ABSTRACT
Video tape editing started with a primitive mechanical cut and join system on 2-inch tape. As tape formats changed more sophisticated electronic methods were devised but the proliferation of recording formats (including the introduction of disc) meant that nearly all formats have their individual designated editing systems or they need to be dubbed to the preferred editing format. In news programmes and in many other types of programming there is also the need to use library material, which may be originated on a superseded and/or obsolete format. The lack of the simple standardization of film (i.e. it is either 35 mm or 16 mm with the complication of changing aspect ratios) has meant that a number of different video editing systems have been devised mostly using the same basic editing methods but taking place in a variety of recording formats. To add to the variety of contemporary formats and the back catalogues of material are the conversion and compression problems posed by the transition from analogue to digital television. An edit suite or field edit system is therefore defined by its analogue or digital format and whether the shot selection is achieved in a linear or non-linear form.
