Video News

Reprinted from a Turtle Beach press release:

Turtle Beach today announced the Video Advantage PCI, an all-in-one, PCI-based video capture system that supports both analog and digital video capture in a wide variety of standards and formats, making it easy to capture, edit and deliver video with professional results.

“Analog tape doesn’t last forever,” said Frederick Romano, Executive vice-president of Turtle Beach. “With Video Advantage PCI you can transfer analog and digital video tapes to your PC and then edit, copy, enhance and transfer to DVD, CD or the web. It’s the perfect solution for video enthusiasts and amateur videographers who want a no-compromise, high-performance desktop video production system at an affordable price.”

In addition to providing high-speed PCI-based video capture with 10-bit color resolution, the Video Advantage PCI also features a unique front-panel interface that fits into a 5.25″ drive bay, providing convenient access to line and microphone inputs, S-Video and composite video inputs, a USB passthrough, and a 4-pin 1394 port for connecting digital camcorders or a digital VCR. Analog video can be captured in DV format for frame-accurate editing or MPEG format to conserve hard disk space. A Right-to-Disc Recording feature also allows transfer of videos directly from camcorder tape to DVD in one simple step.

The all-inclusive package also features a suite of video and audio production software, including: AD FullCap for capturing in AVI, or DV type-1 and type-2 formats, Cyberlink PowerDirector DE for capturing in MPEG format and authoring movies or photo slide shows, Cyberlink PowerProducer Express, for transferring to DVD, SVCD, VCS, DV Tape or streaming video for the Web, AudioSurgeon for recording and editing music and sound effects, and a comprehensive library of music and sound effects for enhancing movies and photo slide shows.

The Video Advantage PCI, which is compatible with Windows 2000/XP systems, has an expected SRP of $169.95.

Reprinted from an NEC press release:

Today, NEC Solutions (America), Inc., a premier provider of integrated solutions for the Connected Enterprise in North America, introduced the NEC ND-3500A, a double layer internal DVD rewritable drive that features the highest industry performance combined with the leading lowest market price of $99.99. The ND-3500A offers double layer 16X DVD±R/RW speed and the support all major brands of CD, DVD +/-R /RW, and double layer media. This NEC rewritable drive is also compatible with all major PC brands.

Designed to meet the needs of consumers, video editors and DVD enthusiasts looking to upgrade, the NEC ND-3500A is a flexible, high capacity, reliable device ideal for burning and recording DVDs and CDs, storing PC data and converting video to DVD.

Larry Sheffield, senior vice president of the Solutions Platform Group for NEC Solutions America, believes the ND-3500A features the best DVD technology available in the market today.

“The ND-3500A is the first double layer 16X DVD re-writer to offer significantly faster recording speeds, ensuring users don’t have to compromise the quality of video and photos,” said Sheffield. “Now, a one hour DVD can be recorded in less than four minutes, and with the new double layer DVD media, consumers can now store 8.5 GB on just one DVD+R DL disc offering the ability to record huge amounts of data at a industry leading speed.”

By entering the market with a price of $99.99 for the ND-3500A, NEC is hoping to gain significant market share in an industry that is seeing a significant upswing. By the end of 2005, over 12 million US homes will have a DVD recorder, compared with 3.3 million in 2004.

“Working with NEC to make the ULead DVD MovieFactory 3.5 Suite Deluxe edition a key component to the new NEC ND-3500A DVD Kit is outstanding news for consumers,” says Lewis Liaw, president of Ulead Systems, North America. “DVD creation doesn’t need to be complicated and MovieFactory 3.5 Deluxe Edition is a testament to this. Consumers who use MovieFactory 3.5 Deluxe Edition will be pleased with how quickly they can burn movies, slideshows, data and music to CD or DVD”

Directors and independent filmmakers operating on tight budgets can save time and money by utilizing the drive for faster editing, creating a higher quality product in less time. Consumers can burn, copy and store video, photos or music on Hollywood quality format. With the Holiday Season fast approaching, ND-3500A is the perfect gift for users looking to burn, play and store data on DVD’s.

Features and Benefits
The ND-3500A DVD writer is compatible with all major PC brands and supports all CD, DVD +/-R /RW, and double layer media. This offers consumers the ideal device for burning and recording DVDs and CDs. Easy to install and featuring a Quick Start Guide, the NEC ND-3500A is the ultimate DVD writer upgrade.

Pricing and Availability
The NEC ND-3500A is priced at $99.99 and is available through PC Connection, CDW, Tiger Direct, and PC Mall. Additional information can be found on the NEC Solutions America website at http://www.necsam.com/

Reprinted from an InterVideo press release:

From the creators of its award-winning software for making copies of personal DVD and CD videos, DVD Copy, InterVideo, Inc. (NASDAQ: IVII) announced today the release of its latest version of InterVideo DiscMaster 2 Gold and Platinum, a user-friendly burning application that easily creates a CD or DVD in just three simple steps. InterVideo DiscMaster 2 provides a fast, easy way to copy data, music, and CD-ROM or DVD-ROM for archiving and backup usage.

InterVideo DiscMaster 2 is a full dimension solution for data and music copying. Creating and transferring data and music files is no longer a costly application for consumers. With two separate editions, DiscMaster Gold and DiscMaster Platinum, this straightforward burning software makes it effortless for virtually anyone wanting a copy of their content to use. It’s simple for beginners and easy as a snap for professionals to handle any desired copying CD/VCD tasks.

With its user-friendly interface, consumers can create DVDs or CDs in three basic steps: select source, target and burn. In just seconds, users can easily setup to record data, audio, or videodiscs without the hassle of complicated menus or difficult to understand options; it’s quick and easy. From creating backups of audio CDs to collecting favorite MP3s onto a CD, users can also smoothly extract multiple audio tracks including MP3, WAV or WMA from a music CD to a hard disc.

New to the latest version of DiscMaster 2 is the Over Burn feature that allows users to shorten CD-R lead-out area that gives users a little extra room to burn oversized data. Also, users do not need to worry if the project is too large to fit on one disc; the Span Disc option will prompt users to show how many discs are required before burning. In addition, DiscMaster 2 has a broad compatibility and supports all media: CD-R/RW, DVD+/-R/RW/-RAM disc or hard drive. Users can simply select the video output format of DVD, VCD, or SVCD; so no matter what type of drive is used, data and music discs can easily be shared with family and friends.

Designed for ease of use, DiscMaster 2 also incorporates a simplified interface and a step-by-step wizard that guides users along when they are creating CD/DVD processes so almost anyone can quickly master in producing copies of their data and music. Also included in DiscMaster 2 are the Enhanced, Mixed Mode, and Bootable CD features. Users can create an Enhanced multi-session CD with data and audio tracks or a Mixed-mode CD with one data track and multiple audio tracks. With DiscMaster 2, users can even create a Bootable CD or DVD to expand the file system. Other new features include DVD Double Layer Support so users can record twice the data volume onto one 8.5GB disc and Disc Copy in which consumers can make bit for bit copies of a CD/DVD to which they own the copyrights.

Exclusive to DiscMaster 2 Platinum, the Disc Label feature gives users the option of personalizing their CD or DVD by creating their own CD/DVD labels. Users can choose from several designs and images to give their CD a professional look. Also integrated in the Platinum edition, is the InterVideo Direct CD/DVD, which allows customers to use a packet-writing tool that permits users to easily drag and drop the files to the recording area which is similar to using a floppy disc.

Pricing, Availability
InterVideo DiscMaster 2 is available today at InterVideo’s web site, www.intervideo.com. Compatible with Windows 2000 and XP systems, the suggested list prices are $29.95 USD for the Gold version and $49.95 USD for the Platinum version.

Reprinted from an Unrelated Inventions press release:

Unrelated Inventions is proud to announce the launch of a new version of Audiotools, a Windows software for audio recording and audio file conversion and manipulation.

Audiotools works in a WYSIWYG way and allows users to record whatever you can feed in their soundcard directly to disk. With modern, duplex soundcards, they can also record anything that you can play, including MIDI files or streamed audio from the Internet.

The software allows users to do easily some very complicated sound processing tasks as it can correct sound files for noise reduction, automatically split files into many based on the detected silences or merge many files into one. You can also do some very basic and standard tasks as CD ripping and file conversion for various audio formats (such as mp3 to wav, mp3 to au, wma to mp3 etc.).

Audiotools has powerful support for plugins (including DirectX plugins) to add further sound processing processes. It can also be used to create CD’s or MP3 collection in a WYSIWYG way as it has built in support for CD Writing and for Lame, Gogo or Fraunhoffer MP3 encoders. The new version also allows for the creation of multiple skins for the interface of the software.

Audiotools costs $25 USD for a fully licensed copy and comes with full documentation and customer support.

Reprinted from a Laird press release:

Laird announced today the launch of a new system for mounting a video camera on a wheelchair. This system, named VGO, gives a wheelchair user full control over their video camera. This new wheelchair video system helps broadcasters, educators, AV and media departments meet ADA and Section 508 compliance in a new creative way.

“Up until now, the use of a video camera for someone in a wheelchair has been difficult if not impossible,” said Chase Pierson from DCTV. “Laird has tackled and solved this problem by working with its engineering team, consultants, and from the personal experiences of our own employees who use assistive devices to access technology,” said Laird Director of Operations, Paku Misra.

The broadcast video wheelchair system comes equipped with a steel swing out arm and a camera tripod head mounted on it for safe and steady camera movement. The arm can easily swing out of the way when the user needs to enter or exit their wheelchair. The entire system can be removed simply from the wheelchair by releasing the two locking knobs.

VGO is available with two choices of tripod heads: Either a normal hand operated version or an electronic head that adds automatic controls of camera start, stop, record, lens focus and zoom as well as full pan and tilt capability. All of these features are controlled from a cabled handheld remote.

There is an optional 5.6″ color LCD monitor system and clamp available so users can view exactly what the camera is recording without having to be near the camera.

The VGO wheelchair system brings creative accessibility to people with disabilities for shooting broadcast, wedding, and training videos as well as other multimedia productions.

Laird Telemedia products, including the VGO Wheelchair Video System, are available from a worldwide network of professional dealers. For images and more information about VGO, log on to www.lairdtelemedia.com/pr.

Reprinted from a MooGear press release:

MooGear announces DV Capture, a simple to use application that allows someone to capture audio and video very easily through the fire wire port from an external device into their PC.

More often, people require expensive Non Linear editing applications in order to simply capture video from a camera or device. The need to capture video in suitable formats does not always have to be tethered to the editing experience. Anyone with a camera should be able to capture media to their hard drive quickly and reliably. DV Capture allows you to acquire easily and reliably form a choice of external devices. Now, an editor can have several capture stations. DV Capture does not require you to edit at all. You can simply capture video and then encode using your favorite output application.

DV Capture Features:
With DV Capture you can:

Reprinted from a Verbatim press release:

Verbatim Corporation, the industry leader in high-performance DVD recordable media, announced today that it is now shipping certified 1-16x speed DVD+R media. The new media is certified by the DVD+R/+RW Verification Laboratories Group (DVLG), which provides users with the assurance that Verbatim 1-16x speed DVD+R discs are compliant with the standard’s read and write performance specifications. Verbatim has been supplying its media to leading 16X drive manufacturers for tuning their burners and confirming drive/media compatibility. The new write-once media can be used at all recording speeds between 1x and 16x - the fastest DVD burning speed. Compatible with the latest 16X recorders announced by BenQ, Hitachi-LG Data Storage, Inc., LiteOn, NEC, Plextor, Sony and others, the Verbatim media will store 4.7GB of video, photos, music or data files in about six minutes.

A core member of the DVD+RW Alliance, Verbatim has been at the forefront in developing technologies and manufacturing processes that enable high-speed recording. The new 16x DVD+R media features the proprietary Advanced AZO recording layer technology developed by Verbatim’s parent company, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM). The patented AZO dye features increased sensitivity to laser light-the key requirement for high-speed recording, as well as a wide power margin which allows very stable recording.

Verbatim’s Azo dye is designed to properly control the heat interference between consecutive recorded marks. This substantially reduces the jitter and enables superior recording characteristics across the entire range of available recording speeds, from 1x through 16x. In addition to the superior recording layer, the discs are manufactured using Verbatim’s advanced precision molding technology which ensures a consistently flat disc surface and minimizes errors during high-speed recording.

The reliability, high-speed recording and broad compatibility that Verbatim’s new 16X DVD+R discs provide make them ideal for sharing computer data, home videos, photos, and music. With write-once security and 4.7 GB of capacity, the media is also an excellent storage solution for fast backups and archiving.

Availability
Backed by a limited lifetime warranty, Verbatim certified 1-16X DVD+R media are packaged in spindle and slim jewel case packaging configurations and are available through leading retailers, Internet resellers and distributors across the country with street pricing of about $30 for a 25-pack spindle.

Reprinted from a Sony press release:

Sony is unlocking new levels of home video enjoyment with the world’s first DVD burner capable of stand-alone, real-time DVD recording, as well as computer-attached burning.

Sony’s new DVDirect (pronounced DVD Direct) device can connect directly to a camcorder or VCR for transferring tape-based video footage to DVD for playback on most home DVD players and PC DVD-ROM drives.

Camcorder sales continue to soar, marking a significant opportunity for the DVDirect device to help camcorder owners transfer home movies onto DVD without the complexity of using a computer. This allows DVD recording to be extended to a broader group of consumers who might otherwise consider the task too daunting.

The DVDirect burner can also be attached to a PC, and comes with the necessary software for advanced DVD video authoring projects, as well as the creation of data, music, and video DVDs and CDs.

“Preserving precious moments onto DVD has never been easier than with the DVDirect burner,” said Robert DeMoulin, marketing manager for branded storage products in Sony Electronics’ IT Products Division. “Users can simply connect their camcorder to the recorder, hit the record button, and out comes a DVD disc that they can pop into their home DVD player. Meanwhile, computer-savvy users can attach the DVDirect device to a PC to perform all of the common tasks characteristic of computer-attached burners.”

“Sony continues to be a pioneer in the DVD-recordable market by simplifying the DVD burning process,” said Wolfgang Schlichting, research director for removable storage for IDC. “With DVD-recordable speeds reaching their limit, Sony has taken the next step in market innovation with DVDirect.”

The DVDirect device can burn up to 12 hours of high-quality MPEG-2 video onto compatible double layer DVD+R DL discs or up to six hours onto standard single layer DVD+R or DVD+RW discs. The device can also automatically insert chapters onto DVDs through DVD+Video Recording (+VR), or “start and stop” recording, so users can jump to specific parts of a DVD during playback and edit video footage on the fly.

Less to Buy and Less to Set Up
Unlike computer-attached burners currently on the market that require a separate capture card and a computer to perform the same functions, Sony’s DVDirect burner features built-in real-time video capturing and hardware MPEG-2 encoding to quickly deliver high-quality DVDs. Consumers who want to transfer their analog tapes to DVD can save money on extra hardware expenditures by choosing the all-in-one DVDirect device.

Computer-Attached Recording
When attached to a PC with a USB 2.0 connection, the DVDirect burner also supports dual-format, double-layer burning. With 16X maximum recording speeds for DVD+R, users can burn a full write-once disc in about six minutes. Double layer burning allows consumers to record up to four hours of MPEG-2 video (at 4.7 Mbps) and up to 8.5GB of data onto a single-sided, double layer disc. Additionally, Sony’s DVDirect burner can support 4X DVD±RW, 48X CD-R and 24X CD-RW recording speeds, so users can select the speed and media that best suits their needs.

Users can benefit from many other features when they connect the DVDirect device to a computer, including the ability to jazz up their home movies with special effects or music, or to make copies of home movies using a master DVD.

DVD and CD Software Suite
Sony’s DVDirect device comes bundled with an award-winning Nero software suite from Ahead for computer-attached operation. The package features DVD video authoring software and DVD/CD burning software, as well as packet-writing software for users to easily record files and folders by dragging them to the icon of a DVD+RW/CD-RW disc. Additional elements include DVD-Video playing software, backup software, virtual disc drive software, management/jukebox software, disc label creation software and drive tool software. All tasks and applications are accessible via the unique Nero StartSmart launcher, which serves as the ultimate command-center, giving the user one-click access to all programs in the package.

Availability and Pricing
The DVDirect burner is expected to ship in November for an estimated selling price of around $300. Sony DVD/CD rewritable drives are sold through resellers and retailers nationwide, mail order catalogs, and select online shopping sites, including sonystyle.com.

For this product, Sony will provide “worry-free” installation, along with toll-free customer and technical service, Monday through Saturday, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. CT. The company will also provide a one-year limited warranty from the original date of purchase. See product literature and actual warranty for details.

Specifications for Sony’s New DVDirect Burner (Model VRD-VC10):

Stand-Alone Recording Mode

Reprinted from an ARRI press release:

ARRI Inc. introduces the new ARRI X Ceramic 250. The ARRI X Ceramic employs the new Ceramic ST 250 HR discharge lamp from Philips, which produces a 3200K Tungsten quality light.

This new lamp from Philips provides almost the same light output as a 1K Halogen lamp, yet consumes just a quarter of its power. Besides considerable cost savings due to the low power consumption (250W) the fixture dissipates significantly less heat than a Halogen fixture, making it a “cool” unit which can be touched with bare hands even after hours of operation. Talent will appreciate looking good with less discomfort.

The ARRI X Ceramic 250 is based on the design of the ARRI X Series, but includes a built in ballast and igniter and can be directly plugged to power.

Using the ARRI X reflector technology guarantees excellent light distribution, perfect for a smooth and cool background or fill light. With optional snoot and eggcrates a smooth but directional source makes the Arri X Ceramic a great key. Alternately you can create sharp shadows by switching to a black reflector and a clear safety glass.

The ARRI X Ceramic 250 provides a very wide spread and is therefore ideal for lighting situations in narrow spaces where maximum output is required.

The new fixture will be available in late November 2004.

At a Glance:

Reprinted from a CyberLink press release:

CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), a world leader and pioneer in providing integrated solutions for the Digital Home, announced today the release of PowerProducer 3, a new version featuring stylish DVD menus, intelligent video and burning technologies and enhanced authoring tools, making DVD authoring quick and easy. New features in this version includes: