#PAR Excellence…
Well…. after many trials and tribulations with the Seagate 3655A,
literally spending 40 hours plus, tearing apart my system checking
for conflicts of every nature imaginable, trying block sizes or
various settings and generally wondering if I'd taken that final step
over the edge of sanity, (a real concern for those of us living on
the edge <g>), I came to the conclusion that the hard disk was not
giving me the performance and quality I minimally expected from the
PAR. I then contacted Greg P. who was very understanding. He made
several calls including one to DPS upon which we resovled to replace
the drive and rather than take any chances, exchange it for the
Micropolis 2210A which was specifically designed for Video
Multi-media applications. Its also heavier duty and has a built in
shock mount. As before, I took my time installing it, and built the
system from the motherboard level up. Typically, all else being
equal, the PAR could be installed in less than 20 mins. But like many
of todays PC based systems, there's alot of potential for conflict.
So I read the manual and take my time.
Anyway, the long and the short of it is that the image quality is far
better than what I saw at Siggraph or on my friends Amiga based
system. I attribute this to the superior performance of the
Micropolis. One animation I've been using as a test, I was unable to
get the PAR to playback with the Seagate without break-up at a Block
size of 200. The same animation I was able to compress on the
Micropolis with a Block size of 240 and could probably have gone to
250. Suffice it to say that at 240 the image quality in playback is
significantly better than the best I'd hoped for.
On the framebuffer output side, for those technically inclined it has
a video bandwith of -3 db > 5.5 Mhz which is roughly comparable to
SVHS. The higher the bandwidth the more detail and better resolution
potential. In comparison with Beta SP which has a 5.7 sync tip
(lowest video base level) and 7.7 White Peak level. These values are
important in determining output resolution capability, because the
wider the bandwidth, the higher the Horizontal resolution potential.
But as an additional comparison, the Sony CRV has a bandwidth of 4.5
Mhz and is considered Betacam quality as opposed to Beta SP with a
signal to noise ratio of 48 db as opposed to the Par's which is 60 db
(better) and considered professionally acceptable. The PAR falls
between the two in terms of its framebuffer output quality. The
detail in the picture quality will depend on what block size and Q
factor you use, as much as it will the framebuffers potential output
quality. I think the PAR is a professionally acceptable output
device, with better output potential than SVHS because of the Beta SP
component output. Whether it will meet the expectations of more
discriminating clients will more than likely depend on the quality
level they are accustom to. I would much prefer the PAR on Beta SP
tape than on SVHS as a final medium. But don't settle for less than
the Micropolis as your compression drive. The difference between it
and the Seagate, is what puts the PAR in the professional quality
category IMO. And that's my final word on the subject. <g>