Sonic Foundry Annouces Vegas 4.0 HD and 24p Enhancements.

MADISON, Wis. (Apr. 04, 2003) - Sonic Foundry, Inc. today announced a series of new HD and 24p enhancements to its highly successful Vegas non-linear editing and DVD authoring software suite.

The latest update (4.0b), free to Vegas 4 and Vegas(R)+DVD registered users, provides editing and rendering of high-definition digital video, enhanced 24p capabilities, and support for Panasonic's new AG-DVX100 24p camera.

"Today's production professionals are looking for a tightly integrated platform that supports the widest possible number of source and delivery formats," explained Sonic Foundry's Brad Reinke, senior vice president and general manager of software. "Cost-effective HD and 24p capabilities are becoming essential to the production toolset and, with the addition of HD and 24p editing to Vegas 4, we're now able to support HD MPEG-2 for broadcast, 24p MPEG-2 for DVD, HD streaming media, HD animation sequences, and more."

Vegas 4.0 provides integrated real-time video and audio non-linear editing with comprehensive features that allow for mixing, compositing, color correction, titling, streaming media creation and surround sound production for multimedia professionals. Vegas+DVD includes Vegas 4.0, DVD authoring (featuring DVD Architect(TM)) and a Dolby(R) Laboratories certified multichannel Dolby Digital (AC-3) encoder.

Included in the list of enhancements for the most recent update are:

• Support for HD editing and rendering of high-definition video to .avi, .mov, MPEG-2, Windows Media 9 Series, RealVideo 9, png, and .jpeg sequences, at 1080/60i, 1080/30p, 1080/24p, 720/60p, 720/30p and 720/24p, all with frame sizes of up to 2048 x 2048.
• 24p enhancements, including 24p project frame rate and timecode display; 24p editing, titles, transitions, and fx; record/edit/mix in 24p projects; 2:3 and 2:3:3:2 pulldown support; 24p DV print to tape; and 24p render to .avi, .mov, MPEG-2, Windows Media 9 Series, RealVideo 9 and still image sequences.
• Microsoft(R) Windows Media(R) 9 Series high-definition import, editing and surround encoding.
• Updates to DVD Architect to accept 24p MPEG-2 source files without recompression.
• Panasonic AG-DVX100 24p camera support includes: capture, edit, render 24p DV, auto detect of 2:3 and 2:3:3:2 pulldown, and print to tape with 2:3 and 2:3:3:2 pulldown.

The free update will be available Monday, April 7, to all existing Vegas 4.0 and Vegas+DVD users.

About New Magic

New Magic Pty Ltd is a recognised leader in the distribution and marketing of multimedia hardware and software, representing a carefully selected range of innovative, leading manufacturers, and catering for both the professional and consumer markets. New Magic has been established for over 14 years, and is the Australian distributor of Newtek Inc, Hauppauge Computer Works Inc, Dosch Design and Sonic Foundry(R) products.

About Sonic Foundry®, Inc.

Certain statements contained in this news release regarding matters that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements. Because such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, uncertainties pertaining to continued market acceptance for Sonic Foundry's products, its ability to succeed in capturing significant revenues from media services and/or systems, the effect of new competitors in its market, integration of acquired business and other risk factors identified from time to time in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.