"DPS Takes the Pole Position at NAB" by George Avgerakis While it's obvious that the proliferation of new nonlinear editing (NLE) systems continues, the real battle seems to be waging on three fronts: Speed, Functionality and Access to
Streaming. Me? I like speed. I want to get into an edit and out of an edit in as little time as possible. What's more, I want to be able to record my results on video, MPEG2 (for DVD output), MPEG1 (for
CD output) and then stream the whole mess out on Progressive's Real format. Well, if speed and access to streaming are your criteria for choice, you will no doubt end your search at DPS. The latest
offering from Digital Processing Systems (DPS) is Velocity; well named, since I believe it to be, quite frankly, the fastest nonlinear editing system on earth. Admire its gears, springs and escapements, if you
will. I'll submit my rough-cut, fine tune to the client's specifications, add a particular bit of wizardry to make their mouths go, "Mmmm," collect my check and walk happily to the bank in the time it takes
other editors (not Bob, because he's still a lot faster than me), are still logging their B-roll. Of course, without Velocity, I'd still be labeling my tapes! The Hardware DPS Velocity consists of a single-IRQ,
PCI board called the Reality, (please don't ask for the story behind these two names - it's long, boring and involves nice people who didn't call a marketing consultant). Sold as a turnkey package or as a built-it-yourself
board set, the product comes bundled with Inscriber character generator, Reality Animation Frame Capture, Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge and the "Adobe After Effects killer," Eyeon Digital Fusion for compositing.
Incidentally, the Reality Animation Frame Capture software has a cool, little used, "intervalometer." That's an old film term for a mechanism that will record one frame over a specific interval of time. Using
this device, you can hook up a camera to the Reality card, point it out the window and make time-lapse videos of flowers blooming, clouds passing - you get the idea. Lots of optional third party plug-ins are available for the
Velocity, like the Progressive Real Video streaming server; Soundscape, Boris Effects, Lightwave and 3-D Max. These useful programs can be loaded and run simultaneously in the same computer as Velocity. The standard model
Velocity is offered in 2-D or with an optional integrated 3D upgrade - and features two video layers and two graphics layers working in real time. Standard input/outputs include composite, Y/C and component. Compression
ratios are set, numerically, at any increment from uncompressed (over 10 MB/sec.) to levels which represent the lowest denominator in offline imagery. All ranges of captured video may be placed on the timeline simultaneously
and played back. A real-time proc amp and waveform-vectorscope are offered to allow you to monitor the performance of your VTR and recordings. For audio recording, an 8 track, 48 kilohertz analog audio subassembly with XLR
and RCA connectors is built in as standard equipment. I would recommend purchase of the optional breakout box, which is a compact, single height, half depth, rack mountable box with all video, audio and RS-422 machine control
connections built in. The result is a clean equipment profile with one large cable snaking out of the computer to the rack, instead of a vast octopus of tangled connectors. The price of the standard card, ready for
integration into a suitable NT computer, is $2,995. The suggested computer is a 166 MHz or better Intel type machine with at least 64 megs of RAM and two fast wide SCSI hard drives for audio and video media storage. Our
test bed consists of a Compaq 250, which was configured at DPS. It sports an internal Seagate 18 gig Cheetah drive for audio media and two, outboard, 50 gig Seagate Cheetah drives for storing the video. A
Hewlett-Packard scanner supplies flat art grabs, while footage is supplied by a JVC BR-D 85U, D-9 digital VTR. Our test system is also equipped with all the optional bells and whistles that DPS offers for Velocity, which may
be acquired at original purchase or added as your needs and budget allow. Turnkey Offerings A turnkey, standard DPS Velocity system, housed in a Pentium Two computer core, loaded with 256 meg of RAM and an 18 gig hard drive for
$PRICE. Offering everything but the monitors, this is the entry level system for any editor who does not want to submit himself to the indignity of cobbling a system from scratch, or paying an inexperienced VAR to learn how
to do it. I highly advise the turnkey option since all of the complications and installation learning curve crashes are absorbed by DPS for very little overhead. And the box is a cool, flat black. Optional Equipment
The first Velocity option to consider are the newly offered capabilities of acquiring and outputting in DV, SDI or combined DV and SDI, each with digital audio I/O in AES/EBU and SPDIF. Either of these options advances the
editor into a realm of transparent editing which is a hallmark of the digital age. While the DV option allows 25 megabit per second, 4:1:1 throughput and precise machine control for capturing and laying back to a DV camera
or VTR, the SDI option allows full 4:2:2 component digital at 50 megabits per second, which has been determined by the SMPTE as the minimum requirement for DTV. In other words, if you're looking to extend your NTSC tapes up
to HDTV outlets by upconverting, the Velocity's SDI option will serve you well for the next few transitional years. The cost of the DV option, with full machine control included, is $XXX. The SDI option is $XXX and the
combination DV/SDI option is $XXX. The second option to consider is real time 3D effects. While the standard Velocity offers a wide assortment of real time 2D effects and transitions, the 3D effects and transitions must be
rendered, taking one back to the nostalgic days of yesteryear when you had to wait for things to happen. Opt for the real time 3D daughter card and you can amaze your clients with warps and page turns that respond, instantly,
to every whim of your mouse. The real time 3D option costs $XXX. Fastest Interface Velocity offers the most intuitive editing interface I've ever seen. While this system may not appeal to the highest end, commercial editor, corporate
communications editors will find this a very easy system to learn and maintan. Recently, we had occassion to train a new operator. We sat him down at the Velocity with the documentation at arm's reach and within 45
minutes he was cutting a documentary. Velocity can perform any function directly from the mouse or for traditionalists - by keyboard equivalents. Shots are captured in the gallery and then moved
directly to the timeline by drag-and-drop. Entire ranges of clips can be sent to the timeline in the order of their appearance in the gallery, making cuts-only assemblies very fast. Wherever a clip on track one
overlaps a clip on track two, a transition clip appears between them, with a duration equivalent to the amount of overlap. A shifted-double-click on the transition will bring up over 400 premade 2D and 3D effects - over 200
in real time with no rendering whatsoever. Don't like these, make your own by clicking on "customize" to see how the premade effect was created. Change these parameters to tap into an infinite variation of
effects in minutes. Double clicking on a transition, however, will pop up an elaborate trim window. Using this window, the transition itself may be scrubbed (that is, simultaneous trimming the tail of the outgoing shot and
the head of the incoming shot!). Double-clicking on any clip in the gallery or on the timeline will evoke the trim window, actuating trims of the indicated clip. The trim window features elaborate controls,
including several buttons which indicate how the clip may be inserted between two other clips on the timeline (push toward head, push toward tail, erase head of following shot, erase tail of outgoing shot, erase head or tail of
clip, whatever!). Once on the timeline, a clip may be deleted, copied, moved, inserted and adjusted by tail and head point using the mouse or keyboard. If you attempt to move a shot into a gap or seam between two other
shots, a choice window, offering the same options as the trim window appears. Simply click the icon that represents your desire, and the timeline adjusts accordingly. Compositing on the Fly More than traditional editing,
modern NLEs are attaining attributes that were previously reserved for render intensive programs like Adobe After Effects and Eyeon Digital Fusion. Velocity makes the creation of complex, layered composites easy and
fast. Take, for instance a picture-in-picture effect between two video clips, possible in real time on Velocity. Then add two simultaneous titles moving over the video, also possible in real time. Still
working in real time, a Velocity operator could effect each of the video clips (a blur effect on one, and, say a color change on the other) without necessitating a render. Let's assume, however, that this four layer effect needs
to be the basis of yet another four layer effect. Simple. The operator merely requests a render of the first group, the render is accomplished at play time. Although all the tracks remain in view on the timeline,
they now work as if they were one and the operator can continue to add one more video and two more character generator tracks. Need more layers? Render the new composite at real time and continue to add additional
layers. In this way, all the previous layers are visible for changing and tweaking. Even if the first layer is changed, Velocity is smart enough to know precisely which parts of the composition need re-rendering and the
operator may execute this process in the minimal amount of time. When the editor requires a slow motion or fast motion adjustment of a clip, either of Velocity's two DVE channels can be used to actuate sub-pixel, real time
rendering of the clip such that the result is smooth and free of jutter. This feature is employed in Velocity's fit-and-fill commands where an existing gap in the timeline can be filled by a clip whose length does not match
the gap. Audio Enhancements
Velocity features and improved, real time, parametric equalizer, that can be set to effect the entire clip, or an entire track. Track equalization is a major improvement which is useful in handling an large batch of
acquisitions that have the same fault in the audio, such as a tape which was shot with the Dolby off. In the past, editors had to equalize each clip on the timeline or acquire the entire tape with an equalized setting, prior
to editing. Employing Velocity's SDI option, editors have the ability to acquire in RCA, XLR, SP/DFF or embedded SDI audio. Since our bays are equipped with JVC's D-9 decks, we acquire direct SDI in both
video and audio, realizing a significant improvement in signal-to-noise ratio. Editors employing Digital Betacam will realize similar improvements. Batch Capturing and Printing to Tape Real time batch capture and print to
tape for all key formats, including DV and SDI make the journey into and out of the Velocity editor a simple and easily replicable task. This attribute is particularly useful for DV producers who wish to use their DV cameras
as both playback and master record devices. Velocity allows direct machine control of any RS-422 or Firewire equipped deck, including such DV cameras as the Canon XL-1, Sony DVX-1000 and JVC DV-500U. Batch captures may be
executed at a low resolution, saved like and EDL, modified after the fine cut edit, and reloaded into Velocity to control a recapture at higher resolutions for the final edit. Once approved, the higher resolution edit may be
"printed" back to tape, even within the DV camera, for a seamless, completely digital edit path. Velocity even supports frame accurate print-to-tape, using SMPTE code to perform inserts on masters. This eliminates
the need to re-record the entire master when, for instance, a client requests a minor change in the middle of the program. And for those of you who are moving into HD or using your nonlinear system for offline editing, Velocity
exports and imports EDLs from all leading editing programs. Internet Ready in Real Time I've saved the most amazing attributes of Velocity for last. At NAB2000 there was a lot of attention spent on video streaming for the Internet, and to
a lesser degree, creating files that were compliant to CD and DVD standards. Many NLEs featured methods of rendering videos to MPEG1 and 2 and even the more popular formats of web streaming such as Progressive's Real Video
algorithm. DPS does them all in real time. Let's assume you have a completed edit, ready for a CD, DVD or web streaming. Simple pull down the "export" menu in Velocity and select either MPEG1, MPEG2, AVI,
Quicktime or Progressive Real. Set the cursor at the beginning of the timeline and press the space bar. As the show plays, you create a file in the selected format. The Progressive format, converts so fast that
Velocity can be equipped with a Progressive Server License, hooked to a DSL modem and streamed directly to a client or audience!
If that isn't enough, let me quote the Gen-Su knife salesman and say, "But that's not all!" Let's assume you want to host a live Internet program direct from your edit bay (or on location with a switcher playing
directly into a portable DPS Velocity). Velocity allows for any live source (camera, VTR or switcher) to be represented in the gallery and on the timeline as an editable clip! This feature is totally unique!
Simply take the green "Live" icon, stretch it on the timeline to represent the amount of minutes you want a live input to run through your edit, and that input will stream, in real time, onto the Internet or into a CD,
DVD, Quicktime or MPEG file! So you have this corporate CEO scripted to do a 30 minute presentation and the script calls for three graphics and a prerecorded interview to be presented at 5 minutes into the show. Put
the graphics on the second track of the timeline, select an appropriate transition and at the specific time, the live track transitions to the graphics and prerecorded clip and then transitions back to the live source just as if
the live clip were an acquired element. Just watch for the coming blitz of Velocity powered, live Internet shows coming soon on a dot-com near you. Team DPS Digital Processing Systems was founded as a creator of rack mounted
engineering gear back in 1979, making it one of the few, if not the only nonlinear editing manufacturer that predates nonlinear editing. DPS became famous to the average videographer when it invented the Personal TBC for the
Amiga, reducing the cost of this heretofore $3,500 tool to $750 and greatly assisting the desktop video revolution that began with the Video Toaster in 1991. Today, DPS is the only NLE manufacturer that offers both its own
hardware and the software as either a turnkey or build-it-yourself version. This advantage means that upgrades, which do not rely on another company's drivers to be written, are faster to market and more stable to run.
It also means that technical support calls are addressed without finger-pointing. Documentation, which in Velocity's case, is two volumes, well written and illustrated, covers both the hardware installation and the software
operation. A very nice package if you've ever experienced the alternative, accompanied by a new video and tutorial program. Technical support, by the way, is available 9 to 5. M-F, Central Standard Time by toll-free
hotline. The technical support team are coordinated by the ever cheerful Connie Webster who gets to know the users on a first name basis, keeps up to date on their current issues and manages to always find the most
appropriate support technician in a reasonable amount of time. Over the years, DPS has built a great network of dealers who offer qualified training for your editors and an extensive home-based training curriculum, though,
personally, I see little need to train on a system that's as intuitive as Velocity. Maybe for first time editors - maybe. Executive Summary DPS Velocity is a broadcast quality, nonlinear editing system which may be
purchased turnkey or as self-installed components. Available with several options, the software employs the most easy to learn nonlinear editing system available. Since the same software interface is employed across all
of DPS's nonlinear editing systems, from the $300 EditBay to the full blown Velocity, DPS may be an excellent choice for high schools, colleges and finally, professional editing suites that rely on a steady stream of qualified
operators. Compatible to both WindowsNT and Windows 2000, DPS Velocity is highly stable and offers a vast array of professional features. |