Sonic Foundry Inc., a leading digital media software solutions company, today announced it has begun shipping Vegas 4.0 and Vegas+DVD, two new standards for professional video and audio production on the Windows platform. The pre-release versions of the products were extremely well-received during a public beta period in January as a record number of users looking to get a sneak peek downloaded the software from Sonic Foundry's Web site. Vegas 4.0 provides integrated real-time video and audio non-linear editing with comprehensive features that allow for mixing, compositing, color correction, titling, streaming media creation and surround sound production for multimedia professionals. Vegas+DVD not only includes Vegas 4.0, but also offers complete DVD authoring (featuring DVD Architect) and a Dolby Laboratories certified multichannel AC-3 encoder.

"With Vegas 4, Sonic Foundry has unleashed a feature-packed video editing system, optimized to take great advantage of the Intel Pentium 4 processor with Hyperthreading* technology," said David L. Brown, general manager, Software Enabling Division, Intel Corporation. "It makes complex effects processing even faster and more efficient, allowing professional video editors to accomplish more, in less time than ever before."

Already a top choice among digital video and audio professionals, the enhanced capabilities of Vegas 4.0 make it the most comprehensive software package available for professional DV and audio production. Some of the new features included are:
* Advanced Color Correction Tools
* Searchable Media Pool Bins
* Vectorscope, Histogram, Parade and Waveform Monitoring
* Application Scripting
* Improved Ripple Editing
* Motion Blur and Supersampling Envelopes
* 5.1 Surround Mixing

* Dolby Digital AC-3 Encoding certified and tested by Dolby Laboratories
* DirectX Audio Plug-In Effects Automation
* ASIO Driver Support
* Windows Media 9 Support, including Surround Encoding
* DVD Authoring with AC-3 File Import Capabilities
* Integration with DVD Architect Via Chapter Marker Passing

"The worldwide response to the public betas last month far surpassed our initial expectations. Vegas now ranks among the very top requested products from our Web site," said Sonic Foundry's Brad Reinke, senior vice president and general manager of software. "This heightened amount of activity is a testament to the widespread following Vegas has garnered during the past year from production professionals and the industry at large, and speaks well to the future of this powerful upgrade."