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Apple has released a public
beta of QuickTime 4 which
features streaming of live and stored
video and audio over the Internet using
non-proprietary RTP and RTSP protocols. In
addition, Apple announced that it has
begun licensing its open Internet
Streaming Server software under an Open
Source model. The public beta software
includes an all new QuickTime Player that
offers enhancements to the QuickTime
PictureViewer application and QuickTime
Web Browser Plug-in.
Features:
- QuickTime
Player also features audio controls for
balance, volume, bass, and treble;
- Support
for MPEG-1 layer 3 (MP3) and Macromedia
Flash;
- QuickTime
for Java;
- Small,
intelligent installer enables users to
download only the parts of QuickTime
they need.
QuickTime
3 Pro customers are automatically upgraded
to QuickTime 4 Pro free of charge upon
downloading the QuickTime 4 public beta
software.
Apple
has also introduced it's QuickTime
Streaming Server software, the
underlying server technology for QuickTime
4's ability to stream live and stored
video and audio over the Internet. The
technology can be downloaded by developers
as Open Source software&emdash;the Darwin
Streaming Server&emdash;from
<www.apple.com/publicsource>
and is also available as a free update to
Mac OS X Server, Apple's new server
operating system. Server software can
purchased for U.S. $499
Key
features of QuickTime Streaming Server
running on Mac OS X Server include:
- Ability
to serve over 1,000 simultaneous audio
and video streams at modem rate
connections;
- no
'per stream' charges;
- Support
for RTP and RTSP streaming protocols;
- Management
tools allowing administration of the
server and reporting on performance and
throughput;
- Easy
set up, with simple installer available
for download.
<www.apple.com/quicktime>
Apple Computer says it's shipping
Final Cut Pro
[hands
up;who thought it was never going to see
the light of
day?-Ed]
This much anticipated program was first
developed by Macromedia and shown back in
1996. Now it's finally out and listing at
$999. It's described as being something
like a combination of Adobe Premiere and
Adobe After Effects, offering both editing
and compositing tools. According to Steve
jobs, "Desktop Video is Apple's next big
market push and Final Cut Pro will lead
the charge at the high end."
Features
include:
- Three-point
editing, match frame and multitrack
trimming;
- Proxy-free
compositing;
- Simultaneous
playback of video to a computer screen
and TV, VCR or camera;
- Create
and animate unlimited layers of video
using text, graphics, Adobe Photoshop
files (with layers maintained), and
additional video elements;
- Support
for Bezier curves and graphs with
keyframes to help users apply and
control time-based effects;
- Built-in
text generators create titles with
automatic kerning and leading;
- Support
for qualified third party After Effects
plug-ins.
Final
Cut Pro is available today in the U.S. and
Canada. Worldwide availability of Final
Cut Pro is expected to follow later this
summer.
<www.apple.com/finalcutpro>
Adobe Systems says an update to
its' video editing product,
Premiere, will take advantage of a
host of new features within QuickTime
4, including new capabilities for
video streaming on the Web and native DV
editing. This update will be available
this summer as a free plug-in for
registered customers. Also in this update
will be new support for QuickTime
effects.
Adobe
Premiere has also added a variety of new
functions to support video editing on the
Macintosh platform. These functions
include the ability to directly control DV
cameras, to capture and export DV video
and to simultaneously playback video from
both the Adobe Premiere timeline and
through the DV camera.
The
new plug-ins for Premiere add support for
the effects built into QuickTime 4. These
effects include transitions like
explosions and implosions, as well as
filters like film noise and color
balancing.
<www.adobe.com/premiere>
Adobe says that for a limited-time
through August 31, 1999, standard version
and production bundle shipments of
Adobe After Effects will include,
at no charge, 10 effects filters
from the popular Final Effects Complete
package, from Integrated Computing Engines
(ICE).
The
plug-ins included in the special offer are
Vector Blur, Drizzle, Blobbyize, Sphere,
Flo Motion, Hair, Lens, Particle Systems
LE, Lightburst, and Page Turn.
This
special promotional offer is available in
the U.S., Canada, Japan, Asia Pacific and
Latin America. Adobe After Effects 4.0 is
priced at $995 U.S. for the Standard
Version and $2,195 U.S. for the Production
Bundle.
Customers
who purchased or upgraded to After Effects
4.0 prior to April 19, 1999 can download
five selected, free plug-ins.
<www.iced.com/freefec.asp>
Sigma Designs has announced
REALmagic Digital Video Recorder
(DVR), a low-cost encoder and decoder card
for creating and playing MPEG-2 DVD
titles. With REALmagic DVR, users can
record DVD-quality video captured from any
video source. REALmagic DVR makes it
possible to record, edit, author, and
archive DVD-quality video on PCs. Recorded
DVD video can then be played back, edited,
and stored on DVD discs or PC hard disk
drives for corporate use or for consumer
applications at home.
REALmagic
DVR consists of the encoder chip and
Sigma's MPEG-2 decoder silicon. Samples of
REALmagic DVR will be available later in
the second quarter, with volume production
expected in the third quarter of 1999.
REALmagic DVR will be sold through OEMs
and system integrators. The suggested
retail price for the codec card is
$999.
<www.sigmadesigns.com>
Matrox Video Products Group has
announced a software bundle for Matrox
DigiSuite DTV that will give users a
complete video production DVD authoring
system in a single Windows NT
workstation. The bundle includes Adobe
Premiere RT software for realtime editing,
Inscriber CG for broadcast titling, Boris
FX for 3D digital video effects, and Sonic
DVDit! for DVD authoring.
To
create a DVD, users capture and edit video
in realtime using Adobe Premiere RT; then
drag and drop edited video sequences,
audio clips, graphics, backgrounds, and
buttons into DVDit!; build their
interactive DVD with a single mouse click;
then write it to DVD-R or any recordable
medium.
DigiSuite
DTV, bundled with a complete software
suite for digital media creation Adobe
Premiere RT realtime editing, Inscriber CG
titling, Boris Effects 3D DVE and Sonic
DVDit! DVD authoring is priced at $5,995
US. An SDI option is priced at $1,995 US,
while a DV-1394 interface option is priced
at $995 US. These products will be
available in June 1999.
<www.matrox.com/video>
Sonic Solutions has announced a new
DVD-Video authoring tool for the
Windows platform, Sonic DVDit!,
that costs only $499.
DVDit!
combines the features Sonic's DVD-Video
HyperMux multiplexing technology and
MPEG-2 video transcoder with a simple user
interface. Users can capture and edit
digital video in QuickTime, AVI, MPEG-2 or
DV format, then use DVDit! to create
menus, link video clips and create
interactivity, with drag-and-drop
simplicity.
DVDit!
creates interactive DVD Video files that
can be written to a DVD-R or DVD-RW
recorder for playback on consumer
DVD-Video players. Or it can be used to
create a Video CD that can be recorded on
a low-cost CD-R and played back on a wide
variety of set-top and PC-based
players.
Sonic
DVDit! includes support for the newly
announced AuthorScript format, a
new open standard for passing DVD
authoring information from non-linear
editors and interactive authoring tools to
DVD publishing systems. Developed by Sonic
AuthorScript provides a way for DVDit!
users to design basic DVD titles and then
send their project to any member firm of
the DVD Production Alliance, an
organization of authoring facilities
equipped for advanced DVD authoring and
production that has adopted AuthorScript
as the standard for authoring file
interchange. AuthorScript files can
contain a video edit list as well as
interactive information for menus,
multiple video angles, or any other
DVD-Video or DVD-Audio supported feature.
Sonic Solutions' DVD Creator system and
DVDit! authoring software are the first
applications to support AuthorScript
export and import.Sonic also announced the
availability of AuthorScript Formatter, a
C++ code library for DVD-Video and
DVD-Audio multiplexing and formatting that
can be incorporated into virtually any
Macintosh or Windows 98/NT
application.
DVDit!
also includes the capability to output in
DVD-embedded HTML, which converts
interactive menus into HTML pages. Using
eDVD, video content is multiplexed into
DVD video object files (VOBs) that can be
played using Microsoft
Directshow-compatible DVD-Video players in
hardware or software. The resulting HTML
pages and DVD files can be written to
DVD-R, hard disk or served over the
Internet or an intranet.
Sonic
DVDit! has a suggested U.S. list price of
$499 and will be available for purchase in
July 1999.
Sonic
Solutions has also announced Sonic
DVDit! for Premiere. The $399 plug-in
for Adobe Premiere converts video and
audio into DVD-Video volumes that can
be played back on DVD-Video set-top
players and DVD-equipped personal
computers. DVD Volumes can be written to
DVD-R for playback on consumer DVD-Video
players or individual DVD-Video files
(VOBs) may be incorporated in DVD-ROM
productions, web-linked applications or
Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.
Authors can simply select "DVDit!" from
the Export menu. Productions can be
created for a variety of playback formats,
including DVD-R, the new DVD-RW, as well
as Video CD. With a run-time player
(included), they can even be distributed
on CD-R and DVD-RAM.
An
integrated MPEG-2 video transcoder
automatically selects optimum compression
and bit-rate settings to convert other
video file formats to the standard for
DVD. An integrated audio transcoder
converts 44.1 kHz CD-quality audio to 48
kHz, the standard for DVD. Sonic DVDit!
for Premiere is targeted to ship for
Windows 98 systems in August 1999.
<www.dvdit.com>
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