Grass Valley Extends Powerful Features of EDIUS Editing To Rapidly Expanding AVCHD Market

Paris, France/Nevada City, CA -- Continuing to extend the reach of its EDIUS PC-based nonlinear editing (NLE) software, at NAB 2010 Grass Valley will unveil the latest updated version, which now includes real time, full resolution AVCHD editing already released for the EDIUS Neo 2 Booster package. This new feature is ideally suited to the professional and prosumer videographer who shoots and/or edits AVCHD video and desires native real-time performance when editing material compressed with the AVCHD format. In addition, EDIUS 5.5 is now fully Windows 7 compatible.

AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) is a format for the recording and playback of high definition video. The format allows recording HD video onto DVD discs, SD/SDHC memory cards, and hard disk drives. AVCHD is also compatible with the Blu-ray Disc format and can be used for authoring and distribution of HD video.

Aside from EDIUS, no other NLE on the market offers native, full-resolution, real-time editing of multiple layers of AVCHD material. With the new Grass Valley AVCHD engine, EDIUS 5.5 can edit more than three layers of full resolution, full frame-rate AVCHD in real time.

Current users who have registered their EDIUS (5.0 or higher) software can download and install the update with Win 7 support and this new AVCHD support at no additional charge. Upgrading will bring all the benefits of EDIUS 5.5, including bonus software, GPU fx, partial clip transfer, Blu-ray disc writing and more, in addition to this new AVCHD editing capability and Windows 7 support.

“EDIUS has proven to be particularly successful in news editing and professional production, but is also being used for independent filmmaking, commercial production, creation of video exhibits for court, and other applications,” said Jeff Rosica, Senior Vice President of Grass Valley. “The new features in EDIUS help streamline the AVCHD workflow for potentially thousands of EDIUS users who are working with the new generation of smaller, lightweight camcorders that capture images with this format.”

While EDIUS had previously supported native AVCHD editing, the workflow was not practical, as users generally had to convert AVCHD clips to the Canopus HQ format before editing – requiring a manual process and a time delay before editing could begin. With the release of EDIUS 5.5, professionals can now bring native AVCHD clips to the bin within EDIUS and drop them on the timeline without experiencing any performance limitations. They can add clips and stills in any format supported by EDIUS at the same time without transcoding and rewrapping. There are no extra steps necessary before editing can start.

EDIUS is unique in its ability to allow editors natively in full-resolution and in real time, using any mix of formats that EDIUS supports. With EDIUS, users can mix and match formats, codecs, resolutions, aspect ratios on the timeline and still edit natively and in real-time. Now, With EDIUS 5.5, this is possible with AVCHD as well.

Pricing and Availability
As of April, the new Grass Valley EDIUS 5.5 will be available free for all current users of EDIUS 5.0 or higher. If a user has already created a login on our support site and registered their EDIUS 5 product, the update will be available there as soon as it is released. Users who have not registered should create a login and register their EDIUS 5 product.

Users of EDIUS 4.x can upgrade from EDIUS 4 Pro to EDIUS 5 for $399 or EDIUS 4 Broadcast to EDIUS 5 for $299. They should then register EDIUS 5 as indicated above. The update will then be available there for download when it is released.