Non-linear editing system
Encyclopedia
In video, a non-linear editing system (NLE) is a video editing
(NLVE) or audio editing (NLAE) digital audio workstation
(DAW) system which can perform random access
non-destructive editing
on the source material. It is named in contrast to 20th century methods of linear video editing
and film editing
.
Non-linear editing is a video editing method which enables direct access to any video frame in a digital video clip
, without needing to play or scrub/shuttle through adjacent footage
to reach it, as was necessary with historical video tape linear editing systems. It is the most natural approach when all assets are available as files on hard disk
s rather than recordings on reels or tapes, while linear editing is related to the need to sequentially view a film or read a tape to edit it. On the other hand, the NLE method is similar in concept to the "cut and paste
" technique used in film editing. However, with the appropriation of non-linear editing systems, the destructive act of cutting of film negatives is eliminated. Non-linear, non-destructive editing
methods began to appear with the introduction of digital video
technology. It can also be viewed as the audio/video equivalent of word processing
, which is why it is called desktop video
editing in the consumer space.
, or other digital storage devices. The data are either direct to disk recording
or are imported from another source. Once imported, the source material can be edited on a computer using application software
, any of a wide range of video editing software
. For a comprehensive list of available software, see List of video editing software, whereas Comparison of video editing software
gives more detail of features and functionality.
In non-linear editing, the original source files are not lost or modified during editing. Professional editing software records the decisions of the editor in an edit decision list
(EDL) which can be interchanged with other editing tools. Many generations and variations of the original source files can exist without needing to store many different copies, allowing for very flexible editing. It also makes it easy to change cuts and undo previous decisions simply by editing the edit decision list (without having to have the actual film data duplicated). Generation loss
is also controlled, due to not having to repeatedly re-encode the data when different effects are applied.
Compared to the linear method of tape-to-tape editing, non-linear editing offers the flexibility of film editing, with random access and easy project organization. With the edit decision lists, the editor can work on low-resolution copies of the video. This makes it possible to edit both standard-definition broadcast quality and high definition
broadcast quality very quickly on normal PCs which do not have the power to do the full processing of the huge full-quality high-resolution data in real-time.
The costs of editing systems have dropped such that non-linear editing tools are now within the reach of home users. Some editing software can now be accessed free as web application
s; some, like Cinelerra
(focused on the professional market) and Blender3D, can be downloaded as free software
; and some, like Microsoft
's Windows Movie Maker
or Apple Inc.'s iMovie
, come included with the appropriate operating system.
A multimedia computer
for non-linear editing of video will usually have a video capture card to capture analog video
and/or a FireWire connection to capture digital video
from a DV
camera, with its video editing software
. Modern web-based editing systems can take video directly from a camera phone over a GPRS or 3G
mobile connection, and editing can take place through a web browser interface, so, strictly speaking, a computer for video editing does not require any installed hardware or software beyond a web browser
and an internet
connection.
Various editing tasks can then be performed on the imported video before it is exported to another medium, or MPEG encode
d for transfer to a DVD
.
, was introduced in 1971 by CMX Systems
, a joint venture between CBS
and Memorex
. It recorded & played back black-and-white analog video recorded in "skip-field" mode on modified disk pack
drives the size of washing machines. These were commonly used to store about half an hour of data digitally on mainframe computers of the time. The 600 had a console with 2 monitors built in. The right monitor, which played the preview video, was used by the editor to make cuts and edit decisions using a light pen
. The editor selected from options which were superimposed as text over the preview video. The left monitor was used to display the edited video. A Digital
PDP-11
computer served as a controller for the whole system. Because the video edited on the 600 was in black and white and in low-resolution "skip-field" mode, the 600 was suitable only for offline editing
.
Various approximations of non-linear editing systems were built in the '80s using computers coordinating multiple laser discs
, or banks of VCRs. One example of these tape & disc-based systems was Lucasfilm
's EditDroid
, which used several laserdiscs of the same raw footage to simulate random-access editing (a compatible system was developed for sound post production by Lucasfilm
called SoundDroid
--one of the earliest digital audio workstation
s). The LA-based post house Laser Edit (which later merged with Pacific Video as Laser-Pacific) also had an in-house system using recordable random-access laserdiscs. Another non-linear system was Ediflex, which used a bank of multiple Sony Betamax
VCRs for offline editing
. All were slow, cumbersome, and had problems with the limited computer horsepower of the time, but the mid-to-late-1980s saw a trend towards non-linear editing, moving away from film editing on Movieolas and the linear videotape method (usually employing 3/4" VCRs).
The term "nonlinear editing" or "non-linear editing" was formalized in 1991 with the publication of Michael Rubin's Nonlinear: A Guide to Digital Film and Video Editing (Triad, 1991) -- which popularized this terminology over other language common at the time, including "real time" editing, "random-access" or "RA" editing, "virtual" editing, "electronic film" editing, and so on. The handbook has remained in print since 1991, currently in its 4th edition (Triad, 2000).
Computer processing advanced sufficiently by the end of the '80s to enable true digital imagery, and has progressed today to provide this capability in personal desktop computers.
An example of computing power progressing to make non-linear editing possible was demonstrated in the first all-digital non-linear editing system to be released, the "Harry" effects compositing system manufactured by Quantel
in 1985. Although it was more of a video effects system, it had some non-linear editing capabilities. Most importantly, it could record (and apply effects to) 80 seconds (due to hard disk space limitations) of broadcast-quality uncompressed digital video encoded in 8-bit CCIR 601
format on its built-in hard disk array.
Non-linear editing with computers as we know it today was first introduced by Editing Machines Corp. in 1989 with the EMC2 editor; a hard disk based non-linear off-line editing system, using half-screen resolution video at 15 frames per second. A couple of weeks later that same year, Avid
introduced the Avid/1, the first in the line of their Media Composer
systems. It was based on the Apple
Macintosh computer platform (Macintosh II
systems were used) with special hardware and software developed and installed by Avid
. The Avid/1 was not the first system to introduce modern concepts in non-linear editing such as timeline editing and clip bins — both of these were pioneered in Lucasfilm's EditDroid in the early 1980s.
The video quality of the Avid/1 (and later Media Composer
systems from the late 80s) was somewhat low (about VHS quality), due to the use of a very early version of a Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) codec
. But it was enough to be a very versatile system for offline editing
, to revolutionize video and film editing. The first long form documentary to be so edited was the HBO program Earth and the American Dream which went on to win a National Primetime Emmy Award for Editing in 1993. The Avid had quickly become the dominant NLE platform.
The NewTek
Video Toaster Flyer included non-linear editing capabilities in addition to processing live video signals. The Flyer made use of hard drives to store video clips and audio, and allowed complex scripted playback. The Flyer was capable of simultaneous dual-channel playback, which allowed the Toaster's Video switcher to perform transitions and other effects on Video clip
s without the need for rendering
. The Flyer portion of the Video Toaster/Flyer combination was a complete computer of its own, having its own Microprocessor
and Embedded software
. Its hardware included three embedded SCSI
controllers. Two of these SCSI buses were used to store video data, and the third to store audio. The Flyer used a proprietary Wavelet compression algorithm known as VTASC, which was well regarded at the time for offering better visual quality than comparable Motion JPEG based non-linear editing systems.
Until 1993, the Avid
Media Composer
could only be used for editing commercials or other small content projects, because the Apple Macintosh computers could access only 50 gigabytes of storage at one time. In 1992, this limitation was overcome by a group of industry experts led by Rick Eye a Digital Video R&D team at the Disney Channel
. By February 1993, this team had integrated a long form system which gave the Avid
Media Composer
Apple
Macintosh access to over 7 terabytes of digital video data. With instant access to the shot footage of an entire movie, long form non-linear editing (Motion Picture Editing) was now possible. The system made its debut at the NAB
conference in 1993, in the booths of the three primary sub-system manufacturers, Avid
, Silicon Graphics
and Sony
. Within a year, thousands of these systems replaced a century of 35mm film editing equipment in major motion picture studios and TV stations world wide, making Avid
the undisputed leader in non-linear editing systems for over a decade.
Although M-JPEG became the standard codec for NLE during the early 1990s, it had drawbacks. Its high computational requirements ruled out software implementations, leading to the extra cost and complexity of hardware compression/playback cards. More importantly, the traditional tape workflow
had involved editing from tape, often in a rented facility. When the editor left the edit suite they could take their confidential video tapes with them. But the M-JPEG data rate was too high for systems like Avid
on the Mac and Lightworks
on PC to store the video on removable storage, so these used fixed hard disks instead. The tape paradigm of keeping your (confidential) content with you was not possible with these fixed disks. Editing machines were often rented from facilities houses on a per-hour basis, and some productions chose to delete their material after each edit session, and then recapture it the next day, in order to guarantee the security of their content. In addition, each NLE system had storage limited by its hard disk capacity.
These issues were addressed by a small UK company, Eidos plc
. Eidos chose the new ARM
-based computers from the UK and implemented an editing system, launched in Europe in 1990 at the International Broadcasting Convention
. Because it implemented its own compression software designed specifically for non-linear editing, the Eidos system had no requirement for JPEG hardware and was cheap to produce. The software could decode multiple video and audio streams at once for real-time effects at no extra cost. But most significantly, for the first time, it allowed effectively unlimited quantities of cheap removable storage. The Eidos Edit 1, Edit 2, and later Optima systems allowed the editor to use any Eidos system, rather than being tied down to a particular one, and still keep his data secure. The Optima software editing system was closely tied to Acorn hardware, so when Acorn stopped manufacturing the Risc PC
in the late 1990s, Eidos discontinued the Optima system.
In the early 1990s a small American company called Data Translation took what it knew about coding and decoding pictures for the US military and large corporate clients and threw $12m into developing a desktop editor which would use its proprietary compression algorithms and off-the-shelf parts. Their aim was to 'democratize' the desktop and take some of Avid's market. In August 1993 Media 100
entered the market and thousands of would-be editors had a low-cost, high-quality platform to use.
Around the same period of time there were two other competitors, providing non-linear systems that required special hardware often cards that had to be added to the computer system. Fast Video Machine was a PC based system that first came out as an offline system and later became more online editing
capable. Immix Video Cube was also a contender for Media Production companies. The Immix Video Cube had a control surface with faders to allow mixing and shuttle controls without the purchase of third party controllers. Data Translation's Media 100 came with 3 different JPEG codecs for different types of graphics of video and many resolutions. The Media 100 system kept increasing its maximum video resolution via software upgrades rather than hardware. This was because the Media 100 cards had enough processing power to be expanded to resolutions as high as Avid systems at the upper end of the Avid product line. Cards at the time had embedded, dedicated CPUs (for example a Motorola 68000 processor), which were as powerful as the processors inside the Macintosh systems that hosted the application. These other companies caused tremendous downward market pressure on Avid. Avid was forced to continually offer lower priced systems to compete with the Media 100 and other systems.
Inspired by the success of Media 100
, members of the Premiere development team left Adobe to start a project called "Keygrip" for Macromedia. Difficulty raising support and money for development led the team to take their non-linear editor to NAB. After various companies made offers, Keygrip was purchased by Apple as Steve Jobs wanted a product to compete with Adobe Premiere in the desktop video market. At around the same time, Avid
— now with Windows versions of its editing software — was considering abandoning the Macintosh platform. Apple released Final Cut Pro
in 1999, and despite not being taken seriously at first by professionals, it has evolved into a serious competitor to Avid
.
video formats for consumer and professional use. With DV came IEEE 1394 (FireWire/iLink), a simple and inexpensive way of getting video into and out of computers. The video no longer had to be converted from an analog signal
to digital data — it was recorded as digital to start with — and FireWire offered a straightforward way of transferring that data without the need for additional hardware or compression. With this innovation, editing became a more realistic proposition for standard computers with software-only packages. It enabled real desktop editing producing high-quality results at a fraction of the cost of other systems.
has continued this trend, making it possible to edit HD material on a standard computer running a software-only editing application.
Avid
is still considered the industry standard, with the majority of major feature films, television programs, and commercials created with its NLE systems. Final Cut Pro received a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award
in 2002 and continues to develop a following.
Avid has held on to its market-leading position in the advent of cheaper software packages, notably Adobe Premiere in 1992 and Final Cut Pro
in 1999. These three competing products by Avid
, Adobe
, and Apple
are the foremost NLEs, often referred to as the A-Team. With advances in raw computer processing power, new products have appeared including NewTek's
software application SpeedEdit.
Since 2000, many personal computers include basic non-linear video editing software free of charge. This is the case of Apple iMovie
for the Macintosh platform, PiTiVi
for the Linux platform (it is installed by default on Ubuntu
, the dominant desktop Linux distribution
), and Windows Movie Maker
for the Windows platform. This phenomenon has brought low-cost non-linear editing to consumers.
Improvements in compression techniques and disk storage capacity have mitigated these concerns, and the migration to High Definition video and audio has virtually removed this concern completely. Most professional NLEs are also able to edit uncompressed video with the appropriate hardware.
Video editing
The term video editing can refer to:* Linear video editing, using video tape* Non-linear editing system , using computers with video editing software* Offline editing* Online editing...
(NLVE) or audio editing (NLAE) digital audio workstation
Digital audio workstation
A digital audio workstation is an electronic system designed solely or primarily for recording, editing and playing back digital audio. DAWs were originally tape-less, microprocessor-based systems such as the Synclavier and Fairlight CMI...
(DAW) system which can perform random access
Random access
In computer science, random access is the ability to access an element at an arbitrary position in a sequence in equal time, independent of sequence size. The position is arbitrary in the sense that it is unpredictable, thus the use of the term "random" in "random access"...
non-destructive editing
Non-destructive editing
Non-destructive editing is a form of editing signals where the original content is not modified in the course of editing—instead the edits themselves are edited by video editing software on a non-linear editing system ....
on the source material. It is named in contrast to 20th century methods of linear video editing
Linear video editing
Linear video editing is a video editing post-production process of selecting, arranging and modifying images and sound in a predetermined, ordered sequence. Regardless whether captured by a video camera, tapeless camcorder, recorded in a television studio on a video tape recorder the content must...
and film editing
Film editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
.
Non-linear editing is a video editing method which enables direct access to any video frame in a digital video clip
Video clip
Video clips are short clips of video, usually part of a longer recording. The term is also more loosely used to mean any short video less than the length of a traditional television program.- On the Internet :...
, without needing to play or scrub/shuttle through adjacent footage
Footage
In filmmaking and video production, footage is the raw, unedited material as it had been originally filmed by movie camera or recorded by a video camera which usually must be edited to create a motion picture, video clip, television show or similar completed work...
to reach it, as was necessary with historical video tape linear editing systems. It is the most natural approach when all assets are available as files on hard disk
Hard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
s rather than recordings on reels or tapes, while linear editing is related to the need to sequentially view a film or read a tape to edit it. On the other hand, the NLE method is similar in concept to the "cut and paste
Cut and paste
In human-computer interaction, cut and paste and copy and paste offer user-interface interaction techniques for transferring text, data, files or objects from a source to a destination. Most ubiquitously, users require the ability to cut and paste sections of plain text...
" technique used in film editing. However, with the appropriation of non-linear editing systems, the destructive act of cutting of film negatives is eliminated. Non-linear, non-destructive editing
Non-destructive editing
Non-destructive editing is a form of editing signals where the original content is not modified in the course of editing—instead the edits themselves are edited by video editing software on a non-linear editing system ....
methods began to appear with the introduction of digital video
Digital video
Digital video is a type of digital recording system that works by using a digital rather than an analog video signal.The terms camera, video camera, and camcorder are used interchangeably in this article.- History :...
technology. It can also be viewed as the audio/video equivalent of word processing
Word processing
Word processing is the creation of documents using a word processor. It can also refer to advanced shorthand techniques, sometimes used in specialized contexts with a specially modified typewriter.-External links:...
, which is why it is called desktop video
Desktop video
Desktop video refers to a phenomenon lasting from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s when the graphics capabilities of personal computers such as Commodore's Amiga, the Apple Macintosh II and specially-upgraded IBM PC compatibles had advanced to the point where individuals and local broadcasters...
editing in the consumer space.
Operation
Video and audio data are first captured to hard disks, video serverVideo server
A video server is a computer based device dedicated to delivering video.Unlike personal computers, being multi-application devices, a video server is designed for one purpose; provisioning video, often for broadcasters. A professional grade video server records, stores, and playout of multiple...
, or other digital storage devices. The data are either direct to disk recording
Direct to Disk Recording
Direct-to-disk recording refers to methods by which analog signals and digital signals such as digital audio and digital video are digitally recorded to optical disc recording technologies such as DVDs, and CD optical discs...
or are imported from another source. Once imported, the source material can be edited on a computer using application software
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
, any of a wide range of video editing software
Video editing software
Video editing software, is application software which handles the post-production video editing of digital video sequences on a computer non-linear editing systems...
. For a comprehensive list of available software, see List of video editing software, whereas Comparison of video editing software
Comparison of video editing software
This is a comparison of non-linear video editing software applications. See also a more complete list of video editing software.-General information:This table gives basic general information about the different editors:- System requirements :...
gives more detail of features and functionality.
In non-linear editing, the original source files are not lost or modified during editing. Professional editing software records the decisions of the editor in an edit decision list
Edit decision list
An edit decision list or EDL used in the post-production process of film editing and video editing. The list contains an ordered list of reel and timecode data representing where each video clip can be obtained in order to conform the final cut....
(EDL) which can be interchanged with other editing tools. Many generations and variations of the original source files can exist without needing to store many different copies, allowing for very flexible editing. It also makes it easy to change cuts and undo previous decisions simply by editing the edit decision list (without having to have the actual film data duplicated). Generation loss
Generation loss
Generation loss refers to the loss of quality between subsequent copies or transcodes of data. Anything that reduces the quality of the representation when copying, and would cause further reduction in quality on making a copy of the copy, can be considered a form of generation loss...
is also controlled, due to not having to repeatedly re-encode the data when different effects are applied.
Compared to the linear method of tape-to-tape editing, non-linear editing offers the flexibility of film editing, with random access and easy project organization. With the edit decision lists, the editor can work on low-resolution copies of the video. This makes it possible to edit both standard-definition broadcast quality and high definition
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
broadcast quality very quickly on normal PCs which do not have the power to do the full processing of the huge full-quality high-resolution data in real-time.
The costs of editing systems have dropped such that non-linear editing tools are now within the reach of home users. Some editing software can now be accessed free as web application
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s; some, like Cinelerra
Cinelerra
Cinelerra is prosumer video editing software. It is designed for the GNU/Linux operating system. It is produced by Heroine Virtual, and is free software distributed under the GNU General Public License...
(focused on the professional market) and Blender3D, can be downloaded as free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
; and some, like Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's Windows Movie Maker
Windows Movie Maker
Windows Movie Maker is a video creating/editing software application, included in Microsoft Windows Me, XP, and Vista. It contains features such as effects, transitions, titles/credits, audio track, timeline narration, and Auto Movie. New effects and transitions can be made and existing ones can be...
or Apple Inc.'s iMovie
IMovie
iMovie is a proprietary video editing software application which allows Mac, iPod Touch 4th generation, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and iPad 2 users to edit their own home movies. It was originally released by Apple in 1999 as a Mac OS 8 application bundled with the first FireWire-enabled consumer Apple...
, come included with the appropriate operating system.
A multimedia computer
Multimedia computer
A multimedia computer is a computer that is optimized for high multimedia performance, enabling rich multimedia experience.Early home computers simply lacked the power and storage necessary for true multimedia...
for non-linear editing of video will usually have a video capture card to capture analog video
Analog video
Analog video is a video signal transferred by an analog signal. An analog color video signal contains luminance, brightness and chrominance of an analog television image...
and/or a FireWire connection to capture digital video
Digital video
Digital video is a type of digital recording system that works by using a digital rather than an analog video signal.The terms camera, video camera, and camcorder are used interchangeably in this article.- History :...
from a DV
DV
DV is a format for the digital recording and playing back of digital video. The DV codec was launched in 1995 with joint efforts of leading producers of video camcorders....
camera, with its video editing software
Video editing software
Video editing software, is application software which handles the post-production video editing of digital video sequences on a computer non-linear editing systems...
. Modern web-based editing systems can take video directly from a camera phone over a GPRS or 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
mobile connection, and editing can take place through a web browser interface, so, strictly speaking, a computer for video editing does not require any installed hardware or software beyond a web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
and an internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
connection.
Various editing tasks can then be performed on the imported video before it is exported to another medium, or MPEG encode
Encode
Encode may refer to:* Can be related to "Code"* Encode ApS, a Danish software company* Encode SA, a Greek information security company* ENCODE, the ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements...
d for transfer to a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.
History
The first truly non-linear editor, the CMX 600CMX 600
The CMX 600 was the very first non-linear video editing system. It was introduced in 1971 by CMX Systems, a joint venture between CBS and Memorex. CMX referred to it as a "RAVE", or Random Access Video Editor....
, was introduced in 1971 by CMX Systems
CMX Systems
CMX Editing Systems was a company founded jointly by CBS and Memorex, that developed some of the very first computerized systems for linear and non-linear editing of videotape for post production...
, a joint venture between CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and Memorex
Memorex
Memorex began as a computer tape producer and expanded to become a major IBM plug compatible peripheral supplier. It is now a consumer electronics brand of Imation specializing in disk recordable media for CD and DVD drives, flash memory, computer accessories and other electronics.Established in...
. It recorded & played back black-and-white analog video recorded in "skip-field" mode on modified disk pack
Disk pack
A Disk pack is a layered grouping of hard disk platters . A disk pack is the core component of a hard disk drive. In modern hard disks, the disk pack is permanently sealed inside the drive...
drives the size of washing machines. These were commonly used to store about half an hour of data digitally on mainframe computers of the time. The 600 had a console with 2 monitors built in. The right monitor, which played the preview video, was used by the editor to make cuts and edit decisions using a light pen
Light pen
A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with a computer's CRT TV set or monitor. It allows the user to point to displayed objects, or draw on the screen, in a similar way to a touch screen but with greater positional accuracy...
. The editor selected from options which were superimposed as text over the preview video. The left monitor was used to display the edited video. A Digital
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
PDP-11
PDP-11
The PDP-11 was a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corporation from 1970 into the 1990s, one of a succession of products in the PDP series. The PDP-11 replaced the PDP-8 in many real-time applications, although both product lines lived in parallel for more than 10 years...
computer served as a controller for the whole system. Because the video edited on the 600 was in black and white and in low-resolution "skip-field" mode, the 600 was suitable only for offline editing
Offline editing
Offline editing is part of the post-production process of filmmaking and television production in which raw footage is copied and edited, without affecting the camera original film stock or video tape...
.
Various approximations of non-linear editing systems were built in the '80s using computers coordinating multiple laser discs
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
, or banks of VCRs. One example of these tape & disc-based systems was Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO....
's EditDroid
EditDroid
The EditDroid was a computerized analog NLE , developed by Lucasfilm spin-off company, the Droid Works and Convergence Corporation who formed a joint venture company. The company existed up through the mid-80's to the early 90's in an attempt to move from analog editing methods to digital...
, which used several laserdiscs of the same raw footage to simulate random-access editing (a compatible system was developed for sound post production by Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO....
called SoundDroid
SoundDroid
The SoundDroid is an early digital audio workstation designed by a team of engineers led by James A. Moorer at Lucasfilm between the 1980 and 1987. It was a hard-disk–based, nonlinear audio editor developed on the Audio Signal Processor , a large-scale digital signal processor for real–time,...
--one of the earliest digital audio workstation
Digital audio workstation
A digital audio workstation is an electronic system designed solely or primarily for recording, editing and playing back digital audio. DAWs were originally tape-less, microprocessor-based systems such as the Synclavier and Fairlight CMI...
s). The LA-based post house Laser Edit (which later merged with Pacific Video as Laser-Pacific) also had an in-house system using recordable random-access laserdiscs. Another non-linear system was Ediflex, which used a bank of multiple Sony Betamax
Betamax
Betamax was a consumer-level analog videocassette magnetic tape recording format developed by Sony, released on May 10, 1975. The cassettes contain -wide videotape in a design similar to the earlier, professional wide, U-matic format...
VCRs for offline editing
Offline editing
Offline editing is part of the post-production process of filmmaking and television production in which raw footage is copied and edited, without affecting the camera original film stock or video tape...
. All were slow, cumbersome, and had problems with the limited computer horsepower of the time, but the mid-to-late-1980s saw a trend towards non-linear editing, moving away from film editing on Movieolas and the linear videotape method (usually employing 3/4" VCRs).
The term "nonlinear editing" or "non-linear editing" was formalized in 1991 with the publication of Michael Rubin's Nonlinear: A Guide to Digital Film and Video Editing (Triad, 1991) -- which popularized this terminology over other language common at the time, including "real time" editing, "random-access" or "RA" editing, "virtual" editing, "electronic film" editing, and so on. The handbook has remained in print since 1991, currently in its 4th edition (Triad, 2000).
Computer processing advanced sufficiently by the end of the '80s to enable true digital imagery, and has progressed today to provide this capability in personal desktop computers.
An example of computing power progressing to make non-linear editing possible was demonstrated in the first all-digital non-linear editing system to be released, the "Harry" effects compositing system manufactured by Quantel
Quantel
Quantel is a company based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1973 that designs and manufactures digital production equipment for the broadcast television, video production and motion picture industries...
in 1985. Although it was more of a video effects system, it had some non-linear editing capabilities. Most importantly, it could record (and apply effects to) 80 seconds (due to hard disk space limitations) of broadcast-quality uncompressed digital video encoded in 8-bit CCIR 601
CCIR 601
ITU-R Recommendation BT.601, more commonly known by the abbreviations Rec. 601 or BT.601 is a standard published in 1982 by International Telecommunication Union - Radiocommunications sector for encoding interlaced analog video signals in digital video form...
format on its built-in hard disk array.
Non-linear editing with computers as we know it today was first introduced by Editing Machines Corp. in 1989 with the EMC2 editor; a hard disk based non-linear off-line editing system, using half-screen resolution video at 15 frames per second. A couple of weeks later that same year, Avid
AVID
AVID stands for:* Advancement Via Individual Determination, a college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges in the U.S....
introduced the Avid/1, the first in the line of their Media Composer
Media Composer
Media Composer, frequently referred to as "Avid", is a type of computer software application known as a Non-linear editing system . It is the flagship product of Avid Technology. It was released in 1989 on the Macintosh II as an offline editing system...
systems. It was based on the Apple
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
Macintosh computer platform (Macintosh II
Macintosh II
The Apple Macintosh II was the first personal computer model of the Macintosh II series in the Apple Macintosh line and the first Macintosh to support a color display.- History :...
systems were used) with special hardware and software developed and installed by Avid
AVID
AVID stands for:* Advancement Via Individual Determination, a college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges in the U.S....
. The Avid/1 was not the first system to introduce modern concepts in non-linear editing such as timeline editing and clip bins — both of these were pioneered in Lucasfilm's EditDroid in the early 1980s.
The video quality of the Avid/1 (and later Media Composer
Media Composer
Media Composer, frequently referred to as "Avid", is a type of computer software application known as a Non-linear editing system . It is the flagship product of Avid Technology. It was released in 1989 on the Macintosh II as an offline editing system...
systems from the late 80s) was somewhat low (about VHS quality), due to the use of a very early version of a Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) codec
Codec
A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of "compressor-decompressor" or, more commonly, "coder-decoder"...
. But it was enough to be a very versatile system for offline editing
Offline editing
Offline editing is part of the post-production process of filmmaking and television production in which raw footage is copied and edited, without affecting the camera original film stock or video tape...
, to revolutionize video and film editing. The first long form documentary to be so edited was the HBO program Earth and the American Dream which went on to win a National Primetime Emmy Award for Editing in 1993. The Avid had quickly become the dominant NLE platform.
The NewTek
NewTek
NewTek, Inc. is a San Antonio, Texas-based hardware and software company that produces live and post-production video tools and visual imaging software for personal computers...
Video Toaster Flyer included non-linear editing capabilities in addition to processing live video signals. The Flyer made use of hard drives to store video clips and audio, and allowed complex scripted playback. The Flyer was capable of simultaneous dual-channel playback, which allowed the Toaster's Video switcher to perform transitions and other effects on Video clip
Video clip
Video clips are short clips of video, usually part of a longer recording. The term is also more loosely used to mean any short video less than the length of a traditional television program.- On the Internet :...
s without the need for rendering
Rendering (computer graphics)
Rendering is the process of generating an image from a model , by means of computer programs. A scene file contains objects in a strictly defined language or data structure; it would contain geometry, viewpoint, texture, lighting, and shading information as a description of the virtual scene...
. The Flyer portion of the Video Toaster/Flyer combination was a complete computer of its own, having its own Microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
and Embedded software
Embedded software
Embedded software is computer software that plays an integral role in the electronics it is supplied with.Embedded software's principal role is not Information technology , but rather the interaction with the physical world. It's written for machines that are not, first and foremost, computers...
. Its hardware included three embedded SCSI
SCSI
Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
controllers. Two of these SCSI buses were used to store video data, and the third to store audio. The Flyer used a proprietary Wavelet compression algorithm known as VTASC, which was well regarded at the time for offering better visual quality than comparable Motion JPEG based non-linear editing systems.
Until 1993, the Avid
AVID
AVID stands for:* Advancement Via Individual Determination, a college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges in the U.S....
Media Composer
Media Composer
Media Composer, frequently referred to as "Avid", is a type of computer software application known as a Non-linear editing system . It is the flagship product of Avid Technology. It was released in 1989 on the Macintosh II as an offline editing system...
could only be used for editing commercials or other small content projects, because the Apple Macintosh computers could access only 50 gigabytes of storage at one time. In 1992, this limitation was overcome by a group of industry experts led by Rick Eye a Digital Video R&D team at the Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
. By February 1993, this team had integrated a long form system which gave the Avid
AVID
AVID stands for:* Advancement Via Individual Determination, a college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges in the U.S....
Media Composer
Media Composer
Media Composer, frequently referred to as "Avid", is a type of computer software application known as a Non-linear editing system . It is the flagship product of Avid Technology. It was released in 1989 on the Macintosh II as an offline editing system...
Apple
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
Macintosh access to over 7 terabytes of digital video data. With instant access to the shot footage of an entire movie, long form non-linear editing (Motion Picture Editing) was now possible. The system made its debut at the NAB
National Association of Broadcasters
The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association, workers union, and lobby group representing the interests of for-profit, over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States...
conference in 1993, in the booths of the three primary sub-system manufacturers, Avid
AVID
AVID stands for:* Advancement Via Individual Determination, a college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges in the U.S....
, Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...
and Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
. Within a year, thousands of these systems replaced a century of 35mm film editing equipment in major motion picture studios and TV stations world wide, making Avid
AVID
AVID stands for:* Advancement Via Individual Determination, a college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges in the U.S....
the undisputed leader in non-linear editing systems for over a decade.
Although M-JPEG became the standard codec for NLE during the early 1990s, it had drawbacks. Its high computational requirements ruled out software implementations, leading to the extra cost and complexity of hardware compression/playback cards. More importantly, the traditional tape workflow
Workflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
had involved editing from tape, often in a rented facility. When the editor left the edit suite they could take their confidential video tapes with them. But the M-JPEG data rate was too high for systems like Avid
AVID
AVID stands for:* Advancement Via Individual Determination, a college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges in the U.S....
on the Mac and Lightworks
Lightworks
Lightworks is an Oscar and Emmy award winning professional NLE system for editing and mastering of movies in 2K and 4K as well as television productions in PAL, NTSC and HD...
on PC to store the video on removable storage, so these used fixed hard disks instead. The tape paradigm of keeping your (confidential) content with you was not possible with these fixed disks. Editing machines were often rented from facilities houses on a per-hour basis, and some productions chose to delete their material after each edit session, and then recapture it the next day, in order to guarantee the security of their content. In addition, each NLE system had storage limited by its hard disk capacity.
These issues were addressed by a small UK company, Eidos plc
Eidos Interactive
Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
. Eidos chose the new ARM
ARM architecture
ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
-based computers from the UK and implemented an editing system, launched in Europe in 1990 at the International Broadcasting Convention
International Broadcasting Convention
The International Broadcasting Convention, more commonly known by its acronym IBC, is an annual trade show for broadcasters, content creators/providers, equipment manufacturers, professional and technical associations, and other participants in the Broadcasting industry...
. Because it implemented its own compression software designed specifically for non-linear editing, the Eidos system had no requirement for JPEG hardware and was cheap to produce. The software could decode multiple video and audio streams at once for real-time effects at no extra cost. But most significantly, for the first time, it allowed effectively unlimited quantities of cheap removable storage. The Eidos Edit 1, Edit 2, and later Optima systems allowed the editor to use any Eidos system, rather than being tied down to a particular one, and still keep his data secure. The Optima software editing system was closely tied to Acorn hardware, so when Acorn stopped manufacturing the Risc PC
Risc PC
The RiscPC was Acorn Computers's next generation RISC OS/Acorn RISC Machine computer, launched on 15 April 1994, which superseded the Acorn Archimedes. The Acorn PC card and software allows PC compatible software to be run....
in the late 1990s, Eidos discontinued the Optima system.
In the early 1990s a small American company called Data Translation took what it knew about coding and decoding pictures for the US military and large corporate clients and threw $12m into developing a desktop editor which would use its proprietary compression algorithms and off-the-shelf parts. Their aim was to 'democratize' the desktop and take some of Avid's market. In August 1993 Media 100
Media 100
Media 100 is a manufacturer of video editing software and non-linear editing systems designed for professional cutting and editing. The editing systems are currently all based on OEM AJA Kona boards, with the exception of the Software-only Producer and Producer Suite, and run exclusively on Macs...
entered the market and thousands of would-be editors had a low-cost, high-quality platform to use.
Around the same period of time there were two other competitors, providing non-linear systems that required special hardware often cards that had to be added to the computer system. Fast Video Machine was a PC based system that first came out as an offline system and later became more online editing
Online editing
Online editing is an older post-production linear video editing process that is performed in the final stage of a video production. It occurs after offline editing...
capable. Immix Video Cube was also a contender for Media Production companies. The Immix Video Cube had a control surface with faders to allow mixing and shuttle controls without the purchase of third party controllers. Data Translation's Media 100 came with 3 different JPEG codecs for different types of graphics of video and many resolutions. The Media 100 system kept increasing its maximum video resolution via software upgrades rather than hardware. This was because the Media 100 cards had enough processing power to be expanded to resolutions as high as Avid systems at the upper end of the Avid product line. Cards at the time had embedded, dedicated CPUs (for example a Motorola 68000 processor), which were as powerful as the processors inside the Macintosh systems that hosted the application. These other companies caused tremendous downward market pressure on Avid. Avid was forced to continually offer lower priced systems to compete with the Media 100 and other systems.
Inspired by the success of Media 100
Media 100
Media 100 is a manufacturer of video editing software and non-linear editing systems designed for professional cutting and editing. The editing systems are currently all based on OEM AJA Kona boards, with the exception of the Software-only Producer and Producer Suite, and run exclusively on Macs...
, members of the Premiere development team left Adobe to start a project called "Keygrip" for Macromedia. Difficulty raising support and money for development led the team to take their non-linear editor to NAB. After various companies made offers, Keygrip was purchased by Apple as Steve Jobs wanted a product to compete with Adobe Premiere in the desktop video market. At around the same time, Avid
AVID
AVID stands for:* Advancement Via Individual Determination, a college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges in the U.S....
— now with Windows versions of its editing software — was considering abandoning the Macintosh platform. Apple released Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is a non-linear video editing software developed by Macromedia Inc. and then Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro X, runs on Mac personal computers powered by Mac OS X version 10.6.7 or later and using Intel processors...
in 1999, and despite not being taken seriously at first by professionals, it has evolved into a serious competitor to Avid
AVID
AVID stands for:* Advancement Via Individual Determination, a college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges in the U.S....
.
DV
Another leap came in the late 1990s with the launch of DV-basedDV
DV is a format for the digital recording and playing back of digital video. The DV codec was launched in 1995 with joint efforts of leading producers of video camcorders....
video formats for consumer and professional use. With DV came IEEE 1394 (FireWire/iLink), a simple and inexpensive way of getting video into and out of computers. The video no longer had to be converted from an analog signal
Analog signal
An analog or analogue signal is any continuous signal for which the time varying feature of the signal is a representation of some other time varying quantity, i.e., analogous to another time varying signal. It differs from a digital signal in terms of small fluctuations in the signal which are...
to digital data — it was recorded as digital to start with — and FireWire offered a straightforward way of transferring that data without the need for additional hardware or compression. With this innovation, editing became a more realistic proposition for standard computers with software-only packages. It enabled real desktop editing producing high-quality results at a fraction of the cost of other systems.
HD
More recently the introduction of highly compressed HD formats such as HDVHDV
HDV is a format for recording of high-definition video on DV cassette tape. The format was originally developed by JVC and supported by Sony, Canon and Sharp...
has continued this trend, making it possible to edit HD material on a standard computer running a software-only editing application.
Avid
AVID
AVID stands for:* Advancement Via Individual Determination, a college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges in the U.S....
is still considered the industry standard, with the majority of major feature films, television programs, and commercials created with its NLE systems. Final Cut Pro received a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award
Technology & Engineering Emmy Award
A Technology and Engineering Emmy Award is given by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for outstanding achievement in technical or engineering development...
in 2002 and continues to develop a following.
Avid has held on to its market-leading position in the advent of cheaper software packages, notably Adobe Premiere in 1992 and Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is a non-linear video editing software developed by Macromedia Inc. and then Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro X, runs on Mac personal computers powered by Mac OS X version 10.6.7 or later and using Intel processors...
in 1999. These three competing products by Avid
AVID
AVID stands for:* Advancement Via Individual Determination, a college-readiness system designed to increase the number of students who enroll in four-year colleges in the U.S....
, Adobe
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
, and Apple
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
are the foremost NLEs, often referred to as the A-Team. With advances in raw computer processing power, new products have appeared including NewTek's
NewTek
NewTek, Inc. is a San Antonio, Texas-based hardware and software company that produces live and post-production video tools and visual imaging software for personal computers...
software application SpeedEdit.
Since 2000, many personal computers include basic non-linear video editing software free of charge. This is the case of Apple iMovie
IMovie
iMovie is a proprietary video editing software application which allows Mac, iPod Touch 4th generation, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and iPad 2 users to edit their own home movies. It was originally released by Apple in 1999 as a Mac OS 8 application bundled with the first FireWire-enabled consumer Apple...
for the Macintosh platform, PiTiVi
PiTiVi
PiTiVi is a open source non-linear video editor developed by Collabora and contributors from the worldwide community. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License. PiTiVi is designed to be intuitive video editing software that integrates well in the GNOME desktop...
for the Linux platform (it is installed by default on Ubuntu
Ubuntu (operating system)
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
, the dominant desktop Linux distribution
Linux distribution
A Linux distribution is a member of the family of Unix-like operating systems built on top of the Linux kernel. Such distributions are operating systems including a large collection of software applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, media players, and database applications...
), and Windows Movie Maker
Windows Movie Maker
Windows Movie Maker is a video creating/editing software application, included in Microsoft Windows Me, XP, and Vista. It contains features such as effects, transitions, titles/credits, audio track, timeline narration, and Auto Movie. New effects and transitions can be made and existing ones can be...
for the Windows platform. This phenomenon has brought low-cost non-linear editing to consumers.
Quality
At one time, a primary concern with non-linear editing had been picture and sound quality. Storage limitations at the time required that all material undergo lossy compression techniques to reduce the amount of memory occupied.Improvements in compression techniques and disk storage capacity have mitigated these concerns, and the migration to High Definition video and audio has virtually removed this concern completely. Most professional NLEs are also able to edit uncompressed video with the appropriate hardware.
See also
- Hard disk recorderHard disk recorderA hard disk recorder is a type of direct to disk recording system that uses a high-capacity hard disk to record digital audio or digital video. Hard disk recording systems represent an alternative to more traditional reel-to-reel tape or cassette multitrack systems, and provide editing...
- Linear video editingLinear video editingLinear video editing is a video editing post-production process of selecting, arranging and modifying images and sound in a predetermined, ordered sequence. Regardless whether captured by a video camera, tapeless camcorder, recorded in a television studio on a video tape recorder the content must...
- Video serverVideo serverA video server is a computer based device dedicated to delivering video.Unlike personal computers, being multi-application devices, a video server is designed for one purpose; provisioning video, often for broadcasters. A professional grade video server records, stores, and playout of multiple...
- List of video topics
- Film editingFilm editingFilm editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
- List of video editing software
- Comparison of video editing softwareComparison of video editing softwareThis is a comparison of non-linear video editing software applications. See also a more complete list of video editing software.-General information:This table gives basic general information about the different editors:- System requirements :...
- Video editing softwareVideo editing softwareVideo editing software, is application software which handles the post-production video editing of digital video sequences on a computer non-linear editing systems...
- HDVHDVHDV is a format for recording of high-definition video on DV cassette tape. The format was originally developed by JVC and supported by Sony, Canon and Sharp...
- EditDroidEditDroidThe EditDroid was a computerized analog NLE , developed by Lucasfilm spin-off company, the Droid Works and Convergence Corporation who formed a joint venture company. The company existed up through the mid-80's to the early 90's in an attempt to move from analog editing methods to digital...
- Edit Decision ListEdit decision listAn edit decision list or EDL used in the post-production process of film editing and video editing. The list contains an ordered list of reel and timecode data representing where each video clip can be obtained in order to conform the final cut....
External links
- Linear vs. Non-linear editing
- A link to a downloadable episode of the TV show "The Computer Chronicles" from 1990, which includes a feature on the first Avid Media Composer
- Article which shows some recent NLE software and a dedicated NLE system
- An article on the history of video editing, with mentions of the first NLE systems