A VR1000 being used at the BBC to physically cut and splice video tape - the early version of editing known as Kamikaze.
Think CVA for videotape recycling.
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A Video Editing Timeline
Before the likes of Adobe, and even before the edit suite controllers, video tape was manually sliced by people with very precise razor blades.
Using a process that came to be known as Kamikaze editing, the early editors used a microscope, a cutting block, magnetic developing fluid and degauzed razor blades. For a clean cut, the tape had to be sliced at the video vertical interval between frames, found by painting the surface with a special developing fluid, which Ampex called Edivue. This essentially dyed the tape, exposing the magnetic scan lines to the the naked eye.
The first programme to air using this method was on CBS in 1958. It was called Playhouse 90. Rowan & Martin's Laugh In continued to make extensive use of the process, until NBC added a kinescope (see History Of Video Tape) into the mix, and produced The Fred Astaire Special. This was essentially an off-line editing technique.
Tape continued to be physically sliced and spliced, like film, throughout the 1960s, until timecode and computerized editing became common practice in the early 1970s.
Linear Video Editing
With the advent of computer-controlled edit suite controllers, the process became much less antiquated - and much less risky. These machines could orchestrate edits based on an Edit Decision List (EDL), which the editor programmed using in and out points. Taking these points, the controller could time the rollback precisely, and record a signal from the raw footage tape onto the edit master. This was achieved by the use of a timecode, which was either recorded on one of the audio tracks, or embedded within the video track.
Sony and Ampex manufactured these suites, as did CMX, and their widespread use can account for the music video boom of the 1980s.
The downside of this technique was the degradation of the image - editors were essentially making a second generation copy of the raw footage, which on video tape meant lower quality.
Non Linear Video Editing
So, to combat this, a way was found to edit material without modifying the source. Initially this meant edits were made off-line, then the EDL was used to make the programme on-line. But as hardware and software developed, it soon became possible to render the final product digitally, then output onto any desired medium. Any drop in video quality has now become so negligible as to be imperceptible.
The CMX 600, produced by CBS and Memorex, and made in the 1970s, was the first truly non-linear editing machine.
It had disk pack drives the size of washing machines, and recorded and played back in black and white. That's why it was used for off-line editing.
Video was stored digitally on mainframe computers, and the CMX 600 had a console with two built-in monitors. One was used to preview the video, and using a light pen, the editor could make edit decisions using superimposed menus. The other monitor displayed the edited video. Once the EDL was produced, an on-line editor could then make the physical edit master tape.
This process continued through the 1980s, being refined to control multiple video cassette recorders and even Laser Disc machines, until computing power progressed enough to enable true non-linear editing.
In 1985, Quantel introduced the world to Harry. Actually an effects compositing system, Harry had some non-linear capabilities - it could record upto 80 seconds of broadcast quality, non-compressed video.
As we know it today, non-linear editing using computers was first pioneered by Avid, who still remain the market leaders in the field. The Media Composer system, launched in 1988, was a hardware development based on the Apple Macintosh II. Avid also installed their editing software onto the machines, the first system to introduce familiar concepts such as timeline editing and clip bins.
But non-linear editing continued to be used as an off-line option, because the digital output of Media Composer was only about VHS resolution. Moreover, encoded in the M-JPEG format, video compression required such high processing speeds, it meant hardware was needed, as the software could not cope. Also, the data rate of digital video on these systems, and the limitations of removable storage at the time, meant that work had to be stored on fixed hard discs.
This next step was taken by Eidos in 1990. Early versions of its Optima suite used new compression software, allowing for lower bitrates. So it was possible for software to decode the video, without the need for more expensive hardware.
Another huge development came in the late 1990s, when DV tape formats became available. Because the video source was not recorded in an analogue fashion, it could be transferred onto the computer without compression and conversion. And with the new Firewire connections it became ever more simple. So true desktop editing became possible, with the ability to output the edited video at a broadcast quality.
There are currently three major providers of broadcast Non-Linear Editing Software - Avid, Final Cut and Adobe. These companies also publish software for the home market, along with other developers such as Pinnacle.
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Before the likes of Adobe, and even before the edit suite controllers, video tape was manually sliced by people with very precise razor blades.
Using a process that came to be known as Kamikaze editing, the early editors used a microscope, a cutting block, magnetic developing fluid and degauzed razor blades. For a clean cut, the tape had to be sliced at the video vertical interval between frames, found by painting the surface with a special developing fluid, which Ampex called Edivue. This essentially dyed the tape, exposing the magnetic scan lines to the the naked eye.
The first programme to air using this method was on CBS in 1958. It was called Playhouse 90. Rowan & Martin's Laugh In continued to make extensive use of the process, until NBC added a kinescope (see History Of Video Tape) into the mix, and produced The Fred Astaire Special. This was essentially an off-line editing technique.
Tape continued to be physically sliced and spliced, like film, throughout the 1960s, until timecode and computerized editing became common practice in the early 1970s.
Linear Video Editing
With the advent of computer-controlled edit suite controllers, the process became much less antiquated - and much less risky. These machines could orchestrate edits based on an Edit Decision List (EDL), which the editor programmed using in and out points. Taking these points, the controller could time the rollback precisely, and record a signal from the raw footage tape onto the edit master. This was achieved by the use of a timecode, which was either recorded on one of the audio tracks, or embedded within the video track.
Sony and Ampex manufactured these suites, as did CMX, and their widespread use can account for the music video boom of the 1980s.
The downside of this technique was the degradation of the image - editors were essentially making a second generation copy of the raw footage, which on video tape meant lower quality.
Non Linear Video Editing
So, to combat this, a way was found to edit material without modifying the source. Initially this meant edits were made off-line, then the EDL was used to make the programme on-line. But as hardware and software developed, it soon became possible to render the final product digitally, then output onto any desired medium. Any drop in video quality has now become so negligible as to be imperceptible.
The CMX 600, produced by CBS and Memorex, and made in the 1970s, was the first truly non-linear editing machine.
It had disk pack drives the size of washing machines, and recorded and played back in black and white. That's why it was used for off-line editing.
Video was stored digitally on mainframe computers, and the CMX 600 had a console with two built-in monitors. One was used to preview the video, and using a light pen, the editor could make edit decisions using superimposed menus. The other monitor displayed the edited video. Once the EDL was produced, an on-line editor could then make the physical edit master tape.
This process continued through the 1980s, being refined to control multiple video cassette recorders and even Laser Disc machines, until computing power progressed enough to enable true non-linear editing.
In 1985, Quantel introduced the world to Harry. Actually an effects compositing system, Harry had some non-linear capabilities - it could record upto 80 seconds of broadcast quality, non-compressed video.
As we know it today, non-linear editing using computers was first pioneered by Avid, who still remain the market leaders in the field. The Media Composer system, launched in 1988, was a hardware development based on the Apple Macintosh II. Avid also installed their editing software onto the machines, the first system to introduce familiar concepts such as timeline editing and clip bins.
But non-linear editing continued to be used as an off-line option, because the digital output of Media Composer was only about VHS resolution. Moreover, encoded in the M-JPEG format, video compression required such high processing speeds, it meant hardware was needed, as the software could not cope. Also, the data rate of digital video on these systems, and the limitations of removable storage at the time, meant that work had to be stored on fixed hard discs.
This next step was taken by Eidos in 1990. Early versions of its Optima suite used new compression software, allowing for lower bitrates. So it was possible for software to decode the video, without the need for more expensive hardware.
Another huge development came in the late 1990s, when DV tape formats became available. Because the video source was not recorded in an analogue fashion, it could be transferred onto the computer without compression and conversion. And with the new Firewire connections it became ever more simple. So true desktop editing became possible, with the ability to output the edited video at a broadcast quality.
There are currently three major providers of broadcast Non-Linear Editing Software - Avid, Final Cut and Adobe. These companies also publish software for the home market, along with other developers such as Pinnacle.
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