To lease or buy: Rental houses, resellers and system integrators can help guide you through the world of evolving technology

Post, April, 2002 by Edmond M. Rosenthal

Moviola claims to be the largest Avid reseller in the country operating a "digitial warehouse" that also includes such brands as Sony and Canon. Paskal says the customer base ranges from prosumers through award-winning professionals. As both a rental house and reseller, the company is able to provide rentals with an option to buy as well as offering discounts on videotape with major purchases or rentals. For example, Moviola recently closed a $3/4 million sale of Avid professional products to CBS after first renting it this equipment.

Moviola has been on an aggressive expansion path. It recently completed acquisition of Video Tape Distributors, a nationwide seller of videotape and data media. Last year, in Los Angeles, it acquired Digital Production Resources. Paskal discloses that the company is looking for further acquisitions that fit into its present business scheme.

VIRTUAL MEDIA: RENTALS WITH OPTION TO BUY

Facing a declining economy, particularly in the advertising industry, Virtual Media (www.virtualmediaonline.com) has decided to become "more things to more people," according to owner Scott Greenberg. With facilities in Orlando, Manhattan and Cranford, NJ, the company is now opening a fourth one in Miami. This will put it both wider and deeper into a reselling, rental and systems integrating business focused on nonlinear storage and editing and media management.

One of its new accommodations to the uncertain market is rental with an option to buy. Greenberg comments, "If, for example, a customer needs an Avid Media Composer for a two-month project and doesn't know what's coming behind that project, some of the rental payments can be applied later to a purchase."

"We understand that some customers are having difficult times and that we have to help them through these times," he adds. Another accommodation is working with leasing companies to supply a creative package to the customer. This lowers the initial payments so that customers have an easier time getting into new equipment.

To offer a more comprehensive package, Virtual Media works with sister company Pulse Digital, which offers services related to streaming of content. Greenberg notes, "For years, people were editing on Avid and laying off to tape. Now they can also stream the content to another facility or to their client."

The company now carries Avid's high definition editing and compositing system, DS HD. There have been no rentals yet but sales are being made to Fortune 500 companies as well as to smaller facilities. Greenberg points to the comfort level in having an interface similar to that of the Media Composer and the ability to use one system for both HD and standard definition output.

RELATED ARTICLE: Technical advisor role takes off at Runway

CULVER CITY, CA -- Runway, Inc. is celebrating its 10th year as a provider of technical consulting and nonlinear rental systems for feature films and television. From the beginning, company founder Roberta Margolis made technical support an essential part of the company's business, and Runway (www.runway.com) became known for its 24-hour, radio-dispatched service department.