external video editing hardware

[Guest]

Hello, this may be a silly question because most people will answer: just get a decent laptop.

 

But with how electronics are evolving so fastly I was wondering if there isn't any device like a small rendering machine that connects with usb to render video's by example. or a external device that is the video editor and rendering machine.

 

I have looked on google allready but then I thought, let's ask the smart guys on this forum. So far I haven't found anything.

[ALwin]

There are some hardware encoders, for example, the Black Magic H.264 Pro Recorder but that just encodes the video signal.  I don't think this is what you had in mind though.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/h264prorecorder

 

For editing, you still need an editing software and they can use up considerable amount of resources depending on the number of layers, effects and the type of footage being worked on.  There are solutions for rendering via a server, where your desktop connects to the "powerful" rig via a network and that rig does all the heavy lifting.

 

Some studios and rental places "rent" out portable rigs already designed for heavy editing, some of those are built into something like a portable shelf on wheels.

 

EDIT: I almost forgot, there are some dedicated "studio" editing machines, but these are hardly portable and not really flexible or upgradeable.  They can also be much more expensive than just building a custom workstation rig.  Modern NLE software has replaced a lot of these machines.

 

 

Addendum:

Put it this way, about 10-20 years ago if you wanted to live broadcast from the field (anywhere outside the studio, it can even be just down the block) you needed a broadcasting truck with a satellite dish.  Today, you just need a portable computer, a capture card and a good internet connection.  And the broadcasting software I use today can do chroma keying, layers, etc. while 20 or so years ago chroma keying required a dedicated hardware.

 

Though of course for high end work or you need to ensure that the broadcast is 1000% reliable, the broadcast truck is still necessary.

 

[ShadowCaptain]

19 hours ago, voylin said:

SNIP

 

that is what PCs are for

[ALwin]

1 hour ago, ShadowCaptain said:

that is what PCs are for

Yep, modern PC's are more versatile than ever before because what used to require dedicated or specialized hardware has been mostly replaced by software.  Sure there are still some special hardware like the DaVinci Resolve control panel or audio editing control panels, but only because a mouse and keyboard would be too slow to do the things those controllers can do when time is critical.