CompuServe Messages

Vernon – I appreciate you situation, there is alot going on in this area and things are changing fast. You have some other options available to you which we can explore but first lets answer your questions directly. If your going to go the video frame accurate route, I would recommend the software approach ie: SoftVTR and by-pass the hardware approach. SoftVTR is about $1000. When you buy the software is supports a wide variety of machines. Good especially if you're going to be renting a VTR or plugging your system into a production house for frame accurate transfer. Another approach is to go with an image compression for real-time playback off the hard disk. DPS has an engine called the Personal Animation Recorder which allows you to put your animation to hard disk and then play it back in real-time with S Video, NTSC and Component output. This runs around $2500 and the cost of a compatible 500 MB hard disk (add approx $1000). The advantage here is no tape drop-out etc, and no wear and tear on a VTR. This is something well worth looking into! With regard to the Targa 32+ and 64+ the difference is the 64+ has two 32 bit frame buffers. But unless the software is written to use both buffers it maybe a useless feature. The best application I know of which fully utilises the 64+ is Inscriber which is a character generator/titler program which has built in dissolves and transitions. Great for speaker support and Broadcast or industrial credit rolls. Now here is what I would recommend for the best of all worlds with the caveat there is no single answer. If we bypass the image compression approach which we can get into later, I would buy an Illuminator Pro with the CCR-601 specification for Broadcast, and the SoftVTR for my controller. This will give you better resolution than the Targa for a few hundred dollars more. I think the going price is about $1750 for the Matrox and you get 720×486 lines of resolution for D1. This board should keep you in good stead for awhile. From here you can buy an EXABYTE 8650 and go digital all the way to D1 with the ADG driver. This is another $3000 for the combination but you will be able to go D1 total digital and with the SoftVTR you can use most any other deck on the market to put your animations to tape. -JE P.S.