CineStream Video Editing

Compositions are essentially multiple video projects within a single project. This helps to keep all of your video and files for a single project in one location, but experiment with different versions of your program. I've also used this feature to compose complex montages for the opening of a DVD or Wedding Video, etc. Each composition appears in your Video Bin as a single video clip. So to create a segue from your opening sequence into your main movie, simply create the montage, then create the main program and slap the two together later. This helps me when I'm in one of those not-so-creative moods. I can skip past working on the creative parts of the program and just do some simple cuts-only editing later on in the show. Tomorrow when I come back and feel more creative I can work on the beginning sequence, as a separate composition, and when I'm finished I can simply slap the two together (in a third composition, that I name "Final Program"). I don't think there is a limit to the number of compositions you can create and mix and match. A true experimenter's paradise!

Large Picture Import (LPI) is something Adobe Premiere has had for a long time, but it is new to CineStream (EditDV 3.0). LPI allows you to bypass the import dialog box completely, when importing JPG and other supported formats. The import dialog converts your image to 720x480 image and creates a movie (.mov) file on your hard drive. While this has it's place, I find myself, more often than not, needing to zoom in on a picture or scan across the faces of a large family photo (like you see on the evening news). With LPI I can do this. LPI lets me import a photo or graphic that I've scanned in at, say, 2000x1000. Now I have a higher quality image to work with. Of course one can only fit 720x480 on a standard TV screen at any given time, so I can use the Pan and Scan and Cropping tools to Zoom in on a selected portion of the image, say a baby, and then zoom out to the mother holding the baby in her arms. This requires more rendering time (and so does Adobe Premiere), but the results are VERY professional and you will amaze your audience with your graceful images in motion. (Of course you can still use the old import dialog box as well).

Also the Pan and Scan and Crop filters have been updated to include many predefined screen formats including Cinema "scope" (2.35:1), 16x9 (1.85:1), standard TV (4:3) and many other popular sizes. This is nice because with the lowering cost of DVD-R drives ($1,000) and DVD-R media ($10), I'm starting to put most of my projects on DVD, if for no other reason than for mastering. DVD-R drives do not support CSS encryption, yet, so DVD is perfect for mastering and making VHS copies right in your home or small studio! With the right DVD creation software I can even create Anamorphic video presentations using the Cropping and Pan/Scan filters found in CineStream (EditDV 3.0). That way my DVD will play correctly on standard TVs now, and will instantly convert to the correct size on newer Widescreen TVs. Your customers (or just your family and friends) will love you for it later (when they finally catch the vision of HDTV and/or Widescreen TV). For best results with anamorphic video, use an anamorphic lens made for your camera.

And finally the new Smart Update feature. If you've never worked with EditDV 2.0, then you may not quite understand my gratitude for this new feature. In 2.0 when you rendered your program, you create a program track and "froze" the program up to that point. If you made changes to any section that was already rendered, you had to cut that section of the program track out of the "frozen" area. Doing this would tell your program that you had made some changes in this section and the next time you rendered you would want that section updated. This was not only time consuming, but could also get confusing and messy. It was a small price to pay for such a powerful little editor in most other respects. However, the new Smart update feature KNOWS when you've made a change to ANY part of your program. CineStream (EditDV 3.0) will actually indicate a yellow line on the section of program "frozen" track that has been updated. Next time you render, CineStream will find all the yellow lines, cut out the old and render the new in it's place! Wow! Okay, so I might sound like I'm overstating a very small feature found in most editors. But the addition of this feature alone, is such a time-saver and improvement over the already excellent editing package that I would have purchased the upgrade if it was the only new feature (but I also wanted LPI).

So, without reading the new manual, that's what I can tell you is awesome about the new CineStream (EditDV 3.0). There is one minor error I get when exiting the program, but as long as I've saved my work BEFORE exiting, I'm okay. I'm not sure what the error is all about, but I'm sure Media100 is aware of it and will have a patch available soon.