NAB Edit

NAB 2003 WILL FEATURE NEW FORMATS, NEW CONNECtivity technology, newworkflows, new storage solutions, and most importantly, new products. Iexpect more than 500 nonlinear editors and compositors at thisconvention. The new trends include new low-cost high definitiontechnologies, such as JVC's new HD format and Windows Media 9 HDediting capabilities. There will be new concerns expressed aboutefficient archiving and media asset management. New storagetechnologies will be offered and new workgroup solutions will beevangelized. Let's take a look at the highlights that you should add toyour priority list of things to see.

Quantel will introduce its QEdit Pro mainstreamediting/compositing/finishing system to NAB. This Windows-basedtechnology, supplemented with a Quantel Hardware board, starts at$68,000 MSRP for a turnkey system. The product shares its interface andtoolset with iQ and eQ. I expect Quantel will be featuringcompatibility with Sony's CineAlta HDCAM SR 4:4:4 MPEG formats.

The closest competitor to QEdit Pro may be Media 100's844/X. The product comes in a low-cost four-stream version and atop-of-the-line eight-stream version. The company has been offeringexcellent financing plans to assist you in this troubled economy. AtNAB, it will present version 2, the “finishing release.”This release — available for both versions — features newcolor-correction tools, spline-based matte and rotoscope tools, OMFsupport, a new keyframe curve editor, expanded audio tools, 24fpsediting with 3:2 pulldown tools, and improved media asset management.Media 100 will also be presenting a hot new option, XBLUR, a trueGaussian blur tool. An HDX option is a first-step down-res/up-restechnology that enables affordable support for HD and SDapplications.

Pinnacle Systems will introduce what is sure to be a popularaddition to its Liquid family of products. Chrome ($25,000 MSRP)is a nonlinear editor/compositor that incorporates Pinnacle Systems'Targa hardware technology into the company's Liquid editing and effectsapplication. The product works with uncompressed MPEG-2 4:2:2 and DV25codecs, and features realtime 3D DVE capability, four realtime videostreams, and unlimited layering by utilizing Liquid's InTime processingboards. Liquid Chrome also includes a TitleDeko character generatorapplication, Commotion image editing and compositing software,Impression DVD authoring software, and the new Liquid CX colorcorrection subsystem. It also features built-in Palladium support.

Chrome's siblings: the Liquid Purple DV-based desktop/laptopNLE software package (will new version 5 be seen in the Sony booth withthe new professional optical disc DDRs?); the Liquid Silver MPEGNLE (with DV option) turnkey product; and the flagship LiquidBlue “everything in/anything out” NLE turnkey product.Liquid Blue supports any combination of DV, DVCAM, DVCPRO25/50, MPEG-2,MPEG IMX, Digital Betacam, and even uncompressed D1/D5 within a singletimeline — and still offers realtime playback.

Also found in the Pinnacle Systems booth will be the latest OSX-compatible CinéWave boardsets. New free realtime effectsand enhanced software codecs will be featured.

Leitch will be featuring another of the new multi-streameditor/compositor systems — its dpsVelocityQpostproduction system. The new 8.2 version of dpsVelocityQ includes anew interface style, more than 100 editing refinements, enhancedintegration with Leitch VR servers, and support of new options foradvanced professional audio tools and OMF/AAF interoperability.

It is always a mystery what Apple Computer will present atNAB. Undoubtedly, Final Cut Pro will be present with all thecomplimentary third-party FCP-compatible hardware (AJA Kona,BlackMagic, Aurora Systems, Digital Voodoo, CinéWave, etc.)

It is also likely that Apple's Final Cut Pro will be among the firstNLEs to work with Panasonic's new higher-bandwidth FireWire technologyavailable for certain new DVCPRO50 VCRs.

Apple will be demonstrating its latest Shake compositing softwaredevelopment efforts. In the past two years, Apple has been acquiringcompositing and media-distribution software manufacturers. This wouldbe the best time for the company to present the results of theseacquisitions.

Of course Apple has introduced new platforms of both itsprofessional laptop and desktop lines, plus major improvements to itsserver line. Will the latest version of Xserve along with the newXRAID be demonstrated as a SAN solution?

One of the hottest products at NAB this year is expected to be theJVC JY-HD10 single-chip HD camcorder. That product comes withthe MPEG Edit Studio Pro 1.0 LE software package, which JVCboasts is “the industry's first MPEG-2 HD editing softwarepackage for digital hi-def images.” When in the booth, be sure tocheck out the SR-VD400US PRO HD D-VHS VCR and the newBR-DV6000U Advanced Professional DV VCR. After you examine JVC'snew NLE software package, go to the KDDI Media Technologiesbooth and examine its MPEG Edit Studio Pro — a fast, nonlinearHDTV/SDTV MPEG-2 NLE software package that achieves nearlydegradation-free, frame-accurate, fast IBP MPEG-2 editing. The productoffers a jog/shuttle controller, a scene-indexing feature andsoftware-based HDTV player.

This year Avid is being as secretive as Apple! It's alreadyannounced that Symphony will be displayed on a Macintoshplatform. The Mac version is missing a few features available on theWindows platform, such as the DV/MPEG option, SDTI-CP option, Marquee3D Titling, Transfer Manager, and Media Chunking. I hope that Avid willannounce at NAB that it has qualified Apple's flat-panel monitors.

Avid|DS will continue to be the HD postproduction solution. Thelatest version of Unity and Unity LANshare will be popular products intheir booth. You should expect to have MXF media files replace AVRfiles — hopefully with backward compatibility, as this intentionwas announced last year. Avid should announce that Avid Xpress DV willhave MetaSync tracks for the creation of interactive video programming.Will Avid disappoint those shopping for 24fps editing capabilities onthe Xpress DV? I would be quite surprised if I did not see Xpress DVworking with the new, higher-bandwidth FireWire port and interfacingwith Panasonic's new DVCPRO50 VCRs. I wonder if it will make use of the2X transfer capabilities of Panasonic's AJ-DX225 VCR. I am pretty surethat Avid will have one of more systems — most likely the XpressDV or NewsCutter interface — working with Sony's new IMX-basedoptical disc VCR replacements.

Be sure to look for 1Beyond's new dual-P4 hyper-threading3GHz laptop in the Avid booth. It will be found in other booths aswell. You should also look for 1Beyond's new HD system. Unfortunately,the booth is in an as-yet-to-be-announced location. The new laptop isthe best-performing laptop that I have seen and is offered with severalNLE software packages.

Discreet has divided into two divisions. The high-end systemsdivision will feature Flame 8, Flint 8, Smoke 5.2, and Fire 5.2, allemphasizing 2K and HD capabilities. The desktop software division willfeature the Cleaner products, 3ds Max 5.1 and Combustion 2.1. Be sureto see Bluefish444's new Acetylene SD SDI video card workwith Discreet's Combustion system — it provides realtime videoplayback with frame-buffer support for simultaneous realtime preview onYUV SD SDI broadcast and analog composite monitors. The prototype DMA(formerly Strata/Mezzo) technologies will be most likely be viewed byinvitation only. The biggest news in the Discreet booth will be theformal unveiling of its new digital color-grading system based uponColorfront technology, and the introduction of the new Windows-basedCleaner XL encoder product.

Capdiv Direct DV Recorder

Digital Fusion and DF+ products, as well as the new Monstersplug-ins, will be on display in Eyeon's booth. Digital Fusion'snew features for version 4 include command-line scripting, a redesignedtracking tool with unlimited tracking points, a new grid-warpingfeature for advanced image deformation, both 8/16-bit integer and32-bit floating-point color processing, new RAM caching for realtimeplayback, new transform functions, cluster rendering and macro tools,and advanced particle, paint, and color-correction subsystems. I expectthat Eyeon may introduce a Linux version at NAB. DFLinux iscurrently in beta.

And as for the best-selling of all compositing software,Adobe will be demonstrating its previously announced 5.5 releaseof After Effects along with Premiere 6.5. Adobe Systems will be makinga major new product announcement at NAB during the keynote address.Rumor has it that the company will also be discussing the AAFinterchange standard and addressing its plans for AAF compatibility. Ido not know if Adobe Systems will again be editing HD via the MicrosoftWindows 9 media, as was demonstrated at last year's convention; norhave I been able to find out if the plug-in partners will bedemonstrating in the Adobe booth this year.

Matrox Video Products Group will be featuring threepostproduction solutions. The Matrox RT.X100 highlights realtime DV andMPEG-2 output, realtime three-way color correction, realtime chromakeying, realtime motion control, and Flex 3D-powered realtimeeffects.

The Matrox Parhelia/Adobe After Effects bundle will demonstratevideo compositing productivity with its technology that supports dualdisplays plus TV output, a free plug-in for viewing projects on an NTSCor PAL video monitor, and the highest-quality analog, digital, and TVoutput for RGB and video.

Incite Editor 3.0 on a DigiSuite MAX will promote itsadvanced media-management tools, an integral audio workstation, andworkgroup connectivity. Incite will be demonstrating a variety ofproducts in various booths on the NAB floor. You should check out theIncite HD Editor. The company claims that it will have someexciting new products, but Incite will not have a booth, so you willneed to hunt for them.

Canopus will unveil its new realtime nonlinear video editingsoftware, Edius, and its new portable editing workstation,CWS-30. The Edius software was designed for DVRex RTProfessional and DVStorm2 hardware. It offers multi-track editing,extensive transitions, voiceover recording to the timeline, three- andfour-point editing, realtime output, and comprehensive media assetmanagement tools.

ProMax might feature some interesting storage solutions forthe various turnkey solutions it offers. The company may bedemonstrating Apple's Xserve/XRAID solution as well as Avid, Premiere,Matrox, Pinnacle Systems, and Final Cut Pro turnkeys. ProMax isoffering its 8th Annual Digital Video Café on Tuesday night, April8 at the StarDust Hotel. Pre-registration is requested.

Laird Telemedia will be offering Mac G4 NLE Systems for AvidXpress DV and Final Cut Pro in addition to its line of Windows-basedDVora platforms. While in the booth, check out the LTM-ER2two-source editing router, the FireCut 4×1 IEEE 1394 DVvertical interval switcher, and the hot new Capdiv Direct DVRecorder.

You will find BOXX Technologies platforms driving NewTekVideo Toaster 2, Eyeon Software's Digital Fusion, and Sonic Foundry'sVegas software, in addition to In-Sync's Speed Razor HD 2 software.

Sonic Foundry will be demonstrating Vegas 4 andVegas+DVD as well as two volumes of its Sonic Foundry VisionSeries — libraries of textures and backdrops.Rumors abound aboutnew features and products that will be announced at the show. In-Syncwill also be found in the Panasonic booth with its Blade NLE softwareon a new Pana-sonic ToughBook laptop editor, complementing Panasonic's24p cameras.

Panasonic will have a new laptop editor of its own —the AJ-DE10, an IEEE 1394-equipped, laptop-based news editingsystem. It also uses Panasonic's ToughBook. The software is derivedfrom the newsBYTE news editing NLE. The system will offer optionalUSB-based jog pad and audio fader external controllers.

Sony will demonstrate version 6 of the Xpri NLEsystem. Of course it will support the new optical disc system alsobeing announced, and MXF file transfer capability with eVTR. Xpri willalso be found on a newer, more powerful computer platform, and willoffer many improvements from drag-and-drop timeline editing to improvedcolor correction and rotospline masking. There will be significantperformance improvements, an integrated Commotion 4.1 compositingpackage, improved After Effects support, and distributed rendering toPCs via Gigabit Ethernet.

After AIST Medialab AG and AIST America floundered, AIST GmbHwas founded in July 2002 with the purchased assets. That company willhave the smallest booth at NAB this year. The purpose of the booth isto make appointments for private demonstrations of the Cinegyfamily, including the integrated Cinegy Post Extreme and the midrangeCinegy Extreme, in a private room off the show floor. In that privateroom, the company will demonstrate how the Cinegy integrated productionsolution tries to cover the complete production workflow and make it aclosed loop — while being completely open to third-partyintegration. The idea is toevolve from nonlinear editing to“nonlinear production.” The product will also bedemonstrated in the booth of BBC Technology, AIST's technologypartner.

Edirol will be showing its popular set-top DV-7nonlinear editor. The company will be introducing a USB-based, 10-inputaudio mixer for a nonlinear editor, and the V-Link, afour-channel video mixer that features a T-bar controller.

Ulead will demonstrate its recently announced MediaStudioPro 7 and Video Studio 7. Also look for DVD Workshop nowwith AC-3 support and including an auto-run player on the DVD disc.

Accom will be sporting Affinity Dimension 8.3.3software with a new keyframer, a redesigned media asset managementscheme, more precise mouse control, and more efficient edit operations— plus improved audio and graphic file compatibility.

There will be many additional systems and surprises. The bulk of theexcitement may surround newly introduced production formats, but youstill need to incorporate those formats into the postproductionprocess. It should be a good show.

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