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| RIP SONY BVW BETACAM DECK |
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The compact Speed Editor looks right at home on your desktop next to your keyboard and it is nicely weighted so it stays in place where you put it. It has rechargeable batteries inside and can communicate with your Mac video editor via Bluetooth, or you can simply connect it with a standard USB cable. At about 9” wide by 6” deep the speed editor looks like an extension of your computer keyboard. In the lower right corner is that beautiful KNOB I’ve been missing. Sure, you can use your cursor keys to scroll your video timeline but the knob is like putting your hand on the cursor and moving it fluidly, back and forth to exactly the sweet spot you’re trying to see; BRILLIANT.
Three white buttons above the KNOB control how it functions:
- Shuttle makes it rewind or fast forward your reel
- Jog is what it sounds like, it jogs the play head
- Scroll (where mine usually lives) gives you that fluid frame by frame movement
These timeline playhead-movement functions controlled by the knob are all super smooth. If my speed editor died tomorrow I’d order a replacement immediately just for these knob functions alone. When tweaking an edit or spotting special effects it’s a critically important function (I love it).
FULL SCREEN BUTTON
One of the most handy control buttons on the Speed Editor is red and labeled “FULL SCREEN”, it provides a quick way to instantly see your video LARGE on your monitor (very handy for those of us who work primarily on a single monitor). This button is a toggle and you can bounce back and forth between editing the timeline and seeing/scrolling in FULL SCREEN mode. Being RED this button stands out and is easy to see/reach/use.
STOP/PLAY BUTTON
This button (located just to the left of the KNOB) is the width of four regular buttons which makes it easy to tap with your thumb to start and stop your video playback. Yes - you could just hit the space bar on your computer keyboard (which I do a lot) but having the Stop/Play function right on the Speed Editor helps it earn its name (speeds up the process flow). I have my left hand on the Speed Editor and my right hand on the computer keyboard: this makes it easy to punch the HOME key on my keyboard (rewind to beginning), FULL SCREEN and PLAY on the Speed Editor to review/see what we’ve made.
DaVINCI RESOLVE HAS A LOT OF FUNCTIONS
DaVinci Resolve is the DAW of video editors, it’s got tons of functions and learning them all takes time. The Speed Editor has a lot of functions that I’m still learning to use. It has a lot of functions I don’t personally need right now (9-multi track camera buttons). IN and OUT buttons are there for setting edit points. It’s a full featured controller that puts some of the most used functions up front and easy to access without digging into the software controls on the computer.
EPILOGUE
Back in 1998 I worked and learned on a clients $85,000 Avid video editing system (which seemed like magic after video tape). In spite of the high cost it was sluggish and clumsy compared to what we have on our desktop/laptop today. I’m doing my video edits on a stock M4 Mac mini connected to basic USB3 SSD for storage.
The KNOB, FULL VIEW button and STOP/PLAY button are the most used functions for me right now. I’ve only really been cracking the code on Da Vinci Resolve Studio in the last year and it’s been a fun ride. I started editing digital video back in the 1990s after Apple brought out the Quadra 840AV computer. That computer sold a lot of “Premier 1.0” software until DV grew up and finally caused Apple to acquire “Final Cut Pro 1.0”.
Blackmagic Design has done a great job of integrating useful features inside Resolve and the Speed Editor takes that a step further with hardware controls and two seats of their Pro Studio software version (complete with color correcting, Fairlight DAW and so much more). Having an A.I. companion to help you navigate and learn all these controls can be a huge productivity improvement too.
So does the Speed Editor live up to its name? YES, and I suspect it will continue to be even more helpful as I learn all its powers. For the moment the functions I’ve described in this review plus the two seats of Studio software make it a must have for me.
Thanks for reading High on Technology, Good Music and Good Video To You!
©2026 by Mark King, it’s not OK to copy or quote without written permission from the author.
ONE MORE THING - I see a lot of folks complaining about how hard DaVinci Resolve is to learn. Blackmagic Design offers you a completely free version with almost every feature of the Pro Studio version in there…. IT’S FREE! Get a copy and start learning to do things with it. Don’t wait until you have a job to do or NEED it, get it now, work on some fun pieces and learn where things are and how they work.
BTW, the Fairlight DAW inside Resolve is awesome. If you’re having trouble accessing the features maybe you’re rushing things and need to go back for more education LOL. There’s a button in Resolve that puts you into the DAW mode complete with timeline, faders, plugin locations and parametric EQ without inserting anything. Having the DAW integrated inside the video editor makes it so easy to spot sound effects, no guessing about when the sound will hit (critically important when you’re spotting explosions, gun shots or any other time specific functions). Fairlight takes on many different faces depending on the system you’re on, more monitor space really helps but you can do it all on a MacBook which is really awesome for portability.
Originally published July 6 2026
