New, improved proxy video breathes life into online workflows.

Sony’s new optical disc recording systems are part of a tech movement that may again change industry workflow trends.

But before I explain why offline has begun to lose its popularity, we should start with the reasons that it first became popular. (Please see the definitions of offline and online, in the glossary sidebar on page 30.)

Originally, the concept was that if you used less expensive equipment for your offline, you could afford to spend more creative time polishing projects, and you would reduce the amount of time spent in a more expensive online suite. This workflow allowed creation of a better product without going over budget.

At the beginning of the digital nonlinear offline era, some systems could only see every other frame of video, and most had picture quality so poor that you had to frequently access the tape to see if a line was a shadow or a cable.

Technology evolved as quality improved, and storage costs decreased. Soon, the quality of a desktop nonlinear editing system was considered good enough to output a program instead of just a list of edit decisions. Because of the cost of storage, footage was digitized at a low-resolution/high-compression rate to fit as much as possible into the space available. When the elimination process was complete, material was removed from the hard disks, and only what was needed was re-digitized at a high-quality/low-compression algorithm. When the final tweaking was completed, the program was output to air, tape, or another means of distribution.

Two things happened at around this time. The first was realization of the obvious need for better media asset management. Many developers began creating software solutions that would allow you to search, sift, or sort through all logged materials. Many of these library databases included low-resolution proxy videos to assist you in finding the specific clip or clips you were looking for. These proxy video databases evolved, and soon allowed you to string clips together on a timeline as a sort of rough cut to deliver to an editor. This type of application was frequently called a browser/editor because the interface was similar to a web browser application and was just as easy to use.

The other thing that happened was that overworked, underpaid online editors, who had excellent contacts with their employers' clients, realized that they could purchase one of these new digital nonlinear editing systems and strike out on their own. It was the first time the technology was inexpensive enough for an editor to consider this, and many talented editors did just that.

Many thought that this was the beginning of the end for the postproduction facility. However, those editors still needed to go through offline/online workflow because the storage cost of skipping the offline step and digitizing all clips at online-quality was too expensive for a start-up.

The post facilities saw this vulnerability. Considering that most had successfully built and rebuilt one or more generations of expensive online facilities, they exploited their good credit to purchase enough storage to eliminate the offline process.

They began using a workgroup model where the producer could have multiple postproduction suites working on one project simultaneously. One editor could be editing a program with online-quality footage in one suite, while another accessed the same material to create promotional materials, while a third created graphics, animations, or composited segments for the program. And a composer or audio engineer could be creating original music or beginning an audio mix for the program. This time savings became attractive enough to producers that they could justify paying a premium price, and boutique workflow became less attractive — even at a lower cost.

New tools such as the color corrector Mimikri are increasing the quantity of work done offline. Mimikri performs functions previously available only in on-line finishing en-vironments. TOP: Before Mimikri. BOTTOM: After.

The most recent paradigm had high-end workgroups successfully attracting high-end clients. Meanwhile, those who foresaw the technological empowerment of formats like the various flavors of DV and the powerful performance of low-cost personal computers began to realize the opportunity this confluence created. The result was a new, lower-cost postproduction model that retained “good enough” image quality. Because the video was compressed and storage prices had dropped significantly, most were not incorporating an offline step.

With these developments, owners of DV-based editing workstations began successfully undercutting those with traditional edit suites — and much higher monthly loan payments. In the low end and the high end, avoiding the offline phase became more common.

While these trends evolved, broadcasters began incorporating browser/editors to access proxy video on journalists' workstations to increase speed and efficiency in getting video images to air. Although originally intended as a “rough draft” timeline to be sent to a craft editor, station management soon realized that this step probably wasn't necessary. The in- and out-points defined in the proxy timeline could be used by the control room to access high-quality images directly off a video server.

Today, another confluence of technologies may be changing industry workflow trends again. The greatest technology impetus may be Sony's new professional optical disc family of digital recording systems, including camcorders, mobile decks, compact decks, and studio decks.

These new products offer a choice of DVCAM record and playback at 25Mbps or MPEG IMX record and playback at 30Mbps, 40Mbps, or 50Mbps. They also offer simultaneous recording of highly compressed proxy video, as well as a wide range of metadata handling.

Proxy video can be sent to low-cost laptop computers connecting in multiple ways (IEEE 1394, wireless connections, Ethernet, etc). These compressed proxies have the potential of working with a low-cost PDA editing application. The proxies can be transferred at up to 30X to 50X speeds and include frame-accurate editing capability. The connections are two-way, so you can define a 10-edit sequence and tell the camera to, in essence, online that sequence by streaming it out (as defined by the edited proxy video) to a microwave, satellite, or videotape as an “edited master.”

The simultaneous recording of high-quality and lower-resolution proxy video saves a time-consuming step of making a proxy from the camera original — even if those offline proxy videos are accessed back at the editing facility.

Note that I said a confluence of technologies. Editing technologies have been developed to more efficiently use proxy media. Adobe, Avid, and Pinnacle systems are just three (in addition to Sony's) that will be seen using the capabilities of the Sony optical disc systems. Compression technology has improved tremendously. It is important to note that the quality of these proxy videos is vastly superior to the original video proxies of offline digital NLEs.

Another technological advancement has been made with media asset management. Metadata standards have been established to facilitate management of essence media across platform types and between third-party manufacturers. New standards such as Media Object Server (MOS) communications protocol, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Material Exchange Format (MXF), and the Advanced Authoring Format (AAF) create opportunities for both workgroup connectivity and the creation of new and improved tools and work-flows. There is a definite trend toward new open standards connectivity.

StageTools MovingPicture, which pans and zooms on high-res images, is another example of tools available in stand-alone, off-line versions. It is also sold as a plug-in.

Two months ago, BBC Technology, a for-profit subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corp., announced a plan to take the BBC's resources, innovation, and expertise from the last 80 years and offer its services in the United States. BBC Technology employs designers, contractors, and systems operators for managing and distributing content on multimedia platforms. At the press conference, BBC Technology officials explained the design for a new media asset management platform using open standards metadata and proxy media.

This is just one of several efforts to improve management of media assets by incorporating proxy video. Another example is the Snell & Wilcox Synapse, a workgroup metadata server based on the AAF object model. On the NAB show floor you will find automated online finishing systems that often use metadata from proxy video “offline” edits.

There are still other new technologies that are part of this convergence. Plug-ins such as StageTools MovingPicture and the Swiss plug-in Mimikri, a color correction/grading tool, are performing operations formerly available only in production or online finishing environments. Tools are growing more capable of interfacing with one another, thanks to interchange standards.

Finally, high definition is becoming more available to the masses. Tools like JVC's new professional low-cost HD camcorder, low-cost HD boardsets such as BlackMagic Design DeckLink 2, and the Windows Media 9 HD format provide high-definition production and post solutions for anyone who wants to work in HD. For those who do enter the lower-end HD postproduction arena, it will require careful management of limited storage resources. At the high end, new, more expensive digital cinema formats mean even larger storage requirements. In both cases, the files sizes will strongly encourage the offline process as part of postproduction workflow.