DVD authoring

Emedia Professional, July, 2000

Pinnacle Expands Family of DVD Editing and Authoring Solutions

Pinnacle Systems, Inc. has announced two new professional authoring solutions, the DC2000 and DVD2000. The DC2000 provides interactive CD authoring and a single-menu DVD, and the DVD2000 allows the user to author fully featured DVDs. The DC/DVD2000 uses Pinnacle System's proprietary Smart GOB technology to edit IBP streams in real time and incorporate drag-and-drop functionality, and ships with Minerva Impression 2.0. An upgrade path from DC/DVD1000 to DC/DVD2000 is available.

(Pinnacle Systems Inc., 280 North Bernardo Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94043; 650/526-1600; Fax 650/526-1601; http://www.pinnaclesys.com)

Sonic Brings DVDit! to the Mac

Sonic Solutions has introduced a Mac version of its DVDit! authoring software. DVDit! includes integrated transcoding of multimedia content into DVD-compliant formats, as well as support for nearly all graphic file formats. DVDit! allows users to create Internet "eDVD" titles, which combine DVD-Video content with HTML, Macromedia Flash, and Java content. DVDit! for Mac is compatible with QuickTime video and audio files and uses a drag-and-drop interface. It automatically builds buttons and interactivity, transcodes video to MPEG-2, multiplexes and formats content, then writes it to a CD-R or DVD-R for playback. Sonic plans to ship DVDit! for Mac this fall.

(Sonic Solutions, 101 Rowland Way, Suite 101, Novato, CA 94945; 415/893-8000; Fax 415/893-8008; http://www.sonic.com)

Kind of Loud Developing 5.1 Encoder Packages

Kind of Loud Technologies has announced the development of two 5.1 encoder software packages for DigiDesigns' Pro Tools. SmartCode Pro will be available with both Dolby Digital and dts versions. Smart Code pro is an AudioSuite program that allows Pro Tools users to preview in real time 5.1 mixes created by the Pro Tools software and the Smart Pro plug-in. Users can then encode and decode the mix to create a sixchannel surround master. SmartCode Pro/Dolby Digital, which will sell for $995, and SmartCode Pr/dts are expected to ship in the third quarter of the year.

(Kind of Loud Technologies, LLC, 604 Cayuga Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95062; 831/466-3737; Fax 831/466-3775; http://www.kindofloud.com)

Media 100 Announces MediaPress Suite

Media 100, Inc. has announced the MediaPress Suite, which enables real-time MPEG-1 and 2 encoding, real-time preview during encode, and real-time DVD playback. The MediaPress Suite also includes the ability to transcode QuickTime files to MPEG-1 or 2 and supports multiplexed audio and video. MediaPress Suite supports composite, S-Video, and component video input. Media 100 has also announced Media Press Suite SDI, which adds support for Serial Digital Interface (SDI) as well as AES/EBU and S/PDIF digital audio. MediaPress Suite can be configured in a standalone encoding/authoring system and connected via YUV or SDI to the Media 100 streaming media production system for real-time performance, or in the same system as a Media 100 to achieve accelerated encoding. MediaPress Suite YUV sells for $3,999 and MediaPress Suite SDI is $5,499. Both are available for the Mac platform.

(Media 100, Inc., 290 Donald Lynch Boulevard, Marlboro, MA 01752; 508/480-1600; http://www.media100.com)

Young Minds Introduces DVD Studio for UNIX, Linux, and Windows

Young Minds, Inc. has introduced its new DVD Studio DVD recording solution. DVD Studio is compatible with most UNIX operating systems, including Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, and Tru64, as well as Linux and Windows NT. Young Minds has also announced plans for a future version of DVD Studio that will attach to the Pioneer DRM-7000 FlexLibrary, which can be used as a media conversion center and an online library.

(Young Minds, Inc., 1906 Orange Tree Lane, Suite 220, Redlands, CA 92374; 800/964-4964, 909/335-1350; Fax 909/798-0488; http://www.ymi.com)

iCompression Introduces MPEG-R Encoder USB Reference Design Kit

iCompression has announced the iVAC USB-7114, an MPEG-2 encoder USB reference design kit. The iVAC USB-7114 is built around the iTVC12 MPEG-2 encoder, which includes both audio and video encoding, as well as MPEG-2 program or Transport layer processing, iCompression believes that its iVAC USB reference design will spur the development of PC products that allow users to compress, store, play back, and transport audio/video streams, including DVD, SVCD, or VCD video editing platforms. The iVAC USB-7114 Reference Design sells for $10,000. All design kits include binary and source code for WDM software drivers, Windows 98 DirectShow, time-shifting applications, schematics, gerber files, ORCAD files, bill of materials, and application support.

(iCompression, 2500 Walsh Avenue, Santa Clara, CA 95051; 408 727-5077; Fax 408-727-5078; http://www.icompression.com)

Sonic and ICE Team Up to Provide Digital Video Solutions

Sonic Solutions has partnered with ICE to provide accelerated digital video solutions for the desktop. The Sonic-ICE product will make MPEG-2 video transcoding a standard feature on ICE's Basic BlueICE and UltraBlueICE cards, which power ICE's entire line of hardware/software solutions. ICE MPEG-2 transcoding integrates with Sonic DVD Fusion for Avid and Media 100 users, as well as Sonic DVDit!. By incorporating ICE's acceleration technology into Sonic's encoder, users can experience faster MPEG-2 transcoding, especially for computationally intensive desktop digital video applications such as composting, editing, special-effect creation, video compression, and distribution.