#ILM
I've got a Sony SVO-9600 with Timecode generator and RS 422 module. Combine
that with my V-LAN Animax controller and you're talking around $4500, maybe a
little more. Then I've also got a Targa+ 16/32, which is a 32 bit framebuffer
(essential for single frame recording), and that cost me around $1000 used.
They're over $2K brand new, but deals can be had. I'd get an Illuminator Pro
if I had it to do all over again. I'm going to upgrade to one of those when I
can, since they have much better resolution capabilities than the Targa+ and
some goodies that the Truevision ATVista doesn't, and they're cheaper than the
ATVista.
If you're not planning on doing a lot of editing and adding of DVE and stuff
like that, then S-VHS is as good as 3/4. It's just that the signal starts to
fall apart after about 3 generations, so for a normal editing environment 3/4
is better.
Beta SP starts at @ $9000 with the brand new lower cost UVW series,
aimed at animators, and the standard PVW2800 goes for around $15,000,
and the broadcast BVW-75 is around $40,000. For just a tad more you
can get a Beta Digital ($50,000 I think). But these formats are
totally out of my reach for now, so I use the Exabyte/Abekas deal to
do my high end work. I get D1 output for @ $.18 per frame. Gotta do
a lot of frames on a Beta Digital deck to make up for that!
I like to do animations for my own sake, too (some of them will end
up on music videos), so it was both a good buisness investment and a
personal investment to get the Sony S-VHS deck.
John Tissavary (La Luna cie)