Canopus Corporation announced MPEGcraft DVD, a software application that combines MPEG editing and DVD authoring capabilities into an affordable solution. MPEGcraft DVD contains an MPEG editor that allows users to cut, stitch and mix MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video clips while preserving their original video quality. MPEGcraft DVD gives users frame-accurate MPEG editing capabilities and eliminates lengthy encoding times by reencoding only the edited segments of the video clip.

Once an MPEG sequence is edited, MPEGcraft DVD's authoring capabilities can burn directly to a disc or generate the necessary system files for future DVD authoring. With MPEGcraft DVD, users can manually insert chapter points or automatically create chapter points according to clip changes within the video. DVD titles can also be authored to repeat playback indefinitely, which is ideal for advertising kiosks, video displays and information booths.

MPEGcraft DVD supports Storm Encoder, the hardware MPEG encoder found on the Canopus DVStorm2 nonlinear editing solution, including the new DVStorm2 Pro+, allowing for realtime MPEG encoding directly from the MPEGcraft DVD timeline to a wide range of DVD-R/DVD-RW writers.

MPEGcraft DVD also includes To MPEG Tool, a utility that provides MPEG encoding options, such as multiplexing and demuxing, for existing video files; MPEG reencoding options, including upscaling of MPEG-1to MPEG-2; and DV AVI-to-MPEG encoding.

Pricing and Availability

MPEGcraft DVD supports Windows 2000 Professional (SP2 or higher)/XP Home/XP Professional and will be available in January 2004 through Canopus and its authorized resellers for a suggested retail price of $99.