What's new in Edius Pro 4?

What's new in Edius Pro 4?

Grass Valley Canopus have now released a new 4.03 version of their Edius software with support for their NX and SP editing hardware systems. Edius 4 has been out for some time for Storm and Rex cards as well as OHCI FireWire, but now NX and SP owners can enjoy the new functionality too.

Key Features of Edius 4 are:

Multiple sequences in one project

Break your edit up into smaller sections and then string the all together in one timeline, or have several copies of the same edit in one sequence. You can also put several clips into one sequence, drop it into a second and then apply effects to the whole sequence. this is a great way to edit, the biggest problem with every editing system is that when you have loads of sequences together the timeline gets so complicated that the editing program struggles to keep up. How does Edius fare? Well in our tests extremely well. Edius has always been great at managing large projects with lots of media and handles sequences in sequences the same way. We put about 60 sequences with multiple cuts in each into one main sequence and Edius remained responsive and stable as we opened lots at one, edited and move back and forth between them. Brilliant!

A proper trimming window

Edius has a trimming window in version 3 but it was so confusing that we never used it and always trimmed clips on the timeline using keyboard short cuts. Now it has a proper trimming window, very similar to Premiere Pro's. When invoked it just replaces the main source and destination window (unlike Premiere which insists in opening a new window and cluttering the screen), and it gives good feedback on all the clips involved in the trim.

Batch capture of MPEG HDV as well as Canopus HQ

In version 3 you could batch capture HDV footage into Canopus HQ codec - which was great - but not into MPEG. Now with version 4 both types of HDV capture are handled by the main capture window. Performance of MPEG editing has improved as well and found that using native files we could almost achieve as many effects with Edius as we could using HQ footage. Finally we had problems with HQ capture on some system equipped only with OHCI. We wont go as far as to say that it will now capture into HQ live on every machine - but it has certainly worked on every modern machine we have tried so far, which is definitely superior to the performance with Edius Pro 3.

Keyboard shortcuts improved

Everyone knows that if you can remember the keyboard short cuts in a program then you can edit fast. Edius had keyboard short cuts for nearly everything, however some we quite strange - trying just to hold the keys needed to achieve and effect was a struggle in some cases. With version 4 they have been streamlined. "c" for cut, the function keys have been assigned to the things you use the most etc... Those of you with Edius keyboards with all the shortcuts for Edius 3 might be slightly disappointed as the keyboards will now be totally inaccurate, however, you can load up a template for 3's short cuts in the keyboard customization section. having said that we have found 4's short cuts to be much more sensible and easier to remember so have not been doing this.

Drop down menus

Edius 4 now has drop down menus - something which was recently added to Avid Liquid and has now been given to Edius. Drop down menus help you to find commands and features that you just know are there somewhere but just cant find. They have streamlined the settings boxes too - version 3 had simply generated these in too many places!

Windows Media & AC3 on the timeline

You can now add Windows media to the timeline (you could do this with Edius Broadcast 3 - now it is available in all versions). You can also put AC3 files directly on the timeline - which is handy given the fact that Edius can rip video off non-copyright DVDs.

Multicamera

One of the biggest new features - the ability to take up to 8 cameras, sync them up and then watch all on screen at once together with the output monitor and cut between them. Edius' mulitcamera works in a very simple way. Put the clips on the timeline one above the other. Sync them up either visually or using some queue point. Then press "F8" and enable multicamera. Depending on the setting - 3 cameras, 3, or 8, you will see the the source footage and the master shot on screen at the same time - output to the computer monitor or two the video output via FireWire or one of Canopus' hardware cards.

Then just play and either click on you chosen short or hit one of the keys on the keypad (1 for camera 1, 2 for camera 2 etc...) Once you have finished Edius then chops up your video leaving the chosen shots enabled on the timeline and the unused shots also on the timeline but disabled - so you can easily re enable them to make adjustments.

How well it will play all the video does depend on the power of your PC. Edius does have some settings to skip between 2 and 5 frames when playing so that you can still play the edit at full speed and the PC will just drop frames to keep up.

The multicamera is well thought out and simple - basically mirroring the way we have had to to multiple camera edits in the past and adding the ability to see all the shots on screen at once when cutting.

No Xplode Pro or Photo Album

With version 4 some old plug-ins do not work - notably Canopus' own Xplode Pro and Photo Album. Currently Canopus have no plans to update these to work with Edius 4. They have released patches and new versions for ProCoder, Imaginate, Title Motion Pro, Soundsoap and Adorage. Boris Red 3 does not work in Edius 4 either. Boris 4 is just about to be released and does work and Boris told us that if you want Boris to continue to work then you will have to upgrade to Boris 4 to do so. The upgrade is worth it because Boris 4 adds significant new features and filters.

Speed Encoder included for free

Speed Encoder is now included as standard with Edius Pro and Broadcast. Speed Encoder basically makes HDV MPEG files quicker than using the normal ProCoder - almost realtime on some machines and its great that it is now included as speed getting the project in and out is one of Edius' strengths.

Canopus HQ supports alpha channel

Canopus HQ code has had two major improvements - both hugely useful for animators. The first is the ability to render with and alpha channel - so make an animation against a transparent background and it stays transparent when rendered to HQ codec. The second is the ability to work at FULL HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 (it was previously limited to HDV resolution of 1440 x 1080. There is a new preset in the Edius project list just for this resolution.

Keyframing on colour filters

Keyframing has not been added to all the filters but has been added to the colour filters - so now you can make clips lighter, darker etc when playing. It is particularly useful if going from an exterior to interior shot in one track as the lighting is likely to vary for each so simply do a one click white balance outside and then when you get inside keyframe a changed one click white balance and Edius will smooth transition from one colour setting to the other.

Date and time information can be printed on screen

You could always get the date and time information on a clip from the bin - now it can be printed on screen as part of the status display, and this can even be burnt into a final file or tape just like the timecode information. If you are matching up clips from different sources (or even from a video tape and a digital audio source) you may not have matching timecode but you can at least synchronize the clocks on different filming devices so that you can get a reasonably accurate match of which take is which when editing. Hardly any other editing program provides this information.

Time re-mapping

Perhaps our favourite of the new features - realtime time re-mapping. Edius always had great slow motion - now you can ramp the speed and basically play around to your hearts content, speeding up and slowing down. Adobe After Effects Professional, Boris Red (two high end compositing programs) can do this. On the editing front Avid Liquid can do the same but has to render the effect, and although Vegas can do it live it struggles to playback at decent quality. The Edius one is easy to understand, excellent quality and amazingly realtime even with HDV footage on our 3.4Ghz dual core demo machine. Another nice touch is it works on sound as well - come and see our demos at IOV where i can guarantee we will have some fun with a particular traffic shot we use a lot for demos!

Apart from being fun for all the family this effect is useful - you only have to watch a modern TV drama to see it in use all the time. Being a moving effect you have to see it moving at the proper speed which, thanks to Edius' realtime abilities, you do!

How do you get Edius 4?

Edius 4 is free to all who bought Edius Pro 3.5 after the 1st April 2006 and £109 ex-VAT to others. Edius 4 costs £399 ex-VAT for the standard version and £599 ex-VAT for the broadcast version that includes P2, DVCPROHD and XDCAM support.

The program is now dongled, although this does not create a major problem and you can install it on as many PCs as you like, although only use it on the one with the dongle attached. The version for the Edius NX for HDV and SP for HDV has now been released (it came out mid-september where as the software only version has been available since June 2006).

If you have bought from us since 1st April the copy should be sent direct to you by Canopus. if you have not received your copy by the end of September contact either us or Canopus to check on the progress.

If you bought your system before the first of April then you need to buy the upgrade and download the 4.03 patch from the website. because of the dongle the version you have will no longer be tied to just the system with the NX as you could install it on a laptop as well, for example. of course you can only use it on one machine at at time.