At NAB a company called Maximum Throughput, known for its Sledgehammer network storage arrays, showed a server-based workgroup editing solution called MAXedit Server Edition that allows small broadcasters to cost-effectively set-up multi-seat HD/SD editing workgroups. While the software is no substitute for an Avid, Quantel or Thomson workgroup solution—as Giovanni Tagliamonti, the company’s chief executive officer will quickly tell you—it does allow someone to use standard laptops and desktop PCs to handle frame-accurate editing of compressed or uncompressed multi-resolution content.
Because the editing is executed solely on the server and not the local workstation, editors can use inexpensive, standard equipped PCs or laptops rather than expensive NLE workstations. And there is no need to install or maintain a high-performance network because large files are only accessed by editors remotely via their Web browsers.
Multiple compressed and uncompressed SD/HD formats are supported, including the HDV, DVCPRO and MPEG-2 formats. And due to its server-based design, MAXedit reduces congestion on Local Area Networks (LANs), while still enabling real-time editing of HD/SD material.
With MAXedit Server Edition, several editors can work simultaneously from a single server, but they never move large video files to and from workstations over a LAN. The only data that moves between the clients and the server is low-bitrate editing commands. Editors edit live proxies of streaming media, which ensures frame-accurate, fluid editing and complete creative control over the content.
At NAB, Maximum Throughput also introduced a hosted, subscription-based online editing service that video professionals can access on demand from any location via the Web, making it ideal for TV news crews on the go. Called MAXedit Web Edition, the service leverages the company’s servers in Boston, MA. and costs $100 per month. A demo at the show revealed fast response and seamless editing and preview of effects in real time. Very cool.
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