#Non-Linear Editing
12 messages in this thread
A salesperson at my local Amiga store said that he heard that Newtek
has been working on a non-linear editing system (much like AVID on
the Mac).
Has anyone heard this?
I am very interested in non-linear editing, and would appreciate any
news on n.l. developments on the Amiga ( …developments by Newtek or
anyone else.)
Have a look at the upcoming "VLAB Motion" board from MacroSystems. It
will ship in a view weeks. As far as I know, there will be also a
non-linear editing software for it really soon.
Check out Digital Broadcaster from Digital Micronics. A "Broadcast
Quality" non-linear editor. A basic system, including A3000T, for
around $12,500. A friend of mine witnessed it and was very impressed.
-Steve
A rep. from Newtek told me last week, that they are coming out with
something in the NLE line. He said it would be like NLE but different
– the Toaster approach. Whatever that means. I am wanting to get
into NLE at a price that is affordable. I just saw AVIDs new system
priced at $28,000. I am hoping with all of the competition, prices
may get down to the $10,000 area.
Fred, there are already several 10K range (or less) solutions available. Data
Translation Media 100 is 12K, Avid Media Suite Pro is 10K. Radius Vidio Vision
is Premiere 3.0 based, and RasterOps MoviePak 2 and SuperMac DigitalFilm are
also available. These last three are in the 5K or less range. All require a
high powered Mac. On the PC side you have EMC's under 10K Primetime,
TouchVision's D/Vision
which is around 5K. These require a fast PC. Many others are entering
the NLE field – and price performance is paramount. Everyone knows a
60 field per second full screen digital editor is what people want –
but the biggest market is in the 5-10K range. Lou Wallace
Desktop Video World
Lou,
What I am looking for is an "on line" NLE. A system that can go directly to
tape not an EDL.
Avid had the Media Suite Pro on display at a conference I attended last week.
The price I was quoted was $28,000.
I think what happens with all of these low price systems, is that we are given
prices of incomplete systems. Basic system may be $10K, but the hard drives are
$$$ and of course if you don't have a MAC then you have to add that cost.
Are you using any NLE system now? I am at the point where I need to go A&B
roll. To upgrade I would need a new source VCR $4500 and a new controller
$3600. If for a few thousand more I could get a NLE system, then I would go in
that direction. Let's face it, a NLE system is a lot easier to make changes on.
And, if I understand digital, editing on a NLE would not go down a generation.
So, if I made copies off of the editor, I would only be down one generation.
Fred
No, I am not currently using one, although I do plan on getting
VideoVision Studio for my Mac RSN… That Avid price probably was
accurate – if it included Media Suite Pro 2.0, the Mac and ram & GB
hard disks. Still not bad for a complete NLE in todays market, and I
really like MSP's approach and interface. If you have a PC you could
go with D/Vision for about 5K, but the quality is not boardcast, more
like industrial vhs or SVHS
Keep in mind that while you do not experience generation loss (once
the footage is digitized anyway), when you create Fx in teh digital
domain you are creating new clips from the existing digital jpeg
files… and you can add some additional artifacting – depending on
the compression level. Lou
Fred,
I think you should put NLE out of your mind for about 2 – 3 years. My
guess is that it will be that long before hardware and software support
for bandwidths and filesizes will exist at an affordable price that does
not depend on very high compression (and visible loss) JPEG schemes. In
other words, I think NLE needs a little longer to mature before it is
truly a professional quality, desktop operation in the price range you are
seeking.
Ya know, if we could snap our fingers and make the broadcast and reception
of TV a digital phenomena, the no loss comnpressable NLE would be a snap!
And probably very cheap.
wmc – via Autopilot!
Wayne,
You are probably right. In fact I keep telling people that next year the
competition should bring the price down the the quality up.
But, if I could figure out some way of paying for a system, or I should say
making the system pay for itself, I'd install one tomorrow.
Fred
I really wonder how many people care about the quality of a picture.
I'm not talking about the broadcast industry, but the average person
who just watches TV.
Over the last year, I have had several clients who wanted to produce videos.
The "How To" kind. They have brought me footage from 8mm camcords – not even Hi
8, 3rd and 4th generation VHS, etc.
I tell them the quality is going to suffer using this footage, but they don't
care.
Then they end up selling thousands of copies of these really bad quality tapes.
But, the information they contain is excellent. So, why do I spend so much
money buying the best equipment I can afford when half of my clients don't
really care. They just want an image.
I am beginning to think that for these clients, I could buy some inexpensive
NLE. Maybe something that runs on Windows. The under $1,000 kind. It would make
editing a lot easier and even if it ran at 30 fields per second, they probably
wouldn't be able to see the difference.
I would probably even same some wear and tear on my source deck's heads. Don't
you just love it when a client comes in with his material on brand x tape. I
thinks the label reads "sandpaper # 2". (g)
By the way, In Motion magazine just came out with a very good review
of all of the NLE. It was a suppliment to the December issue.
Excellent reading. 1994 may be the year of affordable NLE. The other
day a Sony dealer told me that the major companies – JVC, Panasonic,
Sony – are taking a real close look at NLE.
And the way cool secret from Newtek (not now :), is that they will
have a $26K NLE at the next big time show. I don't rember which one,
NAB?
If that price is true ($26,000), it is too bad, cuz NewTek will become
Just-Another-Tek in the NL game. I say this because you can buy two Mac based
systems (including a Mac and some large disk drives) for about that price
today. We will have to see how the quality issues wash with any NewTek entry,
but it will have to be D1 compositing quality to have the same impact the
Toaster did, at that price. The real coup would be for NewTek to introduce a
complete "on-line" NL system with Toaster/LW capabilities, plus robust 16-bit
audio and 30mins of program disk space for about 8K. That way, add an Amiga and
you have a complete "on-line" system for what a computerless board set costs
for others. Just my $0.02.