Digitising (Digitise)

This is the process of transfering video and/or audio from its original source (usually a tape of some kind) to a computer's hard disk. The information from the source tape is already digital in most modern scenarios, and 'digitising' is actually a misnoma in this case. If the source material is analogue (ie Betacam SP) then the computer editing software and hardware needs to 'encode' this into a digital form so that it can be used with the edit system. The quality of the encoded digital video and audio can be varied at this stage, and can be as good as the original (more disk space usage), or reduced in quality (less disk space usage). Digitising can be a case of inputing all the available material, or parts of it can be 'logged' and then 'picked' from the tape either automatically or manually. Reduced quality material can be 're-digitised' at a higher quality later, or just the final chosen material for the programme can be picked by the edit system when finished at high quality (an 'on-line edit').