CompuServe Messages

M, >> I hope to get the ASDG Abekas drivers when they start shipping. The drivers are quoted as supporting JPEG. Do you know if these files will play directly on something like the DPS card.>> I don't think so – you'd need to "compile" them into the DPS personal animator's native file format (.PAR I think – this doesn't take much longer than copying from one disk to another). The DPS personal animator uses "a highly modified, proprietary, motion JPEG" scheme (loosely quoted from the staff of DPS at Siggraph) and has it's own file format. It does not store a sequence of JPEG files which would be what you would want for the ASDG-Exabyte-Abekas scenario. Also, to get the best from the Exabyte-Abekas combo you would almost certainly be better off with a lossless compression scheme, such as used in targa files. >>One of my local video studios is looking at purchasing either an Avid or Matrox non-linear editing system. As the Matrox is JPEG and the Avid presumably Mac QuickTime am I correct in assuming that I can convert 3DS files to a suitable format through ASDG onta an Exabyte, plug plug Exabyte into the video system SCSI port, download my animation file and record at whatever quality/speed the non-linear system will produce. If this theory works then I will also be able to pull live video into 3DS by the reverse route.>> 3ds r3 will read and write JPEG files so your scheme sounds feasible, but a direct SCSI connection might work much faster, if the hardware supports it. I have an external hard drive which I can attach to any system with an Adaptec or ASPI-based controller. I think the Exabyte really comes into its own to communicate with Abekas digital disk recorders (DDR) because these are D1 quality and not lossy like Avid and Matrox. Martin.