Digital video editing was slow to gain adoption, but digital video mastering (i.e. video transfers) was pretty much standard for home video by the early 90s. Telecine setups (even analog) had smart controls, nothing I'd call 'barbaric'. [0]
What was barbaric was the full post workflow for a film-to-tape-to-film edit session as described. Sure, the transfer session wasn't bad, but the full process was
What was barbaric was the full post workflow for a film-to-tape-to-film edit session as described. Sure, the transfer session wasn't bad, but the full process was