Edius or Premiere for HDV?

ripupthehwy

Well-known member
Hello, I'm currently trying out Edius 4.0. I am a current user of Premiere Pro 2.
I'm considering making the switch but before I purchase:
Which do most users here think is best for editing HD & especially HDV?

True, Canopus has much more realtime capability v.s. Premiere in SD on my Pent. D 3.4 Ghz system with 2 gig ram. But what about when I go to HD or HDV? I downloaded the sample clips canopus has available to test HD & HDV. Honestly, It doesn't seem anymore faster or realtime in Canopus than it does in Premiere. Add lots of dissolves or more than one layer of HD video and BOTH NLE's require rendering. Only one stream of HDV at 720/24p played without needing rendering in Canopus, but add lots of audio, dissolves and stuff, even with one layer you have to render parts of it. I hope that when I upgrade to the Extreme Core 2 Duo processor that will improve. Yes?

Now I know that Matrox has this nifty hardware for Premiere (RT.X2) that is supposed to give alot more realtime HDV functionality Plus DV & Analog Component Ins & Outs. Way cool.

Has ANYONE here had any experience with the Matrox RT.X2 vs. Canopus? I'd like to buy the Canopus but if the Matrox RT.X2 gives more gusto then maybe I should hold out until I can come up with the extra $1200 needed for it.

What about the Add on hardware Canopus sells(NX, DVX)? I was told (by a Canopus salesman) it doesn't add any speed or realtime functionality, just More inputs/outputs.

Sorry for the LOOOOONG post here guys.

ripupthehwy
 
Well, when it comes to hd, as you have discovered, you may be able to "get by" with your current system, but you will definitely want to look into moving towards the more current batch of dual core systems to handle hdv or dvcpro hd.

that said, I think when it comes to hdv, just pick the NLE that you are happiest with. I don't know how premiere handles HDV to be honest, but I would think that the difference between the two NLE's when it comes to HDV in real-time isn't going to be too great. (again, that is an assumption)
Now, when it comes to DVCPRO HD, that is a whole different ball park, and I would recommend that one seriously consider Edius (Broadcast) for its raw power and true native support of all formats HVX (and just about any other as well).

All of that said... you might look about two or three threads below this one. There is a thread titled "Should I go for Edius" that discusses exactly your question. Premiere or Edius with HDV. You might find some info. to help you there.

And that said, I currently am using EDIUS Broadcast 4 for DVCPRO HD footage and it simply screams. I haven't any major complaints thus far, but my experiences are limited.

Jason
 
DVCProHD is easier to edit than HDV. That's because HDV has those nasty long GOPs that require decoding one I frame plus all subsequent P frames, and it also uses compressed audio. DVCProHD uses intraframe compression, and PCM audio.

To deal with this, Canopus has two high-quality codecs, Canopus HQ and Canopus Lossless. You'll get better performance and better quality by going to one of these codecs for editing. HDV is an acquisition codec, but it blows for editing.

DVCProHD is not nearly as taxing on your system. I edited one project with three DVCProHD streams and three DV streams plus one WAV audio track with color correction and transitions in realtime on a 3.2GHz P4D 840EE with 2GB of RAM.
 
Edius vs Premiere for HDV... hmmm

Out of the box there is no comparison. Edius just works ! (where Premiere sucks !)

If you are long time Premiere user, then Premiere+CineForm is your answer. I am curently using CineForm ApsectHD with my HDV SONY FX1E and I am more then sutisfied. You can also have plenty other advantages besides real time performance. Check their site out.

I was flerting with Edius for a long time and still I consider it a great choice. CineForm has an exelent product and more then exelent costumer suport. Canopus has a great product and some great US employs that will be there for you here or in Canopus forums.

Either choice you cant lose.

Adobe has a mystic aproach when it comes to either costumer suport, updates, or compatibilty issues. Saying that I beleive there is much more in adobe's agenda that we think. I think this is the time to stick with Adobe, but hey I am probably wrong. Time will tell.

best
Andreas
 
ripupthehwy

I posted this on another thread but in case you havent seen it;

I just canned an 8 min 30 sec Tourism Promo for my government. Shot on JVC HD100, in 24P and 30P modes. Edited using HQ codec in a 23.976 720P timeline in Edius 4.

My comments. Edius has passed the torture test considering I was still running it in a Pentium 4 at 3.4ghz HT.
I finished the project using:
7 nested sequences.

on each sequence;
7 video trax
7 audio trax
7 title trax.

Minor composite work can now be done considering;
Edius can pan scan and scale using 3D p-in-p.
It can recognize alpha channels.
Though I still did the extensive ones in After effects.

Considerable color correction can be achieved with its, (in my opinion, misleadingly named) whitebalance filters.
I did the extreme color grading (ie, involving secondary color color correction) in color finesse in AE.

overall, I think, using HQ codec, Edius truly has matured and is quite stable in this version.

Its "consolidate project" feature is a professional touch that allowed me to archive the entire project for future revisions.

I have an old storm 2 card which i use "only" to view my footage and color corection on a SD monitor. Once im done, i switch project settings to HD and export.

If you are still doubtful which HD NLE path to migrate to, Edius 4 is worth it.
Ive used premiere for more than 10 years. Believe me, this is not an impulsive choice.
 
Teddybear -

Thanks for your input as I too have been a long time user of Adobe Premiere and am considering the PP2.0 vs. Edius Broadcast 4 scenario.

By the way are you located in the Philippines? I have a friend that lives on Bohol and also in Leyte.
 
Andrew Clark,

The island is a small community, do PM who your friends are here. I might know them too.

Are you doing Hi Def also? As you know PP2.0 is quite robust and handles SD quite well, my reason in going to Canopus is HD.
 
I just jumped from PP to EDIUS over two months ago: Edius in is a different league.

The way it handles video on the timline (that is mixing HD,HDV,MPEG,DV or whatever) is amazing and nothing like premiere's clunky playback.

I've not had a crash yet on EDIUS (though PP was always stable) - EDIUS is a steep learning curve and has some confusing logic, but it's all in the name of customisation.

It's a superb piece of software.
 
Thanks for all the input. One other thought: I noticed while looking into Avid Xpress that they boast that they edit HDV in its NATIVE form, without any converstion or transcoding. Sounds interesting, yet hard to believe. Anyone had any experience with it? Xpress is 2x the price of Premiere or Edius, but the color correcting abilities of it and it's native HDV editing claim have got me thinking.
 
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