If the home video enthusiast in you has been holding off on going high-def, the time may be approaching to make the switch. On the hardware side of things, new HD camcorders are popping out of the woodwork, and on the software side, low-cost packages for editing HD video are also springing up. Avid unveiled Pinnacle Studio 11 with HD-editing capability last week, and on Monday, Corel introduced their own solution in the form of Ulead VideoStudio 11.
The biggest feature Corel’s software package will offer is compatibility with AVCHD, a new HD standard introduced by Sony and Panasonic that offers additional compression for HD video through the MPEG-4 video codec. The format has yet to see widespread software support. In fact, Corel claims VideoStudio 11 will be the first software package to offer AVCHD editing (although the folks at Nero may disagree).
“With the increasing interest in HD video editing tied largely to both the massive increase in HD TVs and massive decrease in HD video camera prices the market was ripe for a product that could take professional quality video editing and make the related tools consumer easy,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst for the Enderle Group, in a statement.
But AVCHD compatibility is not the only upgrade. VideoStudio 11 also features an MPEG optimizer that helps users select MPEG settings for the best quality and speed. To make the best of less-than-perfect video, new auto color and tone, deblocking and desnowing filters will be included as well.
VideoStudio 11 is available immediately at Corel’s Web site. The standard version is priced at $89.99, while the Plus version, with some additional authoring options, goes for $129.99.
