Sony Introduces New Versions of Consumer Software for Creative Content Production

MADISON, Wis., June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Creative Software, a leading provider of award-winning professional video and audio editing applications, today announced new versions of its consumer software product line, providing users with powerful yet easy to use tools for developing and editing creative digital content such as videos, music, podcasts, photos and more. Each application has been specifically designed to help anyone easily make their creative inspirations come to life. The new software lineup includes Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 video editing software, DVD Architect 5 DVD and Blu-ray Disc™ authoring software, Sound Forge Audio Studio 10 audio editing and production software and ACID Music Studio 8 music creation and mixing software. Along with the individual software applications, Sony has also introduced two specialized software bundles that affordably provide comprehensive production tools, including the Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 Production Suite and the Imagination Studio Suite 2.

Through extensive upgrades to the entire consumer line of products, the new Sony software collection provides users with intuitive and advanced tools to create nearly any type of multimedia project. Each software application easily imports a wide variety of audio, video or still image files for a simple and streamlined process that helps make creating content an enjoyable process from start to finish.

"More people than ever before are expressing their unique interests and creativity by making movies, music, web television and podcasts to share with friends, family and online audiences," said Dave Chaimson, vice-president of global marketing for Sony Creative Software. "These new versions of Sony Creative Software products include upgrades and new features ideally suited for transforming raw footage and audio files into polished, professional final projects. The new software applications have been designed to help new users quickly get started using our 'Show Me How' tutorials, but advanced users can continue to expand their skills by discovering new tricks and techniques through powerful features that have been adapted from our professional line of software tools."

Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 Feature Highlights

Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 is an easy-to-use, full-featured video editing application that provides the tools to create professional-looking high-definition projects, as well continued support for standard-definition media. Powerful new tools such as image stabilization, GPU accelerated rendering, slideshow creator, expanded color correction tools, DVD burning from the timeline, enhanced device explorer, and Blu-ray authoring, now offer expanded ways to deliver stunning projects. Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 includes many new features including:

• Image Stabilization: Users with "shaky" video footage, commonly shot from handheld, pocket and mobile phone cameras, now have the ability to quickly stabilize their files using several optimized presets. Image Stabilization uses technology from ProDAD, a leading provider of video effects plug-ins.
• Slideshow creator: This new feature simplifies the creation of slideshows made from still images. Designed with ease of use in mind, the Slideshow Creator allows users to quickly create pan/zoom effects and transitions across a set of images, and provides the ability to create a dynamic slideshow from a set of images with only a few simple clicks.
• Increased Number of Tracks: Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum now allows up to 10 video tracks and 10 audio tracks so content creators can utilize more tracks for organizational options, or to embrace more complex projects and compositing techniques.
• New color correction tools: These tools provide users with the ability to rapidly fix video originally shot with incorrect color levels. The new White Balance tool can be used to determine what "white" should look like within a video clip. The entire clip is then automatically color adjusted to match. Seasoned editors can also use the Secondary Color Corrector tool for more advanced color modification.
• GPU-accelerated AVC Rendering: Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum can now use the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) in equipped computers to improve AVC rendering performance and speed, which allows final projects to be published faster than ever before. Users with a CUDA-enabled NVIDIA® video card are able to encode to the Sony AVC format using GPU-accelerated rendering.
• Device Explorer: An all-new Device Explorer window allows users to quickly browse the contents of AVCHD, hard disc and Memory Stick devices, creating more efficient ways to retrieve and edit content.
• DVD Burning Direct from Timeline: In addition to delivering projects via Blu-ray discs, traditional file based hard disk and streaming media formats, users can now burn a DVD disc directly from the timeline to quickly author simple menu-less discs, providing a quick and cost-effective distribution option.

Acid Music Studio 8 Feature Highlights

ACID Music Studio 8 provides users with a comprehensive toolset for music and mashup creations. There are several new features, including an audio and MIDI mixing console, enhanced remixing tools, and exclusive elastique Pro timestretching tools that add more options to ensure users are limited only by their imaginations when producing original music projects. The leading software application in multitrack, loop and beat matching functionality, ACID Music Studio 8 now comes with over 3,000 high quality music loops and includes the Studio Devil™ British Valve Custom guitar amp, as well as the TruePianos™ Amber Lite piano plug-in. You can also upload your project to the ACIDplanet.com social networking and music website directly from within the interface.

• Audio and MIDI Mixing Console: The new Mixing Console provides an integrated view of all tracks and busses in your project with the appearance of a traditional hardware-based mixer. The look can be customized to provide you with the best view of even the most complex session. The new audio and MIDI Mixing Console has additional routing options, allowing for a more flexible and efficient studio recording environment.
• Zplane elastique Audio Timestretching and Pitch Shifting:, Zplane elastique Pro technology allows users to perform dramatic time stretches and pitch-shifts of Beatmapped tracks while retaining maximum sound quality.
• Enchanced remixing tools: For remixing your favorite songs, only ACID Music Studio software has the Beatmapper tool. This feature automatically finds the tempo of a complete song, making it easy to remix songs with different beat structures. New markers in ACID Music Studio 8 allow you to Beatmap songs with varying tempos and time signatures.
• Cross-Track Event Drag and Drop: This new feature allows users to easily create mixes by simply cutting, copying, or pasting events across multiple tracks for faster editing.

Sound Forge Audio Studio 10 Feature Highlights

Sound Forge Audio Studio 10 offers professional tools for mastering audio projects with ease. The new workflow enhancements, including floatable/dockable windows, improved maximum audio bitrate, and enhanced vinyl restoration wizard, enable users to record audio, edit, and master with pro-level control. The software is perfect for anyone wanting to record, edit, and convert audio from almost any source. Prepare audio files for export to the PSP®, iPod®, iPhone®, and burn audio to CDs or create files for the Web.

• Enhanced Vinyl Recording Wizard: Advanced automatic track detection and editing in Sound Forge Audio Studio 10 now makes it easier to convert vinyl and cassettes to digital files. These new features allow users to adjust the start/end times of tracks and fine-tune adjustments prior to CD burning or converting to MP3 for digital conversion or archiving.
• 24-bit/32-bit Float 192 kHz Audio Support: Sound Forge Audio Studio 10 supports 32-bit IEEE float bit-depth and 192 kHz sample rate so users can work with the highest audio resolution for superior sound quality.
• Customizable Window Layouts: Users can create and save multiple layout configurations, and easily recall a window layout for specific editing tasks for a more personalized editing process.
• Floating Window Docks: Windows can be docked and grouped within the Sound Forge Audio Studio 10 interface in order to customize the environment to fit the particular way a user prefers to work.

Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 Production Suite

In addition to Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 software, the Production Suite features additional applications to help add even more polish and originality to video projects. The Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 Production Suite includes DVD Architect Studio 5, Sound Forge Audio Studio 10, Vocal Eraser technology, NewBlueFX audio and video effects, a tutorial DVD and 400 exclusive original music soundtracks.

Imagination Studio Suite 2

The Imagination Studio Suite 2 bundle offers a comprehensive Sony software collection to create the ultimate home multimedia studio. Equipped with the tools to create outstanding multimedia projects, the Imagination Studio Suite 2 features Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10, DVD Architect Studio 5, ACID Music Studio 8, Sound Forge Audio Studio 10, and Photo Go, as well as 360 original music soundtracks, providing an extensive set of tools for adding a personal touch to every media project.

Price and Availability

Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 (MSRP U.S. $99.95), ACID Music Studio 8 (MSRP U.S. $69.95), Sound Forge Audio Studio 10 (MSRP U.S. $69.95), Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 Production Suite (MSRP U.S. $129.95) and Imagination Studio Suite 2 (MSRP U.S. $179.95) are now available in English, Japanese, French, German and Spanish. Upgrade pricing for existing users of any of these applications are available via download from Sony Creative Software's website. For more information about these software applications or any of Sony Creative Software's award-winning audio or video editing solutions, please visit www.sonycreativesoftware.com.

About Sony Creative Software

Sony Creative Software inspires artistic expression with its award-winning line of products for digital video, music, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and audio production. The company develops applications that integrate with and enhance use of Sony cameras and other hardware devices. Sony Creative Software customers span the globe and include seasoned professionals in the film, television, video game, and recording industries, as well as students, educators, hobbyists, and enthusiasts. For more information about professional and consumer products, visit www.sonycreativesoftware.com.

Vegas and ACID are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Creative Software Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Sony Creative Software