Roxio previews Crunch

Roxio today previewed Roxio Crunch, a new utility designed to easily convert video to formats compatible with Apple TV, iPod, and the iPhone. It allows users to convert personal video content and transfer it to Apple TV for enjoyable living room viewing. Leveraging Toast video conversion technology, the utility uses the same interface and same three step motif: drag, drop, and convert. Users can convert a wide variety of formats, including QuickTime video files as well as popular non-QuickTime video file formats such as DivX and MPEG-2 files. In addition, Crunch can convert unprotected DVDs and VIDEO_TS folders -- allowing users to maximize video quality an save space by selecting individual video titles and languages.

Roxio Crunch can convert both 4:3 and 16:9 video into multiple MPEG-4 and H.264 quality settings or customize the quality settings. Once finished the utility automatically adds the video to "Crunch" playlist within iTunes--which is then auto-synced to Apple TV.

The company will ship the product on May 8th in North America, with availability following shortly after in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Roxio Crunch will be available as an electronic software download (ESD) directly from Roxio, while boxed versions will be available at a later date from computer stores, catalog and online resellers.

Roxio Crunch will be available for $50 (promotional pricing may be available for a limited time).

by MacNN Staff