One of the things that Adobe has done for some time is provide a software development kit, or SDK, to anyone who wants to develop a product to tie into Adobe products. When you consider that we're the only mainstream, broad content creation company around doing that, it is significant - both now and as we move into the future.
I think that the idea of choice is a profound and important one, and after one day at HD World in New York City, I think so even more. Consider that HD production is becoming more and more prevalent, but the costs are not always affordable for people. Sure, there is native DVC Pro HD solutions including Premiere Pro 3.1 (which should be out very soon), but there is also uncompressed, XDCam HD, HDV, AVCHD, 1080i, 1080p, 720p, framerates, etc...
There are also a bunch of different ways to ingest and edit HD content. Panasonic's DVCProHD use the MXF standard, which is a container for all kinds of data including, video, audio, metadata and more. How you ingest this is important. Do you transcode it, convert it or edit it natively?
What about inputs and outputs? Do you need SDI, HDMI, component, firewire, a combination of all?
Coming back to the issue of partners and choice, it seems obvious (to me anyway) that the more options that I have in determining my workflow and goals, the better chance I have of being successful with a given production or company.
So, this is a long winded way of mentioning a terrific list of hardware and software partners that work with Premiere Pro and other Adobe applications. I won't mention prices here, but will leave that to you to figure out when assessing your own needs. Finally, these partners are in no particular order (i.e - I'm not playing favorites), so check them all out because each of them offers something unique.
Cineform: Cineform website
These guys were one of the first HDV editing solutions and in fact made up part of Premiere Pro's 1.51 release which was our first support of HDV. They are a software solution that provides wavelet based codecs for a smooth, compressed HD editing experience. Their products are traditionally Windows based, but their new NEO HD product looks interesting and available on the Mac.
Matrox: Matrox Video website
Matrox has been a long time partner and they've got a lot of products to offer as a result. From their RT.X100 and RT.X2 to their Axio HD, they have a product at just about every price/performance you might want. The real differentiator with Matrox is their ability to do a lot of real-time work. They offer the ability to play back two 10-bit uncompressed streams in real-time with graphics and effects. That's a lot of data and processing happening at once. If you're doing HD work and have a deadline, then the Axio family may be the product for you. One example that is moving this way is HD News (HD News) If you're editing DV but want to be able to move up to HDV, then their RT.X2 is also a product worth looking at.
Blackmagic Design: Blackmagic Design website
Blackmagic has a breadth of products that provide you a bunch of different I/O options and price points. Besides offering you 8 and 10 bit HD editing at low prices, the input/output options are terrific. Additionally, they have software codecs so you can edit content on computers (like laptops) that don't have Blackmagic hardware installed. Finally, they should be having drivers for Premiere Pro on the Mac side very soon so you'll have a hardware solution that is potentially cross platform like the software is.
AJA: AJA Website
AJA like Blackmagic has a variety of products that offer a variety of I/O options. Their quality is great and they also focus a lot on some of the little stuff. They have WYSIWYG support for After Effects and Photoshop. They have look up tables (LUT) for film and support for Cineon files. They also have an application called Machina which offers additional capture options. This combined with other things like 4:4:4 and 12 bit capabilities make AJA another great choice.
Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU): V3HD website
I took a look at the newest HD player on the block last week at a meeting during the AES show in NYC. MOTU's approach is different and similar to their long track record in audio hardware design (which I like and use). Unlike the other hardware companies mentioned here, they use firewire as the connectivity, so technically, you can use this box with a laptop as well as a desktop system. For HD content, they use DVC Pro HD internally and decompress on the way out of the box back to whatever output you need and they're all hot simulatneously. With their audio background, it also goes without saying that they have a lot of audio I/O on this box too. They're just finishing drivers for Premiere Pro on the PC side and we'll see if they'll do Mac drivers as well.
Main Concept: MPEG Pro HD from Main Concept
Main Concept is a partner that we work with a lot. Some of their codecs and technology are in Adobe products and their home page currently touts that we licensed their H.264 technology for our Flash Player implementation. On the HD front, they offer MPEG Pro HD 2.0 which offers additional native support for XD Cam HD, and some HDV cameras. They also offer DVC Pro HD support for Premiere Pro as well.
Did I touch on everything? Absolutely not and that's why it's important for you to do some investigation to find out which product is right for you.
Choice is good and when you have 6+ choices for HD editing, it makes a tremendous difference for getting it done right the first time.
