I read over at Digital Camcorder News that Sony has announced Vegas Pro 8, a new NLE version that brings more advanced editing tools to the professionals. Here are a few key new features…

*ProType titler
*Multi-cam editing (No more Excalibur)
*32-Bit Floating Point Video Processing
*Digital Signage and Portrait style video editing (Does anyone even know what this means? Odd sequence resolution presets maybe?)
*Audio Mixing Console
*Tempo-based audio effects
*Support for opening and rendering FLAC files
*No recompression when rendering long-GOP video formats (Nice!)
*Sony AVCHD Read and write Support
*Burn timeline to Blu-ray discs (Handy…)
*XDCAM FAM mode trimmed conform
*Single-monitor full screen video preview

There is also a new stock footage search plugin that can access Thought Equity’s collection of media from Sony Pictures, National Geographic, HBO and others. Vegas Pro 8 will be available September 10, with a MSRP of just under $700. Upgrade pricing will be available. You can read the full press release here.