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      Meanwhile, the team at Ediflex released an updated system that used write once Panasonic optical discs to play back source material. Don Kravits recalls:

       It worked on a few shows but quickly it became clear that it wasn’t the future however it allowed me to develop a new interface, a graphical interface and so I was given the job of steering Ediflex in a new direction with the new front end.

      Debbie Kurth recalls:

       Much of the existing technology was bound to customized boards and serial protocols. I saw that it was hard and expensive exercise to keep up with the latest and greatest features except for the big studios. There simply HAD to be another way, and the PC had to be it.

       One might say it was the first non-linear hardware system.

       It was flexible and had potential, with its portable plug-in parts. As a computer engineer, I will admit, I was not as fascinated with the Macintosh as Don Kravits was.

       In fact, I hated it. Not because of the user interface was not exceptional, but because Apple likes to control what and how you could do something on it. I was young. I had ideas and I wanted to push the envelope. Do what they said could not be done.

       The PC, on the other hand, at least in the beginning, was a true Open O/S. There were no limitations or guidelines

      Kravits and Kurth teamed to create a new Ediflex system (above) that used the best elements of the existing LINK timeline, Adrian Ettlinger’s Script Mimic concept and Montage’s application of DVI technology. Kravits recalls:

       I guess I could have used the Mac for our new system, and looking back maybe I should have but the new version of Windows was out and that seemed like a sensible move. So we had a great challenge before us and it was a chance to realize my dream, finally something a film editor could relate to.

       A vertical film interface with active script thumbnails superimposed upon the interface. It was truly revolutionary then, and now I would have to say. Of course, we were aware of what EditDroid had done with the jog/shuttle interface and so we hired Robson Splane an industrial engineer to create our own manual interface.

      Robson Splane grew up near Hollywood and was inspired by film studios and technology.

       Splane Design had already been involved in a wide range of products from electronics housing to medical products when Herb called me and asked us to design the controller for their upcoming Ediflex Digital editing system. As a part of our work on any project, we look at critical factors like a product’s ease of use which is generally driven by ergonomics.

       We visited the edit bays across Los Angeles and looked at what video editors used, and saw the common interfaces like the jog shuttle knob on CMX or ISC’s controllers, of course there were computer keyboards and trackballs and toggle sticks used to operate digital effects devices like ADO.

       I remember visiting one particular editor who had built a way to support his hand using a bank of disused computer mice; it was a ramp of sorts. After that, research it was obvious to us that we needed to bring all of these controls together in one controller for the Digital

       Ediflex product but we needed to create something simple because editors work incredibly long hours and their actions are highly repetitive.

       It reminded me a lot of when kids are playing computer games.