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MillimeterNAB’s Editing Highlights
Jun 1, 2003 12:00 PM, By Bob Turner
While Apple and Avid products created much excitement at NAB, there were also many other impressive offerings on the show floor.
 Pinnacle Systems' big debut this year was Liquid Chrome. The system offers the Liquid version 5 editing app, TARGA 3000 compositing engine, and K2 single-chip 3D DVE. |
By now you have heard all the excitement generated by Avid's new Xpress Pro, Media Composer Adrenaline, and DS Nitris products. And the oohs and ahs of Final Cut Pro 4—especially when combined with one of the several new third-party compatible hardware products like AJA Io and Blackmagic Design DeckLink. Both Apple and Avid products were exciting highlights of this year's NAB, but there were also many other impressive video editing and compositing products. Here are a few of the of the show's offerings in alphabetical order:
Adobe wanted the big bang for its new Encore DVD creation application, an excellent, well-designed product. On the editing/compositing side the company was demonstrating Adobe 6.5 and After Effects 5.5 and said it plans for updates later in the year. There was an exciting demonstration at the AAF press conference. Dave Trescott, senior director of Adobe's digital video group, demonstrated AAF media and metadata interchange between Media Composer and After Effects using a prototype of the AAF XML Schema. Trescott gave credit to Metaglue and others for assistance in this development effort.
Apple Final Cut Pro 4 is a major upgrade to what is becoming a leading software-based nonlinear editing product on the Apple platform. Furthermore, Apple was part of one of the most exciting editing demonstrations at NAB— especially for digital filmmakers.
This demonstration in the Quantel booth started with the concept that filmmakers who want to enter film contests can create and edit digital video programming on a Final Cut Pro system, and then create and send a DVD to enter. If the program is accepted into the festival, and if the filmmaker needs a film or digital cinema format output, he can rent time in a Quantel suite, and thanks to a new Automatic Duck AAF plug-in, can export the timeline metadata to a Quantel iQ or eQ system. The media can also be imported from the Apple platform or batch digitized using the timeline metadata, and then "uprezzed." He can add high-resolution titles, tweak the color grading to match the output format, and take advantage of any other finishing that is available from the Quantel system, and then output to a digital cinema format or to a digital film recorder. This is an exciting new workflow that will offer major cost savings.
The Avid nonlinear editing space was dedicated to three new families of products: Xpress Pro (and NewsCutter XP) with Mojo, Media Composer Adrenaline (and NewsCutter Adrenaline FX) with Adrenaline DNA, and the DS Nitris (and DS Nitris Editor) with Nitris DNA.
The Avid Xpress Pro software is far more capable than Xpress DV, in spite of similarities in price and input/output. At the high end, the combo of Avid DS Nitris and Nitris DNA is clearly to become the new flagship offering. In between, Media Composer Adrenaline is Avid's new offering for general purpose postproduction editing (for both Mac OS X and Windows XP). It was demonstrated using up to five realtime uncompressed SD video streams, and this was not overtaxing the platform! It is offered as a kit with the Adrenaline DNA (Digital Nonlinear Accelerator) hardware and the Media Composer Adrenaline software, while the host platform, storage, and monitors are extra. The software offers major improvements over version 11 Media Composer, including the ability to mix resolutions in the same timeline and transcode between resolutions (compatible for the first time with ABVB, AVRS, Meridien JFIF, DV25, DV50, and IMX50). Among the features are realtime audio dissolves, marquee-quality titling, paint, greenscreen, effects and DVE features, improved color correction, AAF/OMF import and export, and new transcoding capabilities.
The DNA hardware delivers realtime functionality and offers an extensive input/output list and scalability. Adrenaline DNA also provides interoperability with Avid Unity shared-storage and media asset management solutions. Future format and codec requirements can be handled through software upgrades.
Finally, one of the more exciting aspects of this product is its price: $24,995 MSRP. It is expected sometime in August. I'll write in-depth about this extensive new product line from Avid in my August column.
Canopus offered its new Edius editing software for its post products (DVRex RT and DV Storm) and its Rextor software for its broadcast NLEs. The latter was found on the CWS-100 workstation and the new CWS-30 laptop edit product. The CWS-30 offers three render-free streams, including 2D and 3D realtime transitions, animated titling, video filters (including color correction with a WFM/VS display), and motion effects. The turnkey comes with an external portable hard drive (CWSMP300) and works with the Sony DSR-DU1 drive. There are several program output options, including AVI, MPEG, Quicktime, Windows Media, and Real Media formats.
Boxx Technologies was again displaying its HDBoxx NLE turnkey platform featuring In-Sync Speed Razor HD ($49,500). It offers 10-bit and 8-bit YUV and RGB uncompressed HD and SD video, plus the ability to edit the native Panasonic variable frame rate HD format. HDBoxx was also demonstrated in the Bluefish444 booth—it was a prototype of a next-generation HDBoxx with a Bluefish444 HD card. (The present HDBoxx uses DVS technology.) The HDBoxx supports Adobe After Effects, Discreet Combustion, Apple/Nothing Real Shake, and Eyeon Digital Fusion.
Boxx also demonstrated the basic 3DBoxx, which comes without software. However, Boxx Technologies offers it with LightWave 3D, Vegas, Acid Pro, SoundForge, Combustion 2.1 options, and as part of the new Video Star system, it offers a 3DBoxx platform with Video Toaster software.
 Edirol’s DV-7C Proprietary Controller is now available with its VideoCanvas DV-7 nonlinear editing turnkey. |
Edirol was showing version 1.628 of its VideoCanvas DV-7 nonlinear editing turnkey. The product now offers a new M-100FX 10-channel audio mixer with effects hardware option in addition to the DV-7C Proprietary Controller. Edirol will offer a DV-7 Pro version in June. This pro expansion kit offers a deluxe upgrade, including a USB external multimedia memory card reader; a new titling interface including 3D roll and crawl effects; new audio effects; and new video effects, transitions, and filters including more realtime capabilities.
Global Streams demonstrated version 2.9 of its GlobalCaster Studio family, which features its realtime hybrid (lin-ear and nonlinear) editing system; animation and paint compositing tools; and realtime 3D Video Warp Effects Creation.
IMC Incite did not have a booth of its own but demonstrated version 3.0 of its Incite Editor in the Matrox, Snell & Wilcox, Sony, and Thomson booths. New features in version 3.0 include an improved GUI and improved operations workflow. The product offers hybrid tape-to-tape editing, a new Sound Surround tool, improved VO recording tools, and major improvements in media asset management. Incite provides complete integration with the JLCooper MCS-3000 series Media Command Stations and the new MCS3 compact tactile remote.
In-Sync also was without a booth of its own, but was on the show floor in several booths. It was in the Boxx Technologies booth showing Speed Razor HD version 2.0 (only available as part of the HDBoxx), in the Panasonic booth with Blade 2.1 on a Panasonic ToughBook laptop editing from a Panasonic AG-DVX100 camcorder, and in the Utah Scientific booth showing Speed Razor/Shear MPEG editing with automated playlist video servers. The company just announced Blade version 2.2, a service update that also includes (for a limited time) Boris FX LTD and Boris Graffiti LTD plug-ins. Speed Razor version 5.5 offers Audio True Scrub, precise VU meters, a rewritten EDL import and export module, a faster "save projects" feature, and an updated Druid system diagnostic utility.
Leitch unveiled its new version 8.2 software for the dpsVelocityQ multi-stream nonlinear editing system and dpsVelocity dual-stream NLE. It was promoting the new and customizable GUI, EyeCon View (a feature displaying the icons and clip timecode of all visible layers based on the current playhead position), multi-cam editing, and the AAF and OMF import/export interoperability option. Also featured were advanced audio capabilities, Web streaming, and a color correction tool with WFM/VS display.
The flagship dpsVelocityQ features realtime, full-quality playback of four streams of video, up to six graphics streams, and four channels of 3D DVE. It can also stream to the Web live from the timeline. The product comes bundled with Eyeon Software's DFX+, Inscriber TitleMotion, Sound Forge XP Studio, Ligos GoMotion, and Sonic ReelDVD LE.
Lightworks Touch is one of those offline systems that surprises you when you sit down and use it. It is simple and easy to use, so your focus is on what you are editing and not on the technology. Lightworks Touch can play back four locked realtime picture viewers at top picture quality for multi-cam editing. The Lightworks booth personnel were saying it takes about an hour to learn. But you will get an argument if you call it an offline system—even if it was initially designed and used to create film lists. It offers an online picture quality and integrates well with tools such as Discreet Combustion and Eyeon Digital Fusion, so Touch owners are finding that it is suitable for certain finishing work. The system has the tools you need to do the job: performance; keyframeable realtime effects; keying/compositing (including an effects tree interface); Inscriber titling; 16 audio channels with realtime cross-fades; color correction; variable speed effects; plug-ins like Boris FX, Ultimatte, and Hollywood effects; workgroup collaboration; AAF and OMF support; burn-in timecode view; excellent media asset management, including comprehensive film support; a customizable GUI; a utilities toolbox; and, of course, Lucy the Shark.
 Linux Media Arts' Cinelerra offers a good deal on HD/SD nonlinear editing. The package starts at $14,995 and includes 1TB storage. |
Linux Media Arts may have been offering the best deal on HD/SD nonlinear editing. It was demonstrating a resolution-independent (10-bit video) realtime editing solution, Cinelerra. The package starts at $14,995 for the system, including dual processors, 1TB of storage, and 2GB of RAM.
Matrox offered its RT.X100 Xtreme realtime video editing and DVD authoring platform with full versions of Adobe Premiere 6.5 and both Sonic Solutions ReelDVD Studio and DVDit! SE applications for $1,299. Features of Matrox RT.X100 Xtreme include Xtreme Preview for editing many layers and effects without rendering; waveform/vectorscope monitoring in the color correction interface; simultaneous batch encoding of DVD, SVCD, VCD, and web; and other realtime capabilities.
Newtek VideoToaster 3 made its NAB debut. The version 3 software provides hundreds of new features and workflow improvements. These improvement range from radical new concepts like Zebra stripes for hot video and illegal colors and Auto Calibration for 75IRE bars and 100IRE bars, to the more traditional media asset management, text generation, realtime multi-format editing, and DV support enhancements. Delivery date and price have not yet been announced.
Pinnacle Systems Liquid products may be the second most popular Windows NLE software packages after Avid's. At NAB, Liquid Chrome debuted. This product combines three of Pinnacle's hot components: the Liquid version 5 editing application, the TARGA 3000 compositing engine, and the K2 single-chip 3D DVE—all for less than $25,000. Liquid is a powerful software package, but until now, layers compos-iting and effects utilized background rendering with InTime processors rather than realtime effects or previews. The TARGA 3000 compositing engine provides four realtime edit streams of 50Mbps I-frame MPEG-2 4:2:2, and uncompressed or DV25 codec editing and compositing. Chrome offers a remarkable multi-pass process that automatically renders composites with more than four layers without taking foreground control from the user, so there is no interrupted workflow. It should be pointed out that for the first version of the product, the InTime processors will not work with Chrome, but this should change in the next software version. The product will still do background rendering with the host platform's processor, called "idle-time rendering." The system is designed for networking with built-in support for Pinnacle's Palladium network storage, but does not yet offer AAF-compatibility.
The Liquid Blue, Liquid Silver, and Liquid Purple solutions were also displayed, as were the Vortex news editing products, Edition NLE, and CineWave hardware. The Edition 5 software is an integrated, realtime video editing and DVD authoring application with DV FireWire card for digital input/output. It utilizes both the CPU and graphics card to provide more than 1,000 realtime 2D and 3D effects, advanced color correction, chroma- and lumakey, and titling. It comes with advanced features like Pinnacle's Hollywood FX plug-in, automatic scene detection, and integrated DVD authoring. Edition 5 ($699.99) is DV-only and Edition Pro ($999.99) comes with a 2D/3D display adapter and DV and analog input/output on a single AGP card. It should be delivering by the end of May.
Version 4 of Cinewave ($3,995) was introduced, featuring FCP 4 compatibility, new realtime effects for various formats, support for eight audio track output and offline resolution, TARGA Ciné codec support for PC platforms, and enhanced HD and film support.
Quantel excited booth visitors with its demonstration of AAF metadata and media exchange between Apple's Final Cut Pro and a Quantel eQ, thanks to the Automatic Duck AAF interchange plug-in. This will allow filmmakers to bring their FCP projects to a Quantel finishing suite to "up-rez," polish, add high-resolution titles, color grade for the appropriate output, and either print to film using a digital film recorder or output to a digital cinema format.
Just as impressive was the NAB introduction of Quantel's new QEdit Pro Windows-based turnkey nonlinear editing system, priced under $70,000 and including three hours of uncompressed video storage. This product, featuring Quantel's "resolution co-existence" (up to standard definition uncompressed video and multi-resolution compositing at up to 2K resolutions) was demonstrated with version 1.5 software. Version 1.5 includes realtime aspect ratio conversions, and features major improvements in editing, audio, and compositing tools. The product now offers selective color correction of every layer, multiple keys on every layer, improved archiving, and an exchangeable storage option called HotSwap.
Ulead introduced StudioQuartet, a suite of applications for video pro-duction including: the MediaStudio Pro 7 editor (with software-only, real-time, full-resolution preview and output), the PhotoImpact 8 image editor for enhancing digital images or creating graphics, the Cool 3D text and object animator, and DVD Workshop AC-3 advanced DVD author-ing software with support for Dolby AC-3 audio files
Version 7 of MediaStudio Pro ingests and edits DV and MPEG video, and composites PhotoImpact stills or graphics along with Cool 3D animated titles or lower thirds, and then applies a wide range of effects and filters with the results immediately available in full-resolution, either on the preview screen or on a second display device (using a dual-display graphics card). It also features paint, rotoscoping, 2D vector motion graphics, audio editing, and DVD authoring tools. To comment on this article, email the Video Systems editorial staff at vsfeedback@primediabusiness.com.
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