CompuServe Messages

You have the right idea of jumping formats, if possible, to edit. I do this ALL the time. One thing though, if you have it I'd jump to Beta SP or MII for edited master. These higher formats will not only hold together longer but will also preserve the higher resolution of the SVHS detail. At any rate the 3/4 will not preserve the hor. resolution of SVHS but will hold the solid colors together longer and look better after 4 generations as opposed to staying in SVHS. One bit of advice, never forget the signal to noise ratios of these formats. SVHS is lower than the higher formats and when copying will compound the noise. In addition, using dub mode is recommended because it has a much lower noise figure because dub mode eliminates much of the video signal processing and is the best form of component (Y/C) duplication. When crossing formats decks must have this feature to utilize it. I use a EVO9800 Hi8 deck that has the Y/C 688 dub out connector. This is 3/4 compatible. VHS is Y/C 629. When I do editing, I use dub mode for all my cuts assembly, in the insert edit mode. When I need an effect such as dissolves and wipes I switch to composite video mode because my switcher is only composite. The DPS PAR and MAX are worlds apart in price but very close in quality of output. I have looked at them both on BVM1910 broadcast monitors. The storage capacity of each is dependent on the compression ratio being used. In theory, the MAX uses much lower ratio and therefore has not only higher quality but will store far less time than the PAR. The MAX is the choice if money is no object, you're planning to dedicate a platform to it's implementation, and the highest possible quality is desired for real time output. If your clients see the animation in one of the lower formats then the PAR will probably fit the bill. Due to the PAR's dedicated IDE drive it requires a much higher compression ratio so the files size is smaller per field. With the smaller file size the IDE transfer rates attain the 60 field per second required output. The side benefit is the quantity of animation storage possible per megabyte of disk space. Actually I see this capacity only useful for frame grabbing, not for animation. Face it, how long does it take you to model and keyframe and render 3-5 minutes of 3DS animation? So this 3-5 minutes of animation storage, in my book, is a silly specification to brag about. It really is an indicator of higher compression ratios and therefore higher quality loss. But that's what you get with the lower priced unit.