We take a look at the EZKeyboard Professional aimed at the consumer and based on the same technology the professionals use. The DV Keyboard has a built-in jog/shuttle controller and specialty keys enabling the home enthusiast with the same control that the pros have over their timelines and video clips.
The best feature of the EZKeyboard Professional is the shuttle/jog dial on the lower right third of the keyboard. During video capture, it controls the camera (or playback deck if you're fancy) making it much easier to log the clips for capture. The outside ring is spring loaded and you simply rotate right to go forward, the further right, the faster and left do go backwards, obviously, the further left the faster. The middle dial rotates 360 degress and "click" into place every 1/10 of the way around. Each click advance the frame on the camera on frame.
Directly above the dials on the EZKeyboard Professional are two buttons, I set up the one on the left to mark "frame in" and the right to "frame out". So to log a clip, I use the dials to get to the beginning, left click, go to the end, right click, hit enter, type in the name of the clip, hit enter again and I'm back to controlling the camera to get to the next clip. The EZKeyboard Professional cut my capture time down by roughly a third. During editing, the dials work the same way, but move you along your timeline or clip depending on which window you have active.
The other thing that makes the EZKeyboard Professional so cool is each key is marked with the shortcut PPro uses. It's an arduous task learning all the shortcuts and having them printed on the keys has made editing much faster, I barely have to touch my mouse anymore. And just to increase the useability of these keys, they are even color coded by category. Orange for editing functions (cut, ripple edit, pen tool etc.) Dark blue for playing (play, stop, frame advance), Yellow for timeline functions (zoom, snap, mark in), Gray to clear marks and got to titler, Light green for capture/import and dark green for output/export. The remaining keys are black and control their normal functions with the exception of the space bar (play) and the enter key (preview).
Along the very top of the EZKeyboard Professional are macro keys, eight of which can be programmed to perform whatever function you need. The other control playback for windows mediaplayer or whatever. There are also three keys to control the volume on you pc.
Setup of the EZKeyboard Professional couldn't have been easier, plug the keyboard into the usb port, put the CD in the drive and click install. Once everything is installed, you click on keyboard customization, make the choice you want and off you go.
Of course, it's not all plain sailing with the EZKeyboard Professional. Because the jog/shuttle control is where the arrow keys are, they have moved the arrow keys to the wrist rest, and instead of regular keys, they are more like the soft buttons used for the macros. It is impossible to press them fast in succesion, so using the EZKeyboard Professional with a spreadsheet could prove cumbersome. It will also make games that use the arrow keys harder. Plus, since I'm a touch typest, I'm still used to reaching for the keys in their usual place, so this slows me down even more. If you have a seperate PC for editing, it's not too much of an inconvenience.
If you're not a touch typest you will hate the EZKeyboard Professional as the letters are the smallest labels on the keys. If you have to hunt and peck it will take forever. The different colored keys make it even harder to find the letters and even as a touch typest, I still have some problems finding some of the special characters that are not part of normal english.
I guess since this is such a specialty item, the price needs to be higher for the company to make money, but $129.00 for a keyboard???? For that price I'd want a few extra details such as a button that mimics the left mouse button. I love being able to get exactly where I want on the timeline with the jog/shuttle so it irritates me that I then have to reach over to the mouse to execute the command (i.e. - move to position on timeline, press the "cut tool" key to change to the razor blade, then I have to reach over to the mouse to make the cut!) There may be a way to do this, but I haven't found it yet.
Overall a great keyboard with a nice feel on the keys and solild jog/shuttle feels. It's a good addition to any video editing setup, which I'd rank as second right behind adding the second monitor. If you edit a lot, get one.
