ASSIMILATE, the industry’s leading provider of DI and dailies digital workflow tools, today announced SCRATCH® and SCRATCH Lab® v8. These new versions offer unprecedented Apple® ProRes encoding capabilities on Windows, multi-GPU Debayering of RED media and support for Blackmagic Decklink cards. Windows users now have full ProRes encoding parity with Mac users. No more slow, buggy, reverse-engineered solutions with missing features.

Apple-licensed ProRes Software Encoding on Windows

Finally, what everyone has been waiting for, Windows users get:

• Native ProRes 442, HQ, LT, proxy and 4444 encoding
• Correct bit depth – 10 or 12 bits per component
• Optimized for FCP
• Under official license from Apple

“SCRATCH Lab has been clutch for me on most of my commercials since I got it almost two years ago,” said New York-based DIT Tom Wong. “Its flexibility and reliability have always been great, and it’s a fantastic tool in my arsenal for on-set dailies.”

Wong added, “True Apple ProRes encoding on Windows opens up serious new doors for SCRATCH v8. Generally, to accomplish this required a lot of third party plug-ins or side-stepped work-arounds that introduced more problems than they solved. Getting ProRes fully licensed with the SCRATCH encoding engine will give me a lot more options. Flexibility is the name of the game, and having parity on Mac or Windows is a huge benefit. Of course, seeing Assimilate accomplish this first is not a surprise. They listen to their customers and just make it happen.”

Multi-GPU Debayering of Native RED Files

SCRATCH and Lab v8 now support GPU-only Debayering of RED files, including multi-GPU support. This new option makes it possible to work natively with RED One, MX and Epic media in real-time, without requiring an expensive RED Rocket card.

DeckLink Support, Including 4K Monitoring

SCRATCH and SCRATCH Lab v8 support 4K SDI and HDMI monitoring via the Blackmagic DeckLink 4K Extreme and UltraStudio 4K for Thunderbolt solutions. Not only do artists now have an additional high-quality 4K monitoring solution, but they can also effectively run SCRATCH and Lab with Blackmagic software applications on the same system. SCRATCH and Lab v8 will also support Blackmagic 2K DeckLink solutions, including DeckLink SDI, DeckLink Studio, and UltraStudio Express for Thunderbolt.

SCRATCH and SCRATCH Lab v8 Connect You to the Cloud

The combination of SCRATCH and Lab v8, with the new MyASSIMILATE tools, offer an incredibly creative cloud-based workflow that smash the barriers of location and proximity. MyASSIMILATE cloud-enabled tools include :

• Project Repository- Any number of SCRATCH and Lab users can now easily “divide and conquer” a project – each working on a portion in their own time and from their own location.
• SCRATCH Web: Now artists can review their SCRATCH or Lab projects with clients remotely via the cloud – and clients don’t even need to have SCRATCH, they only need a web-enabled device for reviews.
• Remote: Now two or more SCRATCH or Lab artists can collaborate in a real-time remote creative session – and it’s as easy as making a Skype call.
• Galleries: Now it’s easy for your entire SCRATCH or Lab environment to follow you anywhere you go.

4K for the Price of 2K

ASSIMILATE has teamed with several of North America’s premier 4K solutions providers, including Versatile Distribution Services (VDS), Globalstor, The Studio, B&H and Maxx Digital, to deliver 4K turnkey systems for the price of today’s 2K systems. These systems include all the high-performance NVidia K6000 graphics and Fusion IO storage components required to meet the rigorous requirements of 4K dailies and DI workflows. For more information, or to find a reseller in your area, please visit http://www.assimilateinc.com/4k-for-the-price-of-2k.

“ASSIMILATE has built our reputation as a leader in innovation in the DI and dailies markets because we continue to push the envelope with groundbreaking technology. This new and powerful release of SCRATCH and SCRATCH Lab v8 continue that tradition,” said Jeff Edson, CEO of ASSIMILATE.  “From our license from Apple to deliver true ProRes encoding to Windows users, our powerful Remote feature, to our 4K for the price of 2K turnkey systems, we continue to outpace the rest of the industry in delivering real value to our customers.”

Long List of Additional New Features

SCRATCH and SCRATCH Lab v8 also include a host of powerful new features for dailies and DI artists including:

• Powerful new galleries that include public sharing
• Support for RED GPU Debayering (including multiple GPUs)
• ACES 0.70, including the RRT and standard ODT
• Cinemacraft’s industry-leading H.264 encoding
• Native support for the Blackmagic Cinema Camera’s CinemaDNG format
• Native support for the GoPro CineForm format
• Sony’s new slog3 color / gamma space
• Magic Lantern support for Canon DSLR cameras
• CineSpace’s 3D LUT format
• Ultra HD Color space

For a full list of new features in SCRATCH and SCRATCH Lab v8, please visit: http://www.assimilateinc.com/products/scratch/#newinv8

Pricing and Availability

SCRATCH and SCRATCH Lab v8 — including a new fully functional, 90-day trial — are available immediately at http://www.assimilateinc.com. Upgrades are free to existing users who are current under maintenance and support. New SCRATCH Lab licenses are available starting at $50 and new SCRATCH Licenses are available starting at $150. For more information, visit:

http://www.assimilateinc.com/products/scratch

http://www.assimilateinc.com/products/scratch-lab

MyASSIMILATE is available immediately at http://myassimilate.assimilateinc.com. Access to MyASSIMILATE tools is free to SCRATCH and SCRATCH Lab customers (including rentals) who are current under maintenance and support. For more information, visit:

http://www.assimilateinc.com/products/myassimilate

About ASSIMILATE

ASSIMILATE is the premier provider of digital workflow and post-production tools that have proven essential to the successful creation of thousands of studio and independent features, television shows, music videos and corporate video productions. The company’s SCRATCH products, running on Windows and OS X, are the heartbeat of today’s most demanding digital post-production and dailies workflows for 2D and stereo 3D productions. They equip directors, DPs, on-set professionals and artists with the state-of-the-art, intuitive, data-centric solutions they need to meet the continual challenges of increased creativity and productivity amid ever-shrinking budgets. ASSIMILATE’s SCRATCH data-centric DI system, is the most comprehensive, end-to-end cinema and broadcast imaging tool for conform, versioning, color grading, playback, compositing and finishing for nearly all popular digital workflows, including, RED, ARRI, Sony F65 and F55, Canon 5D, Phantom, GoPro and many more. SCRATCH Lab delivers a comprehensive toolset for the review, versioning, color correction, conform and output of on-set or VFX dailies. ASSIMILATE is a privately held company, with headquarters in Santa Clara, California, USA, and markets its products worldwide via a global reseller network. To learn more, visit www.assimilateinc.com.