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Computer Video
News - February 2004
DVD Workshop goes pro
Version
2 of Ulead's mid-range DVD authoring program adds professional features
such as multiple tracks, playlists, copy-protection and support for
DLT and dual-layer DVDs.
The eagerly-awaited
up-spec'd version of DVD Workshop - Ulead's CV-award-winning DVD authoring
program - will offer a raft of professional features and be available
from January with an SRP of £300 (inc VAT) or £129 for an
upgrade.
Although the easy-to-use, wizard-based interface seen in V1 (review,
April 2002, p28) is still there, the MkII program is a lot more powerful,
featuring multiple subtitle and audio tracks, together with playlists
and output support for Digital Linear Tape (DLT) and dual-layer DVDs
(DVD-9). Region coding and copy protection are also possible, with CSS
encryption and Macrovision for discs authored to DLT, and Macrovision
also available for DIY DVDs.
Up to eight audio tracks and 32 subtitle tracks can be added, allowing
the production of DVDs in different languages, and with additional music
tracks, commentaries, subtitles and other messaging. Production is made
easier because tracks can be selected by name and not just by number.
Customisable subtitles are typed directly into the preview window, or
onto a track.
Audio enhancements include independent volume control of menus and audio
tracks, with fade-in/out options, and decoding of 5.1 channel Dolby
Digital audio files and encoding to two-channel Dolby Digital stereo.
There's also an option for surround sound emulation during DVD playback
if the original audio track used more than two channels (typically Dolby
Digital 5.1) but was converted to a two-channel audio track.
Multi-layered menus can be built from image masks, objects with gradient
transparency, motion menus and buttons, or created from one of the program's
many included templates. Progress can be previewed in real-time during
authoring using the built-in DVD simulator.
Motion-menu video clips can be made to loop on playback from a particular
timecode, and buttons can be assigned to change when activated, by applying
either a colour or image layer. They can also be set to display another
window or menu item when navigated over, or be made 'invisible', with
a highlight image programmed to appear when selected. Creative button-options
include the ability to design active text menus, irregular-shaped edge
masks, or rotating buttons with composited images or video content.
The new Playlist Control feature is for linking a sequence of assets
- menus, video clips, subtitles and chapter-points - to buttons, without
duplicating that sequence each time. This saves disc space and allows
for the creation of creative playback possibilities. Files that have
been moved elsewhere on the system can be relinked using Smart Relink.
Enhanced input options include support for multi-layered images, including
PSD or UFO files, or GIF animations and video clips. Video can be copied
and edited from DVD-VR (rewritable and RAM) and non-copy-protected DVDs,
and sound can be ripped from audio CDs. V2 is reckoned to fully support
capture and encoding of Sony's MicroMV MPEG-2 format, too.
Also on the features list are 'advanced' slideshow creation tools with
100-plus transition effects; a label designer for creating disc labels
or case inserts; full widescreen (16:9) support; multiple Video Title
Sets (Multi-VST) using SmartRender technology; instant burning (creating
an ISO disc image); and capture as DV or directly to MPEG and Dolby
Digital AC-3 from analogue or DV devices in various image-quality settings,
using constant or variable bit-rate recording.
Ulead; 01327 844880;
www.ulead.co.uk
Adobe editing suite on the cheap 1
ADS bundles FireWire
card with full Adobe Premiere Pro, Encore DVD and Audition for £400!
ADS Tech's Pyro
Professional editing suite brings together the company's well-respected
three-port OHCI FireWire card and full versions of three Adobe programs
- Premiere Pro (review, December 2003, p30), Encore DVD (review, January
2004, p28) and sound editor Audition. The likely street price inc VAT?
An amazingly low £400.
That's less than Premiere or Encore costs from Adobe's on-line store
individually, and less than a third of the total price for all three
programs - £1,316. It's also less than half the price of Adobe's
value-for-money Video Collection suite (£828), though that does
include a standard version of After Effects 6 (AE 6 Pro review, December
2003, p48).
ADS Technologies,
001 35 361 702042; www.adstech.com
Adobe editing
suite on the cheap 2
Matrox bundles RT.X10
real-time card with full versions of Adobe Premiere Pro, Encore DVD
and Audition for a little over £500
Matrox is offering
a trio of Adobe editing programs on the cheap, bundling its RT.X10 real-time
analogue/DV editing card (review, December 2002, p52) with full versions
of Premiere Pro, Encore DVD, and Audition, calling it the RT.X10 Suite.
The best price we've seen to date is £516 (inc VAT) from Siren
Technology.
The package includes a breakout box with S-video, composite video and
analogue L/R audio in/outputs - for easy connection of analogue devices
- along with Matrox's quartet of productivity tools. This consists of
MediaTools for capture and logging (with single-pass DV scan and capture
available to save time); MediaExport for hardware-accelerated encoding
of MPEG-1/2 and Windows Media/Real Media streaming formats; a Video-for-Windows
software Codec; and WYSIWYG video output support for standard DirectShow-based
applications.
In addition, Ligos's GoMotion MPEG encoder is integrated into MediaExport,
and there's a bundled lite version of Pixélan SpiceRack, with
150-plus real-time organic transitions. The card's real-time editing
capabilities within Premiere Pro include colour-correction with automatic
white balancing; customisable Matrox Flex 3D effects such as page curls,
spheres, cubes and P-in-P; and what's described as 'smooth fast and
slow motion effects'. Finished edits can be output to analogue or DV
tape; authored in Encore DVD; or batch-encoded into DVD, SVCD, VCD or
web formats (with free web-video hosting at: www.matrox.tv).
Matrox's system recommendations for the suite take in a 2.4GHz P4 or
AMD Athlon 2100+ processor (though faster is better); 512MByte of RAM;
2.5GByte free hard disk space for installation; a separate video drive
for editing; and Windows XP - Premiere Pro and Encore DVD only run under
XP.
There appears to be no software bundle upgrade for existing RT.X10 users,
though there is a free upgrade to Premiere Pro for any RT.X10 Xtra bought
on or after June 7. Others can upgrade to Pro directly from Adobe.
Siren Technology,
0161 796 5279; www.sirentechnology.co.uk
Matrox, 01753 665500; www.matrox.com
Toshiba portable Media Center
Edit-ready Toshiba
Media Center laptop with 17in widescreen TFT, DVD-R/-RW/-RAM burner,
Dolby Digital and Harmon Kardon speakers
The newest addition
to Toshiba's Satellite laptop range is the P20-504, an edit-ready 3.2GHz
P4 PC running Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center 2004 operating system.
Key features include a 17in widescreen (16:10) XGA TFT display (1,440
x 900 max resolution), FireWire, USB 2.0 and a DVD-R/-RW/-RAM burner.
Likely price is £2,300 (inc VAT).
Windows XP Media Center Edition (Bits and Bobs, December 2003, p73)
turns the P20 into a home media centre. The machine can record and play
video, live TV and music; and handle photos and DVDs - all under the
control of an easy-to-use media interface and supplied infrared remote
control. It has built-in Harman Kardon stereo speakers, and integrated
Dolby Digital (AC-3) sound. Bundled software includes Panasonic's Motion
DV Studio DV editor, Sonic Drag'n Drop CD disc creator, WinDVD disc
player and Microsoft Works Suite 2003.
The P20's DVD burner (brand undisclosed) is reckoned to write to DVD-R
(1x), DVD-RW (1x), DVD-RAM (2x), CD-R (16x) and CD-RW (4x), and read
DVD-R/-RW/-ROM (8x), DVD-RAM (2x), CD-R/-ROM (24x), and CD-RW (12x).
The 17in display is driven by an Nvidia GeForce FX Go 5200 graphics
processor with 64MByte of DDR video RAM and support for DirectX 9.
System memory is 512MByte DDR RAM, expandable to 2GByte, and the hard
disk is 80GByte (5,400rpm). The 3.2GHz Hyper-Threading processor has
a front-side bus of 800MHz and 512KByte of Level 2 cache.
Socketry includes a single four-pin FireWire port, four USB 2.0 ports,
TV-output (S-video), RF-in for the TV tuner, audio line-in, stereo headphone,
mic input, VGA, parallel, and modem and networking (10/100-Base-TX)
ports. There's also an SD Card slot, Type II or Type III PC Card slots
and Fast InfraRed (FIR).
The unit comes with an AC adaptor, TV-out cable, TV tuner bay module,
and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery said to be good for 2.5 hours
running time. It's a big 'un, though - measuring 419(w) x 293(d) x 47(h)mm
and weighing little less than 5kg with the battery.
Toshiba, 01932 828828;
www.toshiba.com
Forging ahead in sound
First release from
Sony Pictures Digital of Sound Forge 7 Windows audio editor
V7 of the Windows
audio editor Sound Forge is the first release from new owner Sony Pictures
Digital since its acquisition of Sonic Foundry desktop software division.
The new version - £349 (inc VAT) - adds features in recording,
editing and effects, workflow, and file import and export compared to
V6 (review, March 2003, p42).
On the recording side, there is now support for automated, time-based
recording, and recording at a specific input levels up to a pre-set
threshold. And, a new pre-record buffer is reckoned to do away with
problems of dropouts and missing audio at the start of recordings.
On the editing and effects front, there are new automation effects plug-ins
including DirectX Volume, Reverb, Delay, Flange/Wah/Phase effects. The
software has seven choices of new VU and PPM meters for determining
RMS playback and record levels. The enhanced Spectrum Analysis window
is dockable, and is said to offer extra real-time monitoring tools.
Other features include new noise generators - white, pink, brown and
filtered - for audio testing, analysing room dynamics and performing
other acoustic measurements; synthesis sweeps and effects capabilities;
clipped audio detection and marking; improved mixing capabilities with
new visual volume and pan envelopes; and an enhanced selection of graphic
fades.
Improvements have also been made to the workflow. There's a new Media
Explorer for auto previews of files in the editor's workspace - including
directly off CD - plus the ability to save an audio clip's Undo history
even after it's been saved to another media format, and a new Sound
Forge project (.FRG) file format with a total history of all changes
made. Also making life easier are automatic file mixing and conversion,
and drag-and-drop extraction of audio clips from CD.
Sound Forge 7 has import and export support for Windows Media 9 Series,
RealMedia 9 and QuickTime 6, including new voice and lossless Codecs.
Improvements to the handling of compressed file format handling mean
that the program doesn't need to waste time and disk space creating
proxy files.
Version 7 can handle 24 frames per second (fps) DV footage from camcorders
such as Panasonic's AG-DVX100 professional 24fps MiniDV model (news,
December 2002, p20) - even without interlaced frames. And, the audio
editor can be used to transcode such files to streaming formats.
Requirements are Windows XP or 2000; a 400MHz processor; 60MByte hard
disk space for installation; 64MByte of RAM (128MByte recommended);
a sound card; DirectX 8 (or later); and Internet Explorer 5 (or later).
Sony Pictures Digital,
001 608 204 7680; www.sony.com/mediasoftware
Apple ups the ante
Edit-ready Apple
dual-1.8GHz PowerMac G5 and 20in TFT iMac
Apple is replacing
its single-processor 1.8GHz PowerMac G5 (news, September 2003, p6) with
a dual-1.8GHz model costing £1,899 (inc VAT) - less than £50
extra - and introducing a £1,750 all-in-one desktop iMac with
a 20in (1,680 x 1,050 resolution) flat panel TFT display.
The PowerMac G5 range - now running OS X 10.3 Panther (news, Jan 04,
p7) - still has the original dual-2GHz model (£2,299) selling
alongside a 1.6GHz single-processor unit (£1,399). Specs are little
changed. The 2GHz model has a 1GHz front-side bus (this is 900MHz on
the 1.8GHz and 800MHz on the 1.6GHz) and a dual-channel memory interface
(ditto the 1.8GHz).
There's 512MByte of 128-bit DDR SDRAM in the dual-processor Macs (upgradeable
to 8GByte!), and 256MByte for the base model (upgradeable to a mere
4GByte). All have three 64-bit PCI-X card expansion slots - one 133MHz
and two 100MHz for the duals; three 33MHz for the single processor model.
An 8x AGP port fitted with a 64MByte graphics card is standard, but
the card is an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro in the 2GHz and an nVidia GeForce
FX 5200 Ultra in the others. Hard drives are Serial ATA units - 80GByte
in the base model and 160GByte in the duals.
Apple appears to be sticking with DVD-R for now, as each PowerMac's
SuperDrive is a Pioneer DVR-105 DVD-R/-RW burner, rather than the newer
+/- four-way DVR-106 (review, October 2003, p42).
Each PowerMac PC has one FireWire 800 port and two FireWire 400, plus
three USB 2.0 ports (and two USB1.1 on the keyboard), and sockets for
analogue and optical (SPDIF) audio in/out and for the built-in modem
and Gigabit Ethernet card. All are wireless-ready, with built-in aerials,
and can be equipped with Airport Extreme (based on 802.11g) or Bluetooth
hardware.
The three-strong iMac range also runs OS X 10.3, but on single PowerPC
G4 processors - 1.25GHz in the 20in and 17in (£1,449) models,
each with a SuperDrive, and 1GHz in the 15in starter model with combined
CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive (£999).
System memory and hard disk drive capacity is the same across the board
- 256MByte of DDR333 RAM (expandable up to 1GByte) and an 80GByte Ultra
ATA hard disk drive. The 15in model has a GeForce4 MX graphics card
with 32MByte of DDR video memory, the others use GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
cards with 64MByte of DDR memory.
Ports include two FireWire 400, three USB 2.0 (plus two USB 1.1 on the
keyboard), VGA output, S-video and composite video output, 10/100Base-T
Ethernet, modem, headphone, audio line-in and a speaker mini-jack -
Apple Pro speakers are bundled. All are wireless-ready and can be equipped
with Airport Extreme or Bluetooth hardware.
Apple UK, 0800 783
4846; www.apple.com/uk
LaCie Toast 6 burner bundle
LaCie includes full
Toast 6 Titanium software package with four-way DVD burner
LaCie is bundling
the full version of Roxio's Toast 6 Titanium Mac OS X CD/DVD burning
software (news, November 2003, p8) with its external four-way DVD writer,
the d2 Dual DVD-/+RW FireWire Drive, SRP £210 (inc VAT).
The FireWire housing holds an EIDE writer (brand unknown) with a 2MByte
buffer, and is reckoned to burn to DVD-R/+R (4x), DVD-RW/+RW (2x/2.4x),
CD-R (16x), and CD-RW (10x), and to read DVDs at 12x and CDs at 32x.
In addition to Toast 6, the LaCie unit, measuring 173(w) x 44(h) x 268(d)mm,
comes with the ToastAnywhere tool for writing to optical drives across
networks, and Plug-and-Burn for automatic direct-to-disc burning of
footage captured from an attached DV camcorder.
Also bundled are Toast 5.2 Lite (for OS 9.1-9.2.2), a DVD Utilities
CD (containing the user manual), a six-pin-to-six-pin FireWire cable,
an external power supply, and one blank DVD-R disc.
Roxio, 0049 2405
45080; www.roxio.com
LaCie, 020 7872 8000; www.lacie.co.uk
ADS Tech USB2 boxes
ADS Technologies
USB 2.0 MPEG editing packages for Windows with Ulead software
All three of ADS
Tech's USB 2.0 external MPEG-encoding boxes for Windows come with Ulead
video editing and DVD creation software, putting them in healthy competition
with Pinnacle's latest Studio-based Dazzle line (see opposite page).
Range-leader is the USB Instant DVD+DV 2.0 (SRP £250 inc VAT).
This can capture as VCD/DVD-compliant MPEG-1/2 footage via FireWire
or analogue inputs - S-video, composite video and L/R audio. Capture
is controlled either from ADS's own Capture Wizard V3.0.7 program (CapWiz),
or the supplied (and ADS-tweaked) version of Ulead's video editing and
disc authoring program VideoStudio 7 SE - with Audio-Lock technology
used to maintain lip sync.
CapWiz-captured MPEG content recorded at constant/variable bit-rates
of up to 15Mbit/sec (with MPEG-1 Layer 2 audio) can be exported via
the device's analogue outputs for viewing on a TV set or video monitor.
CapWiz can also encode separate LPCM (.mpa) audio files, but these can't
be exported via analogue ports.
The tweaked version of Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2.1 SE features direct-to-disk
capture and automatic burn, and is accompanied by Muvee AutoProducer
DVD SE - movie-creation software which automatically edits selected
video clips in a chosen style, with or without music, and burns the
movie to disc, or imports it into MovieFactory.
Next down is USB Instant 2.0 (£200). This comes with the same
software as Instant DVD+DV 2.0 and is identical in every way except
that the box has no DV connection.
Baby brother of the trio is DVD Xpress (£99). This has only analogue
inputs , and comes with CapWiz and VideoStudio 7 SE DVD for MPEG capture/playback,
editing and disc creation.
Minimum system requirements for the trio include Windows 98SE (or above);
an 800MHz (or faster) CPU; 128MByte RAM; 500MByte hard disk space for
program installation; 4GByte or more hard disk space for video capture
and editing; and a USB 2.0 port.
ADS Technologies,
001 35 361 702042; www.adstech.com
Budget Canopus ProCoder
£50 version
of Canopus's media re-purposing software for Windows
Lots of video editors
need decent media repurposing programs, but few are willing (or able)
to stump up over £600 for such software. That's true even of a
program as good as Canopus's ProCoder (review, Nov 03, p56), so the
company's inexpensive (£50, inc VAT), consumer-oriented alternative,
ProCoder Express, ought to get a warm welcome.
Express is based on the core technology of ProCoder, but won't run on
Windows 98SE - only on XP or 2000. It has a simple, wizard-based interface
to guide users through the process of transcoding video to formats suitable
for use on DVD, SVCD and VCD, web-streaming and emailing.
Canopus's own Codecs are used to create files in a variety of formats,
taking in MPEG-1/2, Windows Media, QuickTime, RealVideo and DivX (which
has full support).
The budget version offers timeline output plug-ins for Adobe Premiere
(6.5 and Pro), and for Canopus's own editors, Let's Edit (review, p38)
and Edius (review, p54), and even features ProCoder's drag-and-drop
Watch Folders for automated encoding of files placed into these folders.
Canopus UK, 0118
921 0150; www.canopus-uk.com
Pinnacle Dazzles
Pinnacle bundles
Studio QuickStart editing software with four Dazzle-branded home video
editing packages
All four Windows
home video editing solutions in Pinnacle's Dazzle-branded range - DV
Clip (£40 inc VAT), Digital Video Creator 80 (£60), Fusion
(£80), and Digital Video Creator 150 (£150) - come with
a new, lite, version of Pinnacle's entry-level DV editing program Studio
8 (review, November 2002, p46) called Pinnacle Studio QuickStart. This
lacks a number of features found in the full version - fast/slow motion;
colour correction/image filters; title rolls and crawls; split editing;
web hosting; and motion menus.
DV Clip has a two-port (six-pin) OHCI FireWire PCI card to fit within
a PC, and support for timeline-based authoring for DVD, SVCD and VCD,
plus export to AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, RealVideo, or Windows Media formats.
The same export and authoring capabilities are offered by Digital Video
Creator 80 and Digital Video Creator 150. Creator 80 centres on an external
USB 1.1/2.0 capture box, which looks like a stylised automatic rifle
magazine and has analogue inputs for composite video, S-video and L/R
audio.
Hardware used in Fusion and Digital Video Creator 150 is typical Dazzle
- an upright external box much like that seen in earlier Dazzle products
such as the Hollywood DV Bridge analogue<>DV converter (review,
April 2001, p42).
Fusion's hardware is USB 1.1 - with no analogue output, but featuring
a multi-format media card reader/writer. This handles CompactFlash (Type
I and II), IBM Microdrive, Memory Stick, MultiMediaCard SD Card and
SmartMedia. Creator 150's box is USB 1.1/2.0 and has analogue in/out
for composite video, S-video, and L/R audio, plus hardware-assisted
real-time MPEG-2 encoding.
Pinnacle, 01895
424228; www.pinnaclesys.co.uk
Canopus three-way converter
Dual-platform, all-in-one
scan converter and analogue<>digital video converter
Canopus's TwinPack100
is a combined scan converter and analogue<>digital video converter
for Mac and Windows, costing £410 (inc VAT).
The TwinPack100 can convert a computer's on-screen graphics to analogue
video or DV, and handle resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,200 (horizontal
frequency: 24kHz - 100kHz, vertical frequency: 50Hz - 130Hz). Canopus's
Track and Zoom technology is used for zooming in on parts of the screen,
and tracking an area using the mouse pointer - an IR handset is also
supplied.
There are sockets for VGA monitor pass-through, plus two two-way FireWire
ports (one four-pin, one six-pin) and in/outs for analogue composite
video, S-video and L/R audio.
Like the ADVC video converter range, the TwinPack100 uses Canopus's
DV Codec hardware, and locked audio technology to sync the audio to
the picture. It works with both PAL and NTSC signals. The device is
said to clean up, stabilise and preserve analogue video, and separates
a Y/C (S-video) signal into RGB.
Canopus is also introducing an identically-priced analogue<>digital
video converter, the ADVC300. This has component (YUV) video output
for hooking up to a broadcast monitor and partly plug the huge price
gap between the £1,169 ADVC500 professional converter and the
£234 ADVC100 (review, July 2002, p54). The socket array is much
like that on the TwinPack, apart from there being no VGA pair.
Minimum system requirements for the TwinPack100 are said to be Windows
XP (SP 1 or higher) or Windows 2000 (Service Pack 3 or higher), plus
DirectX 8.0 (or higher); and Mac OS X (V10.2.7/V10.2.8/V10.3) for Apple
users.
Canopus UK, 0118
921 0150; www.canopus-uk.com
Discreet 3ds max 6
Twenty-plus new
features and enhancements in V6 of Discreet's pro 3D modelling, animation
and rendering program
Version 6 of Discreet's
3ds max professional Windows 3D modelling, animation and rendering program
boasts over 20 new features and enhancements for its not-inconsiderable
SRP of £3,167 (inc VAT). Upgrades are £699 for users of
V5 and £1,169 for V4.
The software's node-based scene graph - or Schematic View - has been
redesigned for easier viewing and management of complex scenes, and
also includes full support for MAXscript. Vertex Paint capabilities
have been enhanced. Brush sizes can be changed interactively; new colouring
(or tinting) can be applied; and surface friction and damage values
can be added directly onto a model. The Vertex Paint Modifier is now
seen as a single paint layer, and multiple layers can be applied - similar
to Photoshop 7. The Vertex colour opacity can also be animated, allowing
users to change the opacity of a Vertex paint layer.
Advanced film-quality renderer Mental Ray V3.2 is now fully integrated,
and gives access in 3ds max's Material Editor to shaders from Lume Tools.
The upgrade also provides a particle-flow system said to create realistic-looking
fountains, fog, snow, splashes, explosions and the like.
Other features include integrated reactor 2 complete physics with stuntman
and vehicle dynamics; distributed network texture baking; design visualisation
tools and interchange support with Autodesk and other computer-aided
design (CAD) and CAD-related solutions.
Requirements, minimum and (recommended), are said to be Win 2K SP4 or
XP Pro/Home SP1; Internet Explorer 6; DirectX 8.1 (V9); a 300MHz CPU
(dual Intel Xeon or dual AMD Athlon); 512MByte RAM (1GByte); 500MByte
swap (2GByte); and an OpenGL and Direct3D 64MByte (256MByte) graphics
card supporting 1,024x768/16-bit colour (1,280x1,024/24-bit). Ideally,
the system should also have a mouse with three buttons and be used with
a pressure-sensitive art-pad.
Discreet, 0870 241
0416; www.discreet.com
Premiere Pro automatic music-making
SmartSound offers
Quicktracks plug-in for Premiere Pro, cuts prices and updates V3 of
SonicFire Pro
The latest automatic
music-track-creation offering from SmartSound - formerly Sonic Desktop
- is a version of the company's Quicktracks wizard-based plug-in for
Adobe Premiere Pro (review, December 2003, p30).
Price is £70 inc VAT, and includes the SmartSound Elements music
compilation CD with 23 samples of royalty-free music. Further info from:
www.smartsound.co.uk/premiere/index.html.
The company has also introduced updaters for its new range-leading Mac
and Windows program, Smartsound SonicFire Pro 3 (review, Jan 03, p40).
These (V3.12 for Mac and V3.11 for Windows) are said to allow any Smart
Block track to be looped for DVD menus. Also, the play locator line
now extends through the wave display area for easier cueing, and the
Assistant gives reference to the library that a track comes from.
Fixes include iMovie integration for PAL videos, and incompatibility
issues with QuickTime 6.4 on a Mac, although SmartSound says it's still
best not to use the program under QT6.4 on Windows. The Mac version
also restores auditioning over the Internet - which got broken with
the V3.11 Mac updater.
Improvements have been made for smoother playback, and for locating
missing project files. Some encoding files have been changed for future
compatibility, and notes created for users' files no longer get deleted
during a library database rebuild. Downloads are available from: www.smartsound.co.uk/support/updates.html#sfp
Smartsound pricing for SonicFire 3.1.x has also been revised in the
UK. For Mac and Windows version, SonicFire 3.1 with two 44.1kHz music
CDs costs £200. A bundled version for £369 includes the
software with five 44.1kHz music CDs. The Home User V3.1 upgrade for
Pinnacle Studio and Movie Maestro is £208 and includes two music
CDs. Users of Adobe Premiere 6.x Quicktracks and those with SonicFire
Pro V2.x can upgrade to version 3.1 for £70.
Datavision, 01525
406886; www.datavision.co.uk
SmartSound; www.smartsound.co.uk
Read more news in
February 2004's Computer Video magazine.
|
Recent features...
View
The Archive
Reviewed in this issue:
Primera Bravo DVD Publisher
Siren DVD Duplication Station
Sony DSR-PDX10P
Avid Xpress Pro
Canopus Edius 1.5
In February's news:
DVD Workshop goes pro
Adobe editing suite on the cheap
Toshiba portable Media Center
Forging ahead in sound
Edit-ready Apple PowerMac
LaCie Toast 6 burner bundle
ADS Tech USB2 boxes
Budget Canopus ProCoder
Pinnacle Dazzles
Canopus three-way converter
Discreet 3ds max 6
Premiere Pro music-making
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