EDIUS Neo 2 Booster Realtime AVCHD Editing Solution, Blu-ray Disc Authoring... and mo

[Gary Bettan]

EDIUS Neo 2 Booster Realtime AVCHD Editing Solution, Blu-ray Disc Authoring... and more!

Grass Valley EDIUS Neo 2 with AVCHD Booster Option
The Perfect Solution for Editing AVCHD

Native AVCHD files have previously been difficult to edit with NLE software, due to the high compression of the video, and often required dedicated hardware solutions. The new EDIUS Neo 2 Booster allows for smooth, full-frame editing of native AVCHD video in software only, courtesy of a newly-developed AVCHD codec engine that can process more than 3 real-time streams simultaneously with EDIUS Neo 2 (tested with an Intel Core i7 CPU system - just like the Videoguys’ DIY 7 system configuration).

Grass Valley EDIUS Neo 2 with AVCHD Booster option is an affordable NLE software featuring basic, entry-level range of tools and features, EDIUS Neo 2 software is perfect for those new to video editing. Yet it also provides powerful nonlinear editing features common to all EDIUS solutions, such as real-time, multi-track, mixed-format HD/SD editing, chroma keying, titling, and Blu-ray Disc and DVD authoring. Built on the same highly-acclaimed technology as the EDIUS editing software, EDIUS Neo 2 offers native editing of various formats including AVCHD, HDV, DV, Windows Media, and QuickTime — and provides a seamless, real-time workflow that supports the mixing of all formats within the same timeline.

The EDIUS Neo 2 Booster makes real-time AVCHD editing an affordable reality and enhances Grass Valley’s commitment to the real-time “anything in – anything out” editing platform. The EDIUS Neo 2 Booster is compatible with Windows XP, Vista (32-bit/64-bit) as well as 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the new Windows 7 Operating System.

Grass Valley EDIUS Neo 2 Blu-ray Disc Bundle includes everything you need to go from AVCHD to Blu-ray for under $500!!
We include the top rated Pioneer BDR-205, the fastest and most reliable Blu-ray burner ever made, along with a 10 pack of Verbatim BD-R media to get you started. As an added training bonus we’re including two titles that will help you edit and produce the best possible HD videos. Class On Demand expert training for EDIUS featuring EDIUS demo and training Guru Mike Downey will reveal all the power and performance inside EDIUS. VASST’s new hour-long AVCHD training video features Douglas Spotted Eagle gives you an overview on working with this AVCHD camcorders and footage.

A Complete Software & Hardware Solution with HDMI Monitoring featuring EDIUS Neo 2 Booster with the HD SPARK… and Blu-ray!
How can we make our EDIUS Neo 2 Blu-ray bundle even better? How about adding in the Grass Valley HD SPARK card (a $399 value) for just $200 more!! The HD SPARK hardware gives you HDMI output directly from the EDIUS Neo 2 timeline. Now you can preview your work in full HD quality on any HDMI equipped LCD or Plasma HDTV.

Already Own a Blu-ray Disc Burner?
Add the Grass Valley EDIUS Neo 2 with AVCHD Booster Option plus the HD SPARK hardware for under $500!

For more info on the Grass Valley Edius Neo2 Booster
Videoguys' Grass Valley Neo 2 with AVCHD Booster Option

Gary

[Larry Horwitz]

Gary,

I've been looking at the Firecoder Blu / Edius Neo 2 Booster bundle recently introduced by Canopus:

EDIUS Neo 2 FIRECODER Blu | Grass Valley

I'm wondering if this combination could also use the HD Spark hardware for direct HDMI output from the timeline?

Thanks for any info,

Larry

[Gary Bettan]

It should work. we have a more expensive bundle with edius, firecoder blue and the HD Storm Plus hardware.

Gary

[Larry Horwitz]

What does the Storm Plus hardware add in addition to the Firecorder and Spark boards I am already considering?

[Ron Evans]

Storm will give you input as well as output. However the full version of Edius does not have the AVCHD booster so needs to convert AVCHD to Canopus HQ to edit( Edius will edit native but very slow, on my Q9450 Quad core with 8G RAM its not usable without conversion to HQ). Edius is my main editor though. HDSTORM & HDSTORM Plus | Grass Valley

IF you do not need multicam edit or P2 and SxS etc then Neo with Booster is better for you. SPARK will display the Preview window from the timeline over HDMI in full resolution. It does nothing else, nothing else!!!! It's intended to provide a full resolution monitor for colour correction etc so using a cheap computer monitor with HDMI that is unable to represent TV colours would be a little pointless.


Ron Evans

[Larry Horwitz]

Thanks for the reply Ron. Back a while ago, I tried the prior version of Edius on my 9650 quadcore Extreme, and I was totally and entirely underwhelmed by the way it handled AVCHD. It just could not handle even the slower (17 Mbit/sec) bitrate unless I transcoded into the the Canopus-proprietary format. Since my intention was to ultimately produce h.264/AVC output (for BluRay or AVCHD disks) I could see absolutely no point in converting to and then from their format just because their editor "prefers" to use it.

Now that they have come to support native AVCHD, I am once again very interested, and have downloaded and used the trial. I find the editing very nice but do not find their authoring to be even slightly adequate compared to a program like DVD Architect (Sony Vegas Suite) or others I have used. In fact, it falls well below the $79 bargain programs like Power Director, Video Studio, and even Nero Vision in the authoring area, since it lacks motion buttons / menus, menu transitions, subtitles, or other features entirely.

Despite this, I would still be interested in buying the editing features, and use other tools for authoring, IF, AND ONLY IF, the speed and performance on native AVCHD is excellent and the timeline viewing was supported well. I think that the Spark card along with the BluCoder card could be my next purchase, along with the Neo 2 Booster bundle.

The Storm input is still a bit sketchy, and I guess I need to understand it better. I get the impression from what you have said that it is merely for input, possibly only analog ingest, but I will take a look at the card and its specs.

Matrox has also been doing some interesting things lately with its "MAX" technology for both PCs and Macs for AVCHD people. I want to research this one as well.

Thanks again for your help.

Larry

[Ron Evans]

Storm HD is input and output HDMI with input conversion to Canopus HQ. But if you have AVCHD cam why would you want HDMI input unless its live input with realtime conversion to Canopus HQ. Reatime input to Storm HD and realtime conversion to HQ is slower than transferring to PC from camera and converting to HQ using AVCHD2HQ software!!! I don't see the point of StormHD other than live recording.
I use Vegas for simple AVCHD editing of family AVCHD and output MPEG2HD for DVDA for Bluray as this is a lot faster than outputting AVC from Vegas.
Since my main reason for Edius is the multicam editing it is really necessary to convert to HQ to get the performance.
I would like to use Neo with Booster for AVCHD but Edius and Neo cannot be on the same machine!!!! I am sure it won't be long before Edius has the Neo technology.

Ron Evans

[Larry Horwitz]

Thanks Ron for the clarification.

I used Neo with Booster for doing a couple projects and generally like the interface and performance. It may not replace Vegas for me as my primary NLE, but I may consider it eventually. Gotta' see what Matrox MAX has to offer first.....

Larry