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Pinnacle Systems Announces Liquid Chrome
Today's most powerful NLE hardware meets its software match -- and it's a wedding! -- commentary by Alexei Gerulaitis
Pinnacle announced the long-awaited Chrome as part of their Liquid product group. Chrome is the marriage of Targa 3000's terrific realtime hardware power, and Liquid's elegant editing interface and professional editing features. How well does it answer editors' needs?
| Resources and Links |
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Liquid
Chrome Product Page Liquid Chrome Press Release Liquid Chrome Forum |
| Chrome Features |
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Great color correction capabilities Even greater "premium" (optional) color correction capabilities Background rendering Collaborative (network) editing Part of a larger family of editing solutions that begins with Edition DV |
| Targa 3000 Features |
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Today's most powerful NLE hardware DV, MPEG2, YUV and RGBA video formats variety of digital and analog I/O options 10-bit color depth multiple video, audio, graphics and FX layers in realtime Realtime 3D DVE module Still missing: HDTV editing |
Living through the demise of Discreet Edit, exorbitant prices of Avid, competition from FCP-wielding rookies, falling wages, and overall uncertainty in the post production industry, disappointed professional editors have been asking themselves:
What is today's flagship editing platform?
We'll define "flagship" as having all of the following:
- can handle DV, MPEG and uncompressed editing with equal ease
- provide all kinds of inputs and outputs, from legacy analog component and SDI, to DV and SDTI
- output to streaming and DVD formats
- allow collaborative (network) editing, seamless media management and archiving
- Provide a path to HD editing and I/O
- All for less money than an entry level Lexus, or at least, the nearest competitor
- all with an elegant and easy to use editing interface.
The funny part is that such a thing does not yet exist, even if we exclude the HDTV capability for now. There is no single solution out there that can handle DV, MPEG2 and uncompressed video natively, along with professional editing features such as powerful color correction, background rendering and collaborative editing.
The hardware does in fact already exist - Targa 3000, having most of the necessary "flagship" capabilities, except maybe realtime 3D and HD editing. The key thing that's been missing, is a decent editing software to make the hardware sing.
Enter Pinnacle Chrome - the new member Pinnacle Liquid family, that is poised to marry Targa 3000's unique and powerful hardware capabilities with the sleek interface and professional features of Liquid editing software.
The result is a stunningly powerful turnkey editing system for $25K (just add storage). Pinnacle will be showing Chrome at NAB '03, and plans to start shipping it in the summer of this year.
Existing T3K owners who wish to upgrade to Chrome, can purchase this upgrade for $5K, and it will include Chrome software and K2, a 3D DVE module that snaps into T3K's back.
Initial limitations. InTime rendering accelerators are not yet available for Chrome. DV/FireWire I/O will not work in the initial release of Chrome software either.
Something to wish for. One - HDTV editing capability, of course. Two - let integrators configure their own Chrome systems, i.e. make Chrome "open". Historically, "open" systems always had a larger market penetration, DigiSuite LE being a perfect example. Making Chrome "closed", i.e. only available as a "fixed" pre-configured turnkey (based on HP XW8000 workstation) may ease technical support headaches, yet is bound to severely limit the number of prospective buyers.
In summary, Chrome is a very exciting product of great hardware marrying great software. We will continue updating this page as we learn more about Chrome, and of course the best source of up-to-date information is the Chrome Forum (see link above).
Pinnacle Systems Press Release
March 11, 2003
Pinnacle Systems Debuts Liquid chrome Post Production Video Editing System
New Editor Brings Together Three Key Pinnacle Technologies: Advanced Liquid Editing Software, TARGA 3000 Compositing Engine and K2 Single-Chip 3D DVE
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, March 11, 2003 Pinnacle Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLE) today announced Liquid chrome, the most comprehensive video editing and compositing solution the company has offered to the postproduction market. The newest member of the Liquid family brings together three of Pinnacle's acclaimed powerhouse components into one remarkable system - Pinnacle's Liquid editing application, Pinnacle's TARGA 3000 compositing engine and Pinnacle's K2 single-chip 3D DVE. At $24,995 suggested retail price for a turnkey system, Liquid chrome provides the professional editing market with a compelling combination of potent editing tools and advanced real-time effects at a remarkable value price.Liquid chrome adds to and complements the complete line of Pinnacle Liquid networked editors. The product range now includes Liquid blue for multi-format Broadcast environments, Liquid chrome for realtime post settings where time and quality are at a premium, Liquid silver for less effects-intensive MPEG-2 post editing, and Liquid purple for low-cost software-based DV editing applications. The Pinnacle Liquid family supports Pinnacle's Palladium network storage solutions to enable easy deployment of sophisticated, collaborative workflows.
Patrick McLean, Senior Product Manager, Pinnacle Systems said, "The post market is changing rapidly. Post Production houses are expected to do much more for less money, but the choices for post professionals are very limited. Liquid chrome is Pinnacle's response - an aggressively priced alternative that offers best of class editing combined with unmatched effects and compositing to directly meet customer demands."
Liquid chrome is a fully professional solution featuring high quality codecs for I-frame MPEG-2 4:2:2 up to 50 Mbps, uncompressed and DV25 video formats, as well as extensive real-time 2D and 3D DVE capability, four real-time video streams, unlimited layering, and Liquid's renowned effects processing that renders complex, many-layered effects without interrupting workflow. Liquid chrome gives users an unprecedented suite of creativity enhancing software including the powerful TitleDeko character generator, Commotion image editing and compositing, Impression DVD authoring, and Liquid CX color correction. Details of the system include:
- Powerful, real-time highest quality 2D, 3D, Color, Key and Matte effects driven by Pinnacle's award-winning TARGA 3000 and Pinnacle's unique K2 single-chip 3D-DVE - the same DVE that drives Pinnacle's top-of-the line live production digital switchers. Additional premium effects capabilities are delivered through sophisticated software-based algorithms such as Liquid's renowned CX color corrector.
- Up to four real-time layers of video and unlimited tracks of audio and video.
- A remarkable multi-pass process that automatically renders composites with more than four layers without taking foreground control from the user. Creativity and workflow are never interrupted.
- A modern interface for fast editing with intuitive contextual menus, no annoying windows to shift around, and an easily configurable environment that is quickly accessible to users accustomed to older interfaces from Avid or Discreet.
- An open networking and exchange model that won't lock customers into a single, proprietary solution.
About Pinnacle Systems, Inc.
Pinnacle Systems provides broadcasters and consumers with cutting-edge digital media creation, storage, and play-back solutions for use at Home, in the Studio and on the Air. Pinnacle Systems' award winning digital media solutions are in use around the world for broadcast, video editing, DVD and CDR authoring and on the Internet. A recognized industry leader, the company has received eight prestigious Emmy Awards for its technical innovations and carries this commitment throughout all of its product lines. Pinnacle Systems may be reached at (650) 526-1600 or at www.pinnaclesys.com.
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