[Nobuyoshi Kodera's Weekly Electric Zooma!] 629th: Ask the person in charge of "EDIUS Pro 7", the past and future of video editing --AV Watch

From August 23, Grass Valley video editing software "EDIUS Pro 7" was released. The price is 83,790 yen for the regular version and 31,290 yen for the upgraded version.

Since EDIUS Pro 7 is software for professionals, there are many parts that are not familiar to general readers, so I will show you the details in the industry specialized media, but this time it is just the 10th anniversary of the birth of the first EDIUS. So, while looking back on that history, I would like to explore the transition of software that Japan is proud of in an interview.

First of all, when looking back on history, I would like to remind you of the fact that the Grass Valley Kobe development base, which is currently developing the EDIUS series, was originally Canopus. Canopus used to be the predominant manufacturer of PC peripherals with graphic cards and capture cards. The analog TV capture card "MTV1000", which appeared in 2001, became so popular that there was a line at the storefront in Akihabara as soon as it was released.

On the other hand, the hardware as a video editing tool has also produced high quality. The "DVRex-RT" released in 1999 was a capture product using a DV camera at that time, but the dedicated editing software "Rex Edit" is simple but quite well thought out, and I also used it for a lot of work. I got it. At that time, few people used the DV editing system to do professional work, but Sony commercialized DVCAM, a commercial system, and it was useful for cable TV.

Editing tools continued to grow steadily, but management deteriorated due to the rapid end of the TV capture boom, and in 2005 it was acquired by Thomson of France. At the time, Thomson had previously acquired US broadcast equipment maker Grass Valley, and Canopus' business was integrated into the Grass Valley brand. However, the company name was Thomson Canopus.

After Grass Valley became independent of Thomson again in 2011, Thomson Canopus in Kobe became the headquarters of Grass Valley Corporation, a Japanese subsidiary of Grass Valley, and became a development base for all Grass Valley brand digital editing solutions.

The company Grass Valley itself is a manufacturer specializing in video equipment such as switchers and DVE, and it was founded in 1959, although I don't think the general public has heard of it unless it is a broadcasting station or post-production engineer. From here, video equipment manufacturers such as AJA and EditWare will spin out and develop their businesses, making it a brand familiar to video-related people.

This time, we spoke with Katsushi Takeuchi, his vice president of Digital Editing Solutions, Atsushi Kataoka, Product Management Director, Toshifumi Egusa, his director of R & D Editing Solutions, and Norio Awashima, Product Marketing Manager. .. (Hereafter titles omitted)