Sony Creative Software Introduces Vegas Pro 9 with Powerful New Editing Tools for Broadcast and Video Professionals

Upgrade Provides Support for Broadcast and High-End Production Needs, Including New User Interface, Direct XDCAM EX Browsing and Import, Native RED ONE File Support and 4K Workflow

Sony Creative Software Inc., a leading provider of professional video and audio editing applications, today announced Vegas Pro 9 software, the latest version of its award-winning nonlinear HD video and audio editing (NLE) application. Vegas Pro 9 software features a new customizable interface for optimized viewing and enhanced usability, as well as significant improvements for professional video editors, including direct browsing and import of Sony XDCAM EX footage, native file support for the RED ONE camera, compress to MXF file format during capture from SD/HDSDI sources, a scalable 4K workflow, and powerful new effects and editing enhancements. The software includes both native 32-bit and 64-bit versions at no additional cost, enabling editors to take full advantage of today's most advanced hardware while retaining compatibility with older systems.

"Our Vegas Pro software was the first editing application to provide a comprehensive end-to-end solution for the Sony XDCAM format, including an innovative proxy workflow and extremely fast no-recompress smart render to MXF," said Dave Chaimson, vice-president of global marketing for Sony Creative Software. "Vegas Pro 9 broadens our commitment to the broadcast community by adding workflow enhancements throughout the production chain, including native .mp4 support for Sony XDCAM EX files and real-time baseband SD/HD recording to 50 Mb/s MXF files using industry-standard capture cards. Vegas Pro has always been a great choice for video journalists on the go, thanks to its ability to scale to a wide range of cost-effective mobile computing solutions. Vegas Pro 9 extends this scalability to a new level by offering the option of working in a full 64-bit mode, enabling power users to take advantage of today's multi-core/multi-processor workstations and 64-bit operating systems."

New Vegas Pro 9 Feature Highlights

• Enhanced Native XDCAM and AVCHD Support

  The new Device Explorer feature enables users to quickly browse the contents of both XDCAM EX devices and AVCHD cameras, allowing users to selectively import files and use them natively, without conversion to an intermediate format.

  Vegas Pro 9 also allows users to directly capture XDCAM-compatible MXF files from supported SD/HDSDI sources. The new capture-compress function allows broadcast editors to convert their legacy SD or HD tape-based material, including Digital Betacam, HDCAM, and DVCPRO 100, into high-quality, IT-friendly MXF clips conforming to the Sony XDCAM MPEG2 standard.

• 4K Workflow Enhancements

  In addition to supporting frame sizes up to 4096x4096 (4K), Vegas Pro 9 software offers improved performance working with high-resolution still formats as well as added support for gigapixel-resolution images.

• Unique New Video Effects

  Six new effects plug-ins allow editors to create a variety of high-quality effects for video and still images. These provide original creative solutions for titles and special effects. The new Gradient Wipe Transition offers interesting new organic and artistic transitions.

• New Editing Enhancements

  New workflow enhancements in Vegas Pro 9 software help speed up production in a number of ways. Customizable layouts allow each user to arrange their workflow for maximum creativity. Enhancements have been made for importing and archiving media. New keyboard/mouse modifiers help to save even more time by streamlining editing commands.

• Native Support for RED ONE Cameras

  Vegas Pro 9 software now offers native support for opening and editing RED ONE (.r3d) files on the timeline to support 4K HD workflows using footage from RED high definition video cameras.

• Improved Image Support

  Vegas Pro 9 software provides native import and export support for industry standard still image formats. DPX and OpenEXR are highly flexible image formats that give editors more latitude for effects and color correction. By offering support for these additional high-end file formats, Vegas Pro 9 software provides an effect workflow with graphic effects packages. Vegas Pro 9 software also now supports gigapixel-size images directly on the timeline. This feature allows editors to use these large pictures for creating a movie sequence by using pan/scan and crop techniques while maintaining HD resolution.

• Audio Editing Enhancements

  Building on industry-leading audio capabilities, Vegas Pro 9 software now offers improved audio-waveform drawing during recording, which greatly increases workflow speed. Audio-only edits, such as event moves, trims and ASR envelopes, are no longer quantized to frame boundaries by default, helping editors match audio and video to an exact event on the timeline. A "Use all Streams and Channels" command has been added to the Trimmer window shortcut menu enabling users to choose how streams and channels are handled when adding media to the timeline.

Vegas Pro 9 software is scheduled to be available on May 11, 2009.