Adobe launches revamped D-I-Y TV software

Visual Communicator 3 provides professional help to budding TV presenters

Adobe has launched a new video creation software package aimed at beginners.

Visual Communicator 3 is the latest version of the company's software for creating professional-looking videos for broadcasting.

It boasts simplified templates and wizards to let inexperienced users create slick content that can be played back through projectors and TVs, or over the internet in the FLV format used by Adobe's Flash Media Server software. The software is being aimed at media students, teachers/lecturers and anyone else with dreams of a life in TV presenting.

Timelines have been eliminated in Version 3 and there is now an interactive 'Coach' designed to hand-hold new users. Users can preview up to three cameras at once while recording or presenting live video.

A full-screen teleprompter also allows amateur presenters to read scripts from a distance. Users can create a video presentation, set it to music and then improve it with a large library of newscast-style graphics, effects, and titles.

Just like the real-thing, budding presenters can replace a solid green or blue background with an image, video or graphic background.

"For tomorrow's broadcast professionals, Visual Communicator delivers a fast-track to the quality of results seen every night on television news reports," said Mark Randall, chief strategist, dynamic media at Adobe.

Visual Communicator 3 for Microsoft Windows will ship this Autumn and will cost £328. Existing Visual Communicator users will be able to upgrade for £123. A preview version can be downloaded here.