Sonic Foundry Upgrades Vegas Video 4.0 with HD and 24 Frames Progressive Video Support

by News Editor
Published on Apr 5, 2003 12:00 AM



Every since it’s introduction to video editing Final Cut Pro, Apple’s ''Mac only'' Final Cut Pro video editor has gotten rave reviews, leaving some PC editors feeling left out. Then came Vegas Video, easily one of the most used editing programs, and many would consider it in the same league with Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premier or Avid Xpress. But Sonic Foundry refuses to be out done. They’ve just announced a series of new HD and 24p enhancements to its Vegas 4 NLE and DVD authoring software suite.

The new update, 4.0b (free to Vegas 4 and Vegas+DVD registered users) stays on top of it’s game by providing editing and rendering of high-definition digital video, enhanced 24p capabilities, and support for Panasonic's new AG-DVX100 24p camera. Sonic Foundry's Brad Reinke, senior vice president and general manager of software said, ''Today's production professionals are looking for a tightly integrated platform that supports the widest possible number of source and delivery formats.'' He goes on to say. ''Cost-effective HD and 24p capabilities are becoming essential to the production toolset and, with the addition of HD and 24p editing to Vegas 4, we're now able to support HD MPEG-2 for broadcast, 24p MPEG-2 for DVD, HD streaming media, HD animation sequences, and more.''

Vegas 4.0’s newest list of enhancements are as follows:

1. Support for HD editing and rendering of high-definition video to .avi, .mov, MPEG-2, Windows Media 9 Series, RealVideo 9, png, and .jpeg sequences, at 1080/60i, 1080/30p, 1080/24p, 720/60p, 720/30p and 720/24p, all with frame sizes of up to 2048 x 2048.

2. 24p enhancements, including 24p project frame rate and timecode display; 24p editing, titles, transitions, and fx; record/edit/mix in 24p projects; 2:3 and 2:3:3:2 pulldown support; 24p DV print to tape; and 24p render to .avi, .mov,

MPEG-2, Windows Media 9 Series, RealVideo 9 and still image sequences.

3. Microsoft Windows Media 9 Series high-definition import, editing and surround encoding.

4. Updates to DVD Architect to accept 24p MPEG-2 source files without recompression.

5. Panasonic AG-DVX100 24p camera support includes: capture, edit, render 24p DV, auto detect of 2:3 and 2:3:3:2 pulldown, and print to tape with 2:3 and 2:3:3:2 pulldown.

The free update will be available Monday, April 7, to all existing Vegas 4.0 and Vegas+DVD users.

Each enhancement is timely and will allow for users incredible expansion and flexibility. Once again Vegas Video shows that it refuses to be left behind in the fast paced world of video editing. For more information about Sonic Foundry, visit the company's web site at www.sonicfoundry.com.