CompuServe Messages

Albert, the basic card lists for $1995 and that allows creation and playback (not capture) of it's PAR format modified motion JPEG files which can be recorded composite, s-video, or betacamSP/MII. The TBC card addition allows you to capture video and save it as PAR files. I like this approach because I could buy just the basic card and add the TBC later on if I need it, or when my budget allows it. Other manufacturers make you buy stuff you may not want or feel you don't need for a _lot_ more money. For example, the Bandit by Fast Forward makes you buy an entire system for their suite of cards in side and the price is $5995 and that's before you've bought RAM or a hard disk. Matrox makes you buy their Illuminator Pro (which is nice, but I already have a targa+), before you can use the Movie Express JPEG card – probably a combined $5k price tag, without hard drive. Another company at Siggraph called ASL of Irvine showed a card for $1200 at Siggraph which seemed to be more in the mold of "Video in a Window", actually several windows at once, on a 640×480 screen. When I asked to see some captured video or animation played back, they didn't have any. Hmmm, very suspicious…. Overall, I didn't see anything that I was as impressed with as much as the DPS, but I would probably still want to have a 30-day money-back trial period to make sure there were no hidden surprises. Alan Iglesias may be getting one for review shortly, so I may be camping out at his place soon, since he lives relatively close to me in San Diego environs.