Adobe Announces Affordable HD Solutions

by Ton Fonseca
Published on Apr 14, 2004 12:00 AM



Adobe is planning to demonstrate numerous affordable HD solutions in conjunction with their new Adobe Premiere Pro editing program. Many of the familiar faces in the HD market have signed on to provide certified solutions to the Adobe Premiere Pro platform.

Companies include Canopus, Matrox, BOXX, BLACK MAGIC, Bluefish, Cineform, and 1 Beyond. The various Premiere Pro systems are capable of supporting uncompressed 1080i as well as HDV. Adobe is leading the affordable HD charge on the software front by presenting solutions that can be configured for as little as $5,000.

Adobe Premiere Pro has an MSRP of $699 which significantly undercuts its nearest competitors Final Cut Pro ($999) and Avid Xpress Pro ($1,695). While Adobe Premiere has been a very popular editing program for many years, there are some who questioned its ability when compared to offerings from Avid and Apple.

When Adobe decided to pull Premiere from the Apple platform it seemed as if they might be throwing in the towel so to speak. Final Cut is incredibly strong on the Apple platform and perhaps there was just no way to fight the momentum. That having been said, it seems that Adobe is coming back full force with their recent HD announcements. In some ways Adobe seems to be following in Apple’s footsteps by providing an all in one solution that can scale from DV to HD all within the same environment. This is a feature that has been a strong selling point for Final Cut Pro and will certainly go a long way to help Premiere Pro become widely adopted.

At this point neither Apple nor Avid has announced any official support for the new HDV standard but we can only assume that this is not far off. The National Association of Broadcasters Conference in Las Vegas on April 17th through April 22nd should reveal more details regarding HDV support but until then it is nice to see that Adobe is focused bringing affordable HD to the market place.