In the last three issues, I have discussed VelocityHD, the Avid and Adobe suites, Apple's Motion, and Serious Magic's DV Rack — all of which were big news at NAB. It would be remiss of me not to discuss two other NLE software announcements that drew significant excitement: Apple Final Cut Pro HD and Pinnacle Liquid HD.

Final Cut Pro HD is essentially FCP 4.5 with the added ability to edit native DVCPRO HD files with no recompression or image degradation. The application also allows HD preview monitoring on an Apple Cinema HD Display.

This new version supports XML workflow and integrates with the hot new Motion effects compositing application. The system can render out to almost any professional format. (For further reading, the Apple website has a 24-page PDF white paper on the integration of Apple's postproduction applications at http://images.apple.com/finalcutpro/pdf/Using_Pro_Apps_Together.pdf.)

The other news is that FCP HD will work with the announced Xsan to create a collaborative workflow environment, the lack of which was one of the product's previous weaknesses. I will report more on Xsan when the product is delivering.

Another important point is that this is the latest version of Final Cut Pro, designed for both standard-definition and high-definition content creation. Final Cut Pro is now optimized for the Power Mac G5, with improved RT Extreme.

Last year the release of Final Cut Pro 4 offered more than 300 new features, including RT Extreme for realtime compositing and effects, powerful new interface customization tools, new high-quality 8- and 10-bit uncompressed formats, full 32-bit floating point per channel video processing, advanced trimming and timeline tools, and enhanced audio editing capabilities with multi-track audio mixing and multi-channel audio output. Final Cut Pro 4 also included three new complementary applications: LiveType for advanced titling, Soundtrack for music creation, and Compressor for batch transcoding.

With Final Cut Pro HD, you can now capture, edit, and output high-definition video over a single FireWire cable, without needing any additional hardware. Final Cut Pro HD can play back up to four streams of native DVCPRO HD video or, when you add an Xserve RAID, up to 10 streams of preview quality HD video.

This new FCP version is one result of Apple's “development partnership” with Panasonic announced last year at NAB. Final Cut Pro has incorporated the DVCPRO codec and Panasonic is offering a new low-cost feeder VCR to complement Apple's new nonlinear editing system. The DVCPRO HD codec is a valuable addition to Final Cut Pro's extensive set of capabilities. I should also point out that Apple has said it will support HDV. The format can already be supported using the Heuris Indie HD Toolkit plug-in.

Third-party card vendors Pinnacle and AJA also announced support for 720p with new drivers. AJA Kona 2 support for Final Cut Pro HD and the DVCPRO HD codec should soon be available.

These board sets allow users to edit uncompressed 720p if they choose, or capture from any HD source (D5, HDCAM, or DVCPRO HD) over HD-SDI to Final Cut Pro HD's software-based DVCPRO HD codec with data rates ranging from 14MBps (1080i) to as low as 5.8MBps (720p24).

Using RT Extreme HD, Final Cut Pro HD offers more than 150 render-free filters, effects, and transitions. Final Cut Pro HD includes LiveType 1.2 for resolution-independent animated titling, Soundtrack 1.2 for loop-based music creation, Compressor 1.2 for HD encoding, and Cinema Tools for filmmakers working with 35mm or 16mm film.

Final Cut Pro HD is priced at $999. Final Cut Pro 1, 2, and 3 users can upgrade to Final Cut Pro HD for $399.

I should also point out that other NLE manufacturers have announced they plan to support DVCPRO HD. Avid plans to make it available in a software update planned in Q4. At NAB, Pinnacle introduced CinéWave 4.6, which is currently shipping. CinéWave now supports multiple streams of Panasonic DVCPRO HD in realtime. (This is the only Pinnacle product to support the DVCPRO HD format.) (For more on CinéWave 4.6, see Steve Mullen's review on p. 36.)

Pinnacle Systems introduced Liquid HD, the software component associated with the Liquid hardware/software systems, for the Liquid family of NLEs. The Liquid HD version of Liquid Edition supports the HDV format. The software adds support for Pinnacle's HD Elite and uncompressed HD to the Liquid broadcast products.

Liquid HD will come free with systems purchased after this option becomes available, and it will be a $199 upgrade option for current Liquid Edition users (plus required hardware if running on some older platforms or if the client needs the HD-SDI I/O capability).

Pinnacle did not announce Liquid HD support for DVCPRO HD. Rather, it says it is committed to a continuum of HD-quality support, from HDV at the low end to uncompressed HD at the highest-quality point. Pinnacle did introduce a new HD mastering solution called HD Elite to cover that middle range.

HD Elite is a long GOP MPEG compressed HD mastering technology. Pinnacle Systems (thanks in part to its HP and Fast acquisitions) is a leader in MPEG technology. HD Elite is a variable compression technology with MPEG-2 variables that allow for a variety of compression ratios. Pinnacle believes this technology has a “sweet spot” around 50Mbps, which will provide high-quality HD postproduction (equivalent to 150Mbps “I” frame MPEG) while allowing less expensive storage requirements, fewer bandwidth constraints, and lower-cost editing solutions. Since the signal stays MPEG, there are fewer recompression concatenation concerns.

Pinnacle says HD support will soon be found across the Liquid line, in Liquid Blue, Liquid Chrome, and Liquid Edition.

Blue, Pinnacle's flagship NLE package, offers end-to-end native digital production in all formats (DV25, DVCAM, DVCPRO, DVCPRO 50, MPEG-2 4:2:2, MPEG IMX, and uncompressed) and starts at $34,995. Chrome is a turnkey editor/compositor that combines Liquid editing software with the realtime performance of Targa 3000 and K2 hardware and starts at $19,995.

Liquid Edition is a software-only DV NLE offering realtime 3D DVE, CX color correction, dynamic slow motion effects, background rendering, and up to 10 realtime streams of compositing for $699. There are now more than 70,000 Liquid seats sold, and at NAB Pinnacle announced an annual growth rate of 40 percent.

The Windows XP-based Liquid 5.6 NLE software component features integrated DVD authoring on the timeline with a new MPEG encoder, a rapid capture streamlined ingest feature, a track matte editor, a new XSend to Steinberg Wavelab, and automatic identification of used clips to prevent re-use.

With multiple Pinnacle Liquid systems on a network, users can start capturing on one system and immediately begin editing the material on any other system before the capture has actually completed. The Liquid Blue and Chrome NLEs are now MXF native, and a plug-in will soon be released that supports Sony XDCAM and Panasonic P2 media.

At NAB, Pinnacle also demonstrated Liquid Editing for Workgroups, a low-cost networked editing solution for SD (and soon HD) video. The system uses Pinnacle's Palladium Store 100, which includes 2TB of storage, RAID 10 mirroring, Pinnacle Liquid Project Server, Gigabit Ethernet switches, and Pinnacle's Media Access Server. This workgroup solution starts at less than $50,000.

Next month I will take a closer look at the debate about uncompressed HD postproduction mastering solutions and the various compressed solutions.