Starting on August 12th, 2006, Pinellas County Channel 18 replaced their SONY ES series editing systems with AVID STUDIO COMPLETE editing systems supplied by Hi-Tech Enterprises, Inc., installed by Robert Clarke and Chief Engineer, Charles Sumner. We asked Eric Hulsizer, who managed the project deployment, a few questions about his decision to go with AVID…..

RC: Eric, we talked a lot about the three A’s of editing systems; Adobe, Apple, and AVID. What really impressed you the most about the AVID STUDIO COMPLETE system enough to go with it over the others you considered?

EH: Avid has a reputation world wide as a solid dependable system. They have all the bells and whistles that FCP has but they have it on a PC system. We prefer PC to Apple here.

RC: Definitely important factors! I know that making this decision was particularly difficult with all of the systems available; and all the buzz about high definition, etc. What was the ONE THING that was the most important consideration for the type of work flow environment at channel 18 that you thought would make AVID a superior choice?

EH: PC base

RC: I know we talked a lot about concerns in the technical environment- with (engineer)Chuck Sumner. I found that the deployment went very smooth. Did you find your editor’s (personnel) migration to the AVID system to be difficult?

EH: The folks who are using Avid now had been using a much older system. I was afraid the transition would be tough. It was not. Like any system, Avid has its own language. Once my users got a handle on the vocabulary, they enjoyed working with it. They are progressing with far less problems then I had anticipated.

RC: What is the ONE THING you would suggest- for other station management to consider as they look to the future and eventually upgrade their systems to newer platforms?

EH: Think long term. Remember HD is coming.

RC: I have to ask- did you find HTE personnel to be helpful and informative when you were in your decision making process? Please be honest! .

EH: I found Hi-Tech very helpful. Rob came in and interviewed many of us to find out about our product. He then made a recommendation and arranged to have us look at a demonstration at their office. They allowed us time without any pressure to think things out for ourselves. Ultimately, we went in a different direction from their recommendation. This did not faze them. They had said from the start they would be there no matter what system we went with. That ended up being true. They helped us put in place some temporary measures so that we would not have to wait for upgrades from Avid. This allowed us to get right to work.

RC: And there you have it! Thanks a lot for your time, Eric!