NLE Buyer's Guide 2003 Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next
	Mule's user interface for HD editing (Click image for enlargement)   Electronic Farm Mule Running on SGI O2, Octane, Octane2 and Onyx2, Electronic Farm Mule is a multi-role disk-based editing and effects software package. Built as a modular system, it can be tailored to suit your needs and requirements, allowing you to add options when you need them. Currently available for Mule 2.0 is the HD option, and features timeline-based editing and application of VFX and AFX in both SD and HD resolutions. Mule handles uncompressed/compressed, YUV/RGB/24P resolution-independent material. Additional optional modules for Mule are Acre, an HD module for Mule, Autumn, an advanced color corrector and Pig, a paint module for Mule. Pricing depends on configuration, starts at $7K for base Mule software for SGI O2.     Incite screen shot (Click image for enlargement)   Incite Editor Studio powered by Matrox DigiSuite MAX is much more than just a fast, efficient, intuitive audio/video editor. It really shines in networked post and broadcast facilities because it's designed around open file formats, transparent collaborative workflow, and a versatile database architecture. Advanced media management tools and an integral audio workstation round out the product. (complete systems starting at $17,500)     Blade screen shot (Click image for enlargement)   in:sync Blade 2.0 software-only editor and compositor ($499) has unique qualities that support editing with almost any file format, resolution, and frame rate that make it very different than most other editing applications. These unique features provide a professional answer for production houses migrating from analog component equipment and provides a bridge into a new world of devices and formats. Along with real time DV editing, Blade offers an architecture that allows real time editing with professional uncompressed file formats made from a variety of professional analogue capture cards. Blade handles large image sequences in real time and exports to high quality MPEG. With new advanced native 24P support, Blade is useful for the DV Cinema world. Blade also imports and exports to HD Codecs like BOXX HD making it usable as offline for HD and on line for HD short form to a file. Blade offers a large degree of un-tethered real time performance without additional hardware requirements making it suitable for use with laptops and in the field. [an error occurred while processing this directive]     Leitch dpsVelocityQ (Click image for enlargement)   Leitch dpsVelocityQ The flagship of Leitch's Post Production product line, dpsVelocityQ combines the dpsQuattrus multi-layer real-time non-linear editing hardware with an extended version of dpsVelocity software, into a fully-integrated multi-layer NLE. With real-time simultaneous playback of four video streams (in any combination of compressed or uncompressed video), six graphics streams, and four channels of real-time 3D DVE, dpsVelocityQ delivers a combination of real-time performance, quality and affordability. dpsVelocityQ includes all of the features of the dpsVelocity dual-stream non-linear editor, and adds new features including multi-camera editing of up to four cameras, extensive real-time layering, real-time blur, and four channels of simultaneous real-time 3D DVE. dpsVelocityQ is available as a boardset-and-software bundle for installation into a Windows 2000 or XP workstation, or as fully integrated "ready to run" turnkey systems. Boardset-and-software bundles start at $9,999.     dpsVelocity screen shot (Click image for enlargement)   Leitch dpsVelocity Leitch dpsVelocity Leitch's dual-stream non-linear editing system, dpsVelocity combines real-time hardware and NLE software into a tightly-integrated editing and content creation package for broadcast, video, CD-ROM, DVD and the Web. Features include real-time filters such as color correction, masks and speed changes; two-camera editing; real-time support for video files with alpha channel; hundreds of customizable 2D and 3D transitions; rolling/crawling titles; 3 and 4-point editing; and direct timeline integration with eyeon's included Digital Fusion DFX+ compositing software. dpsVelocity is available either in a turnkey configuration or as a boardset-and-software bundle for installation into a Windows 2000 or Windows XP workstation. Board-and-software bundles start at $2849, or $5399 with the V3DX real-time 3D DVE option.     Lightworks Touch QuickTime demo (Click image to view movie)   Lightworks Touch $45K Lightworks Touch is Lightworks' next-generation Windows 2000-based editing system. The company says its philosophy involves putting the editor in control. Lightworks Touch takes this philosophy even further by making the editor, not the machine, the core of the system. In addition to that, all the features found in the classic Lightworks and Heavyworks products are still there in this newest version of the editing system that has become somewhat of a cult favorite. Lightworks Touch provides speed, high picture quality, real time effects, plug-in support for rendered effects and complete networking capabilities. But the heart of the system remains the Lightworks editing console -- an uncluttered project workspace that's ergonomically designed -- organically connecting editors directly to their material.     Casablanca Kron screen shot (Click image for enlargement)   MacroSystem Casablanca Kron Kron is a complete, self-contained video editing system featuring integrated DVD creation, quality levels up to Digital Betacam and native DV or MPEG-2 compression. Kron can work in either MPEG-2 or native DV, and has a faster processor than other set-top editors in its class -- an AMD K6 500 MHz -- which doesn't sound that fast, but in this Windows- and Mac- OS-free environment, this will give you lots more rendering power for complex composites. That results in full 60-field-per-second real time cuts, transitions, and audio editing. Image processing and transition effects include variable slow and fast motion, zoom, white balance and 3D page turns. Titling options include crawls, scrolls, and fully-scalable, textured fonts. MSRP for the Casablanca Kron with internal 80-gigabyte hard drive, able to store about 48 hours of video, is $5,495. Matrox DigiSuite MAX MMatrox DigiSuite MAX, designed for broadcast and post-production facilities, delivers maximum editing power and creative freedom with more real time features than any other platform in its class. The complete spectrum of analog and digital inputs and outputs is supported to enable professional editors to work in their formats of choice. DigiSuite MAX also brings other important benefits to streamline editing workflow and let users deliver in record time on tape, CD, DVD, and the Web. Professional audio/video breakout boxes and Sonic Solutions ReelDVD are now included in the Matrox DigiSuite MAX bundle. (starting at $5,995 US).     Matrox RT.X100 color correction dialog box brings professional-level color correcting down to earth. (Click image for enlargement)   Matrox RT.X100 on The Great DV Shootout 2003. It delivers many professional editing features including realtime 3-way, 18-parameter color correction, realtime chroma keying, realtime fast and slow motion, and the most powerful realtime 3D effects technology for video, titles, and 32-bit graphics. It also provides realtime DV output, realtime MPEG-2 capture and encoding for DVD authoring, and hardware accelerated simultaneous batch encoding of DVD, SVCD, and web formats. ($999 street) Matrox RT.X10 is a real time video editing hardware/software bundle designed for home video enthusiasts who want professional results fast. It lets users easily create home movies, business videos, and school projects they can be proud of. RT.X10 provides all the tools needed to capture video from analog and digital sources, edit it in real time without rendering, and then quickly deliver finished videos on tape, VCD, SVCD, DVD, and the web. ($499 street) Matrox RTMac Matrox RTMac is a PCI video card that provides real time DV effects processing, analog NTSC/PAL video capture and output/display capabilities, as well as support for connecting a second computer monitor to your Power Mac G4. It can be used with either Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere video editing software (see elsewhere in this roundup for reports on each of these). RTMac lets you work with two layers of video and one graphics layer, or two graphics layers and one video layer in real time. RTMac is powered by Matrox Flex 3D, a video mixing and effects architecture that's also the engine inside the Matrox RT2500 and DigiSuite. Currently RTMac doesn't support OS X, but Matrox promises drivers for that during the second quarter of 2002. Like the Matrox RT2500, if you've added real time effects to your production in either Final Cut Pro or Premiere, they must be rendered if you send your final product back to DV. But if you're going to analog tape, no rendering of those effects is necessary. There is a bundle available with Adobe Premiere 6.0; If you want to use Final Cut Pro 3, you must purchase it separately. ($599 US, $799 with Adobe Premiere) Matrox Networked Broadcast Studio This system lets you turn around programming and news faster than ever before. Acquire raw feeds directly to disk, edit in real time, create graphics, titles and animations, then playout straight to air. Shared storage and common file formats make transcoding, tape swapping, and running back and forth between recording rooms, edit bays, and the playout center a thing of the past. You share storage, content and projects seamlessly. (Price varies widely depending on configuration.)     Media 100 844/X screen shot (Click image for enlargement)   Media 100 844/X A full-featured editing system integrated with fast unlimited-layer compositing, 844/X packs some serious effects processing power. The techspeak: 844/X delivers real time image processing on up to four concurrent 10-bit uncompressed video stream and key pairs, along with 31-bit internal precision to support the arrangement and editing of complex and numerous layers. The power of 844/X emanates from the GenesisEngine -- a PCI standard media supercomputer that processes in real time, image effects and treatments across multiple video and key streams. Newly announced Version 2 software greatly extends the editing and compositing feature set, and a new XBLUR option adds real-time, multi-stream Gaussian Blur. Complete 844/X system configurations, including a workstation and high-speed media storage, start at about $40,000.     Media 100 i Version 8 for Mac OS X (Click image for enlargement)   Media 100 i Version 8 for Mac OS X $2K-$15K, boards and software. Media 100 i Version 8 digital content creation system for the Mac is one of the more versatile systems available with support for component, composite, DV, SDI and S-video formats. A ground-up redesign for OS X, V8 adds support for multiple graphics tracks, audio master track, audio reverb and dynamics processing, 24 real-time audio tracks, enhanced integration with Boris FX tools, and full Apple Scripting automation. Media 100 iFinish 4.5 $4-$12K, turnkey - just add monitor and media storage. Here's the nearly-identical Windows version of Media 100 i -- the iFinish digital content creation system for Windows 2000 (see screen shot above). Includes support for component, composite, DV, SDI and S-video formats. Real-time MPEG option available as well. Source: DMO Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next