At AES 2019 in New York City, we announced that with the October release of Pro Tools 2019 (now available), Pro Tools will join the Netflix Post Technology Alliance—one of the first audio products to participate in the program. It joins Media Composer - which was one of the original products when the program when the program first launched. Therefore, with this announcement, Avid is pleased to be working closely with Netflix to develop and deliver the complete end-to-end audio and video workflow solutions, so our customers are able to meet Netflix’s high standards of quality with confidence. The Post Technology Alliance was designed to help facilitate standards of excellence across the many different solutions that contribute to a Netflix production, from capture to video editing, through to audio post production and final delivery. And in turn the logo is a powerful indicator to picture and sound professionals, that the solutions they rely upon enable them to confidently deliver top results for Netflix. In joining the Alliance Avid remains committed to continued support of Netflix’s technical and workflow requirements, serving the evolving needs of the production and post-production communities now and into the future.
New Pro Tools features support the Post Technology Alliance
In combination with Pro Tools’ industry standard audio post production toolset, the next release of Pro Tools 2019 this fall introduces improvements that are key to Netflix technical and workflow requirements. The release simplifies Dolby Atmos in-the-box mixing with full Core Audio support of the Dolby Audio Bridge. You can now send 130 channels from Pro Tools (up from 32) to the Dolby Atmos Renderer enabling you to use Pro Tools | HDX as your playback device and significantly reduce the tedious track management required when using Dolby’s Send / Return plugins.
Also, users can now bounce multiple mixes—for example a 5.1 and stereo mix—in a single WAV file. This reduces the number of asset deliverables when submitting multiple mixes in different formats and enables users to deliver multiple localized mixes in a single file.
Finally, a special preset has been added to Avid’s Pro Limiter plugin, making it easy for engineers to locate the proper settings when preparing final mixes.
Key Media Composer features support PTA
With the release of the updated and reimagined Media Composer 2019 earlier this year, Avid has set its sights on fully supporting new media and digital-first delivery workflows for OTT and streaming media. Media Composer now provides basic support SMPTE Standard 2067-21 IMF Application #2E packaging and delivery for Netflix.
Additionally, Media Composer now enables full 32-bit color and timeline playback, which allows online and VFX editors to work natively with hi-res HDR media, import OpenEXR files, and display and transform ACES (Academy Color Encoding System) compatible color gamuts, so they can always be confident they are seeing and delivering their content to the highest industry specs. By meeting the high standards of the Netflix Post Technology Alliance, Media Composer is aligning with our vision to power the world’s greatest storytellers and be the video editing software professional creators need today AND tomorrow. Visit the Netflix Post Technology Alliance website to learn more.