Accom Affinity for Summer X-Games

Accom, Inc.ANCISCO, Calif. – <%=company%> (OTCBB: ACMM), a leader in broadcast and professional video products, is pleased to announce that its AFFINITY Nonlinear Editing System (NLE) is one of the systems being used to edit this year's Summer X-Games in San Francisco. For the past several X-Games, global sportscaster ESPN has relied on the Accom line of post-production products to create the exciting looks for this alternative competition that is being broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC.

ESPN, known for its technological innovation in sports broadcasting, continues to push the technology envelope through its implementation of Accom's new AFFINITY NLE at the Summer Games. AFFINITY, recently used live on the NASCAR Winston Cup races, also broadcast on ESPN, is raising an eyebrow or two amongst the producers of the X-Games. "We are using the AFFINITY for variety of packages, bumps, teases and super bumps (higher stylized even faster cutting programs which are digitized) and the producers cannot get over the picture quality," said Michael Gay, Nonlinear Editor for the Summer X-Games 2000. "We are working in a 601 environment which means that everything going into the AFFINITY is uncompressed."

For the X-Games packages, ESPN is not taking advantage of the Serial Digital Key In and Out (I/O) but they see a lot of promise for its application as they can use it to add graphics into a package. "It is also a time saver for something that is coming in from a character generator that needs to be changed instantaneously. The operator can get that graphic and key signal and digitize it immediately. With AFFINITY you can use the Digital Key In and Out (I/O) and digitize the material in real-time and have it available in real-time. There is absolutely no rendering. This is a huge plus over competitive systems on the market today especially without causing any degradation to the picture– the picture quality is awesome," commented Gay. ESPN is planning to use the Serial Digital Key I/O on upcoming events such as the Players Choice Awards in November.

The AFFINITY is a powerful high-end editing system with real-time video and key on background and overlay tracks, real time titles, Abekas-powered frame-based Dveous warps, lighting and textures, 100 layer single-pass compositing with interactive full-motion alpha keys. With files stored in native QuickTime format, providing seamless interchange with all leading graphics and effects applications, and unprecedented low storage costs, including a SAN option, AFFINITY offers greater power, flexibility and value than any other non-linear editing system.

"The Clip Stacking feature is especially useful because it allows me to rifle through a range of possible shots I may want to use in a short period of time," said Gay. "Once Avid editors find out that their keyboard can be mapped into a configuration that they are familiar with, they are instantly wowed by the AFFINITY. The digital AFFINITY fits in great to a 601 environment. Having the ability to use a Serial Digital Key I/O to be able to bring in material with a Key Signal and turn it right around is a tremendous time saver," concluded Michael Gay.

In addition to the AFFINITY, five Dveous Digital Video Effects (DVE) systems and two Abekas 8150 Switchers are being used in the mobile trucks and the edit suites covering the Summer X-Games.