CompuServe Messages

Hi Jamie: I don't mean for you to take offense or should I say be on the defensive at my assessment of the curent state of the art in Par end NLE. So you have a better idea of how I came to this conclusion here is some background: I have had three in house demos that surfaced many shortcomings of the individual NLE systems for our post facility. The systems were AVID, Media 100 and IMIX Cube. As you know, I also have the PAR with ver 1.5 software and TBC IV. The current system allows for maximum compression ratios of 15 or 17 to 1 on video frame grabs as an imported Y/C signal with export back to video at best of betacam component (CAV). It would be better if we could do CAV input and be able to compress at 7:1 which seems to be the figure most professionals are striving for in true broadcast betacam SP component editing with NLE systems. Additionally, only recently has the NLE industry been adopting their NLE systems for CAV. Most have been composite and Y/C to date. PAR is at best Y/C. Another major problem of integrating the PAR system as an NLE package is the storage capacity. This is really a major issue in all NLE systems today. Because of this storage issue everybody I know using the NLE systems do only short segments on NLE and then edit them together in a linear editor. If the PAR had some way to easily integrate it into MY editing system, such as RS-422 emulation control protocol, it would go along way to rasing it's NLE ststure in my opinion for some lower end video posting such as beta industrials not specing CAV in the contract. Usually the JPEG artifacting is tolerable at 3/4 SP or lower format output but if the distribution is beta SP CAV we/ clients notice a "PAR hit" when it is used for video special effects. When the beta SP is Y/C recorded the PAR inserts are hardly noticeable. Additionally, I have been trying to catch every thread regarding the Razor PRO product and it's maturity. I do plan to obtain it when certain other factors fall into place. These factors include faster PAR drives for better frame grabbing compression ratios, better control over the PAR in a video post operation. And, some good 3D DVE transitions that give it the appearance of something more like the Alladin by Pinnacle. As for sound, well, I think you need to put together a turn key system that has been tested by you and then it could be installed without further development and testing by the end user. Many threads have delt with the integration of RAZOR PRO and some bug fixes etc. At the moment I don't have the time to experiment with something that doesn't appear to fly by pushing forward on the throttle. Currently the PAR does fine for what I am doing. I do think it needs just a bit more before it is ready for full NLE and competing with products like Media 100, Imix Cube, etc. in this industry. As for Premier 4.0, I still haven't loaded it yet. I'm waiting for the MCI drivers from DPS for windows. Actually, my traveling schedule has been too hectic lately to concentrate on a new piece of software. As I said, I only picked it up because it was too good an offer to refuse. I only intend to dabble with it to see if there are any possibilities here. I could have bought your product but the price of the Premier 4.0 was <10% of Razor Pro with chip. The decision was just economics. >>If you are interested I am sure the dealer we set up in your area could give you a demonstration of the abilities of this combination. Who is this dealer? I should pay them a visit. If he is in this area why hasn't he contacted me? I'm sure you would have sent him leads as I had you fax specs to me some time ago and inquired about being a dealer for your product myself. Many dealers (in this area) don't actively sell low margin products. They passively sell them meaning the products are there if you want them, The dealers know very little about them, how to demo them nor what the bug fixes are. Although I don't actively sell hardware and software either, I at least know thoroughly the products I do sell and can offer tech support on them all.