DVD Studio Pro 2 Arrives -- Four months after announcing DVD Studio Pro 2 at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, Apple has now shipped the professional DVD creation tool. DVD Studio Pro 2 is an extensive, ground-up rewrite of the original that incorporates technologies acquired when Apple purchased Spruce Technologies in 2001. The new version adds timeline-based track editing, a menu editor for customizing DVD menu systems, an improved MPEG-2 encoder, and plenty of design templates. The program's interface has been revamped as well, offering three different modes: Basic (similar to iDVD), Extended (more customization options), and Advanced (no pixel left unturned). DVD Studio Pro 2 integrates with Final Cut Pro 4, which was also announced at NAB and began shipping in June (see "Apple Ships Final Cut Pro 4" in TidBITS-684). The full version of DVD Studio Pro 2 costs $500, and upgrades from DVD Studio Pro 1.5 cost $200 (those who purchased version 1.5 between 06-Apr-03 and 15-Aug-03 can upgrade for a $30 shipping fee through Apple's Up-To-Date program). You need a Mac with at least a PowerPC G4 processor running at 733 MHz or better and an AGP graphics card, Mac OS X 10.2.6 or later, and a DVD drive for installation; although a SuperDrive isn't required to use the program, it is needed to burn projects to DVD-R media. [JLC]

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