Pinnacle Systems, Inc., was an American manufacturer of

digital video Digital video is an electronic representation of moving visual images (video) in the form of encoded digital data. This is in contrast to analog video, which represents moving visual images in the form of analog signals. Digital video comprises ...

hardware and software for the mainstream and broadcast markets. Pinnacle was a pioneer of using

computer workstations A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...

for video production and was the top player in the burgeoning field of

digital video effect Digital video effects (DVEs) are visual effects that provide comprehensive live video image manipulation, in the same form as optical printer effects in film. DVEs differ from standard video switcher effects (often referred to as ''analog effects ...

s units for a number of years in the 1990s. The company was founded in 1986 in California by Ajay Chopra (CEO), Mirek Jiricka, and Randall Moore.

History

Pinnacle Systems was founded in

Sunnyvale, California Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real (California), El Camino Real and U.S. Route 101 in California, Highway 1 ...

, in 1986 by Ajay Chopra, Mirek Jiricka, and Randall Moore. Chopra, Pinnacle's principal founder, landed his first job in the computer industry with

Burroughs Corporation The Burroughs Corporation was a major American manufacturer of business equipment. The company was founded in 1886 as the American Arithmometer Company by William Seward Burroughs I, William Seward Burroughs. The company's history paralleled many ...

in the late 1970s, shortly after graduating from

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

. He later worked for Atari, Inc., as a

systems architect The systems architect is an information and communications technology professional. Systems architects define the architecture of a computerized system (i.e., a system composed of software and hardware) in order to fulfill certain requirements ...

for its 8-bit line of computers. In 1983, he left Atari to join Mindset Corporation as a engineering manager, a computer manufacturer founded by ex-Atari employees which was deep into development of a

graphical workstation A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...

based on the

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the List of IBM Personal Computer models, IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible ''de facto'' standard. Released on ...

's architecture. The Mindset computer was released in 1984 to high praise in the press but middling sales. The Mindset did find a niche in

video production Video production is the process of producing video content. It is the equivalent of filmmaking, but with video recorded either as analog signals on videotape, digitally in video tape or as computer files stored on optical discs, hard drives, SSDs, ...

studios, who used the computer as a cheap

s unit and

character generator A character generator, often abbreviated as CG, is a device or software that produces static or animated text (such as news crawls and credits rolls) for keying into a video stream. Modern character generators are computer-based, and they can ...

. As a result, Mindset Corporation established a video division, naming Chopra as its leader, but this by itself was not enough to save the company from filing bankruptcy in 1985. After the demise of the Mindset, Chopra formed the basis of Pinnacle in 1986 as his first independent venture into

hardware. Joined in its foundation was Mirek Juricka and Randy Moore, both also formerly of Mindset and Atari. At the 1986

SMPTE The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) (, rarely ), founded by Charles Francis Jenkins in 1916 as the Society of Motion Picture Engineers or SMPE, is a global professional association of engineers, technologists, and e ...

convention in Los Angeles, the trio showed off hardware prototypes for their character generator and a DVE workstation to intense interest from attendees. Within a year, they raised $1 million in venture capital and raised manufacturing lines for their first products. By 1994, Pinnacle had reached $10 million in annual sales and was the top player in the field of

s units. In November that year, the company went public after filing its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

. The late 1990s were marked by an acquisition spree for Pinnacle. In 1997, Pinnacle purchased Miro Digital Video Products of Germany for around $21 million. In 1999, Pinnacle acquired RasterOps, once their largest rival in the DVE business (who themselves had acquired another big player by the name of Truevision and adopted their name in 1992), for $14 million. In 2001, Pinnacle purchased the video editing business of FAST MultiMedia AG of

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

for $15 million; a year later, they purchased VOB Computersysteme GmbH for $7 million. In 2003, Pinnacle purchased

Steinberg Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH (trading as Steinberg; ) is a German musical software and hardware company based in Hamburg. It develops software for writing, recording, arranging and editing music, most notably Cubase, Nuendo, and Dorico. It ...

, a major vendor of

digital audio workstation A digital audio workstation (DAW ) is an electronic device or application software used for Sound recording and reproduction, recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software pr ...

s, for roughly $24 million ($8 million in cash and $15.8 million in stock)—only to sell it off to

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: People * Torakusu Yamaha, a Japanese businessman and founder of the Yamaha Corporation Companies * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese musical instrument and audio equipment manufacturer ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organi ...

in 2004 for $28.5 million. Pinnacle itself was subsequently acquired by American company

Avid Technology Avid Technology, Inc. is a global technology company headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, and was founded in August 1987 by Bill Warner. It develops software, SaaS, and hardware products used in media and entertainment. History Avid wa ...

in March 2005 in a stock swap valuated at $462 million. The acquisition was finalized in May 2005. Avid subsequently sold Pinnacle products to

Corel Corporation Cascade Parent Limited, doing business as Alludo ( ), is a Canadian software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, specializing in graphics processing. Formerly called the Corel Corporation ( ; from the abbreviation "Cowpland Research Laborat ...

in July 2012.

Products

Pinnacle products include: *

Pinnacle Studio Pinnacle Studio is a video editing program originally developed by Pinnacle Systems as consumer-level software. Upon Pinnacle System's acquisition of Munich-based FAST Multimedia, Pinnacle integrated the professional code base of FAST's editing ...

Dazzle Dazzle may refer to: Arts * ''Dazzle'' (manga), a Japanese manga by Minari Endoh * "Dazzle" (song), by the English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees * The Dazzle Dancers, a performance group founded in 1996 * " Dazzle Dazzle", a song by ...

* VideoSpin (Windows) *Groovy Music City *Mobile Media Converter *Instant DVD Recorder *Video Capture for Mac *Avid Liquid On-air graphics products now under Avid brand: *Deko character generators *MediaStream servers *Lightning still stores *Thunder video servers Divested products: *PCTV (now owned by Hauppauge Digital) *TV for Mac (now owned by Hauppauge Digital) Discontinued products: *

SoundBridge SoundBridge is a hardware device from Roku, Inc. designed to play internet radio or digital audio streamed across a home network, over either Wi-Fi or ethernet. SoundBridge devices directly browsed the Radio Roku guide. As of 2008, all Roku S ...

*Profiler *TVCenter PRO *Video Transfer *PDS Video Switcher *ShowCenter *Miro Video DC10 *Miro Video DC10plus *Miro Video DC30 *Miro Video DC30plus *Pro-ONE *DC1000 *DC2000 *DV500

References

External links

* {{Authority control Electronics companies established in 1986 Software companies established in 1986 Companies based in Mountain View, California Software companies based in Mountain View, California Electronics companies of the United States Film and video technology Graphics hardware companies Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area 1986 establishments in California Corel 2005 mergers and acquisitions 2012 mergers and acquisitions American subsidiaries of foreign companies Defunct software companies of the United States Defunct computer companies of the United States