Premiere RT 5.1 with Pinnacle ReelTime

Here's a great trick you can do with Photoshop and the gradient wipes feature in ReelTime Magic. Get any grayscale edge and use it for a custom wipe in ReelTime Magic. For example, let's try this effect with a ragged edge. In Photoshop, create your edge in 720x486 for NTSC. Then add your own tab in the software by make a directory in Program Files/ReelTime/ReelTime wipes/NTSC by naming that directory with a .wipes extension. For example, name a file "my wipes.wipes" and it appears as a tab in the software.

The real coolness of this hardware-software combination is the real time features. Right now, transitions are the benefactors of the real time enhancements, so when you want to go real time, choose a Pinnacle-enhanced transition in the transitions palette. Double-click on that transition and you'll get a dialog box that allows you to manipulate that transition however you wish.

For more effects fun, click Nitro Magic for real-time 3D DVEs -- here's where you tap into some serious processing power. It's a simple matter to add an effect: Just drag it from the effects palette to the transitions track between clips on Video A and Video B. Then the Nitro Magic dialog box opens, showing you 423 fantastic real time effects. You can put all your favorite effects into a directory you've made by using a method similar to the wipes. Except instead of a .wipes extension, give it an .effects extension.

There's even more real time power when you've finished building your project. Click Real Time Play in the File menu, and you're off and running with no rendering necessary, as long as you've used the set of transitions for real time, provided by Pinnacle. These are the ones that are controlled by the Pinnacle Reel Time card. Another really nice benefit of the card's real time functionality is the ability to edge view in real time. Go ahead! Scrub away, and your program monitor NTSC or PAL will show you the video.

To sum up: I trust Pinnacle -- there are good reasons why the company was rated the fastest-growing technology company in America. And, I've always liked Premiere. Maybe it's because it was the first nonlinear editing system I used, long ago in my Mac days. And, with the improvements in version 5.1, it's hard to pick on Premiere too much. It seems like it's been getting a bit of bad press lately, and I wonder why. I certainly like it a lot better than, say, Speed Razor. So, when you put the two together, you get a nice combination of speed and features that's hard to beat.

Pricing
ReelTime Nitro NTSC $8,995.00
ReelTime Nitro PAL $8,995.00
ReelTime NTSC $4,995.00
ReelTime PAL $5,995.00

Options:
DV/1394 I/O Option $1,695.00
Serial Digital Option (SDI) $2,195.00

Special thanks to Intergraph for the use of a TDZ 2000 GX-1 workstation as a test bed for the preparation of this report.

Charlie White has been writing about digital video editing since it was the laughingstock of the post-production industry. He's an Emmy award-winning producer and director for PBS, and Producer of this Web channel. Reach him at cwhite@digitalmedianet.com

Premiere/Pinnacle Page 3
	Here's a great trick you can do with Photoshop and the gradient wipes feature in ReelTime Magic. Get any grayscale edge and use it for a custom wipe in ReelTime Magic. For example, let's try this effect with a ragged edge. In Photoshop, create your edge in 720x486 for NTSC. Then add your own tab in the software by make a directory in Program Files/ReelTime/ReelTime wipes/NTSC by naming that directory with a .wipes extension. For example, name a file "my wipes.wipes" and it appears as a tab in the software. The real coolness of this hardware-software combination is the real time features. Right now, transitions are the benefactors of the real time enhancements, so when you want to go real time, choose a Pinnacle-enhanced transition in the transitions palette. Double-click on that transition and you'll get a dialog box that allows you to manipulate that transition however you wish. For more effects fun, click Nitro Magic for real-time 3D DVEs -- here's where you tap into some serious processing power. It's a simple matter to add an effect: Just drag it from the effects palette to the transitions track between clips on Video A and Video B. Then the Nitro Magic dialog box opens, showing you 423 fantastic real time effects. You can put all your favorite effects into a directory you've made by using a method similar to the wipes. Except instead of a .wipes extension, give it an .effects extension. There's even more real time power when you've finished building your project. Click Real Time Play in the File menu, and you're off and running with no rendering necessary, as long as you've used the set of transitions for real time, provided by Pinnacle. These are the ones that are controlled by the Pinnacle Reel Time card. Another really nice benefit of the card's real time functionality is the ability to edge view in real time. Go ahead! Scrub away, and your program monitor NTSC or PAL will show you the video. To sum up: I trust Pinnacle -- there are good reasons why the company was rated the fastest-growing technology company in America. And, I've always liked Premiere. Maybe it's because it was the first nonlinear editing system I used, long ago in my Mac days. And, with the improvements in version 5.1, it's hard to pick on Premiere too much. It seems like it's been getting a bit of bad press lately, and I wonder why. I certainly like it a lot better than, say, Speed Razor. So, when you put the two together, you get a nice combination of speed and features that's hard to beat. Pricing ReelTime Nitro NTSC $8,995.00 ReelTime Nitro PAL $8,995.00 ReelTime NTSC $4,995.00 ReelTime PAL $5,995.00 Options: DV/1394 I/O Option $1,695.00 Serial Digital Option (SDI) $2,195.00 Special thanks to Intergraph* for the use of a TDZ 2000 GX-1 workstation as a test bed for the preparation of this report.* Charlie White has been writing about digital video editing since it was the laughingstock of the post-production industry. He's an Emmy award-winning producer and director for PBS, and Producer of this Web channel. Reach him at cwhite@digitalmedianet.com