Mystik Media has announced that version 6.1 of their Blaze Media Pro software has been released. This versatile software lets you convert, edit and burn a wide range of audio and video formats.
Mystik Media has released Blaze Media Pro 6.1, a powerful, all-in-one Windows multimedia application supporting all popular media formats; audio and video playlists; audio and video conversions; audio and video editing & recording, video construction, combining, decompiling, batch processing; and video capture. Advanced audio and data CD burning capabilities, as well as video and data DVD and VCD/SVCD burning, are provided.

Key new features in Blaze Media Pro 6.1 include an easy-to-use system for burning video DVDs and VCD/SVCD CD discs, as well as support for making backups of any type of audio CD quickly and easily. In addition, the video converter, video constructor, video decompiler, and "extract audio content from video files" features have all been completely redesigned and greatly enhanced. In addition to converting entire video files, you can now convert any selected portion of a file.
Blaze Media Pro 6.1 is available now for $50. More information on the software can be found here. Add a comment
VSO-Software has announced the release of ConvertXtoDVD 2.0. A new version of DivXtoDVD, ConvertXtoDVD includes many new features including WMV3 support and the ability to automatically create DVD menus using the conversion file list.
VSO ConvertXtoDVD allows you to convert and then burn your video files that were originally only playable on your PC so that they are now playable on any DVD Player. ConvertXtoDVD handles your everyday digital multimedia life, extending support beyond AVI files, XVid, MPEG 1/2/4, VOB, MOV, and now WMV 3 and HD formats and more.

"We clearly underestimated the common usage of WMV formats in our previous version. We were expecting people to use much more exotic formats when in fact they are still using a lot the default software that comes with Windows! With new support of WMV3, the creation of a DVD from files of your digital camera becomes a 1 click task." says Claire Waledisch which manages a part of the technical support in VSO-Software. Once again VSO-Software listens to their users and has implemented their requests.
ConvertXtoDVD 2.0 will be available in early February for 35 euros / USD. If you'd like to read more, additional information ca be found on VSO-Software's website. Add a comment
InterVideo has announced that their H.264 codec now supports NVIDIA PureVideo technology. Thanks to PureVideo, their codec can provide a smoother frame rate and better image quality than with a CPU alone.
InterVideo(R), Inc. (NASDAQ:IVII), an industry leader in DVD, MPEG and high-definition (HD) multimedia software technology, announced today that its H.264 Codec now supports the new NVIDIA PureVideo(TM) H.264 decode acceleration available on GeForce(TM) 6 and 7 Series graphics processors from NVIDIA(R) Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA).

H.264 is the digital video codec specified for the Blu-ray (BD) and High-definition DVD (HD DVD) formats. The H.264 specification, which is also known as the Advanced Video Codec (AVC) specification or MPEG 4-Part 10, delivers two to three times the compression efficiency of solutions such as the MPEG-2 standard, which is used in DVD video. H.264 also delivers high-definition video with six times the resolution of standard definition DVDs.

InterVideo's H.264 codec technology leverages highly advanced algorithms to deliver superior quality and performance on today's personal computers. One of the key new features is the ability to divide the decoding tasks among several hardware cores and hardware threads on both the CPU and the GPU. Using traditional single thread decoding techniques, H.264 with high definition would not be feasible on today's personal computers because much of the overall processing power is unused. InterVideo's H.264 codec partitions the decoding tasks through algorithm and data decomposition into multiple threads to use all the processing power of the dual core and hyper threading technologies from Intel(R) and AMD(R) CPUs, as well as the GPU acceleration from NVIDIA graphics hardware.
NVIDIA's PureVideo enabled drivers will be available in Q1'06. More information on PureVideo and InterVideo's H.264 codec can be found here. Add a comment
Here's some good news for Nero 6.6 owners. Nero has released another set of updates, bringing the version count up to 6.6.1.4. If you want to try these updates out, you can download them directly using the links below.

Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4 - download

p>NeroVision Express 3.1.0.25 - download

Nero Media Player 1.4.0.35b - download

NeroMIX 1.4.0.35 - download

Once Nero updates their website, change logs for these updates will be available here. As usual, feel free to share your experiences in our forum. Add a comment
Roxio has announced that they will be showcasing some of Toast 7's digital entertainment capabilities at the Macworld Expo. Here's part of their press release:
Roxio, a division of Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC), the leader in digital media software, is celebrating a successful year with in-depth demonstrations and special show pricing on its biggest ever line of software for Mac OS X at Macworld Expo, January 10th to the 13th. Among the demonstrations available to attendees will be how to use Toast 7 to easily transfer favorite audio and video entertainment to mobile devices such as the iPod video, Sony PSP, and mobile phones. In addition, Roxio will be showcasing its must-have suite of iPod software accessories, The Boom Box and its award-winning DVD backup application, Popcorn. Roxio also will be introducing standalone versions of its CD Spin Doctor and Motion Pictures HD software.
If you'd like to read more, Roxio's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment