After all the shooting’s done, it’s time to edit. For that, Wood feeds the video directly into his Mac-based Promax G3 StudioPro Core System. Why did he choose the Mac and the Promax in particular? "The two biggest problems with desktop DV NLEs seem to be clip length limitations and lip sync. With the Promax we can do long form editing, up to three hours, without any dropped frames or synch problems," Wood explained. "The other appealing thing to me is that this is a turnkey system, fully assembled and tested by Promax. We had a couple of little problems with an extension conflict here and there, but Promax talked us through it over the phone. All these problems were glitches or improper settings on our end. But overall, we didn’t have to configure anything – it was delivered to us as a total package."

Another advantage of the Promax system is that it allows you to do batch capture with full deck control through the software, in low resolution. Then, when you finish editing your project in Premiere 5.1, you can recapture only the clips you actually use in the project at high-res for the final product. That means hours of DV footage at low-res can be stored on only 16 gigs (small by video standards) and you only, really tax your storage by recapturing the finished product. Very efficient! Wood likes this process because he can put all the shots into the machine and then make changes easily, as the client will undoubtedly want. Here's an example of the complete flexibility that is the chief advantage of nonlinear editing. Adding to that flexibility is the fact that Wood has recently 67 Gigs, so space is not really at a premium for him.

Wood continues, "For output, we have to get the finished material to a more readily accepted broadcast format (hopefully more DV will enter the broadcast realm in the near future). We usually transfer from our VX-1000 to Betacam SP. Since there is no FireWire I/O on most standard Betacam decks, we like to run our footage, via FireWire, through our three-year-old Windows NT box bundled with a Fast DV Master card. The Fast system comes with a breakout box with component, YUV output which we run to Betacam. The results are smooth as silk. We hope Promax will offer such a breakout box for their Core Systems, so we can avoid this extra, Windows NT step."

This work flow at Smoking Monkey results in the company's footage passing muster on all of the stations in the Milwaukee area. On a final note, Wood adds, "If you’re careful about the esthetics of lighting and sound, your DV footage can look and sound as good, and sometimes even better, than Betacam, or any other 'high-end, broadcast format.'"