When do you think HDX will get refreshed?

[propower]

Title says it all...
ProTools HD Cards introduced in 2002
ProTools HD Accel introduced in 2003
--- refresh to PCIe at some point ----
ProTools HDX cards introduced in 2011

History would say we have a long wait for anything in a newer form factor...

I sure wish they would just repackage HDX into silent little TB boxes but fear its a long shot looking at history...

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by propower

Title says it all...
ProTools HD Cards introduced in 2002
ProTools HD Accel introduced in 2003
--- refresh to PCIe at some point ----
ProTools HDX cards introduced in 2011

History would say we have a long wait for anything in a newer form factor...

I sure wish they would just repackage HDX into silent little TB boxes but fear its a long shot looking at history...

There are enclosures available for you to do that anytime you wish. It might not be cost beneficial for them to do it.

[Craig F]

HDX cards will not get a bump until TI updates the T1 chips

[8dB.co.uk]

Very much doubt they'll get a refresh. Native is fast overtaking dsp, and the less proprietary hardware they have to design and build, the more likely Avid is going to survive.

[Emcha_audio]

Originally Posted by 8dB.co.uk

Very much doubt they'll get a refresh. Native is fast overtaking dsp, and the less proprietary hardware they have to design and build, the more likely Avid is going to survive.

I'm just going to throw in some numbers here.

In march 2014 avid announced that it had sold over 11000 system. Let's keep it low for a moment and assume those 11000 are all the minimum system which is 1 hdx card and the omni for 9000. That's still 132M in sales, if the dealer gets 20% (Number I'm throwing here cause I don't know), Avid still made 79.2M, and that's the base minimum. This is not including second cards, HD Native, other interfaces, controllers and software sales for 2012-2014. So I think it's safe to say that it's still floating well for them even if they do make proprietary hardware.

[8dB.co.uk]

I'll just throw in my experience of the "great TDM card shortage of 2005", where Avid got screwed by the change in solder regulations, and resellers had to ration new TDM cards. Add to that generally a two year maximum life for a chip plant, and there are quite a few reasons why designing and building a proprietary card shouldn't be taken lightly, and also why profits from all those sales get gobbled up.

[Emcha_audio]

Originally Posted by 8dB.co.uk

and there are quite a few reasons why designing and building a proprietary card shouldn't be taken lightly, and also why profits from all those sales get gobbled up.

I agree, and I'm sure that this has all been taken into consideration. Keep in mind that they have been successfully selling dsp system for 20 years before HDX came out, and that their biggest competitors in dsp system UAD, have been going at it for 12 years and still doing it too. So the market is there still and as long as there's going to be a market for it, there's going to be profit for it. There are very specialized people who's job is to analyze the market trend and see if it's viable, I'm sure avid has consulted them before even going into this venture.

As for a refresh, Craig is spot on I think. Won't be before Texas instruments update the chips, and may not be at the very same minute either, as the R&D will have to see if it's viable to do the change. Avid probably bought quite a bit of those chips to make sure they wouldn't get hung into a chip shortage and to lower the cost of materials as the more you buy the lower the price is.

[8dB.co.uk]

Don't wish for PCIe cards to be repackaged into TB boxes - Intel are currently working on its replacement - probably USB4.

[Emcha_audio]

With PCie 4 arriving soon which will double again the bandwidth of pcie lanes, I doubt well see any changes there might mean that TB3 is in the horizon. USB 3.1 is already going to be about equal the speed of TB 1, so it's going to be a much cheaper alternative for hardware maker to go with it. I haven't seen anything about USB 4.0 yet, and in fact after double checking, there's nothing announced for USB 4.0.

[8dB.co.uk]

In true Intel fashion, I think USB4 is a term the press have coined while Intel think up a wizzier name.