Grass Valley will release a new version of its non-linear editing software at IBC with multilayer 4K and 3D support. Edius 7 will also be open to third-party input and output hardware support.
“No other nonlinear video editing software gives users the realtime speed and functionality that Edius does,” claimed Mike Cronk, senior vice president, Marketing, Grass Valley. “Its compatibility with all major file formats, the ability to edit in real time without rendering—even in 4K with its native 64-bit architecture—means that Edius 7 is an ideal solution for either broadcast or post production environments.”
Edius 7 is now a native 64-bit application for Windows 7 and Windows 8, allowing it to take full advantage of up to 512GB of installed memory (dependent upon Windows version) for particularly intensive media operations, such as multilayer 4K or 3D editing. It will be released in Q3 and publically demonstrated for the first time at IBC.
Besides support for a wide range of Grass Valley hardware, it is now open to third-party input and output hardware from Blackmagic Design and Matrox, with support for AJA Video Systems hardware scheduled for Q4 2013. This should give Edius users greater flexibility to integrate into a wide variety of environments with one editing interface that can be used for news field editing, newsroom desktop editing, news finishing editing, studio productions, and other high-quality editing for delivery to mobile devices, internet-connected platforms, traditional television, and for theatrical release. It also supports EDL project import/export with DaVinci Resolve, as well as a new colour grading workflow.
“It is very exciting to see Blackmagic Design’s desktop video products working with Grass Valley’s Edius. Customers working with Ultra HD workflows using our PCIe DeckLink 4K Extreme and Thunderbolt-based UltraStudio 4K capture and playback devices will now have even more choices of top products they can work with as they build amazing workflows to handle the highest quality formats,” commented Blackmagic Design’s CEO, Grant Petty.
The new software also includes: support for the latest file formats (including XAVC/XAVC S and AVC-Ultra); automatic programme update checking; updated MPEG and H.264/AVC performance; faster handling of large quantities of still image files (JPG, TGA, DPX, and others); and a Gaussian blur filter to apply better quality blurring and to prevent Moiré pattern aliasing artefacts.
Edius 7 supports any mix of SD, HD, 2K, and 4K resolution on the timeline in real time, with editing performance increasing as CPU power increases. It has also been optimised for multicore and Intel fourth-generation Core i CPU systems.
“We are always listening to our customers and responding to their needs, and this is reflected in Edius 7,” said Cronk. “We’ve improved the 4K workflow, opened the program up to third-party hardware, and increased support for the latest file formats, so that our users can still ‘Edit Anything’.”
Edius 7 will be available in Pro and Elite versions. Edius Pro 7 is targeted at the professional, stand-alone user. Edius Elite 7 is aimed at editors working collaboratively within network-connected production environments, and features seamless integration with GV Stratus nonlinear production tools and Grass Valley K2 media servers and storage with the ability for multiple edit stations to edit-in-place, record directly to K2, and simultaneously edit live video while it is being ingested (Simul Edit). GV Stratus integration will be available by September 2013. A free 30-day trial of Edius Pro 7 will be available at www.grassvalley.com/edius.
Anyone who purchased Edius Pro 6.5 or hardware bundles including Edius Pro 6.5 from 1 June, 2013 onward will be eligible for a free upgrade to Edius Pro 7.
By David Fox
