Module 56

Updated: 08/30/2005

Linear and
Nonlinear Editing

Before we get to the use of linear and nonlinear editors, we need to distinguish between... 
  

Dedicated and Software-Based Editors

A dedicated editor is designed to do only one thing: video editing. Dedicated editing equipment was the norm until desktop computer editors started to become available in the late 1980s.

Software-based editors use desktop and laptop computers as a base. Videotape editing is just one of the tasks they can perform; it all depends on the software you load.

It was in the early 1990s that sophisticated video editing hardware and software became available for desktop computers. The Video Toaster system for the Amiga computer was the first widely used system. The basic screen for that system is shown here. The Toaster was both a video switcher and an editing system.

Throughout the 1990s many manufacturers introduced computer-based editing systems for the Apple and Windows standards. Today's desktop and laptop computers can rival or exceed the capabilities of many of the dedicated editing systems. 

With sophisticate editing systems there are a variety of video filters and plug-ins(software additions that go beyond the effects that may have been included with the original program) that can be applied as you edit: blur, color corrections, cropping, sharpening, fog effects, geometric distortions, etc.

Some editing systems can apply a type of image stabilization to shaky images by locking onto a central element in a scene and (to a degree) keeping it from moving, thus canceling out moderate camera shake.

The most sophisticated editing systems today need to display considerable editing information. In some cases this information is spread over two  video monitors as shown here.

The computer cursor simply moves from one video monitor to the other as you move the mouse.

For a glimpse of one of today's sophisticated audio-video editing programs, click here.

Laptop Editing Systems

There are two types of laptop editing systems: dedicated and computer based.

An example of a dedicated system is this Panasonic field editing unit, primarily used in news work. Note that the controls designed exclusively for video and audio editing.

With computer-based systems, such as the one shown below, you have the advantage of a wide variety of "off the shelf" laptop computers, plus the software can be readily switched and upgraded. In addition to editing, computer-based systems can accommodate programs used to write newscripts.

Computer-based editing used to be confined to especially modified (souped up) desktop computers; but, in recent years laptop computers have become so powerful in terms of processor speed, memory, and hard disk capacity, that they can do most anything desktop systems can.

These computers use a FireWire, IEEE 1394, USB-2, or i.Link cable connection to download the video from the camcorder to the computer's hard drive. Since video information takes up a lot of digital space, you need a computer with a large hard-drive capacity. (One minute of uncompressed video requires about one gigabyte (GB) of disc space.)

One of the best ways to learn how a nonlinear editor works is simply to play with one for several hours. One popular nonlinear editing program, Adobe Premiere, is available on the Internet for download. This demo version—if it's still available when you read this—does everything but save files. If you are interested, click on Premiere.

In case you are interested in setting up your own editing system, other options—all for about $100—are Pinnacle Studio Version 8, Broderbund MovieShop Deluxe, Video Explosion Deluxe for Windows. Final Cut Pro for the Apple runs about $1,000, although a "slimmed-down," less expensive version should also be available by the time you read this.

As HDTV editing took hold in 2004 and 2005, Apple's Final Cut Pro 5 Studio at $1,299 became a favorite of many professional editors.

Avid, which has one of the most widely-used and respected professional editing systems, announced early in 2003, that they would provide a free, "lite" version of their editing program to serious users who request the program at their web site. The free program handles two video tracks, four audio tracks, basic trimming and editing functions, and up to two streams of real-time effects. The idea is to get new users familiar with the program, in hopes that they will later move up to their full version.

Far less sophisticated than any of these programs are the Windows and Apple video editors that come as a part of the respective operating systems. Most of these programs have built-in tutorials that take you through the editing process.

Sony's complete high-definition NLE (non-linear editing) system, which was introduced at the 2004 NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) convention in 2004, is shown below. The editing system compliments Sony's new line of XDCAM cameras.

Although a sophisticated nonlinear (random access) editing system such as the one shown above may take a while to learn, once you figure one out, you can transfer the basic skills to other editing programs.

With nonlinear editing the video and audio segments are not permanently recorded as you go along as they are in linear editing. The edit decision sequence exists in computer memory as a series of internal digital markers that tell the computer where to look for segments on the hard disk.

This means that at any point you can instantly check your work and make adjustments. It also means that you can easily (and maybe endlessly!) experiment with audio and video possibilities.  

Once you finalize things, and assuming this option is available, you will want to save your EDL (edit decision list) on a computer disk. This will save you from having to start from scratch if you later want to come back to the original footage to make revisions.

The final edited video and audio output can be handled in two ways. It can be "printed" (transferred) in final, linear form to a videotape or a DVD, or it can remain on a computer drive to be recalled and modified as needed. The latter approach, which is often used for segments in newscasts, requires high-capacity storage devices such as — 
  

Video Servers

Video and audio segments—especially HDTV—take up a great amount of digital storage space in computers.

Instead of trying to replicate the needed storage in each desktop computer, many facilities have gone to a centralized mass storage device called a video server, sometimes called a media server.

An example is shown in this photo.These were introduced in an earlier module.  Even the editing software can be run from a server, rather than having to take up disk space in a desktop or laptop computer.

A centralized video server not only gives all of the computer editing stations the advantage of having access to large amounts of storage, but it means that segments can be reviewed, edited, or played back from any of the editing workstations (desktop or laptop computers equipped with a network connection) within the facility.

As high-speed, Internet connections become commonplace, you will be able to link to a media server from any location—even your home—and edit and reedit pieces. In fact, many professionals are doing that now.