New York — Keeping pace with the brisk adoption of DVD-based camcorders and improving the overall quality of home movie editing is of paramount importance for Pinnacle and Ulead, as they updated their respective video software titles.
Pinnacle Systems made enhancements to its Pinnacle Studio version 9 line home movie-making software. The latest release increases the number of compatible of video capture devices, including new DVD camcorders.
Through a partnership with DiVX, Pinnacle’s Studio line of video software will support DiVX video. This will enable users to import, export and edit DiVX video. According to Pinnacle, DiVX compression lets Studio users record up to two hours of video on a CD without sacrificing quality for playback on DiVX-enabled devices.
For a limited time, Pinnacle will ship a “home theater” pack with its Studio software products which offers the latest video and audio codecs. This pack lets Studio users edit and create DiVX videos, burn DVDs with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, and export compressed MPEG-4 videos and MP3 audio. This promotion will be available beginning mid-March.
Studio, Studio Plus or Studio MediaSuite “Home Theater Edition” software ships this month with suggested retails from $79 to $129.
Ulead Systems introduced the newest version of its DVD creation software, DVD MovieFactory 4 Disc Creator. The software gives users the ability to burn audio DVDs, fit dual-layer DVDs to a single-layer disc and sync music to an MP3 player.
Using the software, consumers can burn digital photos and videos onto DVDs with menus to navigate through photo slideshows or specific portions of video. New features include “quick-drop” desktop icons for burning and syncing digital media via drag and drop without fully launching the software and new Flash animation for the user interface.
Ulead also added full 16:9 video authoring and the ability to create audio DVDs — either compressed or uncompressed — onto DVD audio disks.
Both DVD MovieFactory 4 Disc Creator and lite version, DVD MovieFactory 4, are shipping now for a suggested $99.99 and $49.99, respectively.
