Autodesk will soon launch a Mac version of Smoke, a demonstration at Japan's InterBEE expo confirms. The software is a high-end video production suite, costing approximately $15,000. It is capable not only of conventional editing tasks, but also handling audio, painting, text and various visual effects.
Divergent Media has released an update to its M2T/MTS batch converter, ClipWrap 2.0. The program converts HDV or AVCHD files into QuickTime movies that can be used with any QuickTime-based application. Features in v2.0 include enhanced speed when rewrapping files, as well as additional format support.
Red Giant has released Holomatrix, an After Effects plug-in which simulates the look of animated sci-fi holograms. Thirty built-in preset options include Ghost, Bad Reception and Security Cam. Within them, users can fine-tune over 80 different properties.
Just About Managing has announced SimCap 1.0, an iPhone Simulator screencapture utility. The title is designed for developers creating App Store images, or else professional demonstration videos. Extended sequences of stills can be captured, aiding with action shots. When recording video, users can choose whether or not to display cursors or gestures.
Cynical Peak has released v2.3 of Rivet, its Mac media streaming software. The app shares music, video, photo and podcast content with consoles on a local-area network, namely the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. Material can be pulled direclty from Aperture, iPhoto or iTunes libraries, though video can only be streamed from custom folders.
YouTube has announced that it will allow users to upload 1080p HD video content without limiting playback to a lower resolution. The web-based interface will provide a choice between the current maximum, 720p, and full 1080p. The change brings YouTube up to speed with the limited number of video portals, such as SmugMug, that support the higher resolution.
Livestream has launched its live internet video service, Livestream Procaster, allowing for app-free access to streaming video on the iPhone. The service allows users to stream video content from webcams, video cameras or the desktops of a Mac or PC. The feeds can be accessed from an iPhone and iPod touch, using either 3G or Wi-Fi. The turnkey service uses H.264 HTTP live streaming functionality built into the native QuickTime player included on the iPhone, allowing streams to play in the Safari browser instead of a standalone app.
Vimeo on Wednesday announced plans to extend its movie service onto the iPhone and Android platforms, according to CNET News. All of the site's content from the staff picks and HD video showcase have already been converted to formats optimized for mobile handsets.
Orb Networks has launched a Mac port of its self-named media streaming software. The app funnels music, photos and video from a computer to other Internet-connected devices, including game consoles, notebooks and various cellphones, such as the iPhone when using the companion OrbLive app. Content is primarily sourced from an iTunes library, but can also be pulled from webcam feeds and connected gadgets.
Automatic Duck has published a trio of new software releases supporting Apple's Final Cut editing tool. The first is ProDate DV, a plug-in supporting both Final Cut Pro and Express. The software scans DV media for timestamps, allowing date and time information to be imposed on-screen. It costs $39.
Apple has introduced a new Music Movies section to the iTunes Store, further segregating its video. The page highlights all movies with a music-related theme, running from documentaries like Imagine and Woodstock through to straight concert films, and fiction titles like The Blues Brothers. iTunes now also has a larger amount of such content, with material including The Song Remains the Same and U2: Rattle and Hum.
Sorenson has launched Squeeze 6, an upgraded version of its video encoding tool. The program is aimed at professionals, and allows users to specify various audio and video controls such as compression, normalization and noise reduction. New to the code is a substantially faster encoding speed, as much as five times better when using H.264 or On2 VP6.
Video is likely to be the next big focus of a lot of Apple's digital content, reports RBC Capital's Mike Abramsky. The analyst recently spoke to three Apple executives, including CFO Peter Oppenheimer; the VP for iTunes and Internet services, Eddy Cue; and finally David Moody, the VP for worldwide Mac marketing. The executives note that video is seen as the next "exploding" opportunity after music, but that it is currently being hampered by several obstacles.
An FCC filing has uncovered an unannounced FlipShare TV product that apparently serves as an accessory package for Cisco's Flip video recording devices. The system provides a USB dongle that communicates with a larger FlipShare TV box attached to a television. The TV box provides an HDMI output and standard RCA connections.
CoreMelt has launched an update to its plug-ins for programs such as Final Cut Studio and After Effects. CoreMelt 2.23 offers five additional plug-ins, for instance allowing "fluid and flowing" graphic elements, shaded backgrounds, and the simpler creation of smooth glass, rough glass or water reflections. The two remaining plug-ins handle strobe transitions and adding CoreMelt masks and frames to a layer.
FCP World has announced new Blu-ray templates for the latest version of Final Cut Studio. The company's plug-in delivers 60 background templates, on top of the original five that come with FCS. All of them can be used for both Blu-ray and AVCHD discs; each is fully animated and looping, with room for customization in the form of personalized logos and titles.
Miraizon has released Reframe, an app for converting audio and video between standards. Users can for instance convert video from PAL to NTSC, SD to HD, and film to video. Advanced settings make it possible to alter video properties such as frame rate or size, as well as audio details like sampling rate. Other settings help fine-tune video conversion through scaling, resampling, and tweaks to the precision and dynamic range of decoding.
Pavtube Studio has updated its MTS Converter for Mac, used to transfer MTS video to various editing software including iMovie, Final Cut Express, and Final Cut Pro. The latest version features the ability to merge multiple videos into a single file and add text, image, and video watermarks. The update also features the ability to trim, crop videos while retaining good quality of output audio and video. Version 1.4 includes customized settings for adjusting video resolution, file size, frame rate and bit rate.
ooVoo has released v2.2 of its self-titled application, used for cross platform video conferencing. The OoVoo 2.2 update adds desktop sharing capabilities, allowing users to display their documents or presentations during video conferences. The latest version also adds international conferencing to Canada, Germany, Italy, the UK and Israel.
Reg Giant has released a new video effects plug-in, Magic Bullet Mojo. The software recreates the look used in many Hollywood blockbusters, warming the color temperature of skin, while simultaneously cooling it for shadows and backgrounds. A central slider adjusts both elements in unison.
Movavi has launched a self-titled video converter, able to transfer video footage and associated audio files from one device to another. The software utilizes presets for common media players, and popular formats. The latter include AVI, MPEG, MP4, 3GP, FLV, MP3, WAV, AAC and FLAC. Some supported media devices include the iPod, iPhone, PSP, BlackBerry and Apple TV.
Sakar International has launched a new line of Kodak webcams, which includes a driver-free webcam, the S100; an auto focus webcam, the T130; and a webcam with a three megapixel sensor that produces HD quality video, the P310HD. The series also features the W100, an entry level model, and a two megapixel auto focus webcam called the L200. The new Kodak line of video cameras can automatically connect to IM and VoiP services including AOL, MSN Instant Messenger and SKYPE -- which automatically launches the designated application without the user having to navigate their computer to open the program.
Stone Design has launched Twittelator Pro 3.2, updating its Twitter client for the iPhone. The app has three built in themes, supports multiple accounts, can shoot, edit and tweet video on an iPhone 3GS and can record and tweet audio clips. It supports offline composing and automatically sends the tweet when back on a network. Twittelator Pro can save and reuse drafts, supports Cut/Copy/Paste/Select and Undo as well as retreating.
Blackmagic has announced several product updates, to both its video hardware and the supporting software. Within the first group is the DeckLink Studio 2, an upgraded capture card which now has 10-bit HDMI capture and playback. The company is also introducing the HDLink Pro DP, a DisplayPort version of an existing HDTV monitoring converter. The new DeckLink is selling for $695, while the alternate HDLink Pro model is $495.
In tandem with iTunes 9, Apple has released QuickTime 7.6.4, a minor update to its signature AV playback software. The patch primarily fixes problems with H.264 and/or MPEG-4 playback, which exposed systems to crashes or arbitrary code execution. H.264 vulnerabilities were connected to memory corruption and heap buffer overflows, while an MPEG-4 flaw involved conventional buffer overflows.
Maxon has launched Cinema 4D 11.5, giving the software full Snow Leopard support and a new rendering engine. The suite handles 3D modeling, painting, animation and rendering. Also new is an upgraded motion graphics module, MoGraph 2, with new physics, spline and explosion components.
Hitachi has announced several new plasma and LCD televisions to be released in the coming months, the P-XP035 Series and the L-XP035 Series. Both televisions feature a 500GB internal HDD, an iVDR slot and DLNA support, while an light sensor is used to automatically adjust the display brightness to suit the ambient lighting. The devices support 1080p video signals which can be recorded directly onto the internal hard drive.
CoreMelt has released its newest Final Cut Pro plug-in, Lock and Load. The software is used to stabilize a project's unsteady video -- supposedly six times faster than the video stabilizer built-in to FCP, Smoothcam. The plug-in utilizes an adaptive zoom feature that compensates for different levels of movement, zooming the videos framing to remove the shaking edges. The application allows users to specify which portion of the clip should be analyzed and ignores foreground motion when stabilizing the video.
Dashwood has produced a new video effects plug-in, Stereo3D Toolbox, based on Noise Industries' FxFactory platform. The software converts footage from After Effects, Motion or Final Cut into stereoscopic 3D. Possible output formats include side-by-side, over/under, checkerboard, interlace and anaglyph; controls adjust for the requirements of each one, tweaking details such X-, Y- and Z-axis convergence, or zoom levels for each eye.
TechSmith has released its first Mac-based screen capture utility, Camtasia. The software is used to record both audio and video captured from a users computer screen in order to create training videos, presentations and software video tutorials. The application can simultaneously record audio from an external microphone or the built-in microphone. The program is also used to edit the captured media and includes a SmartFocus tool that automatically adds customizable track, pan and zoom framing to the captured video.
Adobe has expanded the toolset of Photoshop.com, which can be used to edit and share photos online. Users can now upload up to 200MB of videos to the site through their browser, or up to 2GB using AIR Uploader. These videos can then be shared and viewed directly from the website, as with any other image type.
Boris FX has released Continuum Motion Tracker, which includes four specialized filters for gathering and utilizing motion data from video. The Corner Pin filter allows users to map media to a specific area on a moving object. Match Move locks the movement of one image clip to another, and includes functions such as tumble, spin, and rotate, as well as lighting and light wrap compositing.
Boris FX has released its latest Final Cut plug-in package, Motion Tracker. The tools are geared for video editing effects involving movement. The included Corner Pin module allows users to add graphics and pin them to moving objects in the video. Match Move works in a similar manner by locking onto movement, while adding the ability to integrate a second image clip.
Qik has announced its video streaming application is now available to download for the iPhone 3G S. Qik allows users to take videos directly from the iPhone 3G S camera roll, and upload them onto their favourite blog or website. All videos are automatically archived to Qik.com, where they can be shared and posted on websites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. When recording a video using the app users also have the ability to frame their footage in either a horizontal or vertical style.
CrumplePop has released its newest video effect for Final Cut Pro, ShrinkRay. The effect uses titling and shifting techniques to alter the focal area in a video to make large scenes look very small. Users can reposition, expand, or contract the videos focal area to gain the desired effect. The plug-in also lets users control the amount of focus surrounding the focal point.
Intelligent Assistance has launched Sequence Clip Reporter, a tool for creating music or video reports formatted as Excel spreadsheets. It is intended for video editors and producers, who may need the reports for completed documentary programs. It supports XML formats exported from Final Cut Pro, and leaves the resulting spreadsheets open to editing.
Yoostar has announced that its movie production system will be available on August 24th from Bloomingdale's stores and on September 8th from Best Buy outlets. Yoostar is an entertainment system consisting of a webcam with built-in dual microphones, a portable green-screen, and editing software that enables users to recreate well-known film scenes.
Boris FX has announced that its entire product line is being updated to support the Apple's new Final Cut Studio 3. The collection consists of various effects and filters, for both Final Cut Pro and Motion. The Boris Continuum Complete (BCC) 6.0.4 FxPlug, a compilation of video filters including Cartoon Look, Pencil Sketch and Charcoal Sketch, is a free upgrade for BCC 6.x owners. People with older versions of BCC FxPlug can upgrade to the most recent version for $300.
Media 100 has released a new version of its self-titled Suite, used in video production. The update adds Matrox MX02 support, for portable, I/O, monitoring, and up/down/cross conversion. The suite also gains MultiClip editing, which enables real-time simultaneous editing of multiple video and audio sources. Cameras can be synced -- as source media becomes available -- using timecodes, sync marks or in-points.
AJA Video System has released KONA 6.5, updating the software for its KONA line of video capture and playback cards, including the KONA LSe, LHe, LHi and KONA 3. The new version adds compatibility with the recently released Final Cut Studio and Final Cut Pro 7. ProRes 422 LT, Proxy and ProRes 4444 are now compatible with the software as well. Other features added in version 6.5 include closed caption support for FCP 7, MacCaption, VTR Xchange and AJA TV, VANC data capture and playback support for ProRes formats and expanded KONA LHi support.
Apple has quietly discontinued a once-important digital imaging tool, observers note. Shake is used for compositing and visual effects work, but today the software no longer has its own product page, and it has also been removed from the Apple online store. One source claims to have learned that Apple sales representatives are being officially notified of the product's termination.
Boris FX has released its latest set of effects, Boris Continuum Unit: Cartoon Look, based on Continuum Complete 6. The suite includes a number of video filters such as Cartoon Look, Pencil Sketch, Charcoal Sketch, and Watercolor. Cartoon Look simulates the effect utilized in films such as "A Scanner Darkly" and "Waking Life." The filter includes preset looks and styles that are accessible through a pop-up menu. Users can also customize the settings, save their own configurations or combine multiple effects.
Pavtube has released a Mac version of its self-titled HD Video Converter. The software is used to convert HD video into other formats, for devices such as the iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, PSP, BlackBerry, Zune and Zen. Watermarks can then be applied in the form of logos, text, animations or secondary video. The converter can also compress larger files, compensating for potential problems with audio and video sync.
Square Box Systems has released v8.0 of its CatDV. The application is used to log video files and manage other forms of media. The latest version incorporates a refined interface that features the ability to browse files both on the file system and on the server without opening the files in a catalog. The update also provides support to XDCAM, MXF, MPEG, and PDF files and features performance enhancements including logging tools, subtitling tools, and when communicating with the CatDV Server.
CrumplePop has released Reflector, a collection of reflection effects for video projects in Final Cut Pro. The plug-in set consists of 26 different effects, applied to clips by dragging and dropping items into the timeline. Users can control the amount and angle of reflections, the speed of fly-over, and side scroll.
Apple has released a long-anticipated upgrade to Final Cut Studio, its video editing and production suite. At the center is Final Cut Pro 7, which expands ProRes codecs to support a wider number of workflows, and implements real-time collaboration through iChat Theater. Quicker export options allow for conversion to DVD, Blu-ray and other formats; some other interface changes include redesigned speed tools, simpler alpha transitions, and better markers.
SkypeCap has released version 3 of its Mac edition, audio session recorder. SkypeCap is used for recording media during online Skype conversations, for later playback or sharing with other users. In the newest version support as been added for capturing both audio and video chats from Skype, and enables users to open other windows on the Mac without having them captured in the recording. The application is also capable of converting captured video into various other formats such as MP4 and SWF.
Boxee, the self-proclaimed social media centre application, has been updated to version 0.9.14. The update includes Geo-based app filtering that enables developers to specify which countries their application is accessible. Boxee 0.9.14 additionally allows developers to mark their applications and RSS feeds as "adult" which will assist users in filtering unwanted content. Below the browsing menu there is now an option to view unresolved videos Boxee has found on the users home network. The unresolved videos can then be categorized using the "recognize" feature.
Apple has submitted a specification to the Internet Engineering Task Force, hoping to have HTTP Live Streaming adopted as a universal protocol, reports say. The format already exists in Safari 4 and iPhone 3.0, and should eventually be integrated into Mac OS X Snow Leopard, but does not currently have backing outside of Apple. Should the technology become standard it could potentially replace various audio/video plug-ins, such as Flash and Silverlight.
