MENLO PARK, Calif.-- Accom, Inc. will introduce its new AFFINITY Nonlinear Editing System and Dimension.8 software at IBC September 10, 1999 in Amsterdam. AFFINITY is a real-time uncompressed digital 601 editing, effects, compositing, and finishing system designed for high-end broadcast television and video post production.

"We believe AFFINITY is going to dramatically change the NLE landscape," said Harris Rogers, Vice President of Marketing at Accom. "AFFINITY is less than half the price of the other uncompressed NLE with real-time DVE, and has storage costs under $30/Gigabyte. It's just an incredibly powerful high-end system at a killer price."

AFFINITY features five simultaneous real-time streams of uncompressed or compressed video (Background, embedded Background Key, Overlay, embedded Overlay Key and Title). Compressed and uncompressed clips can be mixed in any project, allowing the user to optimize image quality vs. storage time for each job. AFFINITY also offers a new real-time frame-based, motion-adaptive Abekas DVE and DveousFX with warps, lighting, and texture effects, offering significantly higher picture quality than the field-based DVEs in competing NLE systems.

AFFINITY's new Dimension.8 software offers precise editing features like true three-point insert/over-write/fit-to-fill editing, clip pinning and track locking, all while maintaining the simplicity of "drag & drop" editing. Dimension.8's new clip grouping allows even non-contiguous elements from any combination of tracks to be joined, then moved or saved as a single element. A new Project-oriented interface also offers full search & sort to simplify management of elements, especially in long-form projects.

"It just takes a more sophisticated, complex look to be competitive in high-end video production today," said Rogers. "Some NLEs are focused on short-form compositing, and others were designed strictly for long-form cuts/dissolves editing. Most NLE users need to produce a mix of work, and AFFINITY offers the best blend of tools for both short-form and long-form work."

Dimension.8 also features a remarkable new "clip stacking" function (patent pending), which lets the editor "stack" clips on a single track, then make quick comparisons by playing only the "top" clip of that track. This exciting new editorial tool allows any clip to be instantly moved to the top of the stack and versions previewed, while the background remains "unedited" and all other tracks are unaffected and play normally. There's nothing else like it, and "clip stacking" in Dimension.8 represents a significant advance in non-linear versioning and finishing tools.

AFFINITY is based on a unique new architecture that allows the AFFINITY Media Processor to connect via a single PCI slot in the host PC. AFFINITY and it's real-time hard drives actually reside on the host PC's system PCI bus, providing extraordinarily fast access to AFFINITY files by any other application on the host PC. The AFFINITY Media Processor handles all real-time NLE video processing, with no burden on the host PC's CPU. AFFINITY's Fully Visible File System also allows the user to choose any network topology or protocol supported by the host PC. And AFFINITY clips are stored in native QuickTime format, which provides seamless interchange with all leading graphics and effects applications. Multiple users on the network can collaborate easily on any project, with simple file sharing between PCs and applications, and with NO proprietary networking hardware or software required.

AFFINITY allows its users to digitize either uncompressed or compressed (2:1, 3:1, 5:1, 10:1) on a clip-by-clip basis. "And we're not waffling with words like 'uncompressed quality' in other systems that use loss-less compression to reduce the data rates required," added Rogers. "AFFINITY is uncompressed, full-bandwidth 601 all the way through, and now offers SDI video and KEY I/O. For graphics and effects-intensive projects, AFFINITY is the perfect NLE solution." AFFINITY is a platform-independent design and will ship initially with software for the Macintosh, with Windows NT support coming in 2000. "Accom believes that both platforms have their strengths in different production applications and environments," said Rogers, "and Accom is committed to future support of AFFINITY for both Mac and NT markets."

AFFINITY's open architecture and open QuickTime file system allow every user to choose the most creative tools available for each production. No other NLE system offers the real-time speed, power and flexibility of Accom's new AFFINITY.

About Accom

Accom, headquartered in Menlo Park, California, designs, manufactures, sells and supports a complete line of digital video production, recording and editing tools, and the ELSET virtual set systems, for the worldwide professional television production, post production, broadcasting and computer video marketplaces.

For more information, visit the Accom Web site at www.accom.com/AFFINITY.