MONTREAL, Apr 22, 2003 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Discreet, a division of Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADSK), today announced that it had recorded a significant increase in HDTV programming being finished on its systems over the last twelve months. A recent sample of its worldwide HD client base revealed that many had seen substantial increases in demand for HDTV programming, a trend reinforced by a similar increase in the number of HDTV capable systems being purchased from Discreet.

"Discreet has long been a considerable force in HDTV production -- right from our 1998 launch of the world's first fully digital HD non-linear editing system fire(R)," explains Martin Vann, vice president of worldwide systems sales and marketing for Discreet. "HD production has increased steadily since then. However, over the last 12 months we have seen a significant upsurge in HDTV prime time programming, and, according to our clients, a similar increase in the number of prime time shows being completed on our systems -- Discreet systems have become the industry reference for HDTV finishing."

This increase was reported by many of the clients Discreet recently surveyed in a worldwide poll. Twenty of the most influential post facilities in the world, representative of hundreds of HD users, worked on over 80 different episodic and long form HDTV productions yielding well over one-thousand hours of content. "This increasing amount of HDTV production coincides with the growing number of Discreet smoke(R) HD systems purchased -- especially over the last eighteen months," Vann added.

    Clients Highlight Value of Discreet HD Systems

        --  Encore Hollywood -- "We have seen an incredible surge in
            demand for HD post over the past year," comments Barbara
            Marshall of Encore Hollywood. "Our clients have really
            taken to it as their preferred online format for high
            quality production. The HD experience is highly
            rewarding--pristine image quality and incredible
            detail--and the powerful marriage of Encore Hollywood's
            creative talent with the incredible tools and performance
            of our fire and inferno(R) systems keeps them coming back
            for more."
                Encore Hollywood finishes a huge range of prime time
            HD productions on Discreet's online systems, including Six
            Feet Under, Jag, Alias, American Dreams, Everwood,
            Boomtown, Hidden Hills and Judging Amy. "We turn around
            upwards of 150 hours of highly creative HD programming a
            year. This would not be possible without the power of fire
            and inferno since we really need to be able to create
            complex effects and graphics quickly -- and we will not
            compromise on quality or creativity to do so," Marshall
            concludes.

        --  The Post Group -- "I can't imagine doing the variety of
            work that we do without a tool like fire to be able to do
            it all. We have to be all things to all people and fire
            lets us be that," says Randy Magalski, senior editor at
            The Post Group in Hollywood, CA.
                "I think it would be safe to say that The Post Group
            finishes 100 HD series-episodes per year of which about
            80% go through Discreet systems," comments Joe Leggett,
            marketing director, also at The Post Group.

        --  Matchframe -- "High Definition finishing gives independent
            film producers and directors an economical medium to
            create high-resolution media that is film-out ready,"
            explains Jon Van Wye, Matchframe, Burbank, CA. "smoke HD
            flies through the conform -- leaving money in the budget
            (and tools within the system) to spend more time cleaning
            unwanted dirt and fixing little glitches that pop up in
            production -- resulting in a better quality output. smoke
            5 has been a god send for our network shows. I can do
            titling and final comps seamlessly during the online,
            allowing for faster turn around time between assembly and
            delivery of our weekly shows."

        --  Westwind Media -- "We use Discreet's smoke and fire high
            definition systems to online all the shows we do," adds
            Steve Drinkwater, senior vice president of Westwind Media,
            Burbank, California. "This season these include David E.
            Kelley's The Practice, Dick Wolf's Dragnet" and Steven
            Bochco's NYPD Blue as well as the NYPD 2069 pilot -- all
            of which are high-definition productions onlined
            completely on Discreet systems. Westwind Media also use
            inferno for opticals and visual effects work.
                "When we started building Westwind Media's High
            Definition Video division back in 2000, we wanted to
            ensure a facility that was state of the art," continues
            Drinkwater. "Discreet was the obvious choice. smoke, fire
            and inferno provide us with the speed, reliability and
            flexibility we need to finish our projects on schedule and
            without compromising creativity."
                Westwind Media has used the two systems to complete
            hundreds of HD episodes over the last two years. Currently
            Westwind Media produces three episodes a week, every week
            for the three shows. "When creating high-definition
            network shows with this turnaround, together with the
            complex visual treatments our clients now require, you
            really appreciate the speed and reliability that Discreet
            systems offer," Drinkwater concluded.

HD Leadership Defined by Discreet

"A key factor of the success of Discreet systems in high definition post and broadcast is its unique combination of high-performance with an incredibly sophisticated array of creative visual effects and finishing tools," explains Maurice Patel, product marketing manager at Discreet. "These tools have been tried and tested on some of the most complex visual effects work ever done -- from Forrest Gump to Titanic and Gladiator. But the real advantage for HDTV episodic production, which is driven by extremely tight deadlines, is its ability to do this level of high resolution design work interactively and generate high quality -- not just proxy -- results extremely fast."

Numerous broadcasters have also chosen Discreet systems for their promo departments, primarily because of its ability to meet tight production schedules while still allowing a high-level of creative design work to be completed. This includes many of the major national and international networks, from NBC and CBS to the BBC, as well as regional broadcasters. Recently the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC), as part of the Australian HDTV mandate, upgraded its promo department to HDTV with the purchase of a full range of Discreet online editing and visual effects systems including three smoke HD finishing systems, two flame(R) visual effects systems and 13 combustion(R) visual effects software licenses.

About Discreet

Discreet empowers media professionals to realize the visual experience and transform their most evocative and ambitious visions into reality. Discreet's award-winning solutions are designed for digital media creation, management and delivery -- across all disciplines from film and television visual effects, color grading and editing to animation, game development, web/interactive, and design visualization. Discreet is based in Montreal, Quebec and is a division of Autodesk, Inc, the world's leading design and digital media creation, management, and distribution company. Product and corporate information: www.discreet.com.

Note to Editors: Discreet is a division of Autodesk, Inc. Autodesk, Discreet, combustion, fire, flame, inferno and smoke are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc./ Autodesk Canada Inc. in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Discreet Public Relations
Kevin G Clark, 415/547-2457
kevin.g.clark@autodesk.com
or
Access Communications
Lindsay Stewart, 415/844-6217
lstewart@accesspr.com

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