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Adaptec today announced a new line of FireWire/1394 products that make home DVD movie creation and viewing simple, allowing consumers to quickly watch home movies on a TV or PC.

``Digital camcorders and DVD players are the hottest growth segments of consumer electronics,'' said Jeff Loebbaka, vice president and general manager of Adaptec's Desktop Solutions Group. ``Adaptec's new digital video solutions make it easy for consumers with a digital camcorder to easily view and share their home movies on a computer or in most standard DVD players.''

According to Martin Reynolds, Group Vice President and Research Fellow of Gartner, Inc., ``Advanced PCs, DVD players that can handle CD-Video and CD R/W formats and fast, inexpensive DV interfaces are bringing video editing and DVD system playback into the mainstream for any consumer with a digital camcorder. The availability of a simple way to transfer DV video to CD and DVD brings the promise of new ease-of-use to home video, enabling consumers to enjoy their recordings with all the convenience of DVD playback.''

MyDVD software by Sonic Solutions, the leading provider of DVD authoring applications, is being added to Adaptec's new line of FireWire/1394 products to create a total digital video solution for consumers. MyDVD is intuitive, easy-to-use software that provides a simple way to quickly burn home movies onto a DVD that can be played on a computer or in most standard DVD players. DVD provides an excellent, high-quality format for preserving precious memories because it is more durable than VHS tapes, has exceptional audio and video clarity and is easier to store.

Adaptec's three new FireWire/1394 products: DVpics Plus, FireConnect for Notebooks and DuoConnect are all bundled with Sonic's MyDVD video authoring software to provide a total digital video solution for consumers. These new products allow consumers to easily capture, edit and create DVD movies on their CD-R/W or DVD recordable drives in a short amount of time.

DVpics Plus Digital Video Editing and CD/DVD Creation kit provides the easy way to edit DV camcorder movies and then create CDs and DVDs with a home computer. It includes a 3-port FireWire/1394 PCI card and cable for easy plug-and-play to DV camcorders and other FireWire-enabled devices such as hard drives, CD-R/RWs and scanners. DVpics Plus has an MSRP of US$79 and also includes MGI VideoWave 4 SE and Sonic MyDVD software for Windows, which allow users to capture, edit, and organize video clips, then create, burn and share in DVD and VideoCD formats on CD-R/RW or DVD-R/RW.

Adaptec's FireConnect for Notebooks kit includes a 3-port FireWire cardbus adapter for PC and Macintosh notebooks, providing plug-and-play connectivity for FireWire devices such as hard drives, CD-RWs and camcorders. The kit includes MGI VideoWave 4 SE digital video editing software and Sonic's MyDVD for DVD creation in Windows. This software enables users to archive data, create and share Video in VideoCD, DVD and DVD on CD formats. The card provides high-speed isochronous data transmission for digital video. With an MSRP under US$100, FireConnect for Notebooks allows users to connect up to 62 external FireWire devices with transmission rates of up to 400Mbits/sec.

DuoConnect is a combination USB 2.0 and FireWire card for PCs and Macs. It includes a 6-foot FireWire 6-4 pin cable worth US$30. MGI VideoWave 4 SE digital video editing software, Sonic MYDVD for DVD creation in Windows and Adaptec USB 2.0 drivers for Microsoft Windows 98SE, Me and 2000 are also included. It has four USB ports (3 external, 1 internal), and three FireWire ports (2 external, 1 internal) and full USB 2.0 high-speed certification and is also USB 1.1 backward-compatible. DuoConnect's FireWire ports are OHCI-compliant and can provide up to 18W of cable power at an MSRP of US$129.

Adaptec's DVpics Plus, FireConnect for Notebooks and DuoConnect kits are available now through select retailers, resellers, mail order and Adaptec's web site at www.adaptec.com.