Although buying the new Avid Nitris DS and upgrading its existing Avid to Nitris will cost Crosspoint thousands of dollars, Schmactenberger isn't worried about recouping the money. For one thing, staying on the cutting edge is necessary for the company to maintain its reputation as a leader in port production. There are also operational benefits: The DS systems were a bottleneck. "Suppose that Box A is busy and you have to finish a project on another box," Schmactenberger explains. "Now there is always a DS box nearby for work."

Most importantly, the additional speed the new systems provide will improve the quality and quantity of work Crosspoint can do. Maple says that the old Quantel Edit box offered lot of functionality, but he often didn't have time to exploit the functions. "There are some things I couldn't do and others that were possible but would take me four times longer," Maple explains. Given his hefty hourly rate, many clients couldn't afford to let his creativity wander. "Now I can give clients more options, or show them different approaches in the same amount of time for the same amount of money."

Schmactenberger says that once customers worked with the Avid DS, they didn't want to go back to older systems. "What customers love is that you can use plug-ins to do distinct effects," Schmactenberger says. "We can quickly come up with new looks and different version of a piece without much effort."

Clients also became accustomed to having real-time input into the production process. Maple says, "We can be here working on a spot, compress it, post it online, and get feedback from the client anywhere in the world the same day." You just can't do all of these things with Mac and Final Cut Pro.