CompuServe Messages

Sure, The compression ratio of less than approximately 8:1 is considered by most to be lossless. Others say it must be as little as 3:1 to be lossless. In December I spoke to the Matrox reps about what the capabilities of the MAX will be and how they would compare it to DPS. Matrox claimed they could achieve a 3:1 compression but with the current system they were only achieving 8:1 which they claimed to be lossless. They (Matrox) said the DPS system would not be able to achieve even 10:1 compression. Remember, Martin, all this is just theory. The reality of all this is that I have not yet seen the MAX do any animation longer than 15 seconds sustained output at ratios of 10:1. While it is possible to run the PAR at these low compression ratios the PAR will also have video breakup. Consequently, we PAR operators are currently stuck with a BLF/QF of 250/23 yielding compression of approximately 13-14 :1. The way I figure the ratio on the PAR is to total the file size of targa series. and then divide by the file size of the ani file on the PAR. An example of a recent project was 486 MB of targa files and the ani file was 35.326 Mb. or 13.75:1. The real bottom line to all this is that a compression ratio of 13-14 to 1 is acceptable to 100% of my clients. I really don't think that I would gain any more clients if I had a MAX operating at 8:1 or even at 3:1. Having said this, last week for the first time I was asked to describe my equipment I would be using to do the animation I was bidding on. Since I don't like to divulge my tools I use I was rather vague but did mention 3DStudio with component output to beta SP, High speed rendering using a network of PC's. I did not get the job because the client wanted his animation to be done on the SGI systems or the toaster because those are the systems being used in recognition, namely Sea Quest and Jurasic park. It would have been a nice job but I've got enough to keep me busy right now. Point is the question of compression did not even come up. The question of recording method did not even come up.