VTR Controlers ?
Indeed, there are other controllers than the ones by Diaquest.
SoftVTR costs $995 and controlls many RS422 and RS232 protocol decks. It is
software only.
Animation Commander, from Brute Force somewhere in Canada costs around $600,
and is hardware/software, similar to some of the Diaquest solutions. I've
heard it's quite good, don't let the low price fool you.
V-LAN, which I'm about to invest in, is a video post production standard
communication protocol. It works similar to LAN (hence the name), though I
can't fill you in on specifics. It is much more expandable than the single
deck controllers that many animators are used to using. A single V-LAN
transmitter can control up to 31 recievers. The Animax costs $1250, the
Express (not out yet) costs $750. The Express is a smaller device and is
apparently not as flexible and expandable as the Animax. There are also
external units available, but they cost more. It seems, to me, that V-LAN is
the way to go. It is produced by Videomedia in San Jose, and you can drop Bill
Stickney (72056,1520) or Larry Rask (don't have his Compuserve #) a line. They
frequent this forum.
Regards,
John Tissavary (La Luna cie)