(15 January 2009 8:00 pm)

MUMBAI: US film studio Twentieth Century Fox has invested in several new Avid HD editing solutions for its production transition to HD.

Fox purchased 22 Media Composer Nitris DX systems and immediately put them to use on the films Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian, They Came from Upstairs and X-Men Origins:Wolverine.

The studio cited the Avid system’s speed, reliability and cost competitiveness as the key factors behind the investment.

Fox director, digital editing operations Kory Voxen says, "Avid has set the bar for HD post production with the Media Composer Nitris DX solutions. Our editors are thrilled with the performance of the systems and love being able to cut on a reliable HD system. With Avid DNxHD as a major part of our workflow, we have been able to completely streamline the post process and go full HD in the edit suite while editing and previewing in the same resolution.

" We’re able to play back several real-time streams of Avid DNxHD 36 right from the Avid Unity system, and that has saved us a tremendous amount of time and money in the screening process. As a result, our editors can focus more on the creative storytelling elements of the project and less on the technical details"

Avid executive VP customer operations Kirk Arnold said, "We are excited to be working closely with Twentieth Century Fox on this important initiative. Significantly, as our customers adopt Avid’s HD solutions, they are validating that we can support the critical work of the editor teams with technology that responds as fast as they think.

" With more productions making the leap to HD, it’s important that nothing slows them down or changes for them in the editing process – and these solutions allow them to continue doing what they love, with no interruptions."