I am a bit confused on the difference between rendering and real time. I know that Real time is better when using a NLE program,
but what do these terms actually mean?

Can someone please explain because I am confused. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Rendering is the process which enables you to view any effects you have made on the PC. Rendering can take anytime from a couple of seconds to a couple of hours+, therefore taking precious editing time away.

I.E if you have changed the picture from colour to black and white, this would normally need to be rendered in order to see the effect on the clip.

(You don't have to render if you have'nt added any effects etc).

Realtime enables you to do most effects with out having to render. Therefore saving more time to edit and play around with more effects.

Hope this helps, and I hope I have not confused the matter even more.

All the best,

Ed Smith

Excellent reply Ed! You helped ALOT!

Also, somethimes "real-time" isn't. For example, many NLE's will let you preview effects in "almost" real-time but before the final print to tape, you have to render. True real-time output to tape still requires hardware assitance.

Right. A great real-time product is the Canopus DV Storm, which allows you to have multiple layers in real time, without rendering.