Discreet Releases cleaner XL Service Pack 1 — Software Hailed a Success by Customers and Critics Alike

Business Wire, July 8, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 8, 2003

Receptive Market Embraces Major Enhancements to Industry Leading,

Windows-Based Media Mastering, Encoding and Streaming Software

Discreet, a division of Autodesk Inc., today announced the release of cleaner(TM) XL Service Pack (SP) 1 available for download on the Discreet website. The recently released next generation of media mastering, encoding and streaming software now provides even more control over encoding and workflow. Only three months after its debut, the critically acclaimed successor to the award-winning cleaner 5 software, cleaner XL, has set firmly upon a path of impressing reviewers and delighting customers.

Discreet cleaner XL SP 1 results from the company's continued support for its customer's needs and dedication to the desktop video market. Already loaded with major improvements over its predecessor including an innovative user interface and impressive workflow capabilities, the update takes capabilities to the next level by refining parameter control, high definition MPEG Windows(R) Media 9 presets and support for MPEG sizes and rates.

The radically reinvented cleaner XL product is heralded by critics and customers highlighting its ability to deliver new and unmatched features that allow video professionals to efficiently master and encode content for output to all major digital media formats; from web streaming and DVD to wireless, PDA, and mobile distribution. At this year's National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in Las Vegas, the software garnered its first official industry endorsement: a Video Systems Magazine Pick Hit Award, chosen by that magazine's senior and contributing editors to recognize outstanding new products and tools on display at NAB.

The Pick Hit Award followed on the heels of an article published in Video Systems magazine, "Cleaner Than Before," praising the software's enhanced capabilities. The article notes "cleaner XL is two to five times faster than cleaner 5," lauds the software's user interface and the operations workflow as "impressive," and concludes, "I can assure you that the wait has been worth it."

More recently, in NextGen Electronics' June product review, the editorial staff gave cleaner XL a perfect score and went on to say, "cleaner XL is an absolute must-buy. Overall, cleaner XL is everything Discreet promised and a whole lot more, worthy of every penny you'll pay for it--an Editor's Choice product if I ever saw one."

Industry pundits and customers agree. Mitch Geller, co-owner of full-service multimedia development company Nu-Design and co-author of New Perspectives on Macromedia Dreamweaver MX -- Introductory, offers a typical observation. Geller was given less than one hour to clean up a poorly mastered CD-ROM "business card" containing a music video. cleaner XL software saved the day. Says Geller: "I hope I don't have to work this fast every time, but it's nice to know that cleaner XL can create such high-quality content in such a short timeframe."

Brent Bamberger, vice president of marketing at Walnut Creek, California-based Multivision, Inc., echoes the praise. "We work with our clients to create a personalized broadcast monitoring service that delivers the right intelligence at the right time in the right format," says Bamberger. "The speed of Discreet's cleaner XL enables us to provide our clients with same hour digital delivery of high-quality playback, so they are never out of touch with the news they want to see."

David Menninger, senior program manager at Kontiki Client Services Group, says of the flexibility of cleaner XL, "We specialize in providing high-quality, digital video delivery for business use, and with Discreet's cleaner XL our digital media professionals are able to deliver digital assets in a format that meets each of our client's specific needs."

Pricing and Availability

Discreet cleaner XL is available in North America at an SRP of US$599. The cleaner XL Service Pack 1 is offered as a download at www.discreet.com/support/cleanerxl/. For more information about purchasing Discreet cleaner XL , or to find a reseller, call 1-866-317-1011 or visit www.discreet.com. For purchases outside of the U.S. please contact your Discreet regional distributor.

About Discreet

Discreet empowers media professionals to realize the visual experience and transform their most evocative and ambitious visions into reality. Discreet's award-winning solutions are designed for digital media creation, management, and delivery--across all disciplines from film and television visual effects, color grading and editing to animation, game development, web/interactive, and design visualization. Discreet is based in Montreal, Quebec and is a division of Autodesk, Inc., the world's leading design and digital media creation, management, and distribution company. Product and corporate information: www.discreet.com.

Discreet is a division of Autodesk, Inc. Discreet and cleaner are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. /Autodesk Canada Inc. in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.