Apple today announced DVD Studio Pro 2, “a completely new DVD authoring product, rebuilt from the ground up with a breakthrough user interface and packed with innovative features that redefine professional DVD authoring,” according to the company. DVD Studio Pro 2 features professionally designed and fully customizable templates, a new menu editor, timeline-based track editing and a new world-class, software-based MPEG-2 encoder. DVD Studio Pro 2 is expected to be available in August for US$499. Starting today, Apple has also lowered the price of DVD Studio Pro 1.5 to $499, and customers who purchase and register their copies of DVD Studio Pro 1.5 starting today can upgrade to DVD Studio Pro 2 for an Up-To-Date shipping and handling fee of $29.95.