CloneDVD v2.0 press release

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Posted on Friday 19th of March, 2004 at 16:34 by SirQUK
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We have been sent the full press release for the new version of CloneDVD!

CloneDVD 2 Online Release:

Better picture quality, more speed and many new features Cham, March, 18 2004 - Elaborate Bytes is pleased to present the even more powerful successor to the popular film copying program CloneDVD. The online version can be downloaded as of today under www.elby.ch and can be tested with its full functional range for the period of 30 days. For registered CloneDVD customers the CloneDVD 2 update is for free!

The new transcoder allows for substantial quality improvement while offering even more speed, especially at high reduction rates (e.g. when copying a complete DVD). The new features were adapted to the intuitive user interface, which is typical for CloneDVD. The interaction between the options of trimming chapters, freely adjustable file target sizes and the quality bars allow for total control over the amount of data and thus the quality of the film to be copied.

CloneDVD 2 is the ideal copying tool for beginners and advanced users. Without any previous knowledge or exploring the full feature set of CloneDVD 2, new users can copy their first film just with a few mouse clicks. For advanced users Clone DVD 2 offers more transparency over the technical processes. Even during transcoding, the logging window, film snapshots and video as well as bitrate statistics offer useful information for the technically interested user.

Additionally to CloneDVD 2 we provide a free Download of "Virtual CloneDrive" which will also be included in the future box version. Image files generated with CloneDVD can be ,inserted' into the virtual drive from hard disk or from a network drive and thus be used like a normal DVD.

Product details:

Better Quality

The new transcoder of CloneDVD 2 was substantially improved. Especially at high reduction rates (footage of more than two hours) CloneDVD 2 offers distinctly better quality. For example, if the user wants to produce a complete copy at a 30% reduction rate (in the quality bar display under 70%), the new transcoder of CloneDVD 2 provides far better picture results. Even the bonus material which picture quality usually suffers from the high compression is now worth viewing!

More Speed

CloneDVD 2 offers up to 15% more runtime speed. For those interested in complete copies: The higher the reduction rate, the more you can benefit from the speed improvement.

Advantage for beginners:

Complete copies reach top quality:

Through the substantial quality improvement for complete copies (main film, extras, menu) beginners without any previous knowledge can start the copying process just with a few mouse clicks! To do so, the user selects the option "Clone DVD" in the first window, inserts the original film DVD and a blank DVD - that's it!

Advantage for advanced users:

More control over the size of video data

Here the new CloneDVD version offers a lot more transparency. A second quality bar display shows the influence of the language selection on the compression rate. Through the direct correlation between title and language selection, CloneDVD leaves more scope for deciding which titles or languages can be left out to achieve the desired compression rate.

Chapter trimming/splitting

With CloneDVD 2 individual chapters can be trimmed. In some cases this can lead to lower data reduction, e.g. if the last chapter contains a long list of credits.

Another advantage of chapter trimming is that long films or a complete DVD copy can be split into two parts. This feature is available via the right mouse button in the title selection. After the copying process is finished for the first blank DVD, the user can invert the selected title and chapter selection via the right mouse button and starts the second part of the copying process.

Freely adjustable target size

Up to now CloneDVD had limited the target size to the size of a DVD-5, even if an ISO image of a short trailer was created. It is now possible to adjust the target size individually.

Intuitive user interface

CloneDVD impressively demonstrates how an attractive and intelligent user interface can look like. The filmstrip assistant accompanies the user through the copying process step by step, collects the preferred audio settings with each newly inserted DVD and recommends the settings of the last session.

The page with the audio settings was structured more clearly and user friendly; all the new features can be operated intuitively without looking into the manual. If an error occurs, CloneDVD simplifies further actions through improved error messages. In addition, the direct help now also offers the commonly used question mark symbol for assistance (the mouse pointer turns into a question mark when clicking on the symbol). Up to now, direct help was only available via the right mouse button.

Virtual CloneDrive

Virtual CloneDrive works and behaves just like a physical DVD drive, although it only exists virtually. Up to eight virtual drives can be selected and be differentiated from other drives by the sheep icons. The image file can now also be inserted into the Virtual CloneDrive by double-click. As an option, the last selected image file will be loaded automatically.

Virtual CloneDrive supports the access to image files from hard disk as well as from network drives. In combination with the third option of CloneDVD "Write existing data", the user can copy from one virtual drive to another drive 'on the fly'.

Technical information during transcoding

While processing the film copy the user can choose from the following information: Film snapshots show the progress of transcoding, giving the user a last control opportunity if, for example, the selected original menu is also being copied. Graphically presented bitrate and frame statistics inform the user at realtime about the properties of the video input and output data. In addition, a logging window offers technical details about the current process, e.g. the removal of the Layer Break. In the new CloneDVD version it is also possible to replace the sheep animation with own animations.

Background Information:

Manufacturer: Elaborate Bytes AG (Cham/Switzerland)

URL for CloneDVD: www.elby.ch

Price for Online Key: $39.00, release date March, 18 2004

Price for box version: $46.00, release date March, 25 2004

Evaluation version: Full range of features limited to 30 days

Language versions: German, English, French, Italian and many other languages

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