Many of you likely got the same e-mail I did this morning, which said in part:

Go Platinum in September
A new version of Vegas Movie Studio+DVD Platinum Edition software is coming soon. This update includes Vegas Movie Studio 7 and DVD Architect Studio 4 software. With new features such as 5.1 surround sound encoding, direct export to PSP® (PlayStation®Portable), over 100 video effects and transitions from NewBlue®, and a comprehensive training DVD, the new Vegas Movie Studio+DVD Platinum Edition software speeds you through even the most complex movie projects. The new Platinum Edition will be available in early September.

I saw the new retail boxed version of Movie Studio+DVD Platinum in the store at Fry's today. A little frustrating that an upgrade isn't available online yet!

-K-

Here is the info:

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Vegas® Movie Studio™ Platinum 7.0
July 2006

[SNIP]

1.0 Welcome
Thank you for purchasing Sony Media Software Vegas Movie Studio 7.0 software. This document contains information about installing and using Vegas Movie Studio software on your computer.

2.0 What’s New
Notable Fixes/Changes in Version 7.0a

* A bug has been fixed that caused 5.1 surround projects to save audio in only the front channels when using the Make Movie Wizard to burn your project to DVD.

What's New in Version 7.0

* Export video to PSP® (PlayStation®Portable)
* You can now export Sony AVC/AAC (also called H.264 or MPEG-4 AVC).
* MainConcept AVC/AAC codec. You can use this plug-in to import H.264 video in your projects and to render H.264 video to Apple iPod® video format).
* 5.1 surround support.
* Support has been added for opening and rendering ATRAC3™, ATRAC3plus™, and ATRAC Advanced Lossless™ files.
* Stereo and 5.1-channel AC-3 rendering.
* Cut/copy/delete operations can be applied to grouped events.

3.0 Known Issues

* If you have a USB SmartMedia reader device installed on your PC, you may experience problems when you attempt to access your CD drive from Vegas Movie Studio software for extracting audio or burning CDs. This is due to an error in the SmartMedia reader driver. Using the Unplug or Eject Hardware Wizard to remove the reader should allow Vegas Movie Studio software to function normally.
* 24-bit Windows Media Audio files will always be read as 16-bit files in Windows 2000 (multichannel files are read as 16-bit stereo). This is a limitation of the operating system. You can render 24-bit WMA files, but if you want to read these files as 24-bit audio, copy them to a Windows XP machine.
* HDV capture requires that you have a registered version of the Sony MPEG-2 plug-in on your system.
* You can use native HDV MPEG-2 transport streams on the Vegas Movie Studio Platinum timeline, but playback performance will be poor on most systems. We recommend you convert the native HDV footage—or selected portions of it—to an HDV intermediate format for timeline editing. You can add your native HDV files on the timeline, create regions for selected scenes, and then render to an intermediate format to create multiple intermediate files. For more information about working with HDV, please refer to the online help.
* If you are printing a rendered file to HDV tape, the file must precisely conform to the target HDV device and file type requirements, or the print-to-tape operation will fail. Rendering using the provided HDV MPEG-2 render templates—unmodified in any way—is required to successfully print to HDV tape.
* The Sony Handycam USB driver that is included with DVD-based camcorders can prevent Vegas Movie Studio from recognizing a USB-connected camera. If you use the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel to uninstall the "Sony DVD Handycam USB driver" component, Vegas Movie Studio will be able connect to the camera and import video using Import > DVD Camcorder Disc.
* VR mode requires Windows XP SP2 or greater.

4.0 System Requirements
The following lists the minimum system requirements for using Sony Media Software Vegas Movie Studio software:

* Microsoft® Windows® 2000, XP Home, or XP Professional (Windows XP SP2 required for HDV)
* 800 MHz processor (2.8 GHz recommended for HDV)
* 200 MB hard-disk space for program installation
* 256 MB RAM (512 MB RAM recommended for HDV)
* OHCI-compatible i.LINK® connector*/IEEE-1394DV card (for DV capture and print-to-tape)
* Windows-compatible sound card
* CD-ROM drive (for installation from a CD only)
* Supported CD-Recordable drive (for CD burning only)
* Microsoft DirectX® 9 or later (included on application disc)
* Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 SP1 (required only for Vegas Movie Studio Platinum; included on application disc)
* Internet Explorer 5.1 or later (included on application disc)

[SNIP]

DVD Architect Studio™ 4.0
June 2006

[SNIP]

1.0 Welcome
Thank you for purchasing Sony Media Software DVD Architect Studio 4.0 software. This document contains information about installing and using DVD Architect Studio on your computer.

2.0 What’s New in Version 4.0

* Stereo and 5.1-channel AC-3 support
* DVD-R dual-layer burning

3.0 Known Issues

* To address permission issues in Windows and allow all users to export themes, themes are now installed in a folder at C:\Documents and Settings\Your Username\Application Data\Sony\DVD Architect Studio\4.0\Themes. If you exported themes in DVD Architect Studio 3.0 and want to use them in version 4.0, copy the theme file (.thm) from the original location (by default, C:\Program Files\Sony\DVD Architect Studio 3.0\Themes) to the new theme location.
* If you have a USB SmartMedia reader device installed on your PC, you may experience problems when you attempt to access your CD drive from DVD Architect Studio software for extracting audio or burning CDs. This is due to an error in the SmartMedia reader driver. Using the Unplug or Eject Hardware Wizard to remove the reader should allow DVD Architect Studio software to function normally.
* If you save a project from an earlier version of DVD Architect Studio software in DVD Architect Studio 4.0, it will be unusable in earlier versions of DVD Architect Studio software. Use the Save As dialog to save the project with a new name after editing it in DVD Architect Studio 4.0.
* Attempting to access your DVD burner (by browsing with Windows Explorer, searching the drive, or starting an application that scans for available drives, for example) while burning your project can cause burning to fail.
* The Macromedia Flash (SWF) reader plug-in does not read files saved as Flash 6.0 or higher. Please save your files in the Flash 5 format.
Flash files that contain Actionscript or motion video will not be interpreted correctly by the Flash reader plug-in.
* Not all DVD players can play all types of recordable DVD media. For example, some players cannot read +RW discs, and some players are unable to read the second layer on dual-layer discs. To confirm media compatibility, please refer to your DVD player's documentation/specifications.
* VR-mode camcorder discs are not supported for writing 8-cm discs to 12-cm discs.
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So,

Will I be able to render photo slideshows into high def wmv files [i.e., 1080p]? I can't do that in VMS 6 [max vertical resolution is 800]