Plextor Announces June Release of ConvertX USB Digital Video Converter


Reprinted from a Plextor press release:

Plextor Corp. has entered the digital video market with the announcement of ConvertX, a hardware real-time digital video converter and editing device for Windows-based personal computers. This straightforward box captures video from a wide range of sources-such as camcorders, DVD players, VCRs, and television-and automatically converts the analog video into a digital format for editing, authoring, and recording on media. With support for a variety of MPEG video/audio compression standards, including the latest MPEG-4 technology, ConvertX is easily the most flexible and versatile product in the video converter market.

As the first product of its kind to support MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 encoding, ConvertX provides users with several options for long-term storage of video. For example, MPEG-1 could be used to record one hour of video on a VCD, while MPEG-2 could be used to record up to two hours of high-quality video on a single DVD. MPEG-4 could be utilized to create highly compressed video archives to save space on a hard disk drive. Users can now store 2 hours of high-quality video on a standard CD or 10 hours on a DVD.

ConvertX also features a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connection to maximize data throughput to the host computer. This enables high bit rate video capture using MPEG-2 compression. A bundled package of editing and authoring software from industry leader InterVideo, Inc. makes it easy for users to manipulate audio and video to create custom CDs or DVDs.

“The rapidly growing video capture market dovetails perfectly with our present mission of manufacturing the world’s highest quality CD and DVD optical disc drives,” said Howard Wing, vice president of sales and marketing for Plextor. “Much of the video captured to a PC eventually ends up on CD or DVD discs, so it made sense for Plextor to develop a digital video converter optimized to work with our CD and DVD burners. ConvertX offers MPEG-4 support, Hi-Speed USB 2.0, and Plextor quality, all at a low price, putting it ahead of comparable products on the market today.”

“Plextor’s reputation for developing high-quality CD and DVD optical disc drives gives them a competitive edge as they enter the digital video conversion market,” said Steven Ro, president and CEO, InterVideo. “Bundling InterVideo WinDVD and WinDVD Creator software with the Plextor ConvertX results in a highly-integrated, total solution for end users.”

Plextor ConvertX
ConvertX allows users to capture analog video and convert it to a digital format faster and more easily than ever before. Users simply connect an analog video source to one of ConvertX’s AV connections: RCA Composite Video Input, RCA Composite Audio Input, and S-Video Input. Video capture formats include MPEG-1 (VCD), MPEG-2, (DVD), and MPEG-4. In Playback mode, ConvertX supports video display resolutions up to 720 x 480.

InterVideo Software Bundle
ConvertX software is based on InterVideo’s popular WinDVD player and WinDVD Creator products. The software walks the user through capturing video, editing it, adding titles, transitions, effects, music, and menus, and finally burning the finished product as a DVD (or VCD), mini-DVD, AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 ASF, WMV or DivX movie – all with a single program.

In capture mode, users can select bit rate and size, utilize a count down recording timer, and view real-time encoding playback. Editing controls include trimming, title insertion, MPEG cutter, and combine/divide MPEG-4 video file.

The WinDVD Player is the world’s most popular DVD player, which enables DVD, VCD and MPEG-1, 2, 4 playback, de-interlace, de-blocking filters, fast forward/rewind (0.5x, 1.5x, 2x, 4x, 8x), reverse play, fast playback with audio up to 2x, and navigation support.

Recommended System
Personal computer system with a 800 MHz or faster processor, 256 MB RAM, 10 GB hard drive; Microsoft Windows XP Pro/Home/2000 operating system; Windows compatible AGP or PCI graphic card; Windows compatible sound card with support for 48-KHz playback (PCI recommended); and USB 2.0 port. A CD-R/RW or RDVD disk drive is required for CD or DVD creation.

Pricing and Availability
The Plextor ConvertX is scheduled for shipment to distributors and resellers in June 2003 with a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of $179.00 USD. All product packages include unlimited toll-free technical support and one-year full warranty. Reservations for ConvertX are now being accepted at http://www.plextorshop.com.

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