NLE vs. off/online editing -- could someone clarify?

Jessariah67 wrote on 8/8/2002, 7:40 AM
Okay, my brother-in-law is an independent producer in NYC. The other day, a post house that had quoted him a certain amount for an editing job suddenly bumped the price to $80,000.

To me, you can arm yourself to the teeth with an NLE system for about 1/10th of that.

My understanding (I've never had professional exposure to it) is that offline editing is basically the initial cutting, and online editing is where the titles, graphics, etc. are added. It's also the most expensive -- several hundred dollars per hour.

Maybe I'm missing something, but if I can put something together in Vegas and render to VHS, I could basically transfer it to any medium -- BETA, etc. -- yes? So if you had the right deck, it would be possible to transfer from DV to whatever medium, say, Discovery or TLC requires (I don't know what the standard is). Or is there some kind of timecoding or other "thing" that prevents NLE video projects from being made ready for national TV?

Is the off/online system still necessary, or just a matter of habit? And, if so, is there a certain point that NLE can take you, then "finish it off" at a post house?

Just want to have my facts straight before I suggest that he invest in his own gear and save some dollars.

Thanks in advance for the info.

Comments

Former user wrote on 8/8/2002, 8:15 AM
A NLE system can be either On line or Offline, depending primarily on the output resolution.

In the past, Offline edits were done on very basic edit systems. Sometimes vtr to vtr, bypassing any effects devices. These edits would get the basic scene selections, timing,etc. Most of the time these were done on lower quality standards such as VHS or 3/4 videotape. You would then take this offline and any Edit Decision List that was generated to an online suite where the product would be assembled at the better quality with all effects including titles and graphics. Most of the time Online suites were Linear editing as opposed to Non Linear (NLE).

With the latest innovations in computer storage capacity and speed of processors and drives, it is now possible to put out broadcast high quality video from NLE systems.

Now, when people do an offline, it is sometimes done on an Avid type system at a high compression rate (meaning lower resolution video). The hourly rates for offline tend to be lower because you are not creating a final product.

After this offline process is done, you can take the EDL created by an Avid into either a Linear Online Suite, an Avid Sympony wich is a NLE full resolution uncompressed system or other NLE systems such as a Henry or a Smoke.

Now NLE can be either online or offline depending upon the use and the rate charged.

The only thing you need to know about Discovery or TLC type programming is what are their broadcast requirements. What formats do they accept and what quality level do they expect. More and more cable channels (and broadcast channels for that matter) are accepting DV quality video. And DV quality can be quite good, but that is generally based on the quality of the original material, since DV is basically a lossless compression (I know not completely, but for practical purposes) the final product will reflect the quality of the original.
Jessariah67 wrote on 8/8/2002, 10:11 AM
So, what you're saying is that one could edit & render a national-ready project in Vegas -- it just depends on the delivery requirements of a network and the overall quality (which would be determined by the camera used)?
James Green wrote on 8/9/2002, 2:05 AM
Yes, provided it could be delivered in the proper format. Outputting the materila is only half the struggel though...the legal entanglements are the real nightmare for upstart content producers.

James
Sr_C wrote on 8/9/2002, 8:12 PM
"the legal entanglements are the real nightmare for upstart content producers."

??? I'm curious about what legal entanglements to which you refer.