Pinnacle ships award winning liquid chrome

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 12 June 2003, 19:30 IST
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MOUNTAIN VIEW: Pinnacle Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:PCLE) Thursday announced that it has begun shipping Liquid chrome, a new compositing and editing system that debuted to crowds and accolades at the 2003 National Association of Broadcasters convention. Pinnacle has also unveiled exciting new configuration and pricing options for Liquid chrome, with a starting price of just $14,995 (U.S. suggested retail price). Rob Nordvik, Executive Vice President of Video Production, Brad Kinney Productions said, "I just completed my largest editing project ever, using the new Liquid chrome. Working with the powerful Pinnacle Liquid editing environment in conjunction with the extensive new real-time capabilities was instrumental in completing this project. With outstanding codecs and capabilities like real-time 32-bit alpha channel compositing, the results were stunning. Having a system that gives such full-featured real-time capability is very beneficial for us, as well as our clients. Our clients care about money, and Liquid chrome is enabling us to offer them the highest-level work with the speed to keep on budget. The power, stability and ease-of-use of Liquid chrome has allowed us to completely replace two of our edit suites, and substantially cut back on the use of our third suite." Liquid chrome enhances the complete line of Pinnacle Liquid networked editors, which includes Liquid blue for multi-format Broadcast environments, Liquid chrome for real-time post settings where time and quality are at a premium, Liquid silver for MPEG-2 post editing, and Liquid purple for broadcast software-based DV editing applications. Patrick McLean, Senior Product Manager, Pinnacle Systems said, "We were thrilled with the welcome Liquid chrome received at NAB ... but not surprised. After all, Liquid chrome was designed to be everything today's postproduction professionals demand. The highest quality codecs, including uncompressed, deliver uncompromising image quality. The video effects are second to none. The Pinnacle Liquid editing environment features the latest in GUI design and is intuitive to experienced professionals. The addition of Palladium shared storage lets facilities use modern collaborative workflow work faster and more effectively. And with the remarkable price points, no one has to break the bank to do their best work." Designed for professional postproduction, Liquid chrome combines three renowned Pinnacle components -- Pinnacle Liquid editing software, the TARGA 3000 compositing engine, and the K2 single-chip 3D DVE -- into a comprehensive and cost-effective turnkey editing solution. Liquid chrome features 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 Pinnacle Liquid's renowned effects processing that renders complex, many-layered effects without interrupting workflow. Liquid chrome gives users a remarkable suite of creativity enhancing software including the powerful TitleDeko Pro character generator, Commotion Pro image editing and compositing, Impression DVD Pro authoring, and Pinnacle Liquid CX color correction. Customer Keith Bogart, Producer/Editor, Zero Gravity Project said, "Taken on their own, each of the advances in Liquid chrome is significant. The real inspiration, however, is in their seamless integration. Every other NLE makes the user feel as if they are moving between separate environments for each task. Liquid chrome brings all its power together in a consistent, unified environment so that workflow is uninterrupted. It used to be there was only one way to go -- the Pinnacle Liquid product line is a serious alternative. Anyone considering a new editing system needs to look at Liquid chrome." Customers can purchase a complete Pinnacle Liquid chrome turnkey system including the Pro Digital & Analog breakout box for $24,995. Turnkey systems including Pro Digital or Pro Analog breakout box are available for $19,995 and board and software packages for just $14,995 (US suggested retail price). Existing Liquid silver systems can be upgraded for just $6,995 board and software (US suggested retail price) and current TARGA 3000 systems can upgrade for just $4,995 board and software (US suggested retail price).