Post Production
support those who use it as a games device. All core CPU the software must use that What does become an issue, though, is the
that power otherwise goes to waste, so it makes performance to the limit. output or, more commonly today, the outputs.
perfect sense for the developers of other image- System designers are now specifying networks
intensive applications - like video editing - to O is the new I/O to supply content to multiple distribution
use it as an extra source of horsepower. In platforms: HD, SD, web television, mobile, Blu-
developing the latest version of the Thomson The need for good codec support has ray and so on. While you can achieve that with
Grass Valley EDIUS editing software we have already been mentioned, but it is important to downstream boxes, there is no doubt that it is
taken the decision to use GPU processing for return to this issue as it underlines the next both technically and creatively more
2D and 3D effects where it provides a steps in the development path of the nonlinear appropriate to output the different formats from
significant speed boost, allowing us to deliver editor. the same system, so that the editor is absolutely
excellent performance. Over the past few years a great deal of sure that the right version is going to the right
The choice of an internal codec is a balance. emphasis has been placed on the ability of the platform.
On the one hand you need to maintain the system to accept a broad range of different This is as important in standalone projects
absolute highest possible quality, retaining inputs. It sometimes seems that, as fast as the as it is in collaborative workflows. The
native formats wherever possible. On the other developer solves one challenge then another independent movie-maker Francisco Gutiérrez
hand, users are increasingly coming to expect comes along. As well as SDI in SD and HD, we used an EDIUS editor to complete his short
to be able to mix formats on the timeline. This have MPEG-2 and DV-based camcorder codecs, Julia. "You online the film in HD, you see the
is an understandable demand: whereas in the then JPEG2000 plus MPEG-4 derivatives like film in HQ quality, exactly the same as you
past the engineer and edit assistant would get AVC-Intra and AVC-HD, with wrappers shot it," he said. "Then you export it to tape,
all the raw media lined up and ready to cut including MXF and Quicktime. DVD, MPEG-2, HD for web - it is very easy to
before the session started, copying from one Editor manufacturers tend to produce an print to multiple sources." With encoding
format to another where necessary, today the external I/O box which not only provides the software linked directly to the editor you
editor needs to sit down and start work straight right range of connectivity but also does some simply define which outputs you need and the
away, which means not worrying about file of the processing, or at least converts to a system does the rest.
formats and resolutions. standardised format for handling by the Whether the application is an independent
The third element is the application software internal coding software. Such I/O boxes are director like Gutiérrez shooting in a single
itself, and again the difference between code available for the EDIUS platform, for example, format or a large news organisation where the
that works and code that has been optimised and they remain invaluable, particularly when content is ingested as a dedicated operation,
for performance is the difference between the editor is used as a standalone system. input is now less of an issue. It is the output
routine and excellent. Today’s editing software But, as I noted at the top of this article, that stage where editors will be innovating in the
has to take advantage of multi-threading to is increasingly rarely the case. In many immediate future or, O is the new I/O.
ensure that not a processor cycle goes to waste. applications the editor sits on a network as part In a very short space of time nonlinear
Compression standards like MPEG-2 and of a converged, connected workflow. The editing has moved from the near-miraculous to
H.264/MPEG-4 depend on temporal coding, content already exists in file form, on a SAN or the norm in broadcasting to near ubiquity with
and unpacking a group of pictures into a in a central archive. There may be a team fully featured professional software now falling
continuous stream that allows you to cut dedicated to ingest: that is particularly likely in below the $1000 mark. The key to choosing the
anywhere seamlessly demands a lot of signal specialist, pressurised production networks like right package for you is to ensure that it
processing. Intelligent software design will news or sport. Under those circumstances, contains the right codecs and transcoding to
make this happen fast enough to appear to be sorting out inputs at the level of the individual meet all your needs, now and in the
invisible. Where the host computer has a multi- editor is not a significant issue. increasingly multi-platform future.
See us at IBC Booth 8.B50
IBE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008 67
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