Edius is Here!

[Gary Bettan]

Canopus' new NLE solution Edius is now in stock!

It requires DV Storm or REX RT hardware to function. It gives owners of these cards the NLE solution they have been longing for. Canopus took the time to listen to its users and provide the tools and features they wanted most. It is a very powerful program the maximizes the real-time power of your Canopus hardware while still giving you the rock solid stability you have come to knwo and love.

Edius is on sale for $299. This is an intro special that expires August 31st.

We've also put together some really cool promotional bundles with Ulead DVD Workshop w/ AC3!!

Edius & DVD Workshop AC3 $599.95
DV Storm & Edius & DVD WS AC3 $1499

For more info http://www.videoguys.com/edius.html

Gary

[Nigel Moore]

From what I've seen of the Canopus promo, it didn't look that exciting. But then I only have a Craptor-RT, and I don't use the POS.

[Mike Rehmus]

I've been using Canopus DVRexRT for about 4 years now and have to say it is great. Reliable, fast, and the quality is the best.

Edius is in its early days right now and a lot of people are having problems with it. Systems that perfectly run Premiere or RexEdit won't run Edius. Problems seem to abound with it right now.

I'd counsel a wait before you buy this package. Maybe a month or so. And go to the Canopus Web site and read the Edius Forum postings so you are informed.

That said, I just got Edius installed today and it seems to work. But I have not completed the tutorial and tried everything.

It is not a Premiere replacement, BTW. It is a Rex/Storm-Edit replacement, e.g., a production tool. The last thing the world needs is another bloated video editing program.

[Robert Knecht Schmidt]

Hm, I thought that was the point of EDIUS--a fully-featured editor on par with Premiere in terms of varied capability.

It must do quite a bit more than Storm Edit.

Me, I'm not making any more major purchases for standard definition editing. I'm convinced that desktop HD editing is a year away from commonplace.

[Mike Rehmus]

<<<-- Originally posted by Robert Knecht Schmidt : Hm, I thought that was the point of EDIUS--a fully-featured editor on par with Premiere in terms of varied capability.
-->>>

That wasn't what quite a bunch of us wanted. What we wanted was a finished Rex/Storm edit that was capable of fast and good work and with a feature set that would be reasonable for commercial work, not the release of Matrix IV.

It must do quite a bit more than Storm Edit.

It does and it doesn't.

Me, I'm not making any more major purchases for standard definition editing. I'm convinced that desktop HD editing is a year away from commonplace.

Commonplace HD editing is a lot further out than that. There are no consumer HD recoding devices and the televisions/monitors that are available are very expensive. Not at all down in the mass-market price range.

Think of the acceptance rate of DVD and how long that took. And one did not have to buy a new TV to view the video. Even DVD recorders with all their quality and other great attibutes are not here today. When they get down to a few hundred dollars, then they will replace the VCR. Just my opinion backed up by a look at consumer spending habits.

[Robert Knecht Schmidt]

"Commonplace HD editing is a lot further out than that. There are no consumer HD recoding devices..."

If you mean "recording devices," JVC has a line of decks on their way. I saw them at Cannes this year. Occasional dropout, yes, but the image quality was quite satisfactory. I watched some sample movies and I wasn't able to perceive any compression distortion, which impressed me, especially when it came to the CGI film Ice Age. (Video with nonphotoreal tone gradations doesn't lend itself well to DCT compression techniques.) They're equipped with firewire in/out.

"...and the televisions/monitors that are available are very expensive. Not at all down in the mass-market price range."

HD monitors aren't much more expensive than midrange editing hardware.

"Think of the acceptance rate of DVD and how long that took."

True. But then, imagine spending $1000 on VHS cassettes in 1998, only to find your complete collection is out on DVD with all sorts of bonus features just 2 years later.

[Mike Rehmus]

<<<-- Originally posted by Robert Knecht Schmidt : "Commonplace HD editing is a lot further out than that. There are no consumer HD recoding devices..."

If you mean "recording devices," JVC has a whole line of decks on their way. I saw them at Cannes this year. Occasional dropout, yes, but the image quality was quite satisfactory. I watched some sample movies and I wasn't able to perceive any compression distortion, which impressed me, especially when it came to the CGI film Ice Age. (Video with nonphotoreal tone gradations doesn't lend itself well to DCT compression techniques.)

Having recording devices shown at a show or special function isn't the same as delivery to consumers.


"...and the televisions/monitors that are available are very expensive. Not at all down in the mass-market price range."

HD monitors aren't much more expensive than midrange editing hardware.

It isn't the lack of pro gear, it's the lack of gear for our customers to use that is missing.

"Think of the acceptance rate of DVD and how long that took."

True. But then, imagine spending $1000 on VHS cassettes in 1998, only to find your complete collection is out on DVD with all sorts of bonus features just 2 years later.

Yes but the world is full of decisions like that. To forgo the VHS cassettes meant that you would have had to wait until the DVD versions were available. Presumably you had some utility out of the $1,000 in that time period. Not all of the bonus material is worth even the viewing time as everyone runs to add value to their DVD products.

I think this thread would gather more participation on another forum.

[Rick Spilman]

I gave up on waiting for Canopus about a year ago.

I still use RexRT for color correction and keying but use Vegas for editing. I've downloaded the Edius demo but haven't gotten around to playing with it yet. Not too impressed by what I have heard but will give it a chance when I get a moment.

I have this sneaking suspicion that "Edius" is a Japanese pronunication of "Idiots". I feel like an idiot for waiting for Canopus as long as I did.

[Mike Rehmus]

I've found that the RexRT still has a great deal of value. Not many other companies offer something as fast and reliable. RexEdit meets most of my editing needs for fast and furious, quality editing. For other needs, I've just used After Effects.

Between my last post and this one, I've put Edius up on my secondary editing computer. It works perfectly and almost removes any need I have for AE except for special needs. It's faster than RexEdit (if that is possible), does more and has, so far, great error recovery (my errors).

I have not been able to force myself to use a non-realtime editing software package (I know, I know, AE isn't realtime) so Edius is great for me. It can only get better.

I don't know if my experience is unique with Edius. I run hardware that is completely approved by Canopus. My systems never crash while I'm editing.

So, after 4 years with Canopus, I'm probably here for another 4 at least. Hard to find another editing product that has that kind of lifetime. Canopus has always said their gear is extendable and so far that is (slowly) true.

But most of the Pinnacle and Matrox crowd have gone through 3 or 4 new products if they want support. Canopus still supports the ole M1 card and albeit slowly.

Ain't it great we have all these choices?

[K. Forman]

I have the DV Storm setup, in tandem with Premiere. I seem to only use Storm for color corrections and capture ( But ONLY if it is DV. Canopus doesn't work unless it's DV!), and use Premiere for Edits and compositing. I might consider using Canopus for editing, but they would need to make some major changes to their tools and interface.

[Mike Rehmus]

Download the Edius demo and take a look. Seems to be all there for me although I do have some improvements in mind.

Learing a new interface is no hassle. I assume you don't like the UI of StormEdit?

I don't do anything but DV unless it's a transfer to BetaSP for a commercial so the limits aren't important.

I assume you mean 'edit in DV' because you can feed in most styles of analog if you really need to (costs $ though) but you have to be satisfied with a conversion to DV.

[K. Forman]

"I assume you mean 'edit in DV' because you can feed in most styles of analog if you really need to (costs $ though)"

What I mean is, if I have something on VHS or even an old avi, Storm just looks at me stupidly and goes "Duh?" I realise I could spend some cash and get the stuff to convert what I have, but I have Premiere. It doesn't care what I feed it, it just wants to play with me.

On the other hand, I don't have the cash to buy what I need, let alone extra stuff to make Storm work with other formats.

[Mike Rehmus]

Storm has analog inputs as does my M1 card. Both composite and S-Video for the video and the normal RCA jacks for audio. It has that capability even if it doesn't have the Storm Edit Bay, doesn't it?

If you have the connectors, all you need is a tape player (like a VHS VCR) for the tape you have and the cables.

Type 1 AVI's can be converted by Canopus' very fast and free AVI converter software. All it has to do is change the headers on the files AFAIK.

What I meant by 'costs though', is if I had a BetaSP tape and didn't want to pay someone to convert it to DV, I'd have to purchase the component input card for the M1 and a BetaSP deck.

VHS, S-VHS, Hi-8, and other common formats load right in.