Internet Video News

Tewksbury, Mass., Sept. 20, 2006 – Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID), today announced that its Consumer division, Pinnacle Systems, Inc., is unveiling several new products.  The additions include the Pinnacle Studio MovieBox™ and Pinnacle Studio™ MovieBoard families, both of which allow consumers to preserve analog video content in digital format and easily create movies for sharing via DVD, the Web or Podcasting.  The company has also introduced two new TV viewing products – Pinnacle PCTV™ HD Pro Stick and Pinnacle PCTV MCE Companion – for those who want to watch TV remotely on their personal computers or integrate their TV viewing experience with Microsoft® Windows® Media Center Edition (MCE).

“Building on the success we started in 1997 as the first company to offer video editing products to consumers, Pinnacle has also been leveraging its expertise for the past decade in the TV viewing space.  The trends we are seeing in video editing and mobile television today validate what we have been working toward all along,” said Jeff Hastings, Pinnacle general manager and Avid vice president. “With a broad range of tools for digitizing analog content, editing in HD, viewing television remotely, or offering easy-to-use products for the rapidly expanding web video market, Pinnacle offers the right mix of solutions for anyone interested in enjoying media whenever and wherever they like.”

Preserving Analog Videos and Creating Movies for the Web
Legendary ease-of-use and complete editing tools have made Pinnacle Studio the editing application of choice around the globe for preserving and enhancing memories.  In fact, according to The NPD Group, Pinnacle Studio is number one in the consumer video editing software market, based on U.S. retail unit and dollar sales from January through June 2006.  And likewise in Europe, based on GfK data covering sales within the PC video editing software market, Pinnacle Studio ranks number one in a cumulative total of three European countries (Germany, France, United Kingdom) from July 2005 through June 2006.

The new Pinnacle Studio MovieBox and Pinnacle Studio MovieBoard families are poised to bolster Pinnacle’s success even further.  They are all-in-one hardware and software solutions that offer an easy way for users to preserve analog tapes, and work with the latest formats to create videos for sharing on DVD, on the web, social networking sites, or through video Podcasts.  Advanced video editors who aspire to take their movies to a new level can benefit from additional features including advanced effects, a professional microphone kit and Chroma Key green screen backdrop.  

Watching Full Digital and HD TV on a PC and On the Go
The PC TV Tuner market is steadily growing in Germany, France and the U.K. with 42 percent market growth in units sold from May 2005 to May 2006.  The U.S. market, although smaller, is catching up with approximately 15 percent growth in units sold since July 2005.  As demand continues, Pinnacle is well positioned to capitalize on this trend with its newest Pinnacle PCTV products.

The Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick offers a compact and portable, yet highly powerful TV viewing solution. With both a mini remote and telescopic antenna, the product enables laptop users to enjoy analog and high-quality digital television in both HD and standard definition anywhere without additional service fees.  The product also provides comprehensive digital video recorder functionality and the ability to save TV shows direct-to-DVD, DivX, iPod and Sony PSP formats.

A second new product, Pinnacle PCTV MCE Companion, is an essential entertainment upgrade kit for Microsoft Windows MCE PCs, which currently account for more than 50 percent of the PCs sold to consumers in the U.S. market. This new product turns an MCE PC into a TV with fully functional DVR capabilities, offering an MCE tuner and compatible remote and an IR receiver to control set-top boxes.