Pinnacle Systems, Inc., a part of Avid Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVID), announced today the winners of its online “Montage Your Way to Las Vegas” video editing contest. Pinnacle Montage, which is included in all three editions of Pinnacle Studio™ version 12, is an innovative, theme-based feature that makes editing movies with up to 181 video tracks amazingly easy.

To enter the contest, participants submitted a brief description of their positive experience with the Pinnacle Montage feature and a sample video. Cheryl Tuckman, of Woodmere, New York won the grand prize for her “Twins in Hats” video. She will receive airfare for two and hotel lodging in Las Vegas during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) January 08, 2009 – January 11, 2009, an approximate retail value of US$2,500. “I used 10 montage themes for this video, from simple for USA, to more complex for China/Japan. I work with each frame to create an effect or transition that is interesting beyond just the pictures. The more interesting it is, the more my family likes to look at it ,over and over. Having fun with hats was a small part of my trip to Epcot with my grandchildren and their family. We visited all the countries and now looking back on their trip in this video montage, they can really remember these countries and their hats.”

Winners were selected by website visitors who viewed the videos, read about Pinnacle Studio version 12 user experiences and voted for their favorite videos. A list of the winners can be obtained by accessing the contest website.

The First Runner Up, Eric Kilpatrick, of Durham, North Carolina, will receive a Nintendo® Wii®, an approximate retail value of US$250. In submitting “Jeremys Amazing Art” video, Eric, explained, “We create videos using Pinnacle Studio of our 7-year-old son’s artwork. We send these videos by emails to loved ones. Pinnacle Studio has the most amazing montage templates. Our son, Jeremy really likes the template that looks like a sketchbook for art work. This software is incredible. The compliments keep coming when we send Jeremy’s pictures out.”

The Second Runner Up, Delores Mathe, of North Oakdale, Minnesota, will receive a Pinnacle Montage Winter Pack for her “October Fall Drive” video — an approximate retail value of US$79. In posting her video, she explained, “Every year I take my Mother on a Fall drive in Minnesota & Wisconsin. Look how happy she looks at the end of the video. Using Montage is a wonderful way to transition the pictures.”

About Pinnacle Studio Version 12 Software and the Pinnacle Montage Feature
Pinnacle Studio, the #1 consumer video editing software in the U.S. and major European countries2, is setting the standard for making the latest technologies exceptionally easy to use.

In addition to supporting HD DVD creation, Pinnacle Studio Plus and Pinnacle Studio Ultimate can be used to natively author and burn Blu-ray format (BD-MV) discs with full motion menus. Support for the AVCHD format is also included to enable users to capture video from the new AVCHD camcorders and edit their content directly--without having to make time-consuming format conversions. With the advanced, built-in disc burning capabilities included in Studio Plus and Studio Ultimate, users can archive their videos on DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs or make AVCHD format discs on standard DVDs that will play on Blu-ray players and many older players.

To simplify sharing, videos created with Pinnacle Studio version 12 can be uploaded directly to web social networking sites like YouTube® or loaded into Sony® PSP™, Apple® iPod®, DivX®- certified players, Flash video and 3GP cell phones. With the new 12.1 update, Pinnacle Studio users also have QuickTime .mov import/export capabilities.

The new Pinnacle Montage feature, which is exclusive to Pinnacle Studio version 12, is ideal for first-time video editors and people who don't have time to experiment. This feature lets users mix their favorite photos, video clips and music and then work with up to 18¹ video tracks to add Hollywood-style, multi-layered effects with picture-in-picture, animated graphics, titles and audio. In just minutes, anyone can produce entertaining videos with professional touches that make them look like “made-for-TV movies.”

For more information on the “Montage Your Way to Las Vegas” contest, visit the contest website at www.pinnaclesys.com/share.

For tutorials, demos, overviews and tips on all Pinnacle Systems® solutions go to www.pinnaclesys.com/pinnaclelife.