NLE Buyer's Guide 2003 By Charlie White
	Do you want resolution independence, and real time editing? Do you want to use big-iron hardware with a familiar software package, or would you rather use a software package that takes advantage of the hardware you already own? These days, there's a nonlinear editing (NLE) package for everyone and every budget. Our 2003 Buyer's Guide will help you sort through the options. We've included most of the major players in the nonlinear editing field in this comprehensive guide. But that doesn't mean this document is engraved in stone, because applications and hardware are continually updated. This is one of those new-fangled "living documents," so check back here from time to time, and watch it grow.[an error occurred while processing this directive]     Accom Affinity Dimension 8.3 screen shot (Click image for enlargement)   Accom Affinity Remember the IMMIX VideoCube? Here's the latest version, but this one has advanced considerably since the IMMIX days. This Mac-based nonlinear editing system features uncompressed video with real time effects and transitions. The basic Affinity system is $29,500, including the Affinity expansion chassis, Abekas DVE module and Control Panel and software, but doesn't include the required Power Mac G4. With Dimension 8.3 software, Affinity is designed to finish projects in less time, giving users the enhanced capabilities required to meet those daily post-production challenges. Best of all, you get Accom's high quality real-time Abekas frame-based 3D DVE.     Adobe Premiere 6 screen shot (Click image for enlargement)   Adobe Premiere 6.5 Available for both Mac and PC, this popular timeline-based editing software is able to switch between timeline-style and 3-point-style editing. Version 6.5 offers real time previewing, an enhanced text tool, built-in, cross-platform support for a large selection of DV devices, an enhanced user interface, new professional editing tools and seamless integration with other Adobe applications including After Effects, Photoshop and GoLive. Among the easiest-to-learn nonlinear editing software packages, many hardware manufacturers bundle Premiere with their capture cards. Designed by the same guy who created Final Cut Pro, Randy Ubillos, you'll see a resemblance between the two packages. Because of the primitive nature of early versions of Premiere, the application has found it difficult to shake its association with postage-stamp-sized digital video. But those who use the application today find it comprehensive and deep.     AIST aistcinegy250 (Click image for enlargement)   AIST Cinegy Cinegy integrates digital archive, media asset management, tape and live ingest, logging, search & browse, editing and playout. The new systemn features multi-format and multi-resolution conform, format independent editing (including uncompressed and direct MPEG2 & MPEG4 editing), as well as post-production integration. It can be used for long form production as well as formats like news or sports. Cinegy is video format independent and can work with multiple proxy resolutions. This allows leaving the high quality or archive quality compressed or uncompressed original material untouched on the server while the PC clients work with MPEG2, DV or Windows Media proxy versions. Cinegy supports MPEG2-HD (up to 1920x1080), lossless compression for SD editing on PC based clients as well as MPEG4.     Final Cut Pro 3 screen shot (Click image for enlargement)   Apple Final Cut Pro 3.0 This $1000 Mac-only editing software package combines video editing, compositing and special effects in a great looking interface. Mac hardware makers like Pinnacle Systems, with its CineWave series of editing accelerators, along with Matrox with its RT Mac, give Final Cut Pro users a choice between using the system with hardware-assisted real time editing, or using the software with its own new real time features implemented in software. The software-only route comes in handy if you're editing with a notebook, with Final Cut Pro 3.0 giving you the ability to load transitions and titles in RAM, giving you real time previewing on Mac G4s that run at 500MHz or faster. A favorite of professional users is its sophisticated color correction tools and user-friendly interface. With the right hardware (Pinnacle CineWave HD), HDTV producers find this the most cost effective solution to the HD "problem." Perhaps the hottest NLE software on the market today, all other NLE developers are targeting FCP 3 as the one to beat. Expect to see lots of competition for this hip NLE-of-the-moment in the near future.     Applied Magic ScreenPlay screen shot (Click image for enlargement)   Applied Magic Screenplay $3,795 Using a proprietary interface and operating system with its roots in the Amiga platform, ScreenPlay is a set-top box editing system that takes the woes of setting up and maintaining a computer out of the nonlinear editing equation. With 60 GB worth of storage, DV input, merge capabilities for multi-layering of both audio and video, lots of real time transitions and effects, and a truly simple interface, this is a great choice for quick 'n' easy DV editing. ScreenPlay Plus, with 120GB of storage is $4395, while Sequel, with 40GB of storage and 32MB of memory is $1995. Source: DMO 1 2 3 4 5 Next