Interview with Edward Hervey, maintainer of the PiTiVi video editor

[ Thanks to Christian Schaller for this link. ]

"There are many goals for PiTiVi, but I'd say the fundamental goal from which all other goals derive is to be a video editor framework without any limitations (unlike all other editors that have got very specific limitations to what they can do or support).

"Getting rid of the limitations of formats, devices, filters,... we can support is brought to us through the use of the GStreamer multimedia framework. All other editors have hardcoded this, whereas we can for example be proud in being the only Free editor not tied to any patent-encumbered libraries ! This also means that if a company makes a proprietary GStreamer plugin for a specific format/codec/device ... you also get it for 'free' in PiTiVi without having to do anything. This is the one limitation barrier we solved thanks to our design choices.

"We also don't want to have a video editor whose functionnalities are static, that's why we chose to (re)write PiTiVi in python, and make the whole design very modular. The UI is not tied to the core backend, in fact you can even use it without a UI. The way the core backend is designed, you could also write different ways to represent the Timeline, some might be better suited depending on your level of expertise or what you would like to concentrate on most (which depend on where you're located in a production workflow).

"The end goal is for PiTiVi to bring the basic editing tools without putting in any restrictions. That, unfortunately, comes at a cost : having to make sure all bugs/issues/limitations are fixed/removed at the proper level instead of adding hacks over hacks. And that takes time..."

Complete Story

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