CompuServe Messages

James: >With the rapid improvement in data compression, will low cost desktop video eventually replace expensive and specialized video production hardware? < Depends on how you qualify "expensive and specialized video production hardware". If you mean "Can I do elaborate special effects cheaper?", then the answer is it already has to some extent (cf, BABYLON 5 and SEAQUEST DSV). If you mean, OTOH, "Will nonlinear editing replace linear editing for professional video production?", my guess would be not for another 5-10 years. While nonlinear editing's certainly attractive, it's also a memory and throughput hog–even w/newer compression schemes. >Can accessible and inexpensive desktop video (e.g. Intel's Smart Video Recorder Pro and similar hardware/software packages) replace production suites for multi-media presentations? Will they someday?< Wait a sec–let's define our terms here. "Desktop video", as I understand it, means a production that's going to finally end up back on videotape and/or movie film for general release, while "multimedia" is a presentation that will probably never leave a computer. (I am, of course, open to any corrections/clarifications in my definitions from anyone else on this forum.) If you're looking for a presentation that you can play on a computer screen (like an electronic slideshow or an interactive training demo), then the hardware/software you're discussing can be used for this purpose *better* than a linear video editing suite. If, OTOH, you're talking about a straight video production that'll play on post office VCRs, say, then it's not quite good enough yet. Will it replace them someday? Probably–in about five-ten years (see above). Hope this helps–and I welcome any corrections/clarifications to my own, rather rudimentary, understanding of DTV/multimedia, Tim Liebe Contributing Editor, VIDEO Magazine