Ulead Brings More Simplicity to Home Movie Making with VideoStudio 8

December 2004 – Due to confusing technology and lack of time, many consumers have shied away from editing and sharing their home videos. Ulead Systems, a top developer of digital media software, has eliminated these traditional barriers to video editing by making home movie creation simpler with VideoStudio 8. With years of fine tuning, VideoStudio 8 now offers refined automated video editing tools for consumers who want to quickly and easily turn home videos into polished movies to share on DVD, CD, or the Web. VideoStudio 8 offers a unique approach to video automation with tools that enhance the story-telling process. The newly added three-step MovieWizard provides just the right mix of theme-based intro and exit graphics, transitions, text effects and music to tell a story, without losing the intended message in confusing cuts and edits. At the same time, VideoStudio 8’s full-featured Video Editor includes new and enhanced effects and filters, as well as overlay and audio tools for more advanced editing techniques and control.

“You can’t create a great film just by knowing the latest video editing techniques -- you have to also be a story teller,” says Travis White, video editing product manager of Ulead Systems, North America. “This is no less true for people who shoot home videos. They want to re-create the story for important moments in their lives. VideoStudio 8 lets them do this easily and quickly without losing their message.”

For further time savings, VideoStudio provides an Auto Analysis tool that examines and removes poorly shot video clips and syncs video to the duration of a music track. A new Music Generator instantly creates musical scores to match the exact duration and mood of a movie, while real-time audio mixing, a rubber band timeline, and audio filters such as Normalization, Remove Noise and Amplify provide more audio control. Sharing home videos over the Web is now just as easy as sharing photos. With a one-click upload button, VideoStudio 8 users can seamlessly transfer home movies for immediate and convenient viewing via Neptune.com MediaShare.

Easy to Get Started
VideoStudio 8 introduces consumers to the movie-making process with a step-by-step video tutorial. With the three-step MovieWizard novices can instantly turn home videos into entertaining movies. More experienced uses can go directly into the full-featured Video Editor for more control. It’s easy to transfer video from a TV or camcorder to a computer, with new shuttle control to navigate to the exact scenes in the camcorder to capture. To save time, a new batch convert feature converts video, images, and audio files to another format. VideoStudio 8 works with a wide breadth of file formats, including new support for widescreen video (16:9) for a cinematic look, and comprehensive support for video recorded from set-top DVD recorders and DVD camcorders.

New & Enhanced Editing Tools
VideoStudio’s complete Video Editor maintains its popular seven-step workflow which guides users through the complete process of creating a movie. After trimming, or selecting and removing multiple video segments, users can jazz up movies with transitions, effects, filters and video and still overlays. A new Album transition simulates the act of leafing through a book of memories, while a new Pan & Zoom effect adds dynamic motion to still images. New Duotone and Diffuse Glow filters are perfect for creating scene flashbacks or a dream-like appearance. With enhanced text tools, it’s possible to create several different text styles on the same video clip using various text animations and designs. At the same time, an enhanced overlay track lets users add filters and effects to overlays, and resize video and image overlays directly on the preview screen.

More Audio Control
VideoStudio 8 now offers more audio tools. The new Music Generator uses award-winning SmartSound Technology to generate music to match the exact duration and mood of a movie. For more control, a new real-time Audio Mixer lets users blend audio among four different audio tracks at any moment in their video, while a rubber band timeline lets them conveniently lower and raise audio anywhere on a music track. It’s also possible to repair audio tracks or add new filter effects including Audio Normalization, Remove Noise, Long Echo, Stadium and Amplify.

Hassle-free Sharing
Once a movie is finished, VideoStudio 8 can transfer to tape, DVD, CD and the Web. VideoStudio 8 enables users to create entertaining DVDs with theme-based menu templates, customized layouts, multiple videos, multiple layer menus, and first play video clips. It now provides a built-in encode and upload button to effortlessly stream movies online via Neptune.com MediaShare, a pioneering web site which makes streaming high-quality video just as instantaneous and convenient as sharing digital photos.

Availability and Price
VideoStudio 8 is available now at www.ulead.com for $99.99. Registered VideoStudio users can download the upgrade or box edition for $49.95.

SOURCE Ulead Systems