Edit Suite: Choosing a Titler

I had to make some difficult decisions as I put this month's column together on choosing a titler for your editing system. I knew some of you would want answers to questions about what titlers do, how they work and how they can help your videos look more professional. Others of you may know what titlers do, but not how to choose the best to serve you. You'd like guidance to help you find a titler to match your system, your budget and your videomaking style.

Despite the threat from a popular cliché, ("You can't please all the people all the time,") I'm going to give each of you something to improve your understanding of titlers, and how you go about buying one for your system.

A titler is an electronic device that lets you generate text and arrange it on the screen in your videos. Some people also call it a character generator.

It usually has a typewriter-style keyboard, which you use to enter and format the text you want to see on the screen. You can often generate letters in a range of sizes, font styles and colors. You can superimpose text over a moving video image, or a colored background.

The titler stores your text on an electronic "page" of memory. Each page is usually broken down into lines of text. Exactly how many words can fit on a page depends on the size and position of the letters on each line. The number of different pages you can store at one time depends on the amount of memory inside the titler or character generator.

Titlers come in two forms. One is a stand-alone box whose sole purpose is to generate text for videos like yours. The other is a computer-based software package that you install on a personal computer. It uses the computer's hardware to generate titles you can add to your videos.

The right answer depends on your needs as a videomaker.

For most situations, stand-alone models work very well. Most have enough flexibility and features to be useful on many projects. They're also the easiest way to add titling capabilities to an edit system, and often the least expensive.

If you want the most flexible and creative titling solution, consider getting a titling software package instead of a stand-alone box. To use these programs, you need a compatible computer system, and possibly some additional hardware to get the text out of the computer and into your videos.

The cost of the computer and related hardware may make this option more expensive than a stand- alone model. If you already have a computer, however, a software-based solution may cost the same or even less than a stand-alone box.