Working off line, you work in low resolution to get a rough cut. Then you take your edit decision list (EDL) to an online editing solution. Then you replace all the rough, low quality footage with the good stuff for the final cut.

Go here: www.filmmakingstuff.com

I was just reading about it in 'The Filmmaker's Handbook,' by Steven Ascher and Edward Pincus. Here's what it says.

"The terms offline and online editing come from the days when video was edited exclusively on videotape, rerecording from one tape machine to another. In this traditional methodology, the camera tapes are dubbed to a lower-quality format and offline editing is done with relatively inexpensive offline editing decks (the original systems were called "offline" because the controller was not computerized). With these cheaper machines you can afford the time to shape and structure the movie. The offline edit is where you determine the "pattern" of the movie- every shot is cut to its proper length and is in its proper order. But at the end of offline editing you don't have a finished, high-quality tape- offline cuts often have poor image quality and rough sound. The goal of offline editing is to produce an edit decision list (EDL) which is like a construction blueprint that details the beginning and ending timecode of every shot used in the movie. You then take the EDL to an online editing suite, where the original, high-quality tapes are configured by timecode in the exact same way using expensive, online video decks. The end product of the online is the high-quality, finished master.

The terms offline and online continue to be used today, in the era of digital nonlinear editing. What do they mean now? We can see from the above description that, in one sense, "offline editing" means working on something that is not a finished product; the finished piece will be created later in the online stage. Offline and online are thus stages in the editing process. But in another sense, the idea of offline editing equipment suggests something that works at a lower or "draft" quality while online equipment is capable of "finished" or high quality. Today, these distinctions can become blurred. You might be able to use the same NLE to turn out an offline or an online product, simply by using different settings. Or your editing system might be capable of onlining a corporate DV project, but not an HD movie for television."

Excellent post, Spokane. Thanks!

When those terms first came into usage the offline editing set up was around $10/hr. and the
online was over $100/hr. We couldn't afford to do the editing at that rate - only the finalizing.
As you point out the lines are now blurred. Home editing systems are capable of handling HDV
and most HD footage. So there is no need to do an offline edit for DVD release or in many cases
even for a film out.

Most of us are shooting and editing the good stuff.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)