Avid Newscutter Mobile Non-Linear Editor
The mobile nonlinear editing revolution is in full swing, offering many news rooms faster location shoot-to-broadcast times and increased overall efficiency. The logistical and financial benefits of a mobile system can even provide news rooms with the ability to get stories that would not have been practical or possible with older equipment and a full road crew.
While the decision to go mobile is relatively straightforward, the quest for a reliable system that can integrate seamlessly with existing newsroom systems has not been easy. Until recently, portable newsroom pioneers assembled systems using disparate technologies and workarounds, possibly creating more problems than the mobile system solved.
With the recent release of NewsCutter XP Mobile, Avid Technology quite possibly handed over the mobile grail by producing a notebook NLE with a familiar user interface, high-powered editing capabilities and plenty of news server integration support.
Features
NewsCutter XP Mobile ($9,000) is essentially a portable version of Avid’s newsroom-oriented NewsCutter Effects and NewsCutter XP systems. It can easily integrate with a range of existing news servers and networks through the industry standard TCP/IP protocol, but the system really shines when incorporated into Avid’s integrated newsroom solutions such as Unity and iNews.
When used in this manner, NewsCutter is capable of bidirectional media and Avid metadata transfers, allowing stories in progress originating in the newsroom to be taken on the road and vice versa. Existing run downs, scripts and edit decision lists can be kept with the project, reducing set up and down time and eliminating duplicate data entry; the potential for human-introduced communication errors is thus reduced as well.
NewsCutter XP Mobile features the near-universal Avid interface and full-scale editing functionality in a single stream package. Avid has also added to the interface several features designed to improve upon and speed up the standard nonlinear editing process.
Avid NewsCutter XP Mobile is a software-only system, relying on the computer’s native processor to do the DSP work. The package includes the main software application, online and printed documentation, Avid Unity TransferManager software, Discreet’s CleanerEZ 5 software, color-coded keycap labels and a USB authorization key.
The system supports the DV25 and DV50 standards in NTSC and PAL formats. With optional I/O hardware, component, composite and serial digital signals can be used with the mobile NewsCutter; Serial Data Transport Interface is also optionally supported. Timecode-locked and asynchronous video transfers are possible, and the software supports full VTR emulation for incorporation in automation systems.
On the audio side, up to four channels of simultaneous audio locked to video is supported (two channels at 48 kHz/16-Bit, four at 32 kHz/16-Bit). Eight audio tracks are available for mixing and editing with full automation capabilities. A variety of real time and AudioSuite plug-ins are supplied, including compression, gating/expansion, delay, EQ and time compression/expansion.
Minimum system requirements are a Pentium III processor running at 750 MHz, 256 MB of RAM, a 20 GB hard drive, a CD-ROM drive and Microsoft Windows 2000 with service pack 2 installed. An OHCI-compliant IEEE 1394 interface is also required. Should additional storage be needed, Avid recommends using an external firewire drive as opposed to adding other notebook-oriented storage solutions.
When possible, opt for a better-than-minimum computer system to leave room for future growth and to ensure solid performance under heavy loads. Since NewsCutter XP Mobile supports direct-to-DVD creation, a DVD burner is an excellent option to consider.
Avid has qualified several easily available notebook computers including Compaq Evo Notebook N600c, IBM ThinkPad T23, Dell Latitude C610, Dell Latitude C810 and Dell Precision M40 Mobile Workstation. The latter two notebooks come standard with an Avid-qualified firewire interface. In addition to current models, Avid helpfully lists a number of qualified-but-discontinued notebooks on its website. As an ongoing process, Avid will post new models as they clear the qualification process.
As mentioned earlier, Avid has added several innovative features to the otherwise standard Avid user interface that are geared towards the fast-paced world of news gathering. Some of these features speed up the nonlinear editing process in general, and are sure to become standard in non news-oriented editing systems as well.
One such example is the Edit to Timeline feature which makes footage available for editing as it is captured. This time saving feature allows the user to get started on editing during the transfer process without having to wait until the digitizing is completed.
Another new feature is the Alternate Edit function. Pre-selected alternative shots can be quickly cycled in and out of the timeline, allowing fast contextual decision making and speeds up re-versioning of a sequence for alternate use.
The AutoVO function is a handy tool for re-purposing, re-versioning and archiving footage; it essentially allows a story to be quickly stripped of its SOT footage. The user designates the appropriate SOT audio track and the correlating shots are automatically cut out of the timeline, leaving only b-roll. This is great for taking a finished piece and re-versioning it for live anchor use. The AutoVO function can also operate in reverse, discarding the b-roll and leaving only the SOT footage for archiving purposes.
As with any application of this scope, there are many more features than can be covered in this review. For a complete list of features, please visit Avid’s website.
In Use
Installation of the application was simple and essentially automatic, with the minor exception of downloading a more recent DV driver. I installed the NewsCutter XP Mobile application on an 1.2 GHz Dell Latitude C810 with 256 MB of RAM and a 45 GB internal hard drive. I plugged in the application key into the one of the USB slots and launched the application.
Like other Avid systems, upon launching the program you are asked to choose a user profile and project (or create new ones). The NewsCutter interface is highly customizable and all personal preferences are stored within each user’s profile — a necessity for a much-used product in a busy environment. Trust me: like a new sports car, everyone wants to check out the “Notebook Avid.”
As I prepared to transfer footage I shot earlier from a Canon XL-1 into the NewsCutter, I ran into a slight snag: unlike most other firewire-equipped laptops I’ve encountered, the Dell computer uses the same mini four pin firewire connection found on DV cameras. Of course, the only cable commonly stocked is the four to six pin variety; I finally found a four pin to four pin cable in the fifth store I tried.
Shortly thereafter, I was up and transferring. I am happy to report that this was the one and only frustration or glitch I encountered while reviewing the NewsCutter XP Mobile system, and it wasn’t even related to the software!
Now on to answering the big questions: Can such a powerful editing system be made to run natively on an off-the-shelf notebook computer without sacrificing quality or features? Can it produce professional, broadcast-quality video with no dropped frames or phantom glitches from a timeline sequence containing real-time transitions, several tracks of audio and intense automation data? I hate to spoil the suspense, but the answer, after extensive and intensive use, is a resounding “Yes!”
I proceeded to put the system through the paces, dumping in timecode-controlled video, wild video, live voiceovers and several formats of prerecorded audio files. Conveniently, NewsCutter XP Mobile can import CD audio (CDA) tracks directly into a project bin. NewsCutter recognized that the project I was working on was using 48 kHz audio and asked me if I would like to convert from the CD’s 44.1 kHz on the fly.
I had no trouble getting around the familiar interface and was able to create and output several complex and system-taxing projects of varying length without any troubles. The real-time transitions worked as advertised and, when rendering was required, I was surprised by the speed.
When I encountered differences in this Avid from that which I was already familiar, I initially thought they were shortcomings related to the downsizing (and down-pricing) of the system for mobile use. After a little research and practice, I humbly admit most turned out to actually be improvements in efficiency.
To get second and third opinions, I also asked John Warnock and Julian Thomson, two full-time Avid editors, to put the system to the test. Their experience with the mobile system confirmed my findings: the system was surprisingly robust and efficient. They found the interface to be familiar yet not without a few new tricks up its sleeve.
Summary
The Avid NewsCutter XP Mobile system is a breakthrough product for the television news community. But it should not be overlooked for use in other markets as well. Avid MediaComposer users will find that, despite its name, NewsCutter XP Mobile also functions well as a standalone portable editing system for a variety of video editing duties.
Its ease of use, innovative features and its built in, scalable interfacing abilities — from two mobile systems talking to each other over a self-contained mini-network to total integration in a full-scale iNews/Unity/AirSpace newsroom — combine to make NewsCutter XP Mobile a major force in the mobile editing revolution — and in this case, the revolution will be televised. News at 11.
Stephen Murphy, former editor of TV Technology’s sister publication, Pro Audio Review, is a freelance audio and video producer with over 20 years experience in integrated media production.