Apple DVD Studio Pro now $499, new version coming

For those not familiar with it, DVD Studio Pro is a very robust DVD authoring app, and has the advantage of being able to work directly with ReplayTV files without having to first convert them to QuickTime or whatnot. It was $999, which was a little on the high end, but its new price of $499 makes it pretty compelling. As you might guess from its vendor, it runs on Macs (only).


Apple announced at NAB on Saturday:


DVD Studio Pro 2, due in August, is "a completely new DVD authoring product, rebuilt from the ground up with a breakthrough user interface and packed with innovative features that redefine professional DVD authoring. With professionally designed and fully customizable templates, an innovative new menu editor, timeline-based track editing and a new world-class, software-based MPEG-2 encoder, DVD Studio Pro 2 is a must have application for every Final Cut Pro editor, as well as any professional who creates DVDs for a living. [...]

__"DVD Studio Pro 2 is expected to be available ... for a suggested retail price of $499 (US). Starting today, Apple has also lowered the price of DVD Studio Pro 1.5 to $499 (US), and customers who purchase and register their copies of DVD Studio Pro 1.5 starting today can upgrade to DVD Studio Pro 2 for an Up-To-Date shipping and handling fee of $29.95 (US)."