Putting Together a Nonlinear Editing System, p. 4

 

 

 

 
Capture Cards
Now lets talk about the editing boards, also called capture cards. Today, you have a great variety of boards to choose from, so the first thing to ask yourself is, "What is my main purpose? Am I looking for broadcast quality, or industrial? Am I going to be editing in VHS, HI-8, DV or Betacam?" These questions are very important because the answers will determine which type of board is right for you. Video capture and editing boards can be separated into main categories: single stream and dual stream.
 
Single stream boards need to render effects and layered video. This means that if you want to have a transition between two layers of video, the system will need to render that section. The speed of the rendering is determined by the video editing board itself, the CPU speed, the number of CPUs (if you have a multi-processor system), and the complexity and length of the effect. For example, a 1-second dissolve will take less time to render than a 2-second page curl. The principal is the same for titles.
 
In the case of the dual stream boards, you can have two layers of video, plus one layer of graphics or title, plus eight layers of audio, all in real time, with no rendering. That's pretty cool, but it is also more expensive.
 

Helpful Hints
In choosing a video editing board, you must also consider the required quality of the final program output, and what video format your will be working in. Some video editing boards are best suited to S-VHS or Hi-8 editing, others for DV, others for Betacam component. This is dependent on the type and quality of the chips on the board (these process the video/audio) and on the data rate throughput the board is capable of. Obviously, the faster, higher-quality boards, capable of working with component Betacam, are more expensive than the boards suited for use with lesser tape formats.

For more information about DV editing systems including specific brands, features and prices, be sure to take a look at the DVFormat Buyer's Guide.

1. Beginning of Article
2. The Processor
3. Hard Disks


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