Magnetic Pages Article | 1989-11-08 | 24KB | 100 lines
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[34mMEDIAPHILE VIDEO EDITING SYSTEM
"
[3m- By Greg Abbiss
$Write a review on this he said, What$is it I said, Oh it is a "SOFTWARE$VIDEO EDITING INTERFACE" Oh I said.$Being totally Video ignorant I was$having a bit of trouble getting my
brain around that one.
$"It allows you to interface with$Video decks with full two way$control over the CONTROL S or$CONTROL L ports and you can even lay$down TIME CODE GENERATION onto the$source and destination tape. You can$use the "MEDIAPHILE MEDIAPROCESSOR$EDIT DECISION LIST " to automate all$your edits and generate a FIRST$GENERATION tape while your asleep!",$He said. This was obviously$GENERATING major enthusiasm from
$Ok Ok I was lost about now too. In$fact I would argue that 90% of the$video buffs out there are also doing$a bit of a mental gyration right$about now. But I thought, I am a$Computer Nut and this is Computer$Software and Rob is going into such$raves of ecstasy this must be worth
having a look at.
$So with software under belt I headed$off to read manual and ingest$knowledge. I also made sure I could$find someone with this stuff up and$running, There is no substitute for
"look and learn".
$What I learnt is this. During the$process of creating a masterpiece of$Video excellence there are many$phases, shooting that tape is$possibly the least part of the exercise.
$The largest part they tell me is$editing the original tape, cutting$out the BAD stuff and putting the$GOOD stuff into the right order and$position on the final tape. To$accomplish this act of creative$flare a video buff uses what is$commonly referred to a s a Editing
Deck.$An Editing Deck is a hardware device$that connects between two video$decks and controls them via special$control ports (CONTROL S and CONTROL$L in the case of SONY Video's). What$happens then is that the$Editor/Director? puts the ORIGINAL$tape into one machine and using the$Editing Deck moves through frame by$frame copying what he wants onto the$tape in the second machine where he$wants it. The end result if all goes$well is a FIRST GENERATION COPY of the edited tape all ready to go.
$So this piece of Software I have$been given to review is a SOFTWARE$video Editing Deck. It allows you to$control the video decks from your$Amiga computer rather than from a
Hardware deck.
$Hey now I am starting to get into$it. So what are the advantages, is$it cheaper? faster? more accurate?$more fun? more flexible????? As it$turned out during my learning$process I was to learn that Yes it$was most of these in some way or$other. First off lets have a look at"the software and how it all works.
$When you boot up the disks you are$presented with a window holding$three main icons. These are called$MEDIACONTROLLER, MEDIAEDITOR and
TCGEN. MediaController and
MediaEditor work
together and can be
called from each
other whereas TCGen
is more stand alone
(Although you
can call
MediaController
from TCGen).
I will handle them
one at a time so
you get the drift
slowly.
MediaController
does exactly what
the name suggests.
It allows you to
control Media
Devices like Video
decks. It is,$however, not limited to this and can$control all manner of devices from
TV's to VCR's to CD's.
$When you click on the$MediaController Icon your are$presented with a small control panel$that holds such buttons as Fast$Forward, Stop, Play, Rewind etc just$as you would expect from a program$designed to control VCR's. You also$get a few Menus that allow you to$load in a file for the particular$device you wish to control as well$as a special Keyboard mask for that$device so you can control it with$the keyboard instead of the mouse.$It also has a readout showing you$where you are in either FRAMES,$TIME, PULSES. Pretty much it gives$you all the control over the device
that a remote control would.
$This Module (MediaController) allows$you to control your VCR in much the$same way as an Editing Deck but$perhaps without as many features as$the Editing Deck. It is good for
queuing scenes etc though.
$The Next module is the MediaEditor$which is really the heart of the$whole thing. From within the Editor$you can edit the program$environment, including the defaults$for different devices that you would$want to control but more importantly$you can edit those video tapes with
some real aplomb.
$The MediaEditor consists of several$screens one of which provides you$with an Edit Decision list that$allows you to name sections of your$edit and enter their start and end$times/frames. The basic process$involves running through the SOURCE$disk using the MediaController which$is available from within the$MediaEditor screen, selecting the$scenes you want to add to the final$tape and their order by compiling a
list of EDITS like
FIRST SCENE FROM 23:12:00 to
23:24:00
SECOND SCENE FROM etc etc.
$You can then preview these scenes in$the order that you have specified$and when happy you can tell the$Editor to assembly them onto the$DESTINATION tape and walk off and$leave it to finish the job. Sounds
good what.
#So basically it allows you to "SEE"$more of what it is going to look$like, edit it all faster (because$you don't copy till ready) and leave$the boring part to the machines to sort out.
$The other screens of the Editor are$the "Edit Config" screen that allows$you to edit the Configuration of$MediaEditor itself. What ports it$uses to talk to the VCR's etc. Then$there is the Edit Device Files$screen that allows you to edit$things that are individual to each$Device (VCR/TV/CD etc) like PREROLL$etc so you can be sure that$MediaEditor and your Device are$talking the same langauge so to$speak. Then comes the Edit Codes$Files screen that allows you to$"teach" the program what codes do$what with each Device. For instance$one beep might start the VCR two$might stop it etc, this screen$allows you to "teach" or create$Device Code Files for each device so!that the right commands are sent.
$In order to do this teaching you$also need an accompanying piece$of hardware, But you will find most$Device files can be supplied$without you having the need to set
them up yourself.
$All three of these screens should be$a set and forget affair once$you have it all set for your$particular VCR/setup. After which$all you should be interested in is$the Edit Decision List which after
all is the joy of it all.
$So far we have an Electronic Video$Editor Deck that has some advantages$over your average hardware type but$does it hold out compared against$price. Well the Software/Hardware$package to get you going with$MediaPhile sets you back around$$1620 NZ which is more than a basic$Editor Deck. You pay for the
versatility I suppose.
$Actually you pay for alot more than$that. The trouble with Video tape$(so they tell me) is that as you$wind it back and forth and play with$it, it slips and it also contracts$and expands with the temperature.$All this makes the process of$editing your tape a rather$inaccurate affair with the average$Edit Deck because you can never align the edit sections exactly.
$There is of course a way around this$and that is to buy one of the vastly$more expensive Edit Decks that lay$down what is known as a TIME CODE$track onto the Video tape so that$alignment is done against this track$and all compensations for$slip/expansion etc are taken care of$automatically. The trouble of course$is that you have to shell out much$more cash for a TIME CODE$GENERATOR.... unless of course you$are using MediaPhile which has a$third module called a TCGen (TIME$CODE GENERATOR) all in the same
price.
$This is what the third module does,$you use it before you edit to lay$down a TIME CODE onto the tapes and$ensure perfect alignment of sections$and a professional looking end
result.
$The only draw back here is that you$must have a tape deck that has a$linear audio track for you to use$for the TIME CODE. Using this track$cuts out the sound track that was on$there so you either have mono sound$now or if you can find a deck that$has both HiFi and one Linear track$you are right. Currently only the$SONY SLV 757 has this (so I'm told).
$That about rounds up what MediaPhile$is supposed to do but how does it$actually stand up to real life work?$Well to find out I went and visited$Stuart BARNABY of CREATIVE$TECHNOLOGIES who makes a living out$of producing video training tapes$and the like, and also uses
MediaPhile.
$What I found was that not only did$it live up to expectations but it$was relatively easy to learn. That$is from my perspective, a computer$buff learning how to edit tape but$what about from the other way, a$Video buff learning how to run a$computer program? Piece of cake! the$only hard part is setting the$program up and WEST AUCKLAND AMIGA$CENTRE (the distributors) tell me$that they are prepared to take care$of that part. The rest is just like$pushing the buttons on a Edit Deck$only cheaper! faster! more$accurately! more flexibly and with
more fun!!!!!!!
$Stuart also was able to point out$other advantages of the system,$Software updates. He had already$received a more current version of$the program than I had been given to$review and it appeared that unlike$hardware editors Stuart was going to$be able to slowly improve his$editing suite as the software was$upgraded without having to go out$and buy the LATEST gear and throw
away what he has.
$MediaPhile comes in a number of$different parts the first being the$software which is retailing for$around $625. This wont do much for$you unless you have the hardware to
connect to your VCR's.
$This comes in two forms, an$interface kit that provides full$control (only available for SONY$VCR's currently, you only need this$for the source deck the other just$needs to have a remote pause) at$about $995 or a infra red remote$that allows remote type control for$around $595. This can be taught to$control just about anything that has$a infra red remote but will not$allow two way reports so severely$limits editing ability. (No time
signal or frame counters).
$Also available is a MEDIAPROCESSOR$EDIT DECISION LIST that expands on$the one included in the MediaEditor$allowing you a 1000 edit list (only$a 13 edit list in the MediaEditor)$and special effects like overlay,$wipes, fades, dissolves,as well as$genlock integration into you edits$all under easy computer control.#This will set you back around $625.
$So for a total outlay of around$$2250 you can have one amazing video$editing facility, quite enough to$get those pro's with lots of dollars$tied up in traditional gear envious.$The program use seemed to be fairly$trouble free, each release getting$better and was crisp and easy to$master. All told from my limited$knowledge of Video Editing equipment$it seems to be very good performance
for money.
$So if all this has got you watering$from the creative flare (were ever$that might be?) the man to talk to,$who knows alot more about this than$me, is Rob BAKER from the WEST
AUCKLAND
AMIGA CENTRE, Glendene shopping
centre.
Happy Editing.
$P.S. The rumour mill has some even$hotter Video Editing software being$churned out! It's on the MAYBE BY
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