphics industry, today announced an agreement to offer a Windows-based desktop video editing solution for home and PC users. The combined solution will include Matrox's Marvel G200-TV and Marvel G200 graphics and video hardware and the Avid Cinema Windows video editing software, providing users with an affordable and easy-to-use way to create professional-looking movies on a personal computer.

The Matrox Marvel G200-TV and Marvel G200 integrate hardware Motion-JPEG compression for high-quality video capture along with integrated 2D/3D acceleration. The Marvel G200-TV and Marvel G200 will bundle the Avid Cinema nonlinear video editing software for Windows 95, enabling users to digitally capture, edit and produce professional-looking, Hollywood-style movies in an inexpensive and easy way. With Avid Cinema software, full-motion video, still images, audio or graphics can be easily captured from a VCR, camcorder, TV or the Web and then edited using Avid's award-winning nonlinear editing capabilities. High-quality movies can be distributed in a variety of formats including Web TV, VHS tape or as QuickTime or AVI movies for use in multimedia presentations or on a web site.

"We are excited to offer consumers the ability to easily make movies, either for home, school or the office," said Dan Wood, senior product manager at Matrox Graphics. "Matrox and Avid joined forces because both companies saw a clear market opportunity. Bringing together Matrox's second generation solution for video editing that offers professional-quality hardware video capture with fun and easy-to-use Avid software means we're introducing the first product that truly answers the needs of the growing consumer video market. This combined solution will put into consumers' hands the same editing techniques that most well-known Hollywood producers are using but at a fraction of the cost and with no learning curve."

Avid Cinema for Windows, developed by Avid, is an easy-to-use, affordable digital video editing and publishing solution. Avid Cinema utilizes Avid's nonlinear editing technology, which has been used in the creation of many of Hollywood's biggest movies and TV shows -- including the Academy award-winning film, "Titanic" and Emmy award-winning TV show, "Seinfeld." Designed for the novice user, Avid Cinema enables consumers to script their own movie using storyboard templates for home, school and business projects. The Avid Cinema editing environment allows users to manipulate digital video and audio clips, apply transition effects, and add voice-overs, soundtracks, titles or credits.

The Matrox Marvel G200-TV and Marvel G200 are an all-in-one hardware video editing solution and 2D/3D graphics accelerator for the home and business user. The Marvel G200-TV and Marvel G200, powered by the new Matrox MGA-G200 graphics controller, offers award-winning acceleration for all 2D/3D Windows-based applications, features a hardware MJPEG chip for professional-quality video capture and editing and allows users to output their desktop to a big screen TV.

"The agreement between Matrox and Avid brings to the Windows 95 desktop video editing market a product that is backed by the undisputed leaders of both the graphics board and video editing worlds," said Jim Duval, product manager at Avid Technology. "By combining our experience and technology vision, we are offering a powerful combination that can turn every PC into a little Hollywood. Because it is so affordable and easy to use, everyone -- from school children to grandparents -- will be able to create fun and entertaining movies."

Pricing and Availability

The Matrox Marvel G200-TV, which will be jointly marketed by Avid and Matrox, will be sold through Matrox's existing sales channels, which includes CompUSA stores nationwide. The Matrox Marvel G200-TV, Marvel G200 and the bundled Avid Cinema software are targeted for availability in third quarter of 1998 for an ESP of $329 (U.S.D.).

About Matrox

A Montreal-based graphic chip designer and board manufacturer, Matrox Graphics Inc. is a leader in the graphics industry. In 1993, Matrox was the first to introduce a 64-bit graphics engine for the PC market with its MGA Series and the first to introduce high quality video editing to the consumer market with its breakthrough Rainbow Runner series in 1997. Matrox's innovative graphics and video technology has been recognized with an unprecedented 300 international awards over the last five years. With 20 years of experience, Matrox continues to deliver leading edge solutions to the graphics and video industry at the best price/performance.

About Avid Technology