MIDDLEWARE

With the Fall television season just around the corner, Discreet, a division of Autodesk, Inc. announced that its digital content creation solutions have been used to create much of the new season's standard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) programming. From returning favorites The Sopranos, Carnivale, Nip/Tuck, CSI and Six Feet Under to new shows like !Huff, The Grid, CSI: New York and Big Love, leading broadcasters and post-production facilities rely on Discreet's editing/finishing, 3D and visual effects solutions to deliver groundbreaking entertainment. Television, a key market segment for Discreet, is experiencing accelerated growth going into the 2004 Fall season. Discreet's solutions are used to create episodic programming, broadcast station IDs and promos, and TV commercials. Media forecaster Nielsen Monitor-Plus indicates that cable TV ad spending increased 12.5 percent, as compared to the first half of 2003. Likewise, network TV ad spending rose 7.5 percent. Discreet's solutions have been used to create many of the finest TV ads, including 2004 Clio Award-winners like Honda's "Cog", Sony PlayStation 2's "Mountain", and Nike's "Gamebreakers". Consumer purchases of HD television sets, home theatres, new large-screen LCD and plasma technologies are all raising the demand for higher-quality content. In a July 2004 report, analyst firm The Yankee Group predicts that nearly 60 million U.S. households will have HDTV sets by 2008, with US consumer awareness of HDTV currently at 78 percent and purchase intent at 20 percent. Market researcher DisplaySearch Inc. reports that first quarter 2004 sales of plasma displays are up 127 percent over a year ago. Content producers looking to maximize the long-term value of their production assets are increasingly using higher-quality, non-compressed digital data formats (RGB) over traditional compressed (4:2:2) video as a means of maintaining the highest image quality in today's digital, data-centric post-production environment. Martin Vann, vice president of worldwide sales and marketing at Discreet, said, "As television viewers gravitate to high-definition, high-value programming, advertisers are spending more in order to capitalize on this viewer trend. In turn, broadcasters and cable companies are relying on Discreet's tools, which provide industry leading RGB 4:4:4 finishing capabilities." "Today's production environment is fiercely competitive; our clients demand the flexibility to be as creative as possible in order to produce compelling TV commercials, music videos and programs," said Michael Taylor, managing director at R!OT Santa Monica, an Ascent Media company. "Since our images almost always end up being enhanced and processed digitally in some way, we require a truly non-compressed workflow that is data friendly. Across all of our facilities, we recognize that talent empowered with the right tools can really bring our client's images to life. Discreet's editing and visual effects systems enable our digital artists to do just that." For NYPD Blue and the new show Blind Justice, Westwind Media is using Discreet's smoke(R) and fire(R) editing/finishing systems and inferno(R) visual effects system. In the drama Blind Justice, Detective Jim Dunbar is permanently blinded. Extraordinary visual effects help viewers understand what Dunbar experiences with his remaining senses. Sunset Digital is also using Discreet's smoke system to assemble, conform and edit the returning hit Girlfriends -- the fastest growing comedy on any network last season, Second Time Around, Crazy for You, Rodney, Commando Nanny and Reba. Additionally, Sunset Digital is using the smoke system on both Duran Duran and Godsmack concerts that will be available on the Pay Per View Network, and a Boz Scaggs concert that will air on PBS. Discreet's fire editing/finishing system and inferno and flame(R) visual effects systems are being used by Level 3 Post on ER, The West Wing and Third Watch, by Encore Hollywood on Charmed, Carnivale, Monk, !Huff, Deadwood, Entourage, Big Love, Six Feet Under, and Nip/Tuck, and by R!OT on The Sopranos, Entourage, Cold Case and Rome. Ring of Fire is also shaping Six Feet Under with Discreet's inferno system and combustion(R) software. Discreet's inferno visual effects system is currently being used by The Post Group on Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Method & Redd, Medium, The Grid, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, CSI, CSI: New York and CSI Miami. Zoic Studios is using Discreet's combustion visual effects software on CSI Miami and Battlestar Gallactica. A52 used Discreet's inferno system to create the main titles for the returning hit Carnivale. The project earned A52's team a 2004 Gold PROMAX Award and is also nominated for the "Outstanding Main Title Design" Emmy. Rainmaker is using Discreet's inferno and flame systems on Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Dead Like Me. Discreet's acclaimed 3D modelling, animation, and rendering software 3ds max(R), along with combustion software, are being used on Mutant X by Keyframe. Digital Dimension is using 3ds max software on Lost. Meteor Studios worked on the mini-series Dinosaur Planet using Discreet's inferno and flame systems and combustion software.