Non-Linear Digital Video Editing on Windows NT

You might be a number-cruncher all day, but deep inside you can hear alittle voice that says you really could be making movies. Forget theergonomically correct chair that you sit in all day: You want one of those cooldirector's chairs with your name stitched on it. Well, that computer on yourdesk could be your ticket into the world of movie-making. Editing words, images,and audio on a computer are all common tasks.You could edit video, output itstraight to tape, and distribute it to all your clients and friends.

It sounds easy, but you probably haven't made your first movie becausetelevision-quality video is a tremendous data-hog. Each frame of digital videohas a resolution of 720 x 480 pixels, and you need 30 frames-per-second (FPS).If you want to record video straight to your hard drive, you'd need anaudio/video (A/V) drive that's capable of sustaining a data rate of more than20MB-per-second (MBps). Right now, those don't exist. Some of you might think ofthrowing together a five- or six-disk RAID system, but that would cost you a tonof cash.

One thing you can do is compress your data. Then you can record video ontoreadily available and relatively inexpensive hard drives. However, there isgenerally a trade-off between the amount of compression and the quality of theimage: You'll need a dedicated capture board if you want real television-qualityvideo.

Perception Video Recorder
Digital Processing System's Perception Video Recorder (PVR) is ahigh-quality product for recording and playing back video. It runs under Windowsor Windows NT, on both Intel Pentiums and Digital Equipment Alpha CPUs. PVR isable to squeeze exceptional-quality video out of your computer because it usesan optimized version of the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) compressionscheme.

PVR is a full-length PCI card. If you want to grab video, you'll need toadd the video-capture daughter card. This daughter card extends enough toeffectively take up an extra slot. PVR doesn't record or play back audio,although it supports a number of audio boards. The card also has its own SCSIcontroller to allow connection of PVR's dedicated hard drives: These drives arenot system drives, but they are devoted to PVR. There are two connectors on theback, one for input and one for output. Each connector is a little octopus ofcables with connections for sync, composite video, S-Video, and component video.

This makes PVR a perfect match for the BetacamSP video format, the currenthigh-end standard for applications such as corporate video and broadcast news.Don't confuse BetacamSP with the old BetaMax standard that VHS wiped off theface of the earth. BetacamSP is a whole different beast, and it's recentlybecome more affordable with decks now in the $7,000-$10,000 range.

PVR's software is straightforward. You play animations using a VCR-typecontrol panel. If you want to create a clip from a series of animation frames,you simply choose Open from the pull-down menu, select the frames, and hit OK.Most of PVR's operation is this easy.

PVR is basically a high-quality digital VCR, but it has a number of goodiesthrown into the mix. For example, you can convert PVR clips for use with Adobe'sPremiere software package. There's a complete set of diagnostic and filemanagement utilities and useful graphics, including color bars, to fine-tuneyour video setup. You can also perform a number of effects in real-time, such asplaying a clip in black-and-white or playing a clip at film's 24 FPS speedinstead of video's 30 FPS.

PVR has a number of quality settings you can choose from. If you'recreating digital video for a CD-ROM or multimedia application, you can captureacceptable quality at a 2MBps level. For broadcast-quality animation, you mightwant to use "Broadcast level" (5Mbps) or "Digital level"(6MBps). You should be aware that even fast A/V hard drives can't alwaysmaintain 5-6MBps levels across the entire drive's surface. If you're using6MBps, you might be able to use only a third of the drive's capacity. If you'reworking with longer segments of video, DPS suggests you use the 4MBps settingbecause it can be maintained across the entire drive. PVR software also includesa utility for testing your drive's performance.

Running PVR under Windows NT offers a couple of useful advantages overnon-NT operating systems: PVR's SCSI drives are invisible to the system withoutNT. If you use NT, your animation and video sequences are not only visible, theyare accessible to any application in a variety of file formats.

This offers you an advantage when you record animations. On non-NT versionsof PVR, the animation program needs to save the frames to a system hard drive.You then import your frames into PVR. If you work on NT, you can save the framesstraight to PVR, and you don't need to have a few hundred megabytes of freespace on your system drives.

PVR has some basic editing capabilities: You can arrange your clips in anyorder, choose in-and-out points, and create simple cross-fades and dissolves.It's a rudimentary editing package, but you can use it to put together simpleprojects, such as a demo reel, quickly and easily. It also adds a tremendousamount of creative freedom, especially for animators: You can cut up andrearrange your longer animation sequences to create a new look or feel for ananimation while the client watches.

Speed Razor Mach III
Speed Razor Mach III, from in:synch, is part of a new category of softwarefor NT that allows you to edit and manipulate video and audio sequences. Ifyou're looking for a real video post-production editing environment, you'll wantto take a look at it.

All the elements you'll use in your production are stored in the RazorLibrary. These elements include video and audio clips, graphics, transitions,and effects.

Razor has a batch-import feature and you can collect your elements with it.To do batch capture, you'll need a pro or semi-pro video deck with an RS-422port, a free serial port on your computer that's fast enough to handle ahigh-speed modem, and an RS-232 to RS-422 cable. You enter SMPTE in-and-outpoints for each clip you want. (This is a method of time-stamping video or audiotape for synchronization purposes as defined by the Society for Motion Pictureand TV Engineers.) You then hit a button and Razor controls both the video deckand the PVR, grabbing the footage you've selected.

This has some practical uses. Let's say you've spent the week shootingfootage for a training video, and you've made a window dub of yourBetacamSP footage onto a VHS tape. (A window dub is a copy that shows thetime-code in a window that is superimposed on top of the video.) You go home andpop the tape into your VCR. When you see a scene you like, you write down thetime-code numbers where you want the scene to begin and end. When you get backto work, you can enter the in-and-out points in Razor and let it grab thefootage from your BetacamSP master tape.

At the start of a project, you load up the elements you plan to use, thenyou work with them in the Composition Window (see screen 1). The CompositionWindow is essentially a time-line that lets you stack an infinite number ofaudio and video tracks and shuffle your elements quickly and easily. Youdrag-and-drop a video clip onto the time-line: If you want to move an element,simply drag it to the new position. This process is much simpler thantraditional video editing, where one change might mean you have to change therest of the show.

Another important part of any editing system is the variety of transitioneffects it offers. Razor may handle transitions with a plain-looking interface,but it gives you a surprisingly large range of possibilities. For example, Razorgives you complete control over every parameter of the popular wipe effect(where one video source replaces another), including angle and the amount ofedge softness. You can save any transitions you create as presets.The moreambitious can create custom Matte Transitions with the luminance values of a.BMP image to determine how video images replace one another.

Razor has a number of special effects, including color-correction,embossing, cropping, and blurring. Once again, Razor gives you an impressiveamount of control over parameters. The Orientation effect is particularlyversatile: You can use it as either an effect or a transition. Orientationallows you to resize, rotate, and even spin the video in 3D space. You also havethe ability to key or superimpose images, including the "weather announcer"-styleblue-screen effects.

Razor includes a character generator because you always need to add titlesto your video. The character generator, like the wipe generator, has deceptivelysimple controls. You can specify font, size, color and text justification, andcreate scrolls, crawls, and drop shadows.

Final Choices
If you're an animator with an Alpha machine that uses software such asLightWave 3D or SoftImage, you'll want PVR for outputting animations. Theoperation is simple and the image quality is outstanding. Razor adds quite a bitof power to your PVR setup, but does it really replace a traditional editingsuite? If your videos consist mainly of long shots, such as speeches or weddingvideos, then a non-linear video setup might not be your best buy. You shouldconsider a couple of video decks and some sort of video titling equipmentinstead.

Most video today, though, consists of shorter shots that designers edittogether with a lot of cool-looking effects and great-looking graphics. If youwant to produce that sort of snazzy video, you'll be hard-pressed to beat PVRand Razor with their combination of creative flexibility and top-notch outputquality. Maybe it's time to buy that director's chair.