SmartDisk today announced a USB 2.0 version of the "the world's smallest" portable 5 GB drive, a new line of FireLite Portable FireWire Hard Drives, and new DVMotion authoring software.

DVDMotion, available in entry-level and "prosumer" versions, is an editing application is designed for authoring of DVDVideo, VideoCD and SuperVCD titles. Both DVDMotion SE ($390) and DVDMotion Pro ($900) support the formats and standards multimedia developers require, including DVDVideo (both full and mini DVD), VideoCD 1.1, 2.0 and 3.0, SuperVCD, HQVCD and CVD formats, NTSC and PAL television standards, all relevant MPEG video formats and all relevant MPEG, PCM and Dolby audio formats. The Pro edition also features multiple language channels (up to 8), multiple subpicture channels (up to 32), automatic subtitling, subdivided video streams, entry point, exclusive and chaining chapter play, sequential and random chapter players, highlighted text roll-over and graphical roll-over menu buttons, and single and dual layer titling.

The new $300 USB FireFly drive, already available with a FireWire interface, offers USB 2.0 connectivity (backwards compatible with USB 1.1), weighs less than 5 ounces, and is housed in silver-colored magnesium casing. The bus-powered device offers the convenience of "driverless" storage.

SmartDisk's new FireLite drives sport a unique, high-tech look in a strong, durable, lightweight magnesium casing. The FireWire drives are available in capacities of 20GB ($280), 30GB ($350) and 40GB ($430); weigh just over 6 ounces and includes SmartDisk Tools 2.5 (for drive formatting and partitioning, password control, write protection and encryption), SmartDisk Hot Plug Events (for automating tasks upon initial drive plug-in) and a full copy of Connectix CopyAgent (for data backup, recovery and synchronization).

by MacNN Staff