Media 100, the folks who develop advanced media systems, today announced Media 100 i Version 8 (V8), the Mac OS X native content design system for professional content creators, broadcast designers and digital media artists.
Media 100i is a combination of hardware and software that turns a Power Mac G4 into an advanced media production system. Available in a variety of configurations, the Media 100i system offers professional content creation and design features for several production needs.
Mike Savello, VP of Dual Stream Systems for Media 100, told MacCentral that the Mac OS X version, due early this summer, has a new Aqua-fied user interface and new effects creation and sound design capabilities. Media 100, which has 30,000-plus installed systems worldwide, engineered Media 100i V8 from the ground up, with its roots in native OS X code to ensure that the systems take full advantage of the workflow and performance enhancements embedded in OS X, he added.
In fact, Savello described Mac OS X as “the ultimate Mac platform for content design.” To capitalize on this, V8 has an entirely new driver, middleware, and application.
It boasts effects design enhancements. You can draft composites directly in the timeline, using the newly expanded number of graphics layers within Media 100i Version 8. You can export composites to Adobe After Effects or other graphics/effects applications for further finishing and then bring ’em back directly into the V8 timeline using InstantMedia technology.
You can access audio tracks and user marks from within Boris FX or Boris RED; this allows synchronization of visual effects design to program timeline elements.
V8 also has sound design enhancements, Savello said. Audio track mixing and processing has been expanded to support 24 real-time tracks simultaneously. And a new master audio track and support for audio reverb and dynamics processing effects have also been added. Real-time audio track mixing and processing have been expanded from eight to 24 tracks simultaneously.
V8 also beefs up its AppleScript support. It now has an AppleScript recorder for creating custom scripts.
Media 100 i Version 8 also includes the “highest quality” analog video and DV capture, standard in all models, Savello said. The system’s available Serial Digital Interface (SDI) can capture data as mathematically lossless streams, maximizing image quality and preserving disk space, he said.
If you buy a new Media 100 system before early summer, you’ll receive V8 at no charge when it’s available. Pricing varies depending upon system configuration: List prices are: Media 100 i/xr, US$14,995; Media 100 i/xs, $9,995; Media 100 i/l, $4,995; and Media 100 i/le, $2,995.
Media 100 has licensed Wave Arts’ audio technology for Media 100i Version 8 and integrated Wave Arts professional-quality audio processing algorithms into V8 to expand its sound design capabilities, Scott Donahue, Media 100’s customer advocate, said. Wave Arts is a software developer that licenses technology to OEM (original equipment manufacturer) companies and sells professional-quality audioplug-ins to end-users.
Media 100 has incorporated the Wave Arts dynamics suite and MasterVerb (a professional quality stereo reverb) algorithms into V8 through a development and licensing agreement. The Wave Arts dynamics suite includes a compressor, peak limiter, noise gate, and de-esser, and is designed to do both track processing (pre-mixer) and master processing (post-mixer). At the track level, the dynamics processors offer noise gating, de-essing, and compression for dialog, sound effects, and music. At the master level, the dynamics processors provide mastering compression, limiting, and loudness maximization.
Last month Media 100 began offering professional-level I/O capabilities — including direct I/O for the highest quality DV, composite, S-Video and analog component input — standard on all models of Media 100i.
Later this year, Media 100 will also take the wraps off a top secret project codenamed Pegasus.