| Matrox
has a great thing going with its DigiSuite line of nonlinear digital
video editing systems, and it extends that advanced feature set into
another arena -- real time editing with DV and MPEG-2 codecs.
Plusses: Real time transitions and filters gracefully integrated with Adobe Premiere 5.1 RT, interchangeable DV50, MPEG-2 and DV codecs, great integration with outside apps, multi-layer compositing engine for quick rendering of layered video. Minuses: No real time 3D-DVE or SDTI yet, 1394 optional |
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In keeping with recent trends, Matrox has come up with a formidable answer to the need for high quality MPEG-2 and DV editing: DigiSuite DTV. The strength of Matrox's approach in this arena is that DigiSuite DTV lets users edit and composite in a "multi-format" DV/DV50 environment and benefit from the use of higher-quality DV50.
It's called DV50 because its data rate is 50 megabits per second (50 Mbps), and if you're counting, that's twice that of your garden-variety DV, also known as DV25. So, if and when you get a DV camera that is capable of DV50 output, you'll be able to pour it right in and you'll stay in DV50. However, the SDTI support needed to do this right now isn't available yet, and you can't do it over 1394. So to fully realize the wonders of native DV50 editing on the Matrox DTV you'll have to wait for Matrox's SDTI option to ship in the first quarter of 2000.
Even if you use footage from a DV25 camera, you have the option of rendering complex effects in DV50 format to better maintain quality. This allows for cleaner video quality, and lets you mix DV and DV50 clips on the same time line. It's native DV all the way, without the need to transcode to M-JPEG or anything else. Lots of the effects are in real time, too, so the result is a powerful combination: No transcoding and usually no waiting.