Corel, Sony team up on video production tools

Sony and Corel plan to work together to develop video and digital imaging software bundles, the companies said Monday.

Sony Media Software and the Canadian software maker will co-market two groups of products--one for consumers who want to edit movies, create videos and author DVDs themselves, and the other for professionals.

The bundles will include Sony's latest Vegas Movie Studio video production and editing tools and Corel's Paint Shop Pro X and Photo Album 6 digital imaging software.

Visual Creation Studio, which is being aimed at beginners, will have a suggested retail price of $129.95. Visual Creation Studio Pro, aimed at hobbyists and semiprofessionals, will cost $199.95. Both of the products will be available starting in November, the companies said.

In Visual Creation Studio Pro, Vegas Movie Studio + DVD software is replaced by with the Platinum version, which supports all formats, from digital video to high-definition video, the companies said.

"We know that consumers and hobbyists are looking for more approachable, easier-to-use software that offers better value by enabling them to easily accomplish specific tasks--in this case, editing and managing photos and videos--without any prior training or experience required," Blaine Mathieu, general manager of digital imaging at Corel, said in a statement.

[Earl Benser]

Nice idea, but....

.... I think that they are a little late. First of all, trying to compete
with the capabilities of the Apple suite, ie., FCP Pro etc., sets the
performance bar very high. Second, Macromedia still has
Director, and Adobe is trying to push Premiere, and Avid is out
there somewhere. Sony and Corel are going to have to pull off a
small miracle here to get a competitive product. They will have
an advantage because I doubt that they would try to write a Mac
program ( no skill/experience and an overwhelming
performance hurdle ), so that means they can concentrate on
coming up with something for the PC. That only leaves Adobe,
Macromedia, Avid, and a few others to beat.

It will be interesting, to say the least.