SONY CREATIVE SOFTWARE RELEASES NEW BLU-RAY ENCODER

MADISON, WI - Sony Creative Software (www.sonycreativesoftware.com) has released a new multi-codec video encoder for Blu-ray Disc authoring. The tool was developed in conjunction with Sony Electronics and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Sony Creative Software initially introduced the BAE-VX1000 at NAB back in April, targeting smaller studios with the turnkey solution.
 
The company claims the VX1000 can decrease total encoding time by up to 30 percent over the previous Sony BAE-VA700 solution. This accomplished through enhancements such as parallel capturing and pre-processing, and increased encoding algorithm efficiency. The BAE-VX1000 is compatible with most common Blu-ray authoring applications, including Sony Creative Software's Blu-print. It offers the option of using H.264 AVC or MPEG-2 technology. MPEG-2 encoding for traditional DVD authoring is also available in the BAE-VX1000 encoder.
 
To shorten recording times, the BAE-VX1000 offers an Auto Customize function that can automatically detect parts of the picture that are difficult to encode, then performs multiple encoding using up to five possible bit rates set up in advance. When two-pass encoding of the entire title is finished, users can review these multiple versions and select the most suitable one based on its picture quality and disc size.

The BAE-VX1000 encoder can support a simple and affordable single PC configuration that can accomplish AVC encoding in realtime, which is suitable for smaller production houses. The encoder can also be easily expanded to a networked distributed processing configuration.

Pricing is $55,000, and the system is compatible with 64-bit operating systems on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, XP and Vista.