The evolution of digital video is amazing. A decade ago, we had herky-jerky QuickTime movies the size of a postage stamp with video streams that couldn't keep up with the audio streams. Editing systems cost tens of thousands of dollars. Getting the hardware and software to work together properly was so difficult, you could only purchase an Avid or Media 100 system from a small number of developer-certified retail channels.
Today almost any off-the-shelf computer can edit video, but the 800-pound gorilla of the desktop video editing universe is Apple's $999 Final Cut Pro, which of course only runs on Apple systems. I estimate close to 90 percent of the video being produced by independent video shops today is cut on Final Cut Pro. And with good reason: Final Cut Pro does an outstanding job of allowing editors to spend their time editing instead of tearing their hair out in frustration.
Now Adobe is challenging Final Cut's dominance with the Adobe Video Collection. The $999 Standard version (there's currently a $799 introductory offer on Adobe's web site) features the Premiere Pro video editor, Audition sound editor, After Effects 6 Standard multilayer effects compositor, and Encore DVD authoring software. The $1,499 Pro version upgrades After Effects Standard to After Effects Pro with additional features, and throws in the latest version of Photoshop for good measure.
This week we'll take a look at Premiere Pro and Audition, and next week I'll discuss After Effects 6 and Encore DVD.
Premiere Reborn
The Video Collection represents a sea change in Adobe's desktop video strategy. Of the five programs in the Pro bundle, only After Effects and Photoshop run on the Mac—the other programs are Windows-only. This is particularly significant in the case of Premiere Pro, which for over ten years has run on both platforms. Adobe has essentially admitted it cannot compete head-to-head with Final Cut Pro on the Mac.
2008 International Mathematica Conference Dr. Dobb's interviews Wolfram Research's Theo Gray, co-founder and Director of User Interfaces, and Roger Germundsson, Director of Research and Development, about the upcoming 2008 International
Mathematica Conference.
How Do You Do Nightly Builds and Tests when there is No Overnight? Software Production in a Geographically Distributed Environment
Attend this Webcast and find out how to overcome common build-test-deploy challenges that affect all members of a distributed team, including:
<ul>
<li> Communication difficulties, because of time-zone and cultural differences</li>
<li> Workflow challenges, like lack of documented procedures and build and test handoff problems</li>
<li> Slow build and test cycles, broken builds, and other factors that hamper distributed team productivity</li>
</ul>
Thursday, September 25, 2005 " 11am PT / 2pm ET
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In this volume of Best of BYTE, we explore the emergence of some heuristic algorithms. Although we have only scratched the surface of this intriguing subject, we hope we've suggested the potential of the synthesis of heuristics and algorithms.
Understand C/C++ code in less time. A new team member ? Inherited legacy code ? Get up to speed faster with Crystal Flow for C/C++. Code-formatting improves readability. Flowcharts are integrated with code browser. Export flowcharts to Visio.
