Avid (Finally!) Offers Native HDV Editing

Although it was originally supposed to be available in January of this year, as of this month, Avid’s Xpress Pro version 5.2 NLE systems now include the ability to edit material shot on HDV tape without requiring a separate cross-conversion step. The company’s Media Composer Adrenaline HD system will include the feature by November.

Now editors working with these systems can import HDV material, or DV files, on the same timeline, and they will instantly recognize the file and allow an editor to work with it natively.

Native editing means that the bits of a specific file on your timeline are the same amount as the bits recorded to tape by the camera. It’s the same digital file with no loss of quality. You log and capture files into bins and edit with no limitations as to where edit points take place, exactly the same way you would with DV material. That’s why native editing is so important to those that do it on a daily basis. Waiting for a file conversion wastes time.

This new HDV support fits into Avid’s open-timeline strategy, which allows you to mix and match SD and HD formats and play them back to back at will. Patrick McLean, senior product manager for Avid’s NLE products, said this is a valuable feature because most of Avid’s customers use HDV footage as part of some larger project that could include DVCPro, HDCAM, DVCAM and even legacy analog Betacam SP tapes. The Avid MultiCam tool, found on the Xpress Pro and Adrenaline systems, also supports the open timeline, allowing you to do multi-camera productions in different formats and make it all look consistent and smooth.

Support for HDV has also been integrated into a new software version of Avid’s DNxHD mastering codec. Basically, Avid has adapted the codec to fit the different frame sizes of HDV, with one version for 1080i and another for 720p. Using DNxHD, editors creating multi-layered effects, graphics and transitions can work with the full HD color spectrum without signal degradation. Bringing HDV footage into the DNxHD codec allows users to work with the full raster of 1440 (Sony’s Z-1 1080i camcorder) pixels or 1280 (JVC’s GY-HD1OU 720p camera) pixels. Offering HD quality at SD data rates, the DNxHD codec can run at anywhere between 140 and 220 Mbps. That’s eight times more data than a compressed HDV signal, but much less bandwidth than full uncompressed HD.

Existing Xpress Pro customers with system version 5.0 can download the new 5.2 software for free. Those with XpressPro system 4.0 can get the new software for $50. Adrenaline version 2.2 will be available at the end of the month, with full HDV editing capability. For more information, visit www.avid.com/.