Sometimes it is best to look to the past in order to understand the best way to go forward. In fact, this is essentially what we did when we created Insert Edit, the cornerstone feature of cineXtools.

Let’s take the time machine to the pre-digital era

Remember tape? Depending on when you were born, the answer could be a resounding no. In today’s digital age, most editors wouldn’t be able to recognize the work their counterparts from the past would do, LITERALLY cutting tape and piecing it together to make one cohesive product for the audience. While the overall process was much more tedious and time consuming than what you would see today, there was one glaring piece of the modern process that was missing: re-exporting.

Insert Edit, AKA “Digital Scissors”

cineXtools taking a process of the past and bringing it forward to make the editing process easier was explained perfectly in a ProVideo Coalition blog by Jose Antunes from cineXtools’ earliest (back when the product was only available on Mac!) days:

“[Insert Edit with cineXtools], which I like to think of as digital scissors, is a modern tool that treats your file as if it was tape from the old days of linear editing. It allows you to accurately replace content in a file, based on timecode in and out points– pretty much just like working on tape.”

Cutting an easy change into a master “file” was one of the few things that came easier in the “old days of linear editing.” With Insert Edit, it’s like you are cutting a small piece of footage into the master file, saving you from one of the most time consuming and annoying parts of the editing process: re-exporting and master file QC. This saved steps ultimately saves the editor several hours, or even days, that it takes to make a file ready for delivery.

Time is Money, Money is Time

Anyone who has spent ages waiting for a master to re-export as a result of one tiny change understands that this tool can save your sanity. But from a bigger picture viewpoint, cineXtools is also a tool that can make a serious difference on your bottom line. Imagine the hours of labor and processing power that you can save by eliminating the need for re-export and QC. Instead of having to wait hours and hours to see the new brand new product and taking the additional time to make sure that the changes appear correctly in the master file, you can use Insert Edit to patch in a change to the master file and it will be ready to go just like that. Less labor means less money spent on one project and more time and money that can be put towards other projects.

Get started for FREE

Here at Cinedeck, we offer a cineX Suite free trial that gives you access to cineXtools, cineXmeta and cineXplugins. All free trial versions can be used on any supported file up to 5 minutes long. If you’d like a full length free trial, please contact sales@cinedeck.com.