BitJazz Inc. has updated SheerVideo Pro, a software video codec for the production and archival of professional video and film, to version 1.2, which enhances support for native video (Y’CbCr) formats and QuickTime.
Designed to replace uncompressed studio-quality RGB and Y’CbCr formats, SheerVideo simultaneously doubles both the speed and the capacity of storage and transmission devices while encoding and decoding on the fly. It makes it possible to, among other things, stream uncompressed-quality HD video at the highest definition (1920 x 1080 pixels at 30 frames per second) over a single FireWire 800 line, while running SheerVideo on the fly in real time.
In QuickTime 6, SheerVideo 1.2 can now export or capture Y’CbCr formats directly through the Sheer encoders — without using the Sheer transcoders. This gives programs that don’t support transcoders full access to SheerVideo Y’CbCr, and simplifies the use of programs that do, according to BitJazz. (For applications that prefer transcoders, the Sheer Y’CbCr transcoders are still included.)
Also, using the latest release of SheerVideo with QuickTime 6.4, applications can now display Sheer Y’CbCr 4:4:4 video even without hardware support, which means you can view Sheer Y’CbCr 4:4:4 frames without first restoring the uncompressed video. What’s more, with SheerVideo 1.2, video capture applications can now capture component video in real time directly to all Sheer Y’CbCr formats, including 4:4:4 and 4:2:2, as well as to Sheer RGB formats.
SheerVideo is implemented as a set of QuickTime codecs, so it can be used with a variety of video applications, including Apple’s Final Cut Pro, Adobe After Effects, and Pinnacle Commotion. It’s currently available for Mac OS X and Mac OS 8.x-9.x. SheerVideo for Mac includes versions of each codec optimized for both G3 and G4 (AltiVec) systems; the decoders are multiprocessor-enabled.
SheerVideo Pro costs US$149 for a single license and $99 in quantity. A demo is available at the BitJazz Web site.