CompuServe Messages

D1 is the original digital video standard (since it came out, many others have followed from different manufacturers). In pixel terms, D1 is 720 by 486 pixels (NTSC). It is a digitized CCIR 601 video signal. The advantages of digital recording for video are much the same as that for audio…the promise of the Nth generation tape being identical to the 1st generation. D1 devices usually look *great*. For a 3D Studio owner, the benefit of recording via our driver (which creates Abekas compatible D1 tapes), is very much one of cost – at $495 for the software driver and $2100 for the tape drive (and the cost of an Adaptec ASPI SCSI disk controller) you have a frame accurate single frame recorder which never shows dropouts, has D1 quality and resolution, can be randomly accessed (reading), and is portable to many other formats by making use of service centers located throughout the US. As has been stated by others here, the cost of single frame analog recording equipment includes at least $5000 for a low end single frame recorder, some amount for an animation controller, a thousand or more for a frame buffer, and perhaps still more for time base correction and other video hardware. After spending all that, you still don't have a high end result. The down side of writing Abekas tapes is that the tape drive cannot provide real time play back. So, animations must be motion tested in some other way. Perhaps using quarter screen standins, or using other techniques. Once you are happy with the animation, it can be rendered frame by frame to Abekas tape. Each frame takes about 6 seconds to record. Please let me know if there's any other information you'd like.