Avid Xpress DV 3 for the Mac due mid-year

As we previously reported would happen, Avid Technology is bringing Avid Xpress DV v3, its portable video editing solution, to Mac OS X.

Due mid-year (for the Mac, the Windows version will ship earlier), the US$1,699 product will sport over 100 customizable real-time effects and multiple simultaneous streams. Avid Xpress DV v3 effects are fully customizable and previewed onscreen exactly as they will appear when rendered, according to Joe Bentivegna, vice president of Avid’s Video Development & Operations.

There’s also a new user interface featuring customizable tool sets, Media Composer source-record style editing and a “SuperBin.” There’s a new keyframe model with bezier controls and keyframes per parameter. Xpress DV v3 has a switch that lets you channel the horsepower of your particular system to maximize either performance or image quality. There’s Avid Unity LANshare support for low-cost networking and media sharing. A new Avid DV CODEC purportedly offers improved image quality that withstands multiple generations.

Xpress DV v3 also includes Avid’s new real-time architecture that delivers real-time effects on systems with “as little” as 750MHz and 256MB of RAM, the company claims. There will be eight video tracks with unlimited nesting for dynamic multi-layered compositions, as well as lowcost DVD burner support, plus five times faster MPEG encoding, Bentivegna said.

We’ll bring you more details, including system requirements and pricing, when the Mac version arrives. For more info go to the product Web site.