How does the Adaptec/C-Cube transceiver tie-in? Blue and Vitec.......................
I thought this looked like DVx..............................
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VITEC Delivers Industry's First Frame-Accurate MPEG-2 Editor
Post houses know the routine. Render their video to MPEG-2, then when a change must be made, let out a heavy sigh, decode the file and pray that this time it gets done right... or face doing it all over again. It's accepted as an annoyance that goes with the job. It's sort of like taking out the trash after you get married.
But what value would a digital video editing tool be if it allowed the editor to make those MPEG-2 edits on the fly?
VITEC Multimedia, a Chatillon, France-based digital video software developer, is hoping that editors see the potential in the idea.
VITEC introduced VIDEO Clip MPEG-2, a product it's touting as the world's first nonlinear, frame-accurate MPEG-2 editing software. Based entirely on Windows95/NT, VIDEO Clip software promises to save producers considerable time and money by eliminating the time-consuming step of encoding and decoding the video. Following a successful beta-testing, VITEC asserts that VIDEO Clip has proven its ability to handle and edit MPEG-2 in its native format.
Priced at $1,295, the tool is aimed at the multimedia market that produces video content for CD-ROMs, DVDs, and video kiosks. However, the software also benefits the video post production community, as well as television broadcasters, all of whom now have a growing need to handle MPEG-2 compressed video transmitted via satellite, back-hauled from remote production sites, or produced for DTV broadcast.
"Broadcast companies have contacted us about this product because they recognize it's the perfect time-saving tool for quick editing of incoming MPEG-2 transport streams. Our software includes a utility to convert transport streams into program streams," said Lionel Zajde, VITEC's marketing and sales manager. "We are already working on a upgrade that will add features and capabilities designed with broadcast television, especially news and sports programming, in mind." In video post production, editors can use VIDEO Clip to edit-trim, modify, cut, paste, add, or delete-material in MPEG-2 video files without tying up an expensive video edit suite or requiring an MPEG-2 encoder or decoder.
Since VIDEO Clip software allows users to edit MPEG-2 video segments contained in a larger video program file, there is no longer a need to decode and re-encode that entire file. In other words, if after a 60-minute television show has already been encoded to MPEG-2, there arises a need to delete a 30-second scene in the middle of it, there is no longer a need to decode, then re-encode the entire one-hour show just to make that 30 second edit. There is also no more need to return to the original videotape master because the changes can be made directly to the encoded video file.
Also in development is a software developers kit (SDK), and a fully automated version of VIDEO Clips. Called the MPEG-2 Editing Engine, the automated version of VIDEO Clips will allow video editors to mark desired "in" and "out" points for the editing sequence. The software will then send that EDL (edit decision list) to the video server, and prepare the project for the user. Zajde added, "The growth potential for nonlinear, frame-accurate, native MPEG-2 editing is very high."
VITEC Multimedia is not the only company rushing to market with a nonlinear, frame-accurate MPEG-2 editing solution. Fast Multimedia, of Woodenville, Wash., is offering "blue." which it calls the "world's first Native Digital Editor. "blue.," which edits in both MPEG-2 and DV native video, uses dual realtime MPEG-2 and DV codecs, and performs realtime mixing of four video layers and (an optional) 3-D digital video effects. It accepts and outputs any video formats, including DV transferred via a 1394-enabled bus. Unlike the software-based VIDEO Clips, blue. uses software as well as hardware boards and outputs picture quality comparable to 10-bit uncompressed video. Because of the dual-stream MPEG-2 codec, a lower third super or score could be keyed on top of a second stream of video without any generational loss.
With prices starting at $30,000, blue. targets the broadcast television and high-end post production market. "blue. gives you the opportunity to work in either uncompressed video or MPEG-2 of variable bit rates. A 50 Mbit/sec MPEG-2 bit stream is robust enough to survive editing, effects manipulation, and some layering without much concatenation, or artifacting" says James Fetterolf, product manager for Fast Multimedia ( fastmultimedia.com, "You always want to edit in the best possible quality."
Although Video Clips and blue. are pursuing the same market, they actually seem to be complementary products. An MPEG-2 video file created on blue. could be edited by VIDEO Clips software, prior to distribution, by flagging and editing the I-frames in the bitstream.
"The I-frames act as a roadmap, containing all the information contained in a single keyframe, whereas the B (bi-directional) and P (predictor) frames between the I-frames are merely sign posts pointing out the way," explained Fetterolf, adding that, "Five years from now, we'll be wondering, 'What was Motion-JPEG'? because all video editing will be done in the MPEG-2 native format." (VITEC, 408/752-8483; Fast Multimedia, 650/295-3521) |
