Editing Non-linear editing (section)

=== The 1980s ===
Non-linear editing systems were built in the 1980s using computers coordinating multiple [[LaserDisc]]s or banks of VCRs.  One example of these tape and disc-based systems was Lucasfilm's [[EditDroid]], which used several LaserDiscs of the same raw footage to simulate random-access editing.{{efn|A compatible system called [[SoundDroid]] was developed for sound post-production. This is considered to be one of the earliest [[digital audio workstation]]s.<ref name="Rubin" />}} EditDroid was demonstrated at NAB in 1984.<ref name="fraser-harrison">{{cite web |title=What was EditDroid? |url=https://fraser-harrison-postproduction.blogspot.com/2013/03/what-was-editdroid.html |author=Fraser Harrison |date=2013-03-14 |access-date=2019-08-29}}<!--ref indicates 1994 NAB #62. this appears to be a typo. first [[NAB Show was]] 1923 so #62 was in 1984.--></ref> EditDroid was the first system to introduce modern concepts in non-linear editing such as timeline editing and clip bins.

The LA-based post house Laser Edit{{efn|Laser Edit later merged with Pacific Video as Laser-Pacific.}} also had an in-house system using recordable random-access LaserDiscs.

The most popular non-linear system in the 1980s was [[Ediflex]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.articles.adsoft.org/postproduction.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302111642/http://www.articles.adsoft.org/postproduction.htm |archive-date=2012-03-02 |author=Richard Seel |title=Developments in Post Production 1946 - 1991}}</ref> which used a bank of [[U-matic]] and [[VHS]] VCRs for offline editing. Ediflex was introduced in 1983 on the Universal series "[[Still the Beaver]]". By 1985 it was used on over 80% of filmed network programs and Cinedco was awarded the [[Technical Emmy]] for "Design and Implementation of Non-Linear Editing for Filmed Programs."<ref>{{cite book|first1=John|last1=Buck|title=Timeline, A History of Editing |publisher=Enriched Books |location=Melbourne|year=1988 | pages = 448 |isbn=978-0-646-49224-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
 |title       = NBC LEADS EMMY WINNERS WITH 15 HONORS IN BEHIND-SCENES CATEGORIES
 |newspaper   = Associated Press
 |location    = Padadena, CA
 |url         = https://apnews.com/b0bef37b4cc86b35ea770cb2443d3dc4
 |date        = September 8, 1986
 |access-date  = July 30, 2013
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20150928230637/http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1986/NBC-Leads-Emmy-Winners-With-15-Honors-In-Behind-Scenes-Categories/id-b0bef37b4cc86b35ea770cb2443d3dc4
 |archive-date = September 28, 2015
 |url-status     = live
}}</ref>

In 1984, [[Montage Picture Processor]] was demonstrated at NAB.<ref name="fraser-harrison"/> Montage used 17 identical copies of a set of film rushes on modified consumer Betamax VCRs. A custom circuit board was added to each deck that enabled frame-accurate switching and playback using vertical interval timecode. Intelligent positioning and sequencing of the source decks provided a simulation of random-access playback of a lengthy edited sequence without any re-recording. The theory was that with so many copies of the rushes, there could always be one machine cued up to replay the next shot in real time. Changing the EDL could be done easily, and the results seen immediately.

The first feature edited on the Montage was Sidney Lumet's ''[[Power (1986 film)|Power]]''. Notably, Francis Coppola edited ''[[The Godfather Part III]]'' on the system, and Stanley Kubrick used it for ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]''. It was used on several episodic TV shows (''[[Knots Landing]]'', for one) and on hundreds of commercials and music videos.

The original Montage system won an Academy Award for Technical Achievement in 1988.{{citation needed|reason=Doesn't appear in list at [[Academy Scientific and Technical Award]]|date=September 2019}} Montage was reincarnated as Montage II in 1987, and Montage III appeared at NAB in 1991, using digital disk technology, which was considerably less cumbersome than the Betamax system.

All of these original systems were slow, cumbersome, and had problems with the limited computer horsepower of the time, but the mid-to-late-1980s saw a trend towards non-linear editing, moving away from film editing on [[Moviola]]s and the linear videotape method using U-matic VCRs. Computer processing advanced sufficiently by the end of the 1980s to enable true digital imagery and has progressed today to provide this capability in personal desktop computers.

An example of computing power progressing to make non-linear editing possible was demonstrated in the first all-digital non-linear editing system, the "Harry" effects compositing system manufactured by [[Quantel]] in 1985.  Although it was more of a video effects system, it had some non-linear editing capabilities. Most importantly, it could record (and apply effects to) 80 seconds (due to hard disk space limitations) of broadcast-quality uncompressed digital video encoded in 8-bit [[CCIR 601]] format on its built-in hard disk array.