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October 2009
HD EDition
About DVC
Page 2
Contacting DVC
3-4 Westbourne GroveEast Sussex
BN3 5PJEither write to us at the above address or telephone sales on:
01273 205700Fax us on
01273 917099email us on:
[email protected] our web site:
www.dvc.uk.com
Please note:We always endeavour to answer telephone calls straight away but we do find that many calls we receive are long and complicated (most people have quite a few questions
to ask and we always try to help!). So we may not be able to talk to you immediately
or it may not be possible to connect you to a suitably qualified member of staff when you call, but we will take your name and number
and we will always ring you back.Updated:6th October 2009
Prices quoted in this brochure were correct at time of going to press. All prices are subject to variation. If you are interested in purchasing any of the items listed in this brochure then please ring us for an up to date quote. Errors and omission excepted.
ContEntsAbout this booklet 3hD FormAts 6hD monitors 7 blu-rAy 8eDiting progrAm compArison 9sony VegAs 10 other sony progrAms 13grAss VAlley eDius 14 eDius eFFects 16 FirecoDer blu 17 blu-rAy AnD DVD writing 18 hDstorm, spArk & thunDer 19procoDer 20ADobe premiere pro 21 ADobe encore 24 ADobe onlocAtion 25 ADobe sounDbooth 26 proDuction stuDio premium 27 blAck mAgic cArDs 28 mAtrox rt.x cArDs 29 mAtrox mAx 32 mAtrox conVert DVi 32AViD meDiA composer 33 AViD mojo 35proDAD plug-ins 36DVc trAining 37 clAss on DemAnD trAining 38 hAnDson DVDs 38new DVc trAining DVDs 39other trAining DVDs 40AnAlogue/DigitAl conVerters 41lAptop eDiting 42 hp8730 wiDescreen lAptop 42 core2Duo m571 lAptop 43 sony ViAo Aw11 lAptop 43DVc system cAse 44which operAting system 45system extrAs 46
ContEnts
About tHis booklEt
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This booklet is produced in house at DVC and represents our view of the products listed. The aim is to give you as much information as possible so that you can make an informed choice as to which products suit you.If you get an editing computer from DVC you are buying not only the hardware, but the peace of mind associated with knowing the computer has been set up and tested as an edit system. If it fails to edit properly, we have to sort it out for you. If you buy software and hardware from different sources you do not get anywhere near the same level of support.There is more information available on our website, www.dvc.uk.com and, of course, please feel free to ring us on 01273 205700, email [email protected] to discuss your requirements, or why not come to our offices in Portslade for a demo.
David Clarke MD, DVC Ltd
The decision of which system to buy is not an easy one. None of the editing programs we sell are really awful and we could give you a sales pitch on any of them that makes them sound brilliant. So which do you choose?
Do you AlrEADy likE onE?If someone comes to us and says “I have been using Premiere 6 and I like it which should I choose?”, We would say try Premiere Pro. We may modify this if, for example, the program does not support the format in which you film, or the project you outline to us won’t work that well in the particular program.
WHAt formAt ArE you filming on?Not every program supports every format. AVCHD is a particular problem - its only with the advent of Premiere CS4 that it can be loaded into Adobe and we still have no reasonable way to get it into Avid Media Composer..
rEAltimE EffECts Realtime effects are very useful and can make your editing
much easier because they give you freedom to experiment and see the changes without wasting time rendering. They are not the be-all and end-all, as there are many cool effects you may want to achieve that can only be done by rendering.
All the programs we sell, Adobe Premiere Pro, Grass Valley EDIUS, Sony Vegas and Avid Media Composer can output DV realtime effects through FireWire without special hardware. With nearly all the programs you can add extra hardware to do more realtime effects, and that may be a deciding factor on which system you choose. For example EDIUS can do more in realtime than the other programs even without hardware, so if editing on a laptop, where you cannot install extra hardware, may be the best choice for speed.
intEgrAtion WitH otHEr progrAmsMaybe you are not sure what editing program you want but you use Adobe After Effects a lot. If so the Adobe Premiere is first choice as it and After Effects talk to each other really well. This does not mean you cannot use After Effects withe the other programs but none of them integrate as well as Premiere and After Effects.
WHiCH EDiting systEm is rigHt for you?
DVC have teamed up with Barclays Financial Services to offer a 12 Months Buy-Now-Pay-Later scheme which means you can spread the cost of an editing system over 12 months for no extra cost. If you fail to pay for the system within a year your will go onto a 3 year repayment scheme at 29.8% APR, so as long as you make sure you have paid within the year you can spread the cost of your purchase over 12 months for no extra cost apart from a £29 admin fee when you settle the account.Please call one of our sales team on 01273 205700 if you would like more details. In general software and hardware over £1,000 +VAT with the exception of Camera equipment can be purchased via the scheme.Terms and conditions do apply. BNPL only available to individuals, not companies. A credit reference agency will be contacted as part of the application process.
buy noW pAy lAtEr
WHiCH EDit systEm?
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DVD WritingAll the programs do a good job of encoding video for DVD - although you can still achieve better quality using a stand alone application like Canopus ProCoder.
EDIUS has DVD writing built-into the interface which is a great time-saver. The DVD writing is limited but if it does all you need it is the quickest way to edit and then produce a DVD of the lot.
lAptop or DEsktop?These days Laptops are powerful enough to edit even HD footage. The latest Asus laptop we have can have 1TB of hard drive space installed, with a decent graphic card, a full HD screen and even a Blu-ray player.They are not as powerful as desktops - Laptops take dual core processors and desktops can have one or even two quad cores installed - but they are still very powerful.The big advantage is the laptop can be moved around and the desktop is pretty static. If all you need is a system that sits in one place then buy the desktop - for the same price it will be more powerful and cheaper to fix if something goes wrong.But if you need a movable system then choose a laptop and you will still be able to edit fast.
mAC or pCAt DVC we specialise in PCs. We can sell Macs but prefer PCs. Macs are widely used and there are good reasons why you would chose one rather than a PC. PCS do evolve more quickly - Macs still do not have Blu-ray drives (even playback drives) which we have had on the PC for over a year.Don’t be tempted to buy a Mac just to run Windows on it - you can do this as Macs use the same components as PCs - but its not as good as using a PC. You cannot see as much memory when running Windows on a Mac as you would on a PC and you are restricted on how you can upgrade. Also for support as soon as someone hears you are using a Mac to run Windows they are likely to blame any faults you have on just that!Buy a Mac because you want to run the Apple o/s. Buy a PC to run Windows.At the end of the day one of the most important considerations is what you are used to - if you are used to a PC then you will find there are so many small things you have to relearn with a Mac that just will get in the way of learning editing. Of course, if you are used to a Mac then you will probably be better off sticking with it.
HoW muCH monEy HAVE you got?Unfortunately in the real world very few people have unlimited resources, so your system will always be defined by your budget. We have built editing computers costing from £1,000 - £15,000, but as computer prices change so quickly, call us with your requirements on 01273 205700 and we will attempt to fit those requirements to your budget. At DVC we find out what you need and then advise you on the best system to suit you, we don’t try to sell you the most expensive box unless you actually need the features it offers.
Generally HDV is recorded on to tape - although one or two cameras are appearing that record onto memory cards. The tapes used are the same kind as for DV filming. To get footage with 4 times the amount of information as DV into the same space HDV is stored in MPEG2 - the same format as normal DVDs.Other HD formats record onto cards. The problem with card based media is you need to copy the footage off the cards onto something else so you can re-use the cards. And when this is done what happens next? Where is your backup of the footage? With tape you just film it and put the original tape on a shelf and use a new one for the next filming.The disadvantage of tape is that it you have to record it to the PC in realtime - an hour takes and hour. Also tape drop outs can cause problems as can reviewing footage and accidentally forgetting to forward to the next bit of empty tape before recording more.There are two formats of HDV - 1080i (used by Sony and Cannon) and 720P (used by JVC). Both are generally supported by all programs.You record the footage onto the computer via FireWire just like DV footage. However, in it’s “native” MPEG form it is harder to edit than DV footage as it is composed of partial frames. A modern computer can do this but realtime playback of effects is limited. Some systems do better than others. With Adobe Premiere you can add Matrox card (an RT.X2 or Axio) and the performance increases dramatically, for example.Whilst editing you do not get output through FireWire (as you would with DV) instead you only see the picture on your computer screen. You must add extra hardware to do this. Cards like Grass Valley’s EDIUS HDSTORM or Matrox’ RT.X2 do just this, with component or HDMI HD outputs.When you have finished editing you need to record the results back to tape. To do this you must re-encode everything, even straight cuts, into a new file and then record. The speed of this varies between systems - Grass Valley EDIUS is the fastest, normally taking 1 hour to make an hour file, then a second hour to record it. Premiere with the Matrox RT.X2 is almost as fast, with most other systems take 3-4 hours per hour footage.
WHiCH EDit systEm?
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XDCAM is a Sony format that captures video footage onto a 23GB optical disk similar to Blu-ray. XDCAM is standard def footage and XDCam-HD high def. When plugged into a computer the cameras are seen as a network device and footage is simply copied to your PCs hard drive via the editing program.Footage can be recorded onto disks in a variety of different qualities. XDCAM is very similar to HDV - it records at 1440 x 1080 either at a higher quality of 35 MBs; at HDV rates of 25MB; or at lower-than-HDV setting of 18MB. You get about 1 hour at the top HDV setting or 2 hours of DVCam. As well as the full quality file XDCAM records a low quality MPEG4 proxy file that can be used for offline editing or quick review purposes. The major differences between HDV and XDCAM are that it can be less compressed, records on to disc not tape, and the cameras, being more expensive are much better quality.All the major editing programs support XDCam.XDCam records footage into MXF files, not AVI, like most video footage. This may cause a problem taking the footage into different programs which do not support MXF import. Matrox provide a utility
with the Axio to get round this problem.XDCam-EX is a new variation that came out in 2008 and is very popular. It records on to memory cards, called SxS (S by S) cards which can be plugged straight into a PC with an Express cards slot (found on new laptops).This format can record in up to full HD (1920 x 1080) and is therefore better quality. It should also be better quality than DVCPro HD, which does currently records at up to 1440 x 1080.You copy the footage off the card onto the PC and reuse the card. When doing so its best to copy everything off the card, not just the MP4 video files as extra data about the clips is recorded in other places on the card.To get this footage into your editing program most people use a free Sony program called the Sony Clip Browser. EDIUS, for example, will let you select all the clips on the Clip Browser and drag them to an EDIUS bin. With Adobe Premiere you just need to select the clips using their Adobe Media Browser and load them. All procedures are very simple. You then proceed to edit as with any other footage.
We tend to call this format Panasonic P2, but in fact P2 is the name of the cards on to which it is normally recorded - the video is stored in DVCProHD for high definition and DVCPro for standard definition.DVCProHD is much less compressed than HDV - every frame is stored as a complete frame - and so it is easier to edit. Less compression means it takes up more space (how much). In High Definition the DVCPro HD codec supports 720 25 and 50p, as well as 1080i resolutions. This makes it more flexible than offerings from Sony, Canon or JVC.DVCPro is Panasonic’s standard definition format with 2 varieties. DVCPro 25 is similar to DV in quality (slightly better some say) and DVCPro 50 is higher quality – similar to DigiBeta. The BBC have currently chosen Panasonic DVCPro HD as their format for filming HD series. They do not accept HDV as a broadcast HD format as the footage is highly compressed.The video is normally recorded onto P2 cards - very similar to a computer PCMCIA card. The
cards are 8GB in size - how much footage will fit depends on the format in which you record - approximately 32min for DVCPRO, 16 min for DVCPRO50 and 8 min for DVCPROHD. You copy footage onto the computer for editing. The P2 cards are currently £800 each + VAT. Alternatively you can buy a special Panasonic FireStore available for £1,090+VAT that records 1 hour 40 minutes DVCProHD @ 1080i.Panasonic DVCPro HD is now supported by all the major programs, in a contrast to this time a year ago.The cameras also store low resolution “proxy” version of the video the P2 cards. Some programs let you edit the low res file, and later swap to the hi-res versions. The advantage is the low res files can be copied quickly off the card and you can start editing faster, only later copying the hires files of the cards to achieve full quality. Support for proxy editing does vary so if you need this in your workflow please ask for more details.Whilst editing you need a card like the EDIUS HDSTORM to see the footage properly on an HD screen.
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There are loads of different HD formats - as they are digital it is reasonably easy to switch between them. Some formats are supported only by certain programs so if you decide, for example, to film using the new Sony XDCAM EX format make sure your chosen program can edit it!
HD formAts
A common question we have had at DVC is “I just bought this HD camera and I can’t load it into my editing program. Why?” You may have bought an AVCHD camera, not realising what you were buying. The cameras are great, the card based media convenient, and the picture brilliant. The only stumbling block is editing the footage.
WHAt is AVCHD?It is a highly compressed form of video stored in MPEG4 format. The sound can either be stereo or 5.1 surround sound depending on the camera. You copy the footage from camera to PC generally using a USB cable. This is fast - 2 hours footage took 20 minutes to copy across, for example.AVCHD can be recorded in various sizes and at various data rates. The most common are 1440 x 1080 (the same as HDV) or 1280 x 720, and at 1920 x 1080. Not all cameras do all formats.1920 x 1080, or “full HD” means that you will be filming at the top quality of HD and theoretically better than HDV. Having said that other considerations mean that an AVCHD camera’s picture may not be as good as HDV. Most AVCHD cameras are in the sub-£1000 bracket and so not as good as a good quality HDV camera. There are some professional quality AVCHD cameras from Panasonic (see below) which generally perform better than DHV cameras.Another main difference between HDV and AVCHD is that HDV is recorded to tape, and AVCHD to memory cards
WHiCH progrAms support it DirECtly?Grass Valley EDIUS 5, Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere CS4 can all edit AVCHD natively. As the footage is so heavily compressed they all struggle,
even on a modern computer. Of course you don’t have to edit it natively you could change (or “transcode”) the footage into something more usable.
nAtiVE plAybACkPremiere 4 is the best at playing back the native files. EDIUS and Vegas struggle to play the clips back at full quality. Even though Premiere can play the clips it struggles to perform any effects. If you edit the native clips it also adds to the time taken to encode the finished project to Blu-ray or DVD at the end of the edit - taking 4-6 times longer.
CHAngE itTo get decent performance it is best to convert the footage to something more usable. All the programs have other formats which you can use, EDIUS comes with a format called Canopus HQ. With Sony Vegas and Adobe Premiere you need to buy an alternative. This could be CineForm, a format from a company of the same name, or in the case of Adobe, if you add a Matrox card you have Matrox I-frame.The Canopus HQ option is probably the best. They have a fast conversion program which uses your maximum computing power to change the footage from one format to another - on a dual Xeon system it will encode 6 files at once. On our test “i7” system it took about 1½ hours to convert 2 hours footage from AVCHD to HQ. With CineForm is available in a few variations - most of them have a conversion program where you load all your original clips and it converts them quickly into CineForm codec for easy editing. These files are usable in Premiere and Vegas, as well as many other programs.
pAnAsoniC Ag-HmC151 - A pro AVCHD CAmErAMost AVCHD cameras are domestic models which are great as hand held camcorders but not good for professional work.Panasonic have just released the AG-HMC151 which is a professional camera which records on to memory cards in AVCHD format. The pictures from this camera are really quite stunning and it is full of professional controls, a decent zoom and focus ring, etc. This camera is effectively the same camera that Panasonic use for the P2 DVCPro HD systems but recording in to AVCHD on memory cards.It can record ins 1080i @ 1920 x 1080, or 720P @ 50 fps. If you buy a 32GB memory card for it, currently around £60, you can record up to 3 hours at the top quality setting of 21Mbps. As it records into AVCHD you have to think of the editing implications as discussed on these pages.
£2,599+VAT £2,988inc
HD formAts
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Getting a decent HD monitor can be a problem. There are lots of variables and some which one on one editing system will not work on another. We have tested many at DVC and can recommend the following:
ViEWsoniC 22”1920x1080 screen which VGA, DVI and HDMI inputs. You can choose to either underscan or overscan the image and have control of the red, green and blue levels. Like many LCDs the reds are slightly pink but this is our only criticism. An excellent picture at a reasonable price.Suitable for HD with EDIUS HDSTORM, HDSPARK & HDTHUNDER, Black Magic HDMI cards, and for SD at 16:9 (although it does not work at 4:3).Not suitable for Matrox cards.
£190+VAT,£218incbEnQ 24” E2400HDSimilar to the Viewsonic, but a bit larger. DVI. HDMI and VGA inputs and works in HD with EDIUS HDSTORM, HDSPARK & HDTHUNDER, Black Magic HDMI cards - does not work in SD in PAL.
£249+VAT,£286incbEnQ g2400WD1920 x 1200 screen with VGA, HDMI and DVI. For cards with HDMI out choose the Viewsonic or the BenQ above. This monitor is the best one to use with the DVI output found on the Matrox RT.X2, and is the only one we would currently recommend for this.
£257+VAT,£296inclg 22” & 27” 1920 x 1080These monitor is similar in spec to the viewsonic but have SVIDEO and component connections as well as HDMI. This means they will work with more devices and is suitable for cards like the Matrox RT.X2 which do not have HDMI.They have control over red, green and blue, over and underscan modes and the remote control means changing settings is easy. If one have one complaint it is that the picture is a bit too sharp.They have a huge range of sockets and even a built-in TV Tuner.The component works at SD and HD with all the cards.
22” £249+VAT,£286inc27” £366+VAT,£422inc.
HD monitorsAdobe Premiere comes with a conversion program called the Adobe Media Encoder. Just load your AVCHD files into AME and let it chomp through them in the background while you carry on working. Out of the box Adobe does not come with a sensible format to convert to, but if you use it with a Matrox card, such as the RT.X2, Axio or Mini you can choose Matrox AVI format..Once converted editing the footage is like editing any other normal footage.
ConVErt to DVC pro HDIf you have a Panasonic camera then there is a utility from Panasonic to convert AVCHD to DVC Pro HD. The latter is a much less compress format which is easier for the computer to edit. All programs these days support DVC Pro HD. There are various sizes of DVC Pro HD although none are 1920 x 1080 which is a problem if you are filming at that size. In practice you will probably only use this option is your destination is a program like Avid Media Composer or Avid Liquid which has no other conversion option built-in and cannot understand native footage.
CApturE tHrougH HDmi or ComponEntThe other way would be to play the footage off the camera and record via component or HDMI. HDMI is preferable as the signal is digital, where as component video is analogue, although in practice we have seen very little difference between the two. When you capture the computer will convert the footage to something that the computer can use easily.
so WHiCH is tHE bEst progrAm to CHoosE?Adobe Premiere CS4 is the best at editing native files; Grass Valley EDIUS is the best choice if you want to convert the files. We choose EDIUS as conversion champion because the process is quick and we have confidence that the HQ codec will maintain the quality of the original. Mostly your choice of editing program is determined by other factors and having chosen the program you then ask how you then edit AVCHD with it.
blu-rAy
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Thankfully the rather wasteful war between the two formats original high definition disc formats, Blu-ray and HD-DVD, ended in early 2008 when Toshiba threw in the towel and HD-DVD died.Video-DVDs will always only be standard definition so we need something bigger to store the much better picture quality our cameras are giving us.
so WHAt’s so grEAt About blu-rAy?The Blu-ray format is technically far superior and much larger capacity than regular DVD. A single layer Blu-ray disc is 25GB and dual layer discs are 50GB. 200GB discs are promised in the future.The Blu-ray medium, capacity aside, is specifically designed to play HD video material, accessible through advanced navigation features and menu systems (including the ability to play several video streams simultaneously, for example to provide a picture-in-picture director’s commentary).
WHiCH formAt is tHE HD ViDEo storED in?Standard DVDs are based on the MPEG2 video format. The video on Blu-ray discs can be in either MPEG2, H264 (more advanced MPEG) or VC1 (a variation of Windows Media).Most commercial discs are in VC1 or H264. Using the tools that are presently available for our own editing systems, we can only make discs in MPEG2 or H264. The advantage of H264 is that you can fit more on a disc. With HD MPEG2 on single layer Blu-ray disc, there is space for about 2 hours of footage. With H264 you could get 3 hours at the same quality. The downside is it takes longer - an hour of H264 will take 6-7 hours to encode, whereas MPEG2 would be 1-2 hours. Obviously the better the computer, the faster the encoding.
HoW Do WE mAkE our oWn?Blu-ray writers are now generally available, and the prices are steadily dropping (they have reached the sub-£200 level at the time of writing). Single layer (25GB) writeable Blu-ray discs are about £7.00 each.If you just want to play Blu-ray discs, BD-ROM drives for computers are widely available. In terms of standalone players, the Sony PlayStation 3 is currently the cheapest way to get a Blu-ray player and the most future proof (though set-top Blu-ray players are due to become more commonplace - and cheaper - within the next year).
WritErs Currently the best value Blu-ray writer is from LG. It is a dual layer Blu-ray writer as well as CDs and DVDs writer, both plus and minus DVDs. It also comes with simple playback and recording software.
AutHoring softWArEWe have three comprehensive programs for authoring Blu-ray discs - Sonic DVDit Pro HD (also available in some Avid packages as Avid DVD), Sony DVD Architect and Adobe Encore CS4. They let you make Blu-ray discs with all the features you would expect from a normal DVD - interactive menus, subtitles etc. Encore is our favourite of the 3, with DVD Architect a close second. DVDit Pro does not have quite as many options for ways and sizes to save the video as the other two. More information on these programs is included later in this booklet.
Will my blu-rAy DisCs plAy on stAnDAlonE plAyErs?This is a bit variable at present. The player’s firmware gets updated from time to time which means the goalposts keep changing. Generally our homemade discs have worked, particularly those created with Adobe Encore. Some players will not play any home-made style discs, as they do not accept BD-R discs. In general Sony and Panasonic seem to be the best.
CAn i mAkE A blu-rAy DisC on A DVD?Architect will let you do this - Encore will not. These discs may or may not play back in set top boxes - proper Blu-ray discs are definitely more compatible.
Do you mAkE blu-rAy DupliCAtors?Recently we have started to make Blu-ray duplicators similar to the DVD duplicators we have previous supplied. Call for more information.
CAn i gEt DisCs propErly DupliCAtED?To do this you need to pay a huge royalty to Sony at present which means it is not practical unless making a very large quantity of discs. You can write as many copies as you like yourself.
sHoulD i gEt into blu-rAy noW?Yes. How else can you store your HD movies in proper quality and in a format people will be able to play if they have the right kind of player? If you make a standard DVD then you loose your wonderful HD quality. They are also useful as a large, quite cheap storage medium. If filming AVCHD onto SD cards your immediate problem is what to do with the footage after filming. SD cards are more expensive than tape and too small to write any decent contents information on. Blu-ray discs are like big DVDs - durable and easy to catalogue.
DiffErEnt EDiting progrAms
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At DVC we don’t sell all the editing programs available, just the ones that we think are the best. There are many different things that will influence your decision - with all the different formats of video available it may be as simple as whether or not your chosen program supports the format you film in. Or it could be important how it integrates into DVD writing or effects programs, or how good it is for off-line editing.
For Against
sony VEgAsSony’s program is half effects program, half editing program..PC ONLY
• High end compositing features like keyframable mattes and proper 3D space for effects built-in. This means for doing more complex effects you don’t need to learn a different program.
• Excellent integration with DVD Architect for DVD and Blu-ray writing
• Excellent sound editing with 5.1 encoding and mixing.• Good realtime performance - it has several levels of quality
so almost always plays back the effects, even complex ones.
• Good HD and even XDCam editing.
• Quirky interface - if you drag out a clip beyond its end point it automatically loops!
• Although it always gives you some image on play back it is not so good as full quality play back, and realtime performance is not as good as other programs.
grAss VAllEy EDius Easy to use, responsive and stable. PC ONLY
• The best realtime performance of all the editing programs. All the effects are good quality as well, with the best realtime chromakey and realtime Keyframable slow motion
• Good at mixing formats on the timeline too. • Supports practically all forms of HD and DV footage,
generally the first to support new formats..• Title Motion Pro supplied gives you complex animated 3D
titling.• Very stable - we rarely have a crash with EDIUS.• Simple DVD writing built-in, and Blu-ray writing provided
via Movie Factory..
• Not as many features or filters as Adobe Premiere or Avid Media Composer.
• If the built-in DVD writing is not enough then you need something better - which will be Adobe Encore (which you can only buy with Premiere) and Sony DVD Architect (which you can only buy with Sony Vegas).
ADobE prEmiErE pro The most common program - realtime through OHCI but can do even more if you add a capture card. MAC and PC
• Integrates very will with the whole Adobe suite, Encore, After Effects, Soundbooth and Photoshop.
• Huge plug-in support.• Excellent support from other companies, like Black Magic
and Matrox to improve the performance and add extra inputs and outputs.
• Huge number of useful features built-in - the latest version adds speech recognition and extensive metadata support.
• Clip notes is unique for collaboration with others.• Edit audio down to the sample level and 5.1 surround sound
mixing.
• Not great at complex projects with lots of media (and we mean huge feature film size projects).
• Need a Matrox card to match the realtime performance of EDIUS.
AViD mEDiA ComposErIt’s Avid - the industry standard - Media Composer is the program used to edit nearly every movie!MAC and PC
• Excellent compatibility with full Avid suites for off-line editing.
• Lots of realtime effects even live to DV; realtime HD-SDI and HDMI out with Avid Mojo. Media Composer even has many high end compositing features built in.
• Excellent media management - the best for organising your projects, collaborating with others and moving around huge amounts of media. If you are in TV production you probably need Media Composer.
• Loads of features - many of which you never even knew you wanted and all honed into useful tools by years of experience and feedback.
• Good integration with Avid DVD, Avid FX and the industry standard audio editing tool, ProTools.
• Huge plug-in support.• The professional’s choice.
• It’s an everyday users program - if you are an occasional user you will forget how to do things. However it is so configurable and has so much in it that once you know how to use it you can make it fly!
• No proper HD output without buying an Avid Mojo DX - Which is another £4,000 on top of the software. A Black Magic card with the same i/o for Premiere is £500.
• Rather picky about the computer it will work on - you will probably need to buy an HP machine which will cost more.
sony VEgAs & DVD ArCHitECt
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Sony Vegas is a bit like the Marmite of the editing world - you either love it or hate it.Vegas does a lot for the price, previews effects well, and has an excellent DVD and Blu-ray writing program, called DVD Architect. So it has a lot going for it - on the downside is a little bit quirky and it does not work quite like a
standard editing program when trimming and editing.
Clips, or events as they are called, can be dragged out well past their end and then will either loop or freeze depending on your preference. This feature betrays Vegas’ origins as a sound sequencing program. Like other Vegas quirks it is not necessarily a bad thing, just different to the norm.
CApturEYou can capture through FireWire or using various different hardware boards from AJA or Black Magic. When capturing through FireWire Vegas supports full batch capture/logging etc as you would expect with any program.
EDitingEditing is similar to other programs - clips are arranged in the Media Pool (the project window in other programs). They can be viewed in the trimmer (clip window) although one difference is here you see the clip as a film strip with the complete sound waveform beneath it. You edit like every other program, mark in and out points and drop it on the tmeline. One very useful feature is the ability to add video as takes - you can have 4 different takes of the same clip occupying the same place on the timeline and switch through them at the press of a button.
EffECtsVegas’ effects are excellent. It was doing realtime effects out to FireWire long before any other program even thought of it. There are various quality settings
and you can preview effects at low, auto, good or best quality, meaning that you can always choose a setting where you see something. There is a long list of effects which includes excellent primary and secondary colour correction, good quality motion paths, and wacky effects like old movie, TV simulation, lens flares and glows. It even has media generators which can create moving background textures - very handy for the background of a DVD menu.Vegas also has keyframmable slow motion, again previewable in realtime, and when rendered, due to
The main screens of Vegas - there are a lot of panels although they can easily be docked and undocked. You can save layouts too. You can see the surround sound panner, a collection of scopes which update in realtime, the primary colour correction filter, the timeline, the effects pallet, the trimmer (or clip window) and the main preview screen.
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Vegas subsampling, very smooth.When it comes to the effects Vegas sometimes feels a bit like Adobe’s compositing program After Effects with a bit of editing thrown in, rather than an editing program with effects. You can also nest timelines within timelines, just like every other modern editing program. Vegas does this by having each timeline as a separate project, rather than all in one project, but the result is the same..All effects can be rendered in 32 bit - meaning higher quality than most programs that only render in 8 bit.
AnimAtED titlEsVegas comes with ProType Titler which can produces still or animated titles. You can animate titles on a line, or character by character, giving you huge amounts of control. With Premiere you would need to add a separate program or use After Effects to get this level of animation. EDIUS comes with Title Motion which can do more complicated animated titles than Vegas, although it is slightly less intuitive.
sounDAs it started life as an audio editing program you
would expect the sound editing to be excellent and you will not be disappointed. The display of the sound waveform is accurate and once the “peak” file is written, takes no time at all to be updated as you zoom in or out. Vegas also supports proper surround sound mixing and, you can export this to DVD Architect, in proper 5.1 Dolby
Digital. This means so you can get the sound on your DVDs at no extra cost.There is a large range of useful audio effects - and more are added if you buy Sony’s sound editing application, Sound Forge. Quality is excellent especially with filters like pitch-shift - always a hard thing to get right. Vegas supports DirectX and VST effects on audio.Vegas, like Premiere Pro, edits down to the sample level as opposed to the frame level, so you can get much more accurate positioning of your sound effects.
HD formAtsVegas supports all variations of HDV, Sony XD-Cam and XDCam-EX and AVCHD. AVCHD editing is tough for any program and Vegas does a pretty good job. It cannot play the video back at full quality, even on a high spec system, but you can play and work at preview quality pretty well. Ideally you would convert your video to a different format for better performance.
The best way to monitor the video when editing would be to buy a Black Magic card - like the Intensity Pro, which is only £159 +VAT. You can alternatively take over the second screen of your PC but that never looks as good as a proper video output.
blu-rAy WritingVegas can write a video only Blu-ray discs off the timeline, you can export to DVD Architect for full blown Blu-ray discs with menus. Architect does come with Vegas anyway.
£433+VAT £499inc.
WHAt mAkEs VEgAs DiffErEnt?propEr 3DLike most programs Vegas has 3D motion paths but unlike most programs they can interact - so they can fly around each other, sometimes in front, sometimes behind.
kEyfrAmAblE mAttEsProper keyframable mattes are normally only found in a compositing program, like After Effects. With Vegas you can draw a whole in the video (or matte) with fuzzy edges to make it blend in better and then change that shape to match the object as it moves across the screen. Pick out a bride from a shot and keep her in colour whilst the rest of the images is black and white or take your subject and put them against a completely different background. Vegas gives you the tool - all you need is the time to make the shape follow your subject.
nEtWork rEnDEringUse other machines on your network to render effects with Vegas, as long as they have Vegas installed as well.
nEstingLike most programs it can put one timeline in another. In Vegas’ case each timeline is its own project and you can have several versions of Vegas open as you edit, as long as your machine can cope.
64-bit supportVegas is the only 64-bit editing program we have, which means it can address more of your computers memory and cope with more complicated and large projects. With version 8 the 64 bit programs was a bit buggy. This has got a lot better with version 9.
5.1 Dolby sounD AnD mixingIf you want to make a 5.1 sound track you can do so. Premiere can do this, but you have to buy an extra plug-in to export the clips. EDIUS does not currently do surround sound mixing.
DVD ArCHitECtIt’s a really good DVD and Blu-ray program!
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DVD WritingDVD writing and Blu-ray is best handled by Vegas’ companion program, DVD Architect. Architect can only bought in a bundle with Vegas and as such it adds AC3 encoding as well as a very competent authoring applications.
sCriptingIf you have scripting you can usually achieve just about anything you want with your DVD. For example if you want a DVD with multiple languages you can use
scripting to that all menus and audio tracks are chosen based on a user selection at the start or the disc. Encore does not support this, although some things which are normally achieved with scripting can be done in other ways with Encore.
DiffErEnt ViDEo AnglEsRun two pieces of video at once and the user can switch between them using the angles button on the remote. This is tough to get right as you need to set the right settings for each piece of video. Thankfully, Architect does that really well.
Customising AnD optimisingArchitect lets you change and customise everything in your DVD. It has an “optimise DVD” option which lets you set bit rates and size settings for each piece of video or just maximises the settings so they fit on disc. You can even change the order titles will be stored on the disc!
blu-rAyArchitect makes Blu-ray discs in either MPEG or H264 format, and at a variety of sizes just like Adobe Encore.
VEgAs intEgrAtionArchitect integrates very well with Vegas. In Vegas you can enter chapter points which are carried over to Architect and you can type subtitles in the Vegas timeline and these too can be carried over to Architect.
sHoulD you buy it?Architect is a great authoring program and the only reason more of our customers don’t use it is because you can only buy it in a bundle with Vegas and people may choose Premiere or EDIUS as their chosen editor!.
DVD Architect’s layout. Note the timeline with waveform at the bottom - a nice touch that helps when adding subtitles.
EnCorE Vs ArCHitECtThese are our two favourite DVD and Blu-ray programs. How do they compare?Both have a very similar feature set and the same level of customisation.• Architect has scripting and different video
angles - Encore does not.• Encore integrates tightly with Photoshop,
Premiere and After Effects - the Photoshop link makes customising menus a breeze!
• Architect takes chapters and subtitles from Vegas, but customising menus with Photoshop is more hassle.
• Encore is a bit more intuitive - Architect’s interface is good but a bit more “dense”.
• Encore CS4 does have the option of adding a Blu-ray style pop-up menu.
• Encore can render video and audio in the background. Architect cannot.
• Encore has a great flowchart view for laying out DVDs.
• Architect accepts video as program or elementary streams and is less likely to want to remake something which is already in the right format for DVD - this does not happen often in Encore, especially not when encoding from Premiere, but has happened on some occasions.
• Unless you have an old version of Premiere to upgrade from, Encore is more expensive.
otHEr sony progrAms
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sony CinEsCorESony produce Cinescore - a program for making a sound track to your film. Like all computer based music writing software you are not going to win an Oscar with a score written this way, but you can create tailored copyright free music easily. You can add hints to your timeline where you want a certain tempo or feeling and adjust the start, middle and end sections of the score. Cinescore is a stand alone application - although if you have Vegas it works like a plug-in off the timeline.
£75+VAT £86inc,
sony ACiD proSony Acid Pro is also a music creation program. Cinescore makes music based on pre-made scores which you can adjust the tempo, highs and lows. Acid makes music using the more traditional style of using music loops which you adjust and arrange individually. It also has great tools for stretching and re-timing the clips as required, and support for midi playback as well.
Acid Pro £205+VAT £235inc.
sony sounD forgE 10Sound Forge is an audio editing and mixing program, similar in many ways to Adobe Audition. It has a huge range of features, and includes Sony’s noise reduction plug-in as
standard.It can also perform multi-track editing and mixing. You can create an entire 5.1 surround sound mix in Sound Forge and then export it in Dolby Digital surround sound ready to be added to your DVD. If you use Adobe software then one of their sound programs is a logical option however, if you don’t then Sound Forge is a great choice. Add it to an EDIUS system to do a surround sound mix which you can then put onto DVD, for example.
Sony Sound Forge 9 £330+VAT £379inc
HArDWArE for VEgAsIf you add extra hardware to Sony Vegas you can get full quality HD playback to a proper HD screen;
blACk mAgiC intEnsity proThe Intensity Pro has composite, component and HDMI in and out. It works with both Premiere and Vegas. With Premiere a Matrox card would improve the program performance but all you need with Vegas is a proper video out put which these provide.
Intensity Pro £125+VAT, £144incBlack Magic Decklink Studio 2Similar to the Intensity but more advanced with HD-SDI, and XLR audio £435+VAT, £500inc.TypicalIntensityProsystem:2.66Ghz i7 processor, 6GB RAM 2x 1TB hard drives, Blu-ray writer £2,561+VAT, £2,946inc
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The main interface of EDIUS will look familiar for uses of Premiere. The timeline differs as the audio is placed directly under the video, with separate audio tracks for external audio as well as title tracks. It has been designed to be tidy - when you capture there is no new window, the player windows becomes the capture window.
The unique timeline display of EDIUS. The waveform is written once and you can then zoom in and out with waveforms open. The sound is normally under the video clip - not separated as with most other programs. You also have single track transitions, although it is possible to emulate a traditional A/B edit as well. Volume is controlled via a line with keyframes as with Premiere. Below the audio is the “alpha track” where you drop PnP effects or adjust the transparency of the clip.
EDIUS’ major strengths are the speed of the editing, its reliability and the realtime performance. It is probably true to say you could do a job faster and more reliably in EDIUS than any other editor.It is also normally the first program to support new formats - like AVCHD or Sony XDCam-EX. The latest version, version 5, builds on the programs strengths and add some exciting new features as well as a host of third party extras.
stAbilityOne of the biggest advantages for EDIUS is its stability. To say you will never have a crash is not something we would like to promise, however, many of our customers say just that!
EDius AnD EDius nEoThere are two versions of EDIUS, the normal version, simply called EDIUS and EDIUS Neo. Both share the same interface and most of the same features. Neo is the entry level version with support for HDV and AVCHD editing. The full EDIUS has more features and support for more hardware and formats, such as Panasonic DVC Pro HD (as used on P2 cards), Sony XDCam and XDCam-EX and Grass Valley JPEG2000.
EffECtsEDIUS may not have as many effects as other programs - it lacks track or image mattes, has no lens flares of garbage mattes, and some effects are not Keyframable - but it does all the basics and it does them very well. It has one of the best realtime chromakeyers available, excellent high quality picture in picture effects, nice blending modes, good film-like looks through the old movie filter (something does not come with Premiere or most other editing programs), and colour correction that quickly and easily gets the shot looking like you want. It also has a large range of realtime 3D transitions, all powered by your graphic card, again something missing from Adobe Premiere.It also has keyframable slow motion - which you can apply both to picture and sound - and which is both completely realtime and excellent quality.
ExtrA EffECtsAs well as native EDIUS filters and effects EDIUS 5 comes with two excellent ProDad filters - Mercalli, a very easy to use image stabiliser, and Vitascene, a selection of movie looks, glows and blurs, and New Blue effects
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User profiles - make your own profile, and then set up the interface exactly how you like, with buttons in the right places, screens laid where you want them and default settings you prefer. Everyone using your computer can do the same and can carry their profile from machine to machine - so whatever EDIUS machine they use is always set up how they like. You can swap between profiles while working - so you could have one set up for when you are editing and one with bigger buttons and screens for when the client is present.This screen also shows the list of last used projects and the different project settings. Again you can switch between project settings - HDV to DV, for example, when editing and everything gets scaled to fit the new settings.
Realtime smooth scrolling
titles thanks to EDIUS
and Title Motion
Pro!
- a selection of artistic-style effects. It also comes with a collection of excellent audio plug-ins for tweaking the sound.
titlEsEDIUS comes with two titling programs - Quick Titler and Title Motion Pro. As the name suggests Quick Titler is for making simple still, rolling or crawling titles quickly. Title Motion Pro, will do these as well but can also do full animation with proper 3D characters and words all flying around character by character in 3D. Title Motion Pro is not included in all EDIUS bundles.
HArDWArE supportEDIUS will talk to DV and HDV cameras via a standard FireWire. It can also output more in real time at full quality through FireWire than any other editing program. There is a range of hardware available to add different types of analogue and digital i/o to EDIUS, ranging from cards that just add HDMI out, one with SVIDEO, composite and component i/o and even HD-SDI.
mAking DVD & blu-rAyEDIUS has a disc creation section built-into the program which can make DVDs or Blu-ray discs, both single and dual layer. You add makers on the timeline and these become the chapter markers on the disc. The menus themselves can be thoroughly customised, although you cannot use video backgrounds or have video buttons. You cannot make discs with a complex menu structure - and EDIUS made disc could have an introductory video, followed by a main menu, and then a chapter menu for each title. It could not have slideshows or other audio tracks and subtitles. The major advantage of the EDIUS disc creator is speed. It will make DVDs faster than realtime on a modern system and if you add a FireCoder Blu to your system will do the same for Blu-ray.
HoW DoEs EDius CompArE to tHE CompEtition?This is a question we get asked a lot. The biggest reasons you would choose EDIUS is for its reliability and speed. It also handles new video formats quicker than other programs. EDIUS lacks some of the features and filters (big and small) found in other editing programs, and does not have the integration with other programs that
are available in the Adobe Production Studio, for example. But then it does have some useful features not found in other programs - for example you can rip video off non-copyright DVDs and re-edit them in EDIUS; it has an image stabilising program included in the price. It is great for large and complex projects and its very unlikely that you will ever get a crash with it!EDIUS works on Windows XP, Vista 32 and Vista 64.
EDIUS 5 software: £575+VAT.£661inc.Upgrade from EDIUS Pro 4
£285+VAT.£327incUpgrade from EDIUS broadcast 4:
£215+VAT.£247inc
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WHitE bAlAnCE This keyframmable colour correction filter is great for correcting shots, mostly achieved with just a couple of clicks, using the automatic options. A split screen view allows you to compare the balance of your current clip to another clip or the uncorrected shot.This filter works very well. As one customer recently put it “The dipstick on the camera left the white balance on out doors for and indoor shot. The White balance sorted it out with one click. Brilliant!”You can also easily adjust the exposure of a shot - lighten up the mid tones of your shot whilst not over brightening the picture - great for correcting a person shot against a window, for example.
piCturE in piCturE2D & 3D picture in picture effects that can be keyframmed so that you can fly video around the screen. The 2D version is simple and can manage many layers - the 3D version has more options and does a very good job of scaling images to practically any size.
sloW motionCanopus were the first to achieve decent realtime slow motion. The Canopus effect not only blends fields but also fades between different frames producing a very smooth result. Now speed changes are Keyframable too using timE-rEmApping.
rEgionDefine an area - an ellipse or square, with soft edges, and apply an effect to just this area. The region location can be keyframmed so that you can follow and item around screen. Typically used for blurring car number plates or people’s faces.
CHrominAnCEPick a colour on screen and apply a filter to just that colour. This filter is very sophisticated with good
options for dealing with the areas around the colour as well. Pick out someone in a red dress, for example, and change the rest of the shot to black and white..
olD moViEThe filter should really be called Film Effects because apart from adding dust, scratches, edge darkening, jitters and just about everything you need to make your footage look like it was filmed years ago, you can also use it to de-interlace the footage to give it a film effect, or add a small amount of grain.
blEnD EffECtsAvailable in EDIUS we have the equivalent of different transfer modes from After Effects/Photoshop, such as: addition, colour burn, colour dodge, difference, exclusion, multiply, screen, soft light, subtract and more...
Anti-fliCkErWithout this filter our DVC tutorials would be really hard work. Our tutorials are produced on standard def video DVD, but a computer screen always looks horrible on such a screen - the thin lines flicker badly. This filter cures this instantly and, being realtime, we apply it and watch the results as we edit, so we know exactly what the final DVD will look like.
CHromAkEyPossibly the highest quality realtime Chromakey, this filter takes a colour and replaces it with a background image. Getting a decent key from DV and HDV is difficult, because of the way they handle colour, but this filter manages a good result practically every time.
lAyoutThis tool crops and resizes images without losing the original quality and with version 5 can also move. Now create image pans at the best quality possible, or pan and scan the image in real time and maintain the best quality.
3D trAnsitionsWe may scoff at wacky 3D transitions but if your clients want them you need to have them. EDIUS 5 has a huge range of realtime transitions including object wipes and exploding effects, all thoroughly customisable. With other programs you have to pay extra to add these kinds of effects
EDIUS’ range of realtime effects is large - many are effects that you will use all the time. Only colour corrections and DVEs are Keyframable, although it is possible to use the blend effects option to fade the effect in and out over time which gives a similar effect to keyframing. Apart from being realtime all are of high quality.
Just kEEp plAyingOne of EDIUS’ strengths is its realtime performance. Stack up loads of effects and it will probably still playback in realtime, even with HD.But it goes further - EDIUS will keep playing clips while you adjust the parameters and with the effects windows open. This is a great time-saver - in other programs you adjust a parameter, play, adjust again, then play etc.. Even worse you may have to open the effects box, adjust something, close the box, then play. No so with EDIUS..Even with effects written by other companies, like ProDad’s Mercalli, you can see the results of the changes in the dialogue box as you make them.
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The FIRECODER Blu is a faster than realtime MPEG2 and H264 encoder. You can convert AVCHD to MPEG2, MPEG2 to H264 and also up-convert and down-convert (change HD to SD) using the software supplied.FIRECODER Blu comes with a simple DVD/Blu-ray writing program which will make video-only with basic menus. You can add chapters, either manually or automatically at fixed intervals. The bit rate is full customisable and it encoders as SD or 1440 x 1080, or 1920 x 1080. It does not currently work at 720P.You can also use it to create Blu-ray discs from the EDIUS timeline or create H264 Blu-ray footage to be used in another authoring program like Adobe Encore.
WHy usE firECoDEr blu?To take your final movie and quickly make a decent Blu-ray disc. H264 encoding from your editing application takes hours -this is up to twice as fast as you could play the footage. Since the FireCoder does all the work on the board it also leaves your computer processor free to do other things, and will speed up encoding even on older computers.
FireCoder Blu - £410+VAT £471inc
firECoDEr blu
EDius ADD-onsproDAD HEroglypHHeroglyph does animated titles - since EDIUS ships with Title Motion Pro which also does animated titles, by HeroGlyph is a lot easier to use! From £62 +VAT
proDAD ADorAgEAdorage is several volumes of fancy 2D and 3D transitions. You can buy them as individual volumes or a complete set of all 9. If you want a wacky transition then it is probably somewhere in here! £32 +VAT per volume or £306+VAT for all 9.
boris fxBoris FX is a compositing program with a lot of extra effects not found in EDIUS. It also includes motion tracking so effects can be made to follow an object around on screen. £165+VAT, £189 inc.
boris rEDThe same as BorisFX but more advanced with 3D compositing (take a logo and extrude it into 3D then fly it around). Red rivals After Effects for features and is a very powerful compositing program. £685 +VAT, £788 inc
bEHringEr bCf2000 fADEr unitThis mixer lets you control the
EDIUS volume levels when doing a live mix on the
timeline. Simple to install and a reasonable cost. £165 incMore information is
available on these items on the DVC website, www.dvc.
uk.com
Also inCluDED WitH EDius:proDAD VitAsCEnEVitascene is a collection of filters which are processed on your graphic card. They include Movie Looks, glow, particle and shine effects. They can be used as either transitions or video filters.
proDAD mErCAlliA simple and powerful image stabilization (anti-shake) filter. This has proved a really popular plug-in with EDIUS 4, but had to be bought separately.
nEWbluEfx motion EffECts, Art EffECts AnD film EffECtsA collection of 25 video filters, which offer you additional video motion and colour effects.
ZotopE Vst AuDio plug-insA collection of 14 audio plug-ins, for high-quality audio effects, refining and sweetening:AGC • Analog Delay • Audio Restore • Chorus & Flanger • Convolution Reverb • Graphic EQ • Mastering EQ • Mastering Limiter • Mastering Reverb • Multi-Band Compressor • Parametric EQ • Simple Mastering • Single-Band Dynamics • Vocal Enhance
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EDIUS has simple DVD & Blu-ray writing included. Add markers to the timeline and they become chapter markers on your disc. The marker name becomes the chapter heading on the menu You can use different sequences in the project or clips on your computer, and add multiple menus. EDIUS only supports still image menus, although you can customise the pictures, frames text and backgrounds.You can make competent DVDs very quickly using EDIUS disc writing. Programs like Adobe Encore and Sony DVD Architect are more customisable and you can make the disc do exactly what you want, but layout and building would not be as quick. .Of course, there is nothing to stop you editing with EDIUS and making the DVD with another program.
DVD & blu-rAy in EDiusspECiAl EDius fEAturEsEDIUS has some features not found in other programs and which are very useful:• Rip footage off DVD
for re-editing. This is a hugely requested feature and most programs don’t do it. EDIUS shows you a list of all the video clips and copies them onto the hard drive.
• Rip tracks of audio CDs• Batch encoding - load
up several timelines and encode them to different formats one after another.
• Show the video’s date and time information - and you can print it into the final video as well.
• Capture from 3 sources at once (see separate box).
• Continue playing the video while changing effect parameters, moving windows etc. EDIUS generally carries on playing video unless you tell it to stop.
• Easy to use multicamera mode. All programs have this but the EDIUS version is easy and can be compressed quickly to a single track to quickly add transitions.
• DVD writing built-into the program. Making the DVD is quick!
Grass Valley supply Corel Movie Factory with EDIUS for more advanced Blu-ray and DVD writing. Movie Factory can write DVD and Blu-ray discs, using s simple wizard driven menu set-up. You can customise the menus and it has better ways of previewing the disc than EDIUS; it also does video menus. It even has a template for a Blu-ray pop up menu included.You can also write AVCHD style discs and there are other useful utilities such as DVD label printing and disc copying.Not as comprehensive as Encore or Architect, but powerful enough to make decent Blu-ray discs.
Writing WitH moViE fACtory
If either the built-in DVD writing or Movie Factory are not enough, what program is your best choice?There are three possibilities: Adobe Encore, Sony DVD Architect and Sonic DVD it Pro. DVDitPro - the cheapest option although not our favourite. Only supports MPEG format and not all Blu-ray sizes.Sony DVD Architect - much more comprehensive. You can only buy it with Sony Vegas so you get another video editing program thrown in. However Vegas will give you good sound editing and surround sound mixing, which you can then author in DVD Architect £433 +VAT, £499 inc.Adobe Encore - our favourite Blu-ray and DVD writing program, but the most expensive to add to an EDIUS system as it is only available with Premiere at approx £600. If you have an old copy of Premiere you can get and upgrade for £209 +VAT.
bEttEr blu-rAy Writing WitH EDius
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EDIUS has excellent editing performance, even if run on its own without special hardware – you just need an OHCI FireWire port for input/output of DV and HDV footage and you’re all set. However, if you need analogue in/out connections, or you want to be able to watch your HD picture at full resolution when editing, then you’ll want to add an EDIUS hardware card to your system.
tHE HDspArk & spArk proThe HDSPARK adds HDMI output to EDIUS. If you are filming on a card-based camera (XDCAM, AVCHD or P2), or a camera that transfers video via FireWire (like DV or HDV) then you do not need video inputs - all you really need is a way of seeing the picture on an HD monitor at full resolution while you edit. This is what the HDSPARK does. The HDSPARK Pro adds HDMI and SDI output for people with both types of monitor.NB: HDMI is great for HD but not so good for standard definition. Many screens will not display an SD picture through HDMI although this varies a lot between different screens, If editing SD as well as HD you may want to consider the HDSTORM PLUS which has both types of output.Works under Windows XP, Vista 32 & Vista 64.
HDSPARK with EDIUS 5 £635+VATHDSPARK with EDIUS Upgrade £415+VATHDSPARK hardware only £215+VAT(special offer until end Nov 2009)
HDSPARK Pro with EDIUS 5 £720+VATHDSPARK Pro hardware only £350+VAT
tHE HDstormThere are two variations of the Storm which add inputs and outputs to EDIUS. The HDSTORM adds HDMI in and HDMI out. This gives you an output when editing and a way of recording footage into the system from any camera or device with HDMI out. We record out DVC tutorials off a computer graphic card and into the HDSTORM via HDMI.
HDstorm plusThe HDSTORM PLUS is the regular HDSTORM with a breakout box which adds component (HD and SD), composite and SVIDEO in and out. You can either buy the box separately or buy them together as the HDSTORM plus.Both variations come with a full copy of EDIUS 5. They work under Windows XP, Vista 32
HDSTORM: £895+VAT £1,029incHDSTORM PLUS: £1,150+VAT £1,322inc.HDSTORM BAY: £395+VAT £454inc.
tHE HDtHunDErThe HDTHUNDER is an HD-SDI card for EDIUS. It is a single PCIe 4 card that adds HD-SDI (and SD-SDI) inputs and outputs to your system. It also has HDMI out for monitoring the timeline. The Thunder can capture into a variety of formats including uncompressed, Canopus HQ and DVCPro HD. Works under Windows XP, Vista 32 & Vista 64.
HDSTORM PLUS: £1,795+VAT £2,064inc.
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proCoDEr 3ProCoder converts one type of file into another. You can take several different formats of file and stitch them all together into one type of file. You can have several different types of output, one for DVD, one for the Internet and one for video and ProCoder will produce
them all at the same time. The MPEG encoding quality is one
of the best we have used, especially at low data rates and it has complete control over
s i z e , data rate, audio and quality with four different quality settings and a 1 or 2 pass encoder. The advantage of 2 passes is that the computer will analyse the file then encode it, giving better quality results. If you want really good quality MPEG then this is the program for you. All our tutorial DVDs were created with ProCoder.ProCoder works as a stand alone program or as a plug-in to EDIUS.
tHE mAin fEAturEs of proCoDEr:• Includes Canopus’ NTSC-PAL conversion algorithm for smoothing out
the changes from one frame rate to another.• MPEG encoder has four quality settings plus a 2 pass variable bit rate
setting for ultimate quality. Also goes to ANY data rate. Has VCD, SVCD and DVD presets.
• Batch encoding - add several files and specify several destination file types and leave ProCoder to do the job.
• Apply filters to the video like blur, colour correction and 3:2 pull down as part of the encoding.
• Optimised for multiple processors.• Create “droplets” on your desktop - just drag a file onto the droplet for ProCoder
to start work with your favourite encoding settings.• Basic editing of clips - trim start and end points of clips. Take several clips and
add them all as different source files and ProCoder will “stitch” them together for you to give you one continuous clip of your new format.:
• Aspect Ratio conversion - input a 4x3 image and get a 16x9 image out!• Multiple output files - take one file and convert it to QuickTime, Real Video and
MPEG all at the same time!• DIVX Pro support.• Includes Blu-ray MPEG2 presets. £346 +VAT £399 inc.Upgrade from edIUS or proCoder 2 £140 +VAT £161 inc.
1. Add a file to be converted.
3. Configure the output settings.
4. Convert.
2. Add a Target type
CArbon CoDErCarbon coder has often been described as ProCoder on steroids. It does the same job and has a very similar interface but has support for more formats and can use several network machines to produce faster than realtime H264 Blu-ray encoding if required. The price includes all updates and support in the first year.If you are an individual user you probably do not need the power of carbon coder, but if you are a large organisation with a lot of encoding to do then it will save time and money.
Carbon coder £4,365+VAT £5,019inc
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Adobe Premiere is one of the longest established editing applications - version 1 of Premiere was available when DVC started in 1995. It is packed with features, has a huge number of plug-in effects available, as well as extra hardware which
can seriously enhance the software. For example Premiere Pro can edit native HDV very well, but add a Matrox RT.X2 and you can do much more in realtime and watch the video through a proper video output as you do so. The audio editing is also very comprehensive.Premiere Pro’s other major strength is the way it integrates with other Adobe applications such as Photoshop and After Effects. You can buy Premiere with these and other programs in the “Production Studio” This “Dynamic Link” between applications means you can take Premiere timelines, unrendered, and put them in Encore when making the DVD. You can quickly jump into Soundbooth for advanced audio tweaking, and copy whole timelines of video into After Effects where you add effects and then drop the unmade After Effects composition straight back into Premiere. This integration is a great time-saver.
CApturEOn its own the software will capture using the FireWire port built into your computer. This allows you to capture either DV or HDV footage from most cameras. If using card based media, like AVCHD or XDCam, you just copy the footage onto the machine and load it into the program. You can add analogue i/o by using an analogue to digital converter or by adding a Matrox or Black Magic card. The Black Magic cards just add inputs and outputs. The Matrox cards add more: they let you do full quality realtime effects in standard or high definition and add a lot more effects to Premiere.There is more information on these cards later in this brochure.
EDitingAdobe Premiere Pro has an excellent editing interface - pretty intuitive and with lots of useful features built-in. It has great feedback for the different trimming modes showing you up to 4 different frames of video when needed.
intErACtiVE WinDoWsAdobe love windows - Premiere is like every other Adobe program in that there are lots of them. So they had to think of a way of making all these windows usable. Instead of a series of floating palettes you have a series of linked windows which, as you drag one out it makes another smaller. You can still undock palettes and have windows laid out as a series of floating boxes, but the new method does mean a much cleaner interface. You find this on all the programs in Adobe Production Studio.Premiere’s project window is similar to most programs and the “flexibins” mean you can have several open at once, all sitting in a tabbed window. This makes it
The main interface of Premiere Pro. Updated from Premiere 6, it has been stable through out all the variations of Premiere Pro. New windows and features have been added but the guts of the program is unchanged. So if you are used to Premiere Pro 1 you will feel at home in CS4.
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really easy to catalogue and organise your footage.
mEtADAtAWith CS4 Premiere can now access the “Metadata”, stored with the clips. With card based cameras you don’t just record the picture you can record lots of other information. There are even devices that you can update via wireless the extra info when filming - marking good shots and adding comments. Premiere CS4 can now see all this extra information, called Metadata, in the project window, and you can easily search through it.
multiCAmErA EDitingPremiere’s Multicamera feature is very easy to use - simply put your different camera clips one above the other in a timeline and line them up. This is the easiest way to sync clips, as on the timeline you can see both the picture and sound and can line up the clips very easily. You can also sync clips based on in or out point if you prefer.Once you have synced the clips drop the sequence into a new one, enable Multicamera, and watch them in the Multicamera monitor where you see all your source cameras in one screen and the chosen playback camera in another. Click on the clip or use the numbers on your keyboard to switch between shots. The Multicamera’s only drawbacks are that it can only handle up to 4 cameras (not a huge limitation for most people). Because of the ease of lining up shots, Premiere’s multicamera is one of the simplest to use.
ADobE mEDiA EnCoDEr You use this program to make your timeline into different formats. You can load Premiere timelines, After Effects projects or just individual clips, choose your outputs and start it going. It can run in the background while you edit. You can even send a Premiere timeline to the Media Encoder and then carry on editing that same timeline in Premiere - it takes a snapshot of the timeline at the time you send it to Media encoder. There are loads of output options and, as Adobe own Flash, has some of the best Flash output options built-in.
HigHEr Colour DEptHPremiere renders at higher quality with 10-bit and 16-bit colour resolution support and 32-bit internal colour processing. Using hardware from Black Magic or Matrox you can capture and edit 10 bit footage as well.
bEttEr QuAlity sCAlingYou can render at high quality at the touch of a button - which adds a bit to the time it takes but gives a significant improvement, if going from HD to SD, for example. And if that’s not enough open your timeline up in After Effects and render it at the ultimate quality.
kEyfrAmAblE sloW motionThere are two ways of achieving this in Premiere Pro. The time remapping accessed through the timeline is quick to use and excellent quality. Alternatively there is a timewarp filter, which has been taken from
After Effects and has a rendering mode called Pixel Motion where the computer interpolates the picture from those around it. This is processor intensive so rendering can be quite long but you can get significantly better results
WinDoWs VistA supportThe whole Adobe suite now supports Windows Vista, both 32 and 64, as well as XP. However in our opinion it works a best under Vista 64 with 4GB or RAM or more. We would no longer like to use it under XP, especially if using a Matrox card.
Export to blu-rAyBoth complex Blu-ray and DVD discs can be made with Encore which always ships in the same box as Premiere.
Clip notEs
If collaborating with others when editing then Clip Notes will be a huge benefit. A clip notes file saves a version of your timeline in an easy to email/ftp form (say as a low resolution Windows Media file) and wraps it up in a PDF. You send this off to someone who you would like to comment on your film. They open up the file in the free Adobe Acrobat reader, watch the movie and add comments, complete with their name tagged to them, at specific points throughout the movie. When finished they save out a small comment file and email it back to you. You import this into your project where it is added to your sequence as a series of markers, with their comments. You can easily just jog through the markers and see at exactly the right points comments like “that jumper is too red”, “that actor is too ugly” etc. It makes the process of sending videos off for approval and acting on the results as easy as possible and all it requires is that you have a copy of Premiere Pro and your partner has a copy of Acrobat reader. We can even foresee people buying a copy of Premiere Pro just for this ability even if their movie is made with another program!
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EffECtsOne area where Premiere excels is the range of effects - not just with the range of built-in effects, which is large, but also with the range of plug-ins available. We cannot list everything available so here is a sample:• Colour adjustments - there
are a whole host of filters for adjusting video levels and colour balance. Particularly useful are: the levels filter with a Photoshop-style histogram; auto colour, auto contrast and auto level, which do as their names suggest; and one of our favourites shadow/highlight which can make a good shot out of a badly exposed one by raising the mid tones whilst leaving the colour and highlights and dark areas in tact. Premiere also has secondary colour correction - where you choose to adjust only a range of colours in the image instead of all the colour.
• Photoshop-style blending modes on all clips.
• Blur and sharpness effects.• Distortion effects - lens
distortion, corner pinning, spherize and more.
• GPU based page curls, refraction and ripple effects. These 3D effects use the power of your graphic card for most of the hard work and work in proper 3D - so you can ripple the image and as you turn it in 3D you see your flat plane has now become a 3 dimensional object. You get more and better 3D by adding a Matrox card or Boris FX.
• Keying filters - blue screen, chromakey, image matte, track matte, together with up to a 16 point keyframable garbage matte - so you can limit the area being superimposed and even make the area move across screen. You get better keying filters in After Effects, including some of the best around.
• Noise - filters for adding or removing noise.• Lens flares, animatable gradients, cell or
checkerboard patterns.• Brush strokes - simulate a “painting style” on your
image, write on - draw a path which gets revealed on screen over time, “texturize” a layer, leave colour - leave one colour on screen whilst making the rest black and white.
• Echo and posterize time.
• There is also a huge variety of transitions and wipes including some new 3D wipes. Premiere does not have a selection of wacky transitions like Canopus EDIUS. You may never need wacky 3D effect but if you do then you will have to buy some more to use in Premiere.
All are controlled via the “effects control window”. With this window all the parameters to change the effects are instantly available - you don’t have to open new dialogue boxes. This is based on the After Effects timeline and if you transfer your Premiere sequence into After Effects for more comprehensive tweaking, all the adjustments made in Premiere are carried over as well.
formAt supportAdobe always used to behind others in supporting new formats, but with CS4 this is changing. Now it natively supports:• A whole variety of HDV formats including 720P and 1080i.• AVCHD - the latest highly compressed format, which is hard to edit
in any program. CS4 does the best native playback of AVCHD of any of the programs we have - although you will need a fast up-to-date system to do so. Add effects and it will not display much. You can convert into a more usable format using the Adobe Media Encoder.
• DVCPro HD - lots of variations of DVCPro HD are natively supported, and you can write these back to P2 cards if needed.
• Sony XDCam and XDCAM-EX footage - added for free during the life of CS3, Premiere now supports the popular variations.
• Support for the RED camera - the revolutionary Super HD camera will be natively supported by Premiere CS4 soon.
In addition Adobe have added a new Media Browser to help browse card based media, examine all the extra metadata available and import them into Premiere.
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Encore is our favourite DVD authoring program - it can do nearly everything you want in a DVD and can also author Blu-ray discs and export to Flash to create interactive web presentations.
ADobE intEgrAtionTake a timeline, or several timelines, from Premiere CS4 and put it into Encore, without rendering it - any changes you make in Premiere, including changing Encore chapter markers on the Premiere timeline are updated in Encore.Right click on a menu and “edit in Photoshop” and you can customise your menu to your hearts content. If you want a video menu then use the dynamic link with After Effects to create a fancy background. With both of these any changes you make in Photoshop or After Effects are seen immediately in Encore.
fEAturEs of EnCorE Cs4Encore lets you make DVDs with 32 subtitles, 8 audio tracks, complex navigation, slideshows, in fact nearly everything you want to do on a DVD. Sony DVD Architect does a little bit more - it supports scripting and different video angles - but Encore does do nearly everything you want.Encore has the same kind of dockable interface that all the Adobe programs share and Adobe have tried to synchronise the keyboard short cuts as much as possible - for example the * key adds markers in Premiere and chapters in Encore.
ExCEllEnt EnCoDingThe encoder is Encore does a very good job. You can specify settings or leaving on automatic where it always make you video fit the DVD at the best quality.
sliDEsHoW EDitor - Encore’s slideshow editing is lovely - just drag in all the pictures you want to use as a slideshow, add transitions between the shots and a nice pan which can be customised per slide or just tick the random pan and zoom so each slide is subtly different. Bring in some backing music as well and on tick makes the slideshow match the duration of the music.
CHAptEr plAy listsPlaylists are available in most DVD authoring programs, where you make a list of several clips and the order they should play, but most playlists will play from a specific chapter right to the end of the clip - so if you selected chapter 2 it would play from chapter 2 to the very end of the clip - it would not just play from chapter 2 to chapter 3. With Encore’s chapter playlists you can choose to just play one chapter from a title - then jump to another chapter in the same title, or,
another chapter in another title. How seamless this is will depend on your DVD player.
floWCHArt ViEW
Encore has a great flowchart view which makes laying out your DVD quick and easy. Just drag from one clip or menu button to another to lay out your disc. This is a brilliant way to layout a disc, from simple to mega complex DVDs.
morE royAlty frEE mEnus AnD mEDiA There is no better way of making a really nice looking menu than stealing someone else’s. Encore has lots of video and still backgrounds to choose from - our tutorial DVDs are all authored in Encore and the menus started life as Encore stock footage!
The mains screen of Encore - in the centre we have the main preview and layout window. You can zoom in and out of this for fine adjustments. The properties palettes are also arranged around this window. There are a lot of windows in Encore, and although you can stream line them you will be better off with a dual monitor system.
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ADobE EnCorE Cs4blu-rAy WritingEncore support Blu-ray writing in all the various sizes you would want and in both MPEG (for speed) or H264 (for more video on a disc). It also writes dual layer Blu-ray discs.Blu-ray supports 3 main video formats, MPEG2, H264 and VC1, and can be laid out either like a normal DVD, or with fancier “java” based menus which pop up over the video and can change things like the audio while the video is playing in the background. Encore does not support all of this but does support authoring in MPEG2 and H264, as well as using the full range of features available for normal DVDs in a Blu-ray disc. If you import all your footage as HD into Encore, then you can export to Blu-ray, then just change one setting and export exactly the same project to standard DVD and Encore will convert all the HD footage to the correct format. This did not work properly in CS3 but works with most HD formats in CS4.
blu-rAy pop-up mEnusBlu-ray discs have extra features not found on DVDs - one of these is pop-up menus which appear over the video when playing. Encore is the first program to be able to add a pop-up menu - although only one layer not multiple layers as you would find on a commercial Blu-ray disc.
Export to flAsHEncore CS4 can take and entire DVD and export it to Flash. So without any real knowledge of Flash or web formats you can produce an interactive video using Encore. It does everything including making a web page with all the required links.With CS4 you can output in sizes up to 720P HD and in normal Flash or Adobe’s new H264 Flash format.
Our own Encore tutorial has created as both a video DVD and a higher quality HD Flash version.
WHAt’s gooD• Dynamic link with Premiere makes it a lot easier
to make and plan the DVD when editing. Also imagine you make a DVD and then realise you made an error in the edit. With most programs you would redo the edit, then re-export the video, reorganise the chapters and then finally produce the new disc. With Encore and Premiere,re-edit in Premiere and Encore will be updated straight away.
• You can configure nearly everything - chose what button is selected when you reach a menu, which audio track or subtitle is chose very easily.
• The link with Photoshop is essential for custom made menus. All good programs have a way of making menus from Photoshop files - unsurprisingly Encore is the best!.
• 2 pass variable bit rate MPEG encoder from Main Concept guarantees excellent MPEG quality.
• Encodes audio into uncompressed, MPEG or Dolby Digital. Will accept 5.1 surround sound AC-3 but cannot make it. Unlike Premiere Pro you do not have to buy an extra plug-in to encode to AC-3.
WHAt’s bAD• You can only buy it in a bundle with Adobe
Premiere or in the Production Studio Premium. • If you have an old copy of Premiere you can
upgrade (the upgrade is £209 +VAT) then getting Encore on a non-Premiere system would be £599 +VAT.
ADobE onloCAtiononloCAtionThe point of OnLocation is to help you film better in the first place. It works with either HDV or DV through FireWire.As you film you record on to the computer as well as you camera. As the computer buffers the video as it comes in it can record for up to 40 seconds before you press the record button!As you record you can add notes, which will appear as Metadata in Premiere. You can take a frame when filming and overlay it on the live video for continuity purposes and it has tools to help to get better focus and exposure.OnLocation can do stop motion capture and time-lapse as well as motion triggered capture. Its a great capture tool to help you get the best footage recorded in the first place and avoid lots of post production.
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Soundbooth’s aim is to provide and easy to use method of improving and tweaking the sound in your videos. It can edit single and multitrack clips - mixing several clips together to produce one sound track.You can just click on a clip in Premiere and open it in Soundbooth. Make the changes and Premiere is automatically updated. You can also set a “dynamic link” in the other directions. Open a Premiere project in Soundbooth and add sound effects and music. Change the edit in Premiere and it is updated in Soundbooth.
WHy usE sounDbootH to Do AuDio EffECts you CoulD ACHiEVE in prEmiErE?Because you can take them a step further and the quality is better. The noise reduction in Soundbooth would be a real struggle to add to Premiere, for example.
multitrACk & ADobE snD filEsSoundbooth now does multitrack editing, much like Audition which it replaced in the suite, which means you can do a proper audio mix inside of Soundbooth. This is saved in a new file format developed by Adobe, as “snd” files, which is the sound equivalent of a Photoshop file. Unlike Premiere where the timeline is just a selection of references to the original clips Soundbooth’s multitrack copies the files you load into the file. Use a clip twice and it is copied into the file twice, make a change to the original after you have brought it into Soundbooth and it will not change in Soundbooth.
normAlisE mAny AuDio ClipsDrag several clips into Soundbooth and make it match the levels between all of them automatically..
noisE rEDuCtionSoundbooth has several tools to improve the quality of your sound. Sample a sound, like a microphone buzz, and remove this sound through the entire file. Or use Soundbooth’s spectral view to isolate and lasso a sound and then remove just that sound from a clip - select the screech of a seagull or the creak of a door and just remove that whilst leaving the rest of the sound intact.
musiC CrEAtion Soundbooth’s music abilities are not for budding Mozarts looking to compose a stunning score, its for the average editor who needs a reasonable piece of music that fits his video.Select a score and add it to the timeline, adjust the length, the start, middle end and various phases and let Soundbooth write the rest. sounDbootH Cs4 £139+VAt, £159 inC.Or buy it as part of the Production Studio Premium.NB: the dynamic link with After Effects and Premiere only works if you buy the full Production Studio.
spEECH trAnsCriptionSpeech Transcription is available in both Premiere and Soundbooth. Select a clip the program will transcribe the speech to text. You can then search the text for various phrases and it jumps to that part of the clip. This feature works reasonably well on our test footage although how it will deal with various accents UK will prove interesting. Adobe supply different speech models such as “international English”, French etc. If the speech is not too fast and quite clear it tended to not get transcribed very well.However even if not 100% correct it will be good for searching for phrases. This is the first version of Adobe’s speech transcriber so it can only get more accurate the more Adobe develop it.
EDit in AuDitionEven if Adobe are improving Soundbooth they are not dropping Audition. In fact in Premiere CS4 they have added in the “Edit in Audition” that was removed in CS3. Now you can choose to Edit in Audition or Edit in Soundbooth, whatever your preference. This is a good example of how Adobe have been listening to their customers as many Audition users wished to keep to their favourite sound program and not use Soundbooth. So why not give them that choice said Adobe..
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You can buy Premiere Pro in two different bundles. 1) Premiere Pro with Encore and OnLocation. 2) The Production Studio Premium - Premiere Pro, Encore, OnLocation, After Effects, Photoshop extended, Soundbooth, Illustrator and Flash Pro.There are also upgrades available from previous versions. Both bundles work on Mac and PC.
WHAt ArE tHE otHEr progrAms in tHE bunDlEs?pHotosHop ExtEnDEDThe latest version of Photoshop with support for video and good integration with After Effects and Premiere Pro.
illustrAtorAdobe’s drawing program. Where Photoshop makes images from pixels that become
huge squares when you zoom in, Illustrator makes vector based drawings which stay sharp at any zoom level.
flAsH proFlash is one of the best ways to get video on the Internet as it is supported by Mac and PC and is used everywhere. Flash Pro gives you better quality encoding..
Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 - Includes Encore and OnLocation £599+VAT £689inc.Upgrade - Any version of Premiere or Encore to Premiere Pro 4 £209+VAT £240inc.Upgrade - Production Premium CS4 Upgrade from Premiere Pro, Photoshop CS, After Effects Pro 3 to 6 Windows £1,014+VAT £1,270inc.Upgrade - Production Premium CS4 Upgrade from CS3 £485+VAT £558inc.Adobe Production Premium CS4- includes Premiere Pro, Encore, Soundbooth, Illustrator, Photoshop Extended, After Effects, Flash Pro and OnLocation.
£1,299+VAT £1,494inc.
Adobe Master Collection - All the major Adobe Applications £1,999+VAT £2,299inc.Adobe Master Collection upgrade from one suite £1,499+VAT £1,724incAdobe Master Collection upgrade from two suites £1,099+VAT £1,264inc
AftEr EffECtsIt is impossible to do justice to Adobe’s compositing program in a small half page box, so we won’t even try. After Effects is used for broadcasters all over the world. It has a huge list of features including being able to motion track objects so you can pin effects to them;
rotoscoping so that you can draw a matte around an object and remove it from a scene; painting and animating of painted objects; 3D cameras so you can fly around objects and logos; a huge list of effects and a lot more.The quality of rendering is also superior. We made a tutorial DVD using Adobe Premiere and the results were good. We then opened that project in After Effects re-rendered it and the quality was a lot better.After Effects has a lot of features - this may make it daunting for new users. So Adobe have added
a lot or ways to help you achieve results easily. There are a lot of pre-made templates and scenes and features like “brainstorming” mean you add a few effects and let After Effects make some variations for you.As long as you buy it as part of the Production Studio Premium you also get the Adobe Dynamic link - take footage from Premiere and copy it straight into After Effects and then put the After Effects composition on the Premiere timeline without rendering. Any updates are then automatically seen in Premiere - a great time saver.A lot of After Effects is also very similar to Adobe Premiere - the timeline of After Effects is list like the Premiere Effects control window (since the Premiere window was designed that way). A large list of presets which you can browse and reuse easily also helps you to get into the program.Even if all you use is the animated titles it is worth adding After Effects to your arsenal. Many people do because it is cheaper to buy the Production Studio Premium, where you will get After Effects along with Premiere, Encore, Photoshop, Illustrator, OnLocation. Flash Pro and Soundbooth than it is to but just 3 of these programs separately.
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Black Magic produce a range of cards which add different inputs and outputs to your PC. They come with plug-ins for Adobe Premiere Pro, but also work with other software such as Apple Final Cut Pro and Sony Vegas.Black Magic cards give you extra inputs and outputs at a reasonable cost. The Intensity, which is £159 +VAT and is HDMI in and out, is the cheapest way of adding proper HD output to Premiere Pro - and the Intensity Pro at £219 gives you both component and HDMI i/o. The Decklink HD Extreme is an everything in everything out card with every type of connection you would want.
blACk mAgiC Vs mAtroxBlack Magic cards just add i/o, Matrox cards also improve the performance and add better filters, but cost more. Black Magic are good at producing low cost i/o for editing software.
DECklink CApturE formAtsDecklink cards can capture standard definition (PAL and NTSC) and if you buy one of the HD cards, both 1080i and 720P video, through the different connections.They either capture them into uncompressed formats or into Decklink’s MJPEG codec. This is particularly important when it comes to HD footage - Uncompressed 8 bit HD takes up around 400MB for an hour and you will need at least 2 SATA hard drives stripped together on a proper controller to get enough drive speed. 10 bit uncompressed takes even more space.Our recent tutorials were filmed entirely in uncompressed HD using an Intensity and the results were excellent but we had to use several hard drives!The alternative was to use the Black Magic MJPEG codec, which can capture happily onto a single SATA hard drive and takes about 50GB per hour. For most video the quality is acceptable the computer displays in our tutorial are hard work and the MJPEG codec produced too many artefacts.If you buy another program called CineForm you can capture into their codec which is better than MJPEG. This works with either Cineform Neo or Prospect HD. Please contact us or visit our website for more information on Cineform.
EDiting CArD bAsED mEDiAIf you film onto card based media (XDCAM, P2) or edit HDV you will not convert the footage but use it natively. In this case the Black Magic cards add the extra ins and outs needed for you to monitor the footage at full quality when editing/
8 bit AnD 10 bitDecklink cards capture into both 8-bit and 10-bit formats. Most common video formats (like DV and HDV) are 8-bit. For better quality you can use 10-bit.
HigH DEfinition CArDsintEnsity proHDMI and component in and out. Sound via phono
. £125+VAT £143inc.
DECklink sDiHD-and SD SDI in and out at a low price..
£185 +VAT £212 incDECklink stuDio 2Everything in, everything out - the DeckLink Studio includes SD/HD-SDI, SD/HD, HDMI component, composite, S-Video, 4ch balanced analog audio, 2 ch AES/EBU, blackburst and tri-sync reference input and RS-422 deckcontrol connections
£435 +VAT £499 incDECklink HD ExtrEmELike the Decklink Studio 2 but with 3GB SDI support and duallink 4:4:4 for ultimate quality
£615 +VAT £707 incDECklink optiCAl fibrEAn SDI board with a difference - it works using optical firbe cables. This means the distance between board and source can be a lot longer.
£315 +VAT £362 inc
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There are various cards available to add proper video outputs to Premiere Pro. Matrox are the only ones that add extra effects and improve the realtime performance and rendering of Premiere Pro. They make editing HD just like editing DV with layers of realtime effects.
tHE poWEr of x...is a phrase invented by Matrox to explain how they use both the power of your computers CPU and the power of the processor on your graphic card to produce their range of effects. The obvious intention is to use the most of the resources inside your PC. Premiere CS4All Matrox cards work with Premiere Pro CS4. You can use the Axio and RT.X2 with CS3 as well although all future development is being done with CS4. The MX02 Mini also works with Final Cut Pro on a Mac, but currently only works with Premiere Pro on Windows.On Windows with Premiere Pro 4 we recommend using Windows Vista 64 as the operating system. We have had much better results with CS4 and Vista 64 than with other o/s.
mAtrox HDVWith RT.X2 and Axio HDV is treated differently to the way it is normally treated by Premiere. Matrox saves clips as AVI files, not MPEG, and the Matrox codec means these files are a lot more responsive than normal Adobe HDV files. Matrox also add scene detection and the ability to see the footage as you capture with HDV - both things Premiere does not do on its own.Matrox HDV is not available on the MX02 Mini - the latter does HDV the Adobe way. This means it is nicer to edit HDV footage on and RT.X2 than a Mini. Conversely, editing native AVCHD works better on the Mini than it does on the RT.X2.
mAtrox EffECtsMatrox add a range of effects to Premiere Pro on a Windows system. These effects are only found on the RT.X2 and Axio although the excellent Matrox colour correction has recently been added to the Matrox MX02 Mini.
Colour CorrECtionMatrox colour correction is excellent and includes full colour matching. Premiere Pro’s
The Matrox cards have the same list of filters and improve the speed at which Premiere works. The major difference is the sizes they support and the formats supported.
tHE mx02 mini• New in 2009 a box that adds HDMI and analogue i/o to
Premiere Pro on a Pc and Final Cut Pro on a MAC.• Works on a desktop or laptop computer.• Available as MiniMax with fast H264 encoding built-in.MX02 Mini £319+VAT.MX02 MiniMax £644+VAT
tHE rt.x2 lE• The most popular version of the card.• A standard length PCI card that fits in most cases.• Plays back HDV, XDCAM and XDCam-Ex formats.RT.X2LE without Premiere £760+VAT.RT.X2LE with Premiere £1,099+VAT
tHE rt.x2 • Same as the RT.X2LE with added DVI output. The DVI
outputs either 1920 x 1200 for HD or 800x600 for SD. It only works properly with a select few monitors - we currently only have one monitor we recommend..
• Full length PCIe card - so needs a larger than average case.
RT.X2 without Premiere £895+VAT.RT.X2 with Premiere £1,249+VATAxio lE• Works at 1920 x 1080 (full HD).• Support for extra formats:
Panasonic DVC Pro HD (P2), uncompressed 8 bit & 10 bit.
• Extra programs to let new formats (XDCam and Panasonic DVCPro HD) in programs that do not support it.
• HD SDI as well as component with XLR audio.• Can monitor 5.1 sound from a Premiere timeline - with
RT.X2 you need an expensive sound card for this as most PC sound cards will not do 5.1 output from Premiere.
• Capture into this format, either uncompressed HD and SD or in MPEG I-frame.
• Now with Matrox MKEY so footage can be used on systems without Axio installed.
• Rack mountable breakout box.Axio without Premiere £2,749+VATAxio with Premiere £3,099+VAT
The best way to improve Premiere Pro
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standard colour correction is actually very good too, although not quite as simple as the Matrox version and not realtime. You can use both Adobe’s standard effect and the Matrox effect in a Matrox project.
2D AnD 3D motion pAtHsMatrox 3D effects are excellent and powered by the graphic processor chip on your graphic card. The better the graphic card the more layers of effects you can achieve. For Matrox effects, ATI cards are generally better than nVidia. NVidia cards do work and you may choose one of these for some other reason - as some other programs prefer nVidia to ATI. Obviously we can advise you about a suitable card.Many normal Premiere effects are accelerated by Matrox including the standard motion path, some using the CPU and some using the graphic card to make the most of your computers power
CHromA AnD lumAkEyMatrox keyers are much better than Premiere version - if you have After Effects you would have the non-realtime ‘Keylight’ keyer is better. Of course, with the Adobe software you can always just pop into AE for your keying and then drop that composition straight on to your Premiere Pro timeline using Adobe’s Dynamic link.
rEAltimE prEmiErE EffECtsMany of Premiere’s standard effects - practically all the wipes, picture in picture, scale to frame size - are done in realtime by the Matrox cards. All other Adobe effects preview in realtime as well, although most will have to drop frames or play at reduced quality unless rendered (this is how Premiere plays all effects without the extra hardware).
mAtrox sHinEGenerate light beams from your image - typically used to make it appear that light is shinning through a title.
mAtrox surfACE finisHThe image is projected on to a high quality 3D surface, like a brick or block of granite which you can fly around the screenMatrox trACk mAttEPut a moving or still piece of video on one track and use it to determine the opacity of various areas of your main image.mAtrox timECoDEMatrox took the Premiere filter which stamps timecode in frame and made it realtime.
mAtrox gArbAgE mAttEsPremiere has 4,8 and 16 point garbage mattes and made their own realtime versions, plus added extras like feathered edges.
WysiWyg support for otHEr progrAmsAll the Matrox cards add a video output - both HD and SD - to various programs, including Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, Discreet Combustion, 3D Studio Max and Newtek LightWave.With the RT.X cards you can have 2 or 3 of these programs open simultaneously and the output shows which ever program you are using.
A couple of layers of video, together with a Matrox shine effect added to the title.
The Matrox Surface Finish effect. Combine it with a title and a motion path and have text ripple across a 3D surface...
The Matrox colour correction dialogue box. Note the colour pickers for removing a colour cast and for colour matching. To use these just select the colour picker and drag out a box over the colour you need to balance. The RT.X2 then averages the colour area in the box an removes the cast. It does the same for colour matching - averages the colours in a box that you need matched, which produces better results than just a one-click, as with most effects.
mAtrox rt.x CArDs
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• Works on laptop or desktop• Mac or PC• up to 1920 x 1080• Uncompressed 8 bit and 10 bit HD capture.• Matrox I-frame capture and conversion for formats
like AVCHD• HDMI, component, composite and SVIDEO i/o
The Mini MX02 will capture through HDMI, component, SVIDEO or composite into Matrox I-frame format AVI files or uncompressed 8 bit or 10 bit files. It will work at sizes up to 1920 x 1080 in both progressive and interlace. The Mini comes with its own capture program, similar
to the XTools program that used to be supplied with the old Matrox RT.X100, for capture and playback, or can capture using Adobe Premiere Pro CS4.
WHy buy A mAtrox rt.x2 or Axio WHEn tHE mini is so muCH CHEApEr?The Matrox Axio or RT.X2 don’t just add extra inputs/outputs, they also add a large range of Matrox effects and improve the performance of Premiere. Without a Matrox RT.X2/Axio card you are unlikely to see more than one layer of HDV video playing back in realtime on any Premiere Pro based system - with the Matrox RT.X2/Axio we get 4 or even more layers on a modern system. An Axio will add extra features for formats like DVCProHD and XDCAM as well.
WHy buy tHE mini?The Mini is cheaper and is the only HD capture/playback device that will work on a laptop. It also has the standard HD sockets, HDMI, with up to 8 channels of audio on board. You can mix and monitor surround sound using just a mini and monitor connected via HDMI.The Mini will capture and playback footage at up to 1920 x 1080 size, whereas the more expensive RT.X2 is limited to footage of up to 1440 x 1080 size.
The RT.X2 was really designed as a card for editing HDV, at which it excels. The RT.X2 is not so good at playing back DVCPro HD or AVCHD footage, however.Since the Mini basically adds extra i/o to Adobe and everything else is done by the Premiere software, it will play back footage just like Premiere does - which means it will play back all varieties of DVCPro HD with no problems (the RT.X2 will not) and currently plays back AVCHD better than an RT.X2 system. The Axio is still the best at handling XDCam and DVCPro HD, and also adds extra features from these formats, like proxy editing, which are not present in Premiere.The Mini, as Matrox newest card will be supported for longer. By this we don’t mean Matrox will drop support for RT.X2 and Axio any time soon, but they are 2 years older than a Mini so it will be supported for longer
WitH WHiCH lAptops DoEs it Work?The Mini is very new and so we have not tested it extensively with many laptops. It works with both our M571 DVC laptop and also the special build of the HP8730 laptop that we sell for video editing. Matrox MXO2 Mini works with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 on the PC and provides WYSIWYG support for popular applications such as Adobe Encore CS4, Photoshop CS4, and After Effects CS4; Autodesk 3ds Max and Combustion; and NewTek LightWave 3D (32-bit versions only).
HigH QuAlity 10-bit HArDWArE sCAlingThe Mini will output both HD and SD from an HD timeline at the same time - HD out of the HDMI socket and SD via component, composite or SVIDEO. The quality of the HD to SD down-conversion is excellent.
using tHE mini on A mACThe Mini will also work on an Apple Mac computer. On the Mac, Matrox MXO2 Mini lets you capture from either the analogue or HDMI input to uncompressed video or to any of the compression formats supported by Apple Final Cut Pro including ProRes.Matrox MXO2 Mini works with Final Cut Pro, Apple Color, Adobe After Effects, and all QuickTime applications that support the V-out component.You can use the same Mini hardware on both PC and MAC.
MXO2 Mini for PC and Mac £338+VATThis comes with either a PCIe card, for a desktop, or an express card for a laptop. You can buy additional cards and move the main box from one machine to another..Extra laptop Express card or desktop PCIe card £69+VAT
mAtrox rt.x CArDs
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H264 is fast become the standard format for all sorts of uses -from web video, IPODs to Blu-ray discs. The only problem: its a complex format and takes time for a compute to make. Instead of getting your computer to do the work why not add an extra board to do the work? Enter Compress HD.The “Max” chip found on Compress HD encodes to H264 faster than realtime even with HD footage. The board works on both Mac and PC. Matrox have also put the same MAX chip into other devices, The MX02 Mini Max is the Matrox Mini with the MAX chip for fast h264 encoding. Add a Mini Max to a laptop and suddenly you can do faster than realtime High Definition H264 on laptop!.
WHAt progrAms Work WitH tHE mAx?On a PC: Adobe Media Encoder (not currently with-in Adobe Encore although you can encode to H264 fast with the Max chip and load these into Encore to make the final Blu-ray)On a Mac: Apple Compressor, Telestream and Apple Qmaster.
Will ComprEss HD Work WitH mAtrox CApturE CArDs likE rt.x2?At the time of writing this booklet we are not sure as final PC drivers have yet to be released. Ring for more details.
Compress HD - £375+VAT £431incMatrox MX02 Mini Max £644+VAT £740inc.
The Convert DVI is a new device launched at IBC in 2009/. It takes the DVI output from a graphic card and converts it to professional quality video.Key features of Matrox Convert DVI • DVI input up to 1920 x 1200• Digital outputs: HD/SD SDI• Stereo audio input can be
embedded into the SDI output signal
• Analog outputs: HD/SD analog component, S-Video, and composite
• Simultaneous analog and digital output• SD analog black burst (bi-level) or HD tri-level genlock with timing offset controls• Realtime HD to SD hardware downscaling with proper colour space and aspect ratio conversion• Region of interest output support• Anti-flicker filterWHy WoulD you usE tHE ConVErt DVi AnD not A mAtrox mini?• You can use the DVI convert with any program that will output to the second screen of a graphic card such as
Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere. With Premiere a Mini would be better and cheaper. With Vegas you could use a Black Magic Intensity Pro on a desktop instead, but that would not work on a laptop. Convert DVI will.
• Possibly the biggest use - add one to Avid Media Composer to take its second head output and give you full screen HD from Media Composer. It’s a lot cheaper than a Mojo DX!
• Recording any PC screen - Convert DVI is going to make tutorial creation here at DVC easier as you can choose to selectively output areas of the screen (so we can zoom in while making the tutorial) and you can out HD and SD at the same time!
Matrox DVI convert £649+VAT £746inc
ADD ConVErt DVi to AViD mEDiA ComposEr for full
sCrEEn HD output!
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Media Composer is the software used to edit 90% of the worlds feature films and TV shows. The software version of Media Composer, or MCsoft as it is sometimes called, is exactly the same as found on the high end Adrenaline Suites as used for broadcast.
It either works through standard FireWire or using an Avid’s Mojos. The Mojo-DX adds HD-SDI in and out as well as HDMI out.The main interface of Media Composer may look a lot like other editing programs and with good reason. Most of the other editing programs stole their ideas of Avid in the first place, Here you see a source and destination window, the timeline with wave forms displayed, the effects control window which is the same for all effects, and Avid’s project and bin window.
lArgE ComplEx proJECts WitH lots of EffECtsMedia Composer is the best program for handling large feature film size project.
tHE Amount of EffECts built-in It has decent keying, very nice slow motion, painting on video, retouching video and lots more all built-in. If that is not enough they give you two sets of extra Boris filters as well!
rEliAbilityBroadcasters expect a reliable and stable program - and as long as you use Avid on a validated platform it is.
rEAltimE EffECtsMCSoft is one of the best for realtime performance, beaten only by Grass Valley EDIUS.
you likE mEDiA ComposErYou are an experienced Avid editor, which means you know how to make it fly. You will probably be frustrated with the more “touchy feely”, but more intuitive programs like Grass Valley EDIUS or Adobe Premiere.
on-linE AnD CollAborAtionYou are sharing projects with other users, or confirming the final edit on an Avid Adrenaline.
mAC AnD pCMedia Composer works on the Mac and PC. It has its own media format which also works on both, so it is truly cross platform. Adobe Premiere works on both and you can copy a project between the two, but as Macs like QuickTime movies and PCs like AVI files you will have to recapture all the clips when you change platforms.
mEDiA mAnAgEmEntAvid has the best media management around - all controlled from within Avid. You can have footage at different quality settings - low res off line or full high res and switch between them. You can check through all the media including render files, see if they are being used and remove them where needed. No one yet rivals Avid for this degree of control.
CustomisAblityYou can customise the look, the fonts, the audio scrubbing, practically everything. It is because there is so much in it that there is more to learn than with other editing programs. If you can’t do what you want using the main interface you can probably do it by using the entering a command in the DOS-like console.
WHy sHoulD you usE mEDiA ComposEr?
AViD mEDiA ComposEr
AViD mEDiA ComposEr
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DVD Writing & blu-rAy WitH mCsoftMedia Composer ships with Avid DVD - a variation of Sonic’s DVDit. This will encode video for DVD at a reasonable quality and is pretty fast, as well as being a fully comprehensive program.To get the timeline from Media Composer to Avid DVD you can just save our a movie file and let Avid DVD encode it. Alternatively you also get Sorenson Squeeze which can encode your video in to all sorts of formats including variations for Blu-ray.Avid DVD does most of the things that Adobe Encore or Sony DVD Architect do for DVD writing. Encore and Architect do have chapter playlists and a few other small features that Avid DVD does not.
blu-rAy WitH AViD DVDAvid DVD was one of the first programs to support Blu-ray writing
and is made by the same people who make Scenarist, a program used to author commercial Blu-ray discs.Avid DVD only makes Blu-ray discs in MPEG format and does not support H264 like Encore and Architect. Also it only does 720P and 1920 x 1080 sizes - so if filming on HDV it will need to resize the footage. Apart from that it is very good at making comprehensive DVD and Blu-ray discs.
HD support WitH mCsoftHigh Definition comes in various flavours, with HDV being just one.
HDVWith version 3 Media Composer now supports all different variations of HDV both 1080i and 720P..
sony xDCAm HDMedia Composer supports all resolutions and formats of XDCam and XDCam-EX. If you use the Sony Clip Browser software that comes with the camera you just export the clips needed as an AAF project which will load straight into Avid.pAnAsoniC DVCpro HD/p2Media Composer supports Panasonic HD footage, and supports AVC-I as well.
AVCHDMedia Composer does not support AVCHD and in fact it is pretty difficult to get into the program without going through a couple of lengthy conversions. If you are filming on AVCHD Media Composer is not really the program for you.
EDiting HD footAgE When you start a project in Avid you choose a preset which defines the editing mode. However, once in Avid this can be varied between standard definition, HDV and full High Definition. Which mode you are in will then determine at what quality your effects are rendered, with which codec, and where you will see the picture.
At standard definition everything plays out through a DV device attached to the PC. At HD or HDV resolutions the playback is on screen only - if running two screens you can play the edit, full screen, on one monitor via the second output of your graphic card. To get a proper HD video output you need to add the Mojo DX which is £6,300+VAT. You can have an HD project and edit it in standard definition with full output through the FireWire so you can judge colour correction etc. and then at the end of the edit switch it to HD for the final render.
lots of CoDECsMedia Composer has lots of different codecs, from a low res 15:1s where you can store an hour of video in about 2GB space, to uncompressed SD and HD.It edits most footage natively - such as HDV or XDCam. In addition Avid invented their own codec, called DNxHD, which lets you compress files to keep them small and maintain the quality. There is even a low bitrate version of this that will keep HD footage looking pretty close to the original but uses about the same amount of space as DV. Like the Canopus and Cineform formats, Avid DNxHD saves each frame as a single frame, so it is nicer to use than MPEG and can do more in realtime. It is really intended for use with formats higher than HDV. The point of all these codecs is to let you make different versions of the project to use on different machines. Want to do your edit on a laptop but you don’t have enough space for your full quality clips? Then transcode them using Avid to an offline resolution, edit on the laptop and then copy the project back to the desktop where it will automatically link to the full quality clips.Avid excels at things like this, as well as consolidating media to just the bits used to save space, or recapturing media from your original source.
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AViD mEDiA ComposErAvid produce hardware to give you extra inputs
and outputs to Avid Media Composer. They all called Mojos.
sDi moJoThis adds standard definition i/o to Media Composer with component, composite and SDI i/o. The SDI Mojo does not do HD.
£1,780+VAT £2,047incmoJoDxThe Mojo DX adds HD in and out to Media Composer. This Mojo has HD-SDI in and out,
and HDMI output. It does not have analogue connections - there is a more expensive Mojo with analogue but we do not stock it at DVC..Mojo DX connects to your computer via a 4x PCIe interface card that ships with it.Hardware only if you have Media Composer:
£5,400+VAT, £6,210incMojoDX with Media Composer
£8,280+VAT £7,402inc
WHAt systEm for AViD?Avid only support Media Composer on a validated platform - i.e. a computer they have tested and know works. It is most commonly used on HP systems, although other models are included. DVC bespoke systems are not validated. This means that although our own systems would work when you buy them if something changed inside Avid in the future that caused a problem, we would not have Avid’s help to cure it. Therefore we recommend you only use Avid on an HP system. Even then you need to buy an Avid ratified specification, not any old HP system. We supply Avid ratified and tested HP systems for Media Composer.Typical desktop system:2.93Ghz single Xeon, 6GB RAM, 2 x 20” monitors, 2TB video storage, Avid Media Composer software, Avid keyboard
. £4,200+VAT £4,735inc
WHAt’s ElsE ComEs WitH AViD mEDiA ComposEr?* Avid FX - this is basically Boris Red with a different name.
Red is both a plug-in and stand-alone program which is a powerful compositing program like Adobe After Effects.
* Boris Continuum - a very powerful set of effects plug-ins which all work inside of Avid just like Avid’s own effects.
* Avid DVD - Avid’s DVD and Blu-ray program.* Sonicfire Pro - created by the makers of Smartsound this
is a pack for creating music for you videos. The program writes the music for you and you add cues where you want the mood to change.
* Sorenson Squeeze - you want your footage in a different format, then Squeeze it. Sorenson has been around for years and handles multiple formats and encoding from a simple interface.
£1,780+VAT £2,047inc
AViD moJos
WHErE is AViD liQuiD?We have not mentioned Avid Liquid in this brochure at all - and it is still shipping and still works. Why?Avid have said they will not produce another version of Liquid, so it will never have updates to use new formats, like AVCHD or produce Blu-ray discs. They are producing a replacement but it will be a different program, not a Liquid version 8.We are still selling Liquid systems and software - please check out our website for up to date information.However, if looking for a new system then it is probably not worth investing time in a program that will definitely not
continue.
proDAD plug-ins
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Mercalli is an excellent image stabiliser. There are several variations of this kind of plug-in available, and programs like After Effects have it built-in, however Mercalli makes it simple. Essentially apply the effect to a clip, analyse the footage, which it does quickly, and then play it.You can choose from several presets, adjust how much you want to stabilise the shot, and decide how much you want to zoom into the shot afterwards with or without dynamic boarders.There are two versions of Mercalli - Light and Expert. Expert adds more options and will stabilise HD footage as well as DV. Mercalli plugs into Adobe Premiere Pro 1, 1.5, 2 and CS3, Premiere Elements, Avid Liquid 7 and Canopus EDIUS 4.X. You can see more information on the Mercalli Website.
Mercalli Light is £45incVAT Mercalli Expert is £91incVAT
mErCAlli
Heroglyph is a titling program that lets you do animated 2D titles easily and animated on screen paths. Do you want to draw a route on a map? There is a tool for just this - you can even add an arrow or a little car at the start. Do you want to have some words drawn on screen and appear as if written - again Heroglyph has a tool for just this. Or do you want to have each letter of each word arrive and jump out at you as they do - again easy to do with Heroglyph.Heroglyph plugs into Adobe Premiere 6.5, Adobe Premiere Pro 1, 1.5, 2 and CS3, Premiere Elements,Avid Liquid 7, Avid Xpress Pro 5 and Media Composer 2, and Canopus EDIUS 3.x & 4.x. You can see more information on the ProDad Website.There are two versions of Heroglyph - the full version and Heroglyph Rapid. The Rapid version is the same as the full but with less control and animation capabilities.
Heroglyph Rapid is £62incVAT,Heroglyph full is £170incVAT. There are also a couple of extra creative packs available at £77each.
HEroglypH
ADorAgEAdorage is a selection of transitions for various editing programs which includes many that you simply will not find anywhere else. Check our website for more details.The 9 packages all need a basic installer called the All plug-ins collection, which is £22. Once you have this then you can add as many packages as you like. Each package costs £38incVAT, or you can buy all 9 packages for £307incVAT. The different packages are:• Adorage 1 “classic” -800 Effects.• Adorage 2 “particles & lights” - 1500 Effects• Adorage 3 “PIP-Fx & Splitscreens” - 2500 Effects• Adorage 4 “universal tricks” - 650 Effects• Adorage 5 “diamond composites” - 1300 Effects• Adorage 6 “Power FX pearls” - 400 Effects• Adorage 7 “CGM power” - 1600 Effects• Adorage 9 “Particles & Objects” - 300 Effects
VitAsCEnEVitaScene is a collection of additional effects for your editing program. The filters include:Movie Looks - add a film-like glow or gamma.Sparkles and glows - generate sparkles based on the light areas of the image, all fully adjustable. Add that magic look to any scene. You can also use these as sparkly boarders for scenes.Old Movie filter - complete with dust, scratches etc..Shine effect - Combine it with a title and get light to shine out of the letters.Everything is thoroughly keyfamable and like all plug-ins you just add the filter to the clip, adjust the settings and then return to your editing program to render the result.VistaScene plugs into Adobe Premiere Pro 1, 1.5, 2 and CS3, Adobe After Effects 7 & 8, as well as all variations of Premiere Elements, Avid Liquid 7, Avid Xpress Pro 5 and Media Composer 2, and Canopus EDIUS 4.x and Sony Vegas 5-8.
Vitascene is £258+VAT, £302inc.
DVC trAining
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Most systems from DVC come with a tutorial video explaining the basics of your system plus, of course, all manuals. If you pick the system up we will also give you a run through on the basics at our office. However, if you want to get up and running quickly the why not take a DVC training course? We now offer training courses in Grass Valley EDIUS, Adobe Premiere, Avid Media Composer, Avid Liquid, Adobe Encore, Adobe After Effects. Courses are either run in or dedicated training room here at DVC or at your premises. Training costs £300 +VAT per day. Courses normally start at 10AM and finish around 4PM with a short break for lunch. For each course we have a set number of topics to be covered but this can be varied depending on your needs. It is best to prepare for the training with a list of questions and we will discuss them at the start of the day and make sure everything is covered during our session.Training can either be at DVC or at your premises. If at your premises we will charge extra travelling expenses. These would be discussed in advance.Training can be either one to one or for a group of people. The cost remains the same. One to One courses can be more easily tailored to your needs.If you would like to book a course just give us a ring at DVC to arrange a convenient time.
ADobE prEmiErE proPremiere Pro is our most popular editing programs with our customers and is packed with features. These days you can buy it in a bundle with Encore or with the whole Production Studio. We cannot possibly cover all the applications in a day, and normally concentrate one Premiere and devote an hour or two to DVD writing with Adobe Encore. We could arrange a two day course if you wished to look into the other applications and Premiere in a bit more depth.
grAss VAllEy EDius Our EDIUS courses cover every aspect of the program and include capturing, different editing techniques, titles, using effects and EDIUS’ DVD writing. EDIUS has several ways of working and we can work out which suites you the best and show you how to make the most out of the great editing speed of which EDIUS is capable.
using ADobE EnCorEWe normally include a short introduction to Adobe Encore in our Premiere courses but if you want more then a full days course will take you through the entire program including customising menus on Photoshop and using the new Blu-ray features.
introDuCtion to mEDiA ComposEr Media Composer is a program that is so packed with features that we could not cover all of it in a day. Our Avid course covers as much as possible and will get you up and working in MCsoft quickly, being able to handle the way Avid deals with Media and making the most of its great trimming tools.
An introDuCtion to ADobE AftEr EffECtsMany customers have After Effects but do not know where to start. We designed this course for this kind of user. If you know some of After Effects and want to get more in depth this is not the course for you - but if you want to learn how to get started, how to access some of the excellent pre-made scenes and templates and customise them for your own needs, how to get footage in from other programs, or just gain enough knowledge to start playing and learning on your own this one day course is for you.
AViD liQuiD 7This course explains everything you need to know from capturing to producing a DVD, on the way explaining all the different editing modes, how and where clips are stored and how to use the effects windows and how to write DVDs.
CoursE DEtAils
gEt tHE most out of your EDiting WitH DVC trAining
DVC tutorials and training are carried out by DVC MD David Clarke. David has been using Premiere since version 1, as well as Avid Liquid, Media Composer and Canopus EDIUS. He is also on the beta programs for some of the programs,His main editing is either DVC tutorial videos (generally edited in Premiere and authored in Encore) or the epic 6 part Dr Who story that he has been making, purely for fun, over the last few years.
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DVC trAiningHAnDson HDV sony fx1 AnD Z1E
HandsOn HDV is the essential DVD training video to help you master the fundamentals and advanced features of the Sony Z1 and FX1 camcorders. With over 90 minutes of detailed explanations, examples, tutorials, tips, and features that
are explained in plain English.
£49+VAT £56inc.HAnDson HDV for tHE sony HC1This DVD from HandsOn HDV is for the smaller,
more consumer HC1 camera. It delves into every area of this compact and clever little camera. A must have if you want to get the best out of your new purchase.
£30+VAT £34inc.HandsOnHDV(SonyF350&F330)A Guide to Shooting with the Sony XDCAM HD F350 / F330
Running time: 120 minutesThis in-depth DVD contains over two hours of tutorials, examples, and detailed instructions covering nearly all aspects of setup, menus, and operation to help
anyone quickly master these complex and revolutionary tapeless cameras. This DVD will save you hours of time learning on your own, and it’s guaranteed to improve the quality of your work.
£59+VAT £68inc.VAT
A full list of All tHE tutoriAl DVDs AVAilAblE from DVC ArE on our WEbsitE
AftEr EffECts Cs3 EssEntiAlsRunning Time: 9 hours. £85 £98inc.AftEr EffECts Cs3 ADVAnCEDRunning Time: 7 hours. £85 £98inc.
ClAss on DEmAnD - bAsiC trAining for ADobE® Cs4 proDuCtion prEmium (DVD-rom) £122+VAT £140inc
This DVD set includes approx 4 hours of training - but even then how can you cover all the programs of the Production Studio in depth? You can’t, but that’s not the point of this set, the point is to give you a start in each of the programs, explain some of the underlying concepts and get you ready for the next step. If you have bought the Production Studio but only understand a small part of it this tutorial will get you working!
LESSONS:1. On Location™2. Soundbooth® and Premiere Pro®3. Illustrator®4. Photoshop®5. After Effects®6. Encore®7. Flash®SUITE TECHNOLOGIES8. Metadata9. Media Encoder10. 3D in Photoshop® and After Effects®11. Bridge12. Dynamic Link13. Device Central
otHEr ClAss on DEmAnD DVDsBasic Training for After Effects 7 £81+VATDesigners Guide to Photoshop £65+VATComplete training for Avid Media Composer £162+VATVideo Training for Title Motion 4.2 £162+VATBasic Training for LightWave 9 £56+VATWhat’s new in Lightwave 9.2 £48+VATKick Ass Logos in LightWave £48+VATComplete training for Vegas 7 £32+VATBoris Red Training £105+VATBoris Continuum £81+VATFinal Cut Pro 6 complete training £105+VAT
DVC trAining
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EDius 4.5This DVC training DVD lasts approx. 6 hours and runs over two DVDs. The first disc takes you through an Edit from start to finish, including writing a DVD with EDIUS new built-in DVD writing.The second DVD covers many other aspects of the program including:• Animating with Title Motion Pro • Capturing in depth • Consolidating projects •
How to get the best from EDIUS range of effects • Using multicamera • Editing in depth with insert and overwrite ...and much more.
This two disc set was created with EDIUS 4.5, but everything in the disc remains the same with EDIUS 5, with only a couple of small exceptions. We are working on an EDIUS 5 version which will be released towards the end of 2009.
£67+VAT £77inc
prEmiErE pro Cs4This is our latest tutorial and includes over 8 hours or material. This two disc set covers editing with Adobe Premiere CS4. The first disc covers an edit from start to finish and includes a basic introduction to Adobe Encore. The second disc covers specific aspects of Premiere:• Using Premiere with a Matrox RT.X2 or Axio• Using a Matrox MXO2 Mini• What’s new in Premiere Pro CS4.• In depth details of the Matrox effects (some of this is repeated from our CS2
disc.The tutorial is on two dual-layer video DVDs, which will play in a standard set top DVD player. This has been panned and scanned so that you will be able to read the computer screen shown on a normal standard def DVD.You can also order the tutorial as a two disc Windows Media set. The latter will only play on a PC but as the content is stored at 720P HD size the computer screen is clearer.
£67+VAT £77inc
using ADobE EnCorEA comprehensive tutorial for using Adobe’s powerful DVD authoring application, Encore CS3. The tutorial covers the entire DVD and Blu-ray authoring process, including import from Premiere Pro, navigation and menu design, integration with Photoshop and encoding for both standard and HD video.The disc was ,made with Encore CS3, whilst CS4 was in pre-production - we even used CS4 to author the CS3 tutorial. Not much has changed between the two versions as far as operation goes. Adobe have added some new Blu-ray features and improved the Flash output. The biggest change will be the means of getting footage into Encore from Premiere. We are going to make an extra disc on what’s new in CS4, which will be available mid-2009. This will be free to anyone who has bought or buys the Encore CS3 tutorial.
ViDEo DVD or flAsH VErsion?One of Encore CS4’s new features is more options when it comes to Flash-style discs. One of these includes full 720P HD - the format in which the DVD was filmed. We have therefore been waiting for a finished version of CS4 to produce our PC-only version of the tutorial. The advantage of a PC-only version is that it will be far sharper and easier to read than we could ever make a video DVD version.
£67+VAT £77inc
otHEr tutoriAl DVDs
Page 40
Avid Training DVD’s +VAT inc
Editorspeak, Volume 1: Cindy Mollo, Bruce Green, Joel Cox £19 £22Stepping up to Avid. Avid Media Composer Adrenaline HD and Avid Xpress Pro HD
£17 £20
Avid Xpress Pro HD Editing and Effects - 2 DVD bundle £99 £116Avid Xpress Pro HD Effects and Colour Correction (2 DVD bundle) £99 £116Avid Xpress Pro HD Complete (3 DVD bundle) £119 £140
Editing with Avid Xpress Pro HD v5.0 £59 £69Creating Effects with Avid Xpress Pro HD £59 £69Colour Correction with Avid Media Composer Adrenaline and Avid Xpress Pro HD
£59 £69
Creating with Avid Pro Tools LE £59 £69Creating with Avid 3D £59 £69Creating with Avid FX £59 £69Creating with Avid DVD by Sonic £59 £69Avid Xpress Studio DVD Training Suite (7 DVD Bundle) £219 £257Avid Xpress Studio - Avid 3D, Avid FX & Avid DVD by Sonic (3 DVD bundle) £129 £152Avid Xpress Studio - Avid Pro Tools LE, Avid 3D, Avid FX & Avid DVD by Sonic (4 DVD bundle)
£159 £187
introDuCing liQuiDApprox 3½ hours long
Including editing techniques, capturing using OHCI or Pro board, using the realtime effects, DVD writing and media management.This DVD was made using version 5, still relevant to version 7 - the interface shown is the “classic” interface. £49 inc-VAT
DVC DV500 Plus Tutorial Tape
ApproxTime Sections of the Video
The list below indicates the topics contained on the enclosed tape with the relevant tape counter readings. Simply reset your VCR tape counter to zero when the opening screen note appears.
DV500 Plus & Premiere 6 Tutorial Tape
0.00.00 Introduction0.00.49 Plugging In & Setting up0.06.40 Turning it on0.09.14 Basic Capturing & Edit0.20.17 The Project Window0.27.25 Adding Transitions0.30.50 Saving the Project0.46.32 Adding Titles0.54.34 Adjusting Sound Levels0.59.09 Video Filters1.01.26 Export To Tape1.07.58 Export to MPEG1.10.29 Making Video for the Internet1.17.36 Capturing in Depth1.29.13 Analogue Capture1.36.40 Make sure the camera is plugged in before editing...1.38.07 New features of Premiere 61.50.02 Saving Still Images1.51.56 Recording CD Audio1.57.16 Some things you should know...2.00.49 Other items in your DVC System - Laplink Technical Support2.04.02 What happens when the computer crashes2.05.22 Minerva CD Impression2.20.44 The Final Bit
NB: Tech support Email: [email protected]
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The following list shows the items covered in this tape. To find any item just set the counter on your video to zero at the start of the tape and then fast forward to the relevant counter reading. If you only watch one section on this tape watch the last bit - things to avoid as it will save you some heart ache!0.00 Intro0.01 Plugging In0.08 A Basic Edit0.11 Capturing Video0.21 The Project Window0.22 Marking In And Out Points0.27 Keyboard Shortcuts039 Save And Render0.42 Canopus Alpha Wipes0.45 Cross Fading The Audio0.47 Titles0.53 Recording Sound From CD1.01 Recording back to Tape1.04 Storm Edit1.14 Adding Titles1.18 Non Real Time1.20 Capturing In Depth - Premiere Batch Capture1.30 Capturing Using Storm Video1.36 Batch Capture In Storm Edit1.40 Canopus Real Time Effects1.46 Preview Effects1.48 Real Time Colour Correction1.54 Old Movie Filter1.55 Blend Effects1.57 Picture In Picture2.01 Canopus Chromakey2.05 Better Still Images2.06 Canopus Chrominance2.08 Region Filter2.10 Title Motion Filter2.15 Canopus Slow Motion2.18 Mpeg Encoding2.24 MPEG1 or MPEG2?2.26 Spruce Up2.38 Alternative Sound Recording2.42 Laplink Tech Support2.45 Things To Avoid2.46 Reference AVI File2.51 What to do if effects are too complicated2.54 Canopus Audio Filters2.56 Be Careful with the back socket2.57 Storm Settings2.59 Lip-sync Problems3.01 Batch Capture Problems3.02 Audio Sampling Rate3.03 Overlay Tearing3.04 The End
Canopus Real Time Tutorial Tape V1
Unit 8, Hove Business Centre, Fonthill RoadHove, Sussex, BN3 6HASales: 01273 707200 Tech: 01273 202016Email: [email protected]
RT
DVC LIQUID EDITION TUTORIAL DVD - THE BASICS
V 1.0V 1.0
Tutorial DVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVDDVD
Unit 8, Hove Business Centre, Fonthill Road, Hove, Sussex, BN3 6HA
Tel: 01273 707200 Fax: 01273 749449 email: [email protected]
PALThe contents of this DVD are copyright Digital Video Computing LTD.
This disc must not be duplicated, remade or edited without the express permission of DVC Ltd.
DVDDVDThe basics
using ulEAD DVD WorksHop 2Our Ulead DVD Workshop 2 tutorial DVD - a comprehensive guide to all aspects of this versatile DVD authoring program.Contents include;• Making a basic DVD - a quick
overview of the entire process from start to finish.
• Making custom menus.• Subtitles.• Using the playlists.• Hints on better encoding.
AViD softimAgE xsiA complete set of training DVDs for Avid SoftImage XSI - 5 in depth tutorials on using Avid’s comprehensive DVD writing program. These discs comprise over 25 hours of training. They are made to be played on a computer not DVD player.
£110 +VAt, £129 inC.
prEmiErE pro AnD tHE rt.x2This two disc set covers editing with the Matrox RT.X2 and Adobe Premiere. Filmed with Premiere 2, but with sections added on the major differences with Premiere Pro CS3.Disc 1 covers a complete edit from start to finish, including using Premiere Pro 2s DVD writing and export footage to Adobe Encore.Disc 2 covers various features of Premiere and the Matrox cards in depth including:• Capture - logging and batch capture• The project manager• Multicamera editing• Primary and secondary colour correction• 3D effects, surface finish, slow motion, mask
blur• Interpret footage (so that widescreen or 4:3
footage is correctly identified)
• Adobe dynamic link• New features in
Premiere Pro 3 including the variable speed slow motion.
£67+VAT £77incPhoenix House, 17-19 Norway Street
Portslade, East Sussex, BN41 1GNtel: 01273 707200 fax: 01273 439985
email: [email protected] web: www.dvc.uk.com
The contents of this DVD are copyright Digital Video Computing Ltd 2007. This disc must not be duplicated, broadcast or edited without the express
permission of DVC Ltd. Any trademarks represented are the registered property of their respective owners.
DVC Managing Director David Clarke is your host in this DVD covering advanced use of the Matrox RT.X2 and Adobe Premiere Pro. Topics covered include:
Capture • Logging and Batch Capture • Capture Settings • The Project Manager • Multi-Camera Editing • Primary and Secondary Colour Correction • Corner Pin • Chromakey • 3D Effects • Surface Finish • Slow Motion • Shine • Mask Blur • Interpret Footage • Adobe Dynamic Link • Features of Adobe Premiere Pro 3
Running Time: 2 hours 44 minutes
Matrox RT.X2 Tutorial D
VD
2 - Advanced Editing
Page 41
AnAloguE/DigitAl ConVErtErsDevice Inputs/Outputs Special Features Price
ex-VAT
GrassValleyADVC55
One way converter - analogue in, DV out6 pin FireWire, Powered Composite, RCA Phono, Y/C (S-Video), DV
No Extra Power Source is needed if connected by 6 pin FireWire
£150
GrassValleyADVC110 Two way converter - SVIDEO or composite to DV and vice versa.
No Extra Power Source is needed if connected by 6 pin FireWire.
£225
GrassValleyADVC300 Two way converter - SVIDEO or composite to DV and vice versa. Also has component out.
Bidirectional, Built in Time Base Corrector.
£390
GrassValleyADVC700 Two way converter - Component, SVIDEO or composite to DV and vice versa.
Cheapest Grass Valley component converter
£1,395
GrassValleyADVC-HDSC1
HD-SDI/SD-SDI to component One way, from SDI to analogue either in SD or HD
£1,035
GrassValleyADVC-HD50
One way HDMI to HDV Cheapest gizmo with live HDV encoding. Attach to an HDSTORM for many levels of full HD live to HDV
£570
GrassValleyADVC-HDM1 Bidirectional HDV-HD-SDI, HD-SDI to HDV
Make HDV in realtime! £4,475
Black Magics range of mini converters are aimed at producing a range of devices that are simple to understand. They all do one type of conversion, apart from the Broadcast converter that is effectively all the mini-converters in one box.
SDI-analogue - HD/SD, component/composite
£362inc
Analogue - SDI £362incSDI to HDMI £362incHDMI to SDI £362incBroadcast converter £707inc
blACk mAgiC mini ConVErtErs
WiDEsCrEEn D900 lAptop
Page 42
Hp 8730
A laptop is not just for editing on the train. You can carry your system with you wherever you go and edit on a client’s premises, in a comfy arm chair, even capture to it as you film, thereby saving lots of time.And these days laptops have Core2Duo processors - which means they have as much power as a desktop.This does not mean you can pop into Tescos and buy the latest cheap laptop and edit with no problems. Cheap laptops do not have dedicated graphic cards - which means that they share the computers RAM to run the graphic card which can cause problems with some editing applications. More and more editing applications use the graphic card for a lot of effects work and a shared memory laptop means incorrectly rendered effects, crashing or programs failing to run. Our laptops have dedicated cards with their own memory just like desktop machines. Cheap laptops generally have a lot less RAM, and the lower spec processors - we would recommend 1GB as the minimum amount of RAM, and if editing HD then 2GB is needed. Finally we need as much space as possible and preferably a laptop with the new express card socket.
WHAt is ExprEss CArD?Most laptops have PCMCIA sockets - this allows you to connect all sorts of devices, even plug in P2 cards from the latest Panasonic cameras. However, it is relatively slow. Express card is a new interface which is a lot faster. We can plug in external SATA drives to an express card and get 50-60Mbs read and write from the hard drives. That’s as fast as they would run
in a desktop and faster than the internal laptop drives!
CAn i EDit on tHE lAptop AnD tHEn tAkE tHE footAgE onto my mACHinE bACk At bAsE?Yes. All the main programs we sell can all work with a standard OHCI FireWire card for capture and playback.You can also transfer projects between laptop and desktop computers easily. The only possible problem would be if transferring premiere project between a laptop and a machine with, for example, a Matrox RT.X2 installed. The RT.X2 has its own effects which will only be available on the RT.X2 machine so once you move to the laptop they will all be removed. If you avoid using the specific RT.X effects and stick to normal Premiere ones you will not have this problem.
CAn i ADD Any rEAltimE CArDs?The Avid Mojos can be added to a laptop. We would recommend only using the Mojo on the HP8730.
CAn i EDit HDV?HDV requires a lot of power. However you can edit HDV on our laptops quite happily if they are on mains supply. If you run them on batteries the CPU speed drops to preserve the battery life and playback of HDV becomes jerky.
CAn i EDit AVCHD?This is a bit of a struggle on even our top spec laptop. It works fine if transcoded to a different format like Canopus HQ with Grass Valley EDIUS.
This HP laptop has a powerful 2.93 processor, 4GB RAM and a 256MB graphic card. It has been specially configure for video use and we have tested it with Grass Valley EDIUS, Adonbe Premiere Pro CS4 and Sony Vegas. It also works well with the Matrox MXO2 Mini.Although it is an HP this is not a validated specification for Avid Media Composer. And 8730 of that spec is available but the price is different
Hp8730 lAptop spECs2.93GHz Core2Duo, 1066FSB, 4GB DDR2 800 RAM, 320GB 7200rpm hard drive, ATI GL V5725 256MB graphic card, DVD writer, Bluetooth not included, Wireless, 17” 1680 x 1050 screen, HDMI output, eSATA port built-in, express card socket, 4 pin FireWire, 3 x USB carry bag:
£1,695+VAT £1,949inc.An optional second hard drive bay is also available.
Hp8730 lAptop rECommEnDED AViD mEDiA ComposEr spECifiCAtion: £1,999+VAT £2,299 inc
ConsiDErAtions for lAptop EDiting
CorE Duo m571 lAptop
Page 43
This Sony laptop could not be ignored. A high spec with two hard drives and a Blu-ray writer included. For the price it offers a great specification and as it has a 16” screen it is more portable than the average video editing laptop.Tested with Grass Valley EDIUS, Adobe Premiere Pro 4 and Sony Vegas.The laptop even comes with Adobe Premiere Elements and Photoshop Elements. The laptop also comes with Sony’s AVCHD media software for cataloguing AVCHD footage.Sony Vaio FW41M Notebook Core 2 Duo (P8700) 2.53GHz 4096MB (2x2048MB) 500GB 16.4 inch 1920 x 1080 Full HD TFT Blu-Ray combo Drive Vista Home Premium (Radeon HD 4650).
£1,183+VAT £1,360inc.So why noT buy The Sony?It is cheaper than the other laptops so why pay more?* The Sony has 5400RPM drives, the
other laptops 7200rpm - therefore a bit faster and the type recommended for video work. In our tests though the 5400 drives perform perfectly.
* The Sony is pre-loaded with Vista Home - we prefer to use Vista Business, although it is not a major problem.
* We can only buy one spec and not vary it - our other laptops are much more customisable.* Like all bulk made machine its comes pre-installed with an awful of lot of useless software we must disable to
make it work properly. Of course we do that for you so you get a working laptop.
sony VAio AW11
This laptop is custom built at DVC so we can have the best graphic card, the fastest 7200 RPM hard drives and optimise it for video playback. With a screen resolution at 1920x1200, and a highly powerful Core2Duo processor - the latest technology from Intel - it gives excellent performance for video-editing and all other applications.
WHy buy tHE m571?• It’s the most powerful laptop we do and fully customised.• Full HD resolution display, and the power needed to drive it. Full sized keyboard – not common on laptop systems.Works with Avid Liquid, Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere Pro and Grass Valley EDIUS.
HigH spEC 5713Ghz X9011 Core2Duo processor, 4GB 1066 RAM, 320GB 7200 RPM, hard drive, 512MB Quadro graphic card, Blu-ray combo drive (Blu-ray reader and CD writer) Windows Vista business 32 £2,659+VAT £2,998inc.You will need to add editing software to these prices.
Page 44
DVC systEmsDVC QuiEt systEmsWe always try to supply systems that run as quietly as possible. This means choosing the right case and power supply, and changing fans on different components when needed. Right now the fans on some graphic cards create the biggest noise in our systems and are sometimes replaced.We have two cases we typically use for single processor systems.
120mm fans. Larger fans like this can run slower than
normal and still give as much cooling as normal 90mm fans
Having a quiet system adds about £150 to the cost of the computer but is worth it. If you do not want a quiet system please ask and we can quote for a system in a normal case.
WHAt’s An i7 proCEssor?Intel recently produced a new range of processors called i7. The difference between these and the previous, The i7s are considerably faster than the older Core2Quad processors. They talk directly to the RAM in the computer so the RAM and the processors must be matched properly. You also need 3 or 5 RAM chips to get the best out of them.They have “Hyper-Threading” which basically means they are seen by the computer as 8 separate processors - great if your software can take advantage of them - which programs like EDIUS, Avid and Premiere will.An i7 system will be slightly more expensive than a Core2Quad system but will be faster for most work.
This case is slightly larger and heavier than the mini case. The advantage is you can fit larger motherboards. If you want an i7 system (see opposite), for example, it will not fit in the mini case. Case dimensions:- 21.3”(H) x 8.1”(W) x 19.9”(D)- 52cm (H) x 21cm (W) x 51cm (D)
AntEC DEsktop CAsE
AntEC mini CAsEThe “mini” case is not too mini, but is smaller and lighter than the standard desktop case below. There are very few disadvantages to this case compared to bigger models - it’s quiet, has several drive bays, and has front mounted USB and eSATA connections. The only minor irritation is that the DVD has to go at the bottom of the case - annoying if the computer lives on the floor. Dimensions: 43,5cm(H) x 21,2cm(W) x 43,6cm(D) DVD/Blu-ray writer only fits here
Page 45
DVC systEmsQuiEt xEon systEmDimensions: (H x D x W): - 20.28 x 23.35x 8.07 (in) - 51.5 x 59.3 x 20.5 (cm)More powerful Xeon systems can be tricky to quieten. They get hotter and need more cooling otherwise the computer will over heat and crash or shut down completely. Luckily we have found a good solution.This case is a variation on our single processor system but with more cooling and 2 power supplies - one for the hard drives and one for the rest of the system!
WHAt’s A xEon?Most of our systems only have one processor although you can have a system with two.
singlE proCEssorThese come as either Core2Duo or Core2Quad processors. Although just one CPU they have more than one brain, either 2 brains (or cores as they are called) in the Core2Duo, or 4 cores in the Core2Quad. 4 cores are better than 2, although not twice as good, because they are in computers and things could never be quite that simple.
tWo proCEssorsYou can have two processors in one computer. These are called Xeon processors. They also have 4 cores so a dual Xeon system has 8 brains. These are the fastest processors available. They also cost more - typically a top class Xeon system is £1,000 more than a single processor. If you have the budget it is worth it to speed up rendering, do more in realtime and make your DVD and Blu-ray discs quicker!
We currently have a choice of 3 operating systems on a PC:
WinDoWs xpXP has been around for ages and is a good workhorse, but very soon we will not be able to supply it. We are also starting to have issues with new drivers and software that cannot be solved properly under XP- especially with Blu-ray. So we are recommending that people now move onto Windows Vista.
WinDoWs VistA 32Vista has had a lot of bad press, some of which is justified and some not. We have been using it for ages and know how to customise it, turn off the sections which are annoying, and generally make it work like XP. Since we are not getting real problems using new devices with XP and we are happy with Vista we recommend choosing the new o/s.
WinDoWs VistA 64There are two main types of Vista - a 32-bit version and a 64 bit version. The main difference is that the 64 bit version can address more memory. The 32 bit one can see about 3GB RAM in a system, the 64 bit version can see a lot more. Since we are editing video which makes the computer work as hard as it can more memory is better. Therefore it makes sense to choose Vista 64 as the operating
system.
WHAt’s tHE DrAWbACk of VistA 64?Older software and hardware may not work. If the manufacturer has made drivers for your scanner/printer for Vista 64 you will be OK, but if not it will not work and you will need to get an up-to-date one. Old software many not work as well. As an example our internal database system was written in Access 97 and does not work on Vista 64, so we needed to update it to the current version of Access. If you are just using new software we recommend using Vista 64.
WHAt is tHE DiffErEnCE in Cost?They all cost about the same so your choice is down to which o/s is the best for you.
WinDoWs 7There is a new version of Windows coming out towards the end of this year, you can even download a test drive version from Microsoft now. Some people have suggested bypassing Vista and going from XP to Windows 7, however, we do not recommend this. Computers have enough problems with using released software that is supposed to work properly without using software that is beta and there has known problems. Even when it comes out the first version of anything is always a bit dodgy.
WHiCH opErAting systEm?
systEm ExtrAs
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sonnEt DriVE boxEsSonnet make a range of external drive boxes for your PC or MAC. The latest come with RAID built in so you can configure them as one large drive with backup if required.A drive like the Fusion 800 can run at much faster speeds than the Quattro. We have used it to record hours of uncompressed 8 bit and 10 bit HD footage with cards like the Matrox Axio or Black Magic HD Extreme.It achieves the speed by using a special RAID card - so you cannot easily move it from machine to machine. The point of buying the D800 is for the speed you can achieve.
Sonnet Fusion D800 - 8 drives configured in RAID 0, 5, 10 and 50.
Normal version: £1,575+VAT Rack Mount version £1,695+VAT Drives extra.
Sonnet D800 with 8 x 1TB hard drives (giving approx 7TB usable space when set up as RAID 5) £2,852+VAT £3,279inc.
buffAlo DriVE stAtion QuAttroThis is a great unit for adding a large amount of external storage that is back up by a RAID system. It is fast enough for DV and HD editing, although not fast enough for uncompressed HD. This is the unit that we use when editing our tutorial tapes. Set up in RAID 5 mode we have a backup if one of the drives dies. It connects via USB for older computers and eSATA for better performance with new PCs.Do not confuse this with the Buffalo Terrastation Pro which is a Network attached storage drive and does not do anything like the same speed.The Quattro comes with 4 drives installed - we will set up the RAID for you after finding out what you need so you just have to plug the unit it and use itDrive Station Quattro with 4 x 500GB drives (1.3TB formatted in RAID 5 with a hard drive backup)
2TB version: £537+VAT £619inc.4TB version £806+VAT, £927inc
There are a lot of different drive boxes becoming available which have multiple drives which can be configured in various “Raid” options. At DVC we have tried several and are confident of the performance of the following:
WHAt is rAiD?If you have several hard drives ideally you want to see them as one drive in your computer. This is what raid does - link together a number of drivers into one large mass. However the problem is that if one drive dies then you loose everything on all the drives. So there are many variations of the way the drives are RAIDed. Some just make the drivers faster, others use some of the drives as backups. In the latter case you lose some drive space but have the security that if one drive dies you will not loose everything.You can make a RAID without any extra hardware in Windows, or many motherboards have RAID built-in. However these simple ways of RAIDing are generally either slow or unreliable, so ideally
you want a special (and usually expensive) RAID card in the machine that does the Job. The boxes above have RAID built-in that we have used successfully on many occasions.Different RAID types:RAID 0 - striped drives so the computer writes to 2 or 3 at once. Fast but if one drive dies you lose everything.RAID 1 - mirrored - an exact copy of one disc is made on a second. If you have 2 1TB drives mirrored together you end up with only 1TB usable space.RAID 5 - you need at least 4 drives to do RAID 5. You loose the space of one drive but if one dies you can still recover the information when you replace the drive.
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litE-ring CHromAkEy kit AnD sCrEEnThe Lite-ring chromakey system consists of a light ring, switchable between blue and green, that fits in the lens of your camera and a 2.5 x 3M cloth of reflective material. The material reflects the light directly back into the camera and produced an almost perfect key background.Easy to set up and now special lighting is required.
Lite-ring and cloth £525+VAT, 617inc.Lite-ring, cloth and Datavideo DVK-100 realtime chromakey box - excellent quality realtime keying £1,199+VAT,£1,408INC
tHE DVC DVD DupliCAtorA great tool for small-scale DVD duplication, this DVD Multiburner can be fitted with one DVD-ROM drive and up to nine DVD writers. Our latest models can duplicate dual layer disks.We have 3 models - 3 writer, 5 writer and 9 writer. These new models can also duplicate dual layer DVDs, with the correct drives installed.It can then burn up to nine copies from your DVD master simultaneously, at the same speed it takes to burn one copy on your PC. Also burns multiple CDs.Add a Hard Drive for £80 and store 14 DVD images.
3 drive duplicator £255+VAT £293inc.7 drive duplicator £400+VAT £460inc.9 drive duplicator £490+VAT £563inc.11 drive duplicator £540+VAT £621inc.
most siZEs DupliCAtors Also AVAilAblE in blACk
spECiAlist kEyboArDsWe have a range of keyboards for different editing programs. The advantage of these keyboard is that all the commonly used keyboard shortcuts are high lit in different colours for you - learn the short cuts and you can edit faster. We have some keyboards with a UK layout, some with US layout.
UK layout keyboards
Premiere Pro £85+VAT £98inc.Grass Valley EDIUS 4/5 £95+VAT £109inc.Sony Vegas £95+VAT £109inc.Media Composer £95+VAT £109inc.
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