Software Architects Inc. (SAI), a supplier of disk drive utilities that use the Universal Disk Format (UDF), has announced two Mac product upgrades.
One is DVD-RAM TuneUp! Pro 4.0 for Mac OS 9. It will arrive next month for US US$99.
DVD-RAM TuneUp! lets you take video you’ve recorded with a camcorder, remove the miniature 80mm diameter DVD-RAM disk, insert it into a DVD-RAM drive running on a Mac, mount the disk on the Mac OS desktop, and drag and drop the video file to a conversion utility that converts the compressed VRO format video file to QuickTime format. The same thing can be done with a DVD-RAM video recording deck that uses 120mm DVD-RAM disks. The converted video file can then be used by any application that supports the QuickTime format.
The software can also erase the disk so that it can be re-used in the camcorder or video recorder. Optional add-on features include: converting edited QuickTime files back to VRO format for playing on the DVD camcorder or DVD video recorder connected to a TV monitor, or converting the QuickTime files to VOB format video files that are playable in consumer DVD video players on media such as DVD-R.
DVD-RAM TuneUp 4.0 runs on all Macs running Mac OS 9.x. (sorry, there’s no Carbonized version). You’ll need 128 MB of RAM and 2 GB of hard disk space recommended. DVD-RAM TuneUp 4.0 is compliant with DVD Forum specifications for Real Time Recording Files (VRO video files), UDF file system and UDF format. The software also complies with the OSTA (Optical Storage Technology Association) implementation guidelines for UDF.
WriteDVD! Pro 3.0 is also due next month for $99. In addition to supporting standard DVD-RAM drives and media, Version 3.0 now supports “drag and drop” mastering to DVD-R disks. SAI’s integrated UDF architecture prevents driver conflicts and file system queuing problems that commonly occur when using different software programs to run DVD-R, DVD-RAM and CD-RW on the same computer system, according to the company.
The software’s UDF file system and drivers can mount, and write to DVD-R and DVD-RAM as well as read DVD-R, CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD-RAM discs in Panasonic and other “multi-read” disk drives made by a wide variety of manufacturers.
Version 3.0 also adds support for advanced “Real Time Recording” functions used in new DVD-RAM disk based video camcorders made by Hitachi, and DVD-RAM disk based video recorders made by Panasonic. Real time recording optimizes reads and writes of video files to disk by emulating sequential recording on the random access, block addressable DVD-RAM media. This minimizes the optical head movement during playback, resulting in faster and smoother video reads from the disk.
WriteDVD! Pro 3.0 runs under Mac OS 8 and 9.x (again, no Mac OS X version, at least yet).You’ll need 128 MB of RAM and 5 GB of hard disk space.
WriteDVD! Pro 3.0 is compliant with DVD Forum specifications for Real Time Recording Files (VRO video files), UDF file system and UDF format. The software also complies with the OSTA (Optical Storage Technology Association) implementation guidelines for UDF.