Home-grown movie producers and home-video buffs can now author their own Blu-ray discs, as CyberLink today unveiled PowerProducer 5, which supports the creation of Blu-ray Discs and DVDs featuring video content recorded in the AVCHD format.
PowerProducer 5 is available in two versions, only one of which supports Blu-ray creation. PowerProducer 5 Ultra lets users create professional-looking discs on Blu-ray Discs and DVDs, and with support for the AVCHD video format, users can also create DVDs featuring highly compressed high-definition content. The “standard” PowerProducer 5 (DVD) supports the creation of customized menu designs for DVDs and VCDs only.
Additional new features in PowerProducer 5 include:
- BD-RE 3.0 certification lets users rerecord and append Blu-ray Discs, as well as create menus on Blu-ray Discs.
- AVCHD format support lets users output high-definition content to a DVD disc and store large volumes of high-definition content on Blu-ray Discs and AVCHD discs.
- On-Disc Editing allows users to append video and slideshows, edit and add/remove playlists on BD-RE, DVD+VR, and DVD-VR discs.
- Customizable Disc Menus let users import video and use built-in designs to create stylish navigation menus.
- Direct access to DirectorZone, a website featuring user-generated content, offers free DVD menu templates for download.
- Direct burning with Right-to-Disc: support for BDAV and BDMV, as well as DVD-VR.
- Support for 5.1-channel Dolby Digital lets users create discs that play on their home theater system.
- Magic Movie Wizard: automatically creates a movie from users’ clips, with a theme and music chosen by users.
CyberLink PowerProducer 5 Ultra costs $79.95 (74,99 Euros), the DVD-only version costs $49.94 (44,99 Euros), and upgrading from standard to Ultra costs $49.94 (44,99 Euros).