NLE Products: An Overview

NLE solutions fall into three categories: high-end, mid-level, and inexpensive. Here's a survey of what's on the market as this book goes to press. Obviously, we don't have space to discuss every product in detail, but we'll try to give you an idea of what kind of products are out there. Check with dealers and surf the Web for current product versions and pricing.

High-End Professional Systems

If you're looking for high performance, this is where you'll find it. Professional NLE systems deliver fast rendering and smooth real-time playback thanks to proprietary hardware that often includes high-performance video cards, effects generators, and storage systems. Of course, you'll pay for the power. You can't buy this software without the hardware it runs on, and prices start around $10,000 for a turnkey system. The damage can easily rise to half a million dollars before you're done.