CompuServe Messages

Gary, Roy is asking me to do just that, after I write my review on the AVID. The system came in on Monday and I spent most of the afternoon just hooking it up. Tuesday I recorded on it, but couldn't spend much time since I had to complete an editing job. Wednesday and Thursday we were recording a conference, and yesterday was another catch up day. This weekend the system will get its first real workout. But, my first impression or rather the first thing that you realize when you turn on the unit is that you are running a MAC. This is not a negative statement, but when you first press the Flyer ICON, you are running a program that does not remind you that you are working on a computer. Maybe it is just the nature of the Amiga, but compare this to running a DOS program on a PC and then running a Windows program. The DOS program keeps you hidden from standard pull down menus and you never really see layers of screens. Windows, on the other hand, allows you to resize screens and make them disappear altogether. I still don't know why the world seems to like Windows. Having a screen jump in size and then trying to determine which program is actually running at anytime bugs the daylight out of me. But, then my first experience with computers was a Model I Radio Shack, and I cut my computer teeth learning Basic. Going from a DOS prompt to a program is very comforting to me. NewTek uses that kind of programming in their displays. Sure you can jump via key combinations to other programs, but when you are running the Toaster or the Flyer, you have a fixed screen. The AVID runs on the MAC. Since I had never used a Mac before, it took a phone call just to figure out how to turn the darn thing on. I'm not going to comment on the system until I have had a chance to at least play with it, but in just playing back the sample clips that were on the system, it looked good. I have the Media Pro. This is a $25,000 system. It is designed for the corporate company that does video and not for a video production company. The next step up is the Media Composser. This is a $45,000+ system that is aimed at small production companies. The nice thing about AVID is that no matter which system you buy, they call up be upgraded to a high system by just replacing boards and software. So, you could start with a $25,000 system and by using the same computer, jump to their $80,000 system. Well, that's more than 50 words, but you knew I would exceed the limit. I'll give you a better comparison on Monday. Oh, when I called AVID's tech support, I did have to wait about 8 minutes, until a tech answered, but they have an 800 number, so the call is on them. Fred