It would appear that Avid has revised the upgrade plan pricing for HD users from $599 per year, to $599 for the first year and $399 per year for subsequent years as long as you don't allow the upgrade plan to expire.
What Happens If You Sign Up To An HD Upgrade Plan By The End Of 2015
If you upgrade from Pro Tools HD 9, 10, 11 or Pro Tools with the Complete Production Toolkit you will need to pay $599 for the first year and then $399 for subsequent years, and you will get all future Pro Tools upgrades, plus priority help as long as you keep paying the upgrade plan fees. To remain eligible for the $399 renewal price, you MUST renew your upgrade plan before it expires.
What Happens If You DO NOT Sign Up To An HD Upgrade Plan By The End Of 2015
If you are a Pro Tools HD user and you don't buy into the HD upgrade plan by 31st December 2015 then the news is that you will not be excluded, and you won't have to buy new hardware. Instead, you will be able to get into the upgrade plan by paying $999 sometime in 2016. Once on an upgrade plan you can keep it up to date for $399.
So sign up by the end of 2015 and pay $599 and then $399. Sign up sometime on 2016 and pay $999 and then $399. It is currently not clear what will happen if you do not sign up before the end of 2016.
Avid also confirm on their Licensing page that although Pro Tools 12 HD will work stand alone without Avid hardware it will not work with older TDM hardware. If you want it to work then you will need HDX or HD Native hardware.
What Is Priority Help For HD Upgrade Plan Holders?
- Unlimited billing and administration cases with a response within one business day.
- Software updates and upgrades are included and will be available upon release.
- Troubleshooting using the online support service is for an unlimited number of incidents with a response within four hours.
- Troubleshooting using the phone support service is for an unlimited number of calls with priority support.
Thanks to community member Jonah Guelzo for spotting this.