A whole new world of desktop video is opening up.
Open Architecture Equipment versus Dedicated Equipment
Dedicated equipment means that each piece of equipment is dedicated to one specific job, such as a switcher or a character generator.
Many companies, instead of designing a piece of equipment to do one specific job, such as a character generator, are starting with a computer and writing special programs that will allow that computer to meet the special needs of video production. Special adapters have to be built to allow the video signal and the computer to be integrated. This type of equipment is called open architecture equipment because the computer is not dedicated to any one specific use and is open to many uses, depending on the software (programs) running on the computer. Using this approach, you can start with a high-level home computer and make that computer into a video graphics system, a character generator, a video switcher, a digital video effects unit, or a nonlinear editor — all of this in one home computer. The quality of the work produced by some of these systems is excellent. These systems are usually far less expensive than dedicated pieces of equipment. These two factors cause many experts to predict that the use of dedicated equipment will die out.
The possibilities for open architecture equipment look wonderful. Instead of having to buy many expensive pieces of equipment dedicated to one job each, you could purchase a relatively inexpensive computer with the right software to do it all. What is happening is that the computer industries and video industries are beginning to converge. Almost all production facilities will have a mix of open architecture and dedicated equipment working together. Productions will be made on this equipment that might be sent out over traditional TV or cable. It might also be streamed on the Internet or made into a DVD. All of the production and distribution channels are converging together.
1. Dedicated video equipment.
2. Open architecture equipment.