Adobe Premiere Upgrade, New Suite Lead Video-Editing Blitz Complete Video and Audio Editing and DVD Producing Solution Eric Grevstad
Mon 7/7/03 -- The people who bring you Photoshop are determined to rule the digital video editing and DVD production arena: Adobe Systems will ship an array of new products, upgrades, and bundles this summer to offer an integrated video and audio editing, visual effects, and DVD authoring solution or workflow, all optimized for Windows Media 9 and multiprocessing or Intel's Pentium 4 Hyper-Threading platforms.
The anchor of the new family is Adobe Premiere Pro ($699 or $199 upgrade), which the company calls the most powerful upgrade to its popular video-editing software since its debut in 1991. The program has been redesigned with professional-caliber tools including multiple, nested timelines; sophisticated 3-point color correction; an audio mixer with 5.1 surround-sound mixing and AC3 export; and a title tool with scores of fonts and templates. Premiere Pro supports both standard- and high-definition footage; MPEG-2, AVI, WAV, and AIFF import/export and industry-standard AAF (Advanced Authoring Format) export; and enhanced integration with Adobe Photoshop and Encore DVD.
Adobe After Effects 6.0 ($699 or $199 upgrade) adds OpenGL acceleration and a text engine for compelling typographic animations to the company's 2D/3D motion graphics compositing, animation, and visual-effects software. The Professional edition ($999 or $299 upgrade) offers motion-tracking and stabilization controls, vector paint tools based on Photoshop technology, render automation with scripting and 16-bits-per-channel color support, and numerous 3D and keying add-ins.
Adobe Audition ($299), formerly Syntrillium Software's Cool Edit Pro 2.1, is a 128-track recording studio that lets users edit individual audio files, create loops, and import over 45 DSP effects. It supports MP3, MP3Pro, WAV, WMA, AIFF, and other formats, with CD-, DVD-, and DVD Audio-quality file depths up to 32 bits and sample rates in excess of 192kHz.
Scheduled to ship by the end of August, the new programs will be available in two Adobe Video Collection for Windows XP suites: The $999 standard edition ($799 for the first 30 days) will combine Adobe Premiere Pro, Audition, Encore DVD, and the standard edition of After Effects 6.0, while the $1,499 professional edition will include the professional version of After Effects and add Photoshop 7.0.