CompuServe Messages

James: Where have you beeeeen? <g> Digital Processing Systems (DPS) is a company that has created a product called the Personal Animation Recorder (PAR). It should be shipping in mid January, last I heard. It consists of an ISA board that fits in your computer, and has up to two dedicated hard disks attached directly to it (NOT through your computer bus!) You simply copy the Targas to it or render directly to the PAR. It will then play back in real-time, 60 fields per second. Direct outputs include Composite, Component, and SVHS (Y/C). File size is 752×480. Extremely high quality. List price is $1,995 without the hard disk, add around $650 for a 500 meg (5 minutes of animation). They are certifying 1gig and 1.7 gig disks as we speak. There is also an optional $995 TBC which will allow you to input live video and capture it real-time. The best rotoscoping equipment imaginable. What I was suggesting for your budget is to get the PAR plus an SVHS deck that does not do single frame accurate recording. These can be purchased in the neighborhood of $500 to $1,000 at your local electronics store. You can then place your animations on the PAR and record them real-time on SVHS to send to clients. We have been playing with two of them for a while now (we wrote the drivers for them) and have no complaints! For clients who only want VHS output, it can be considered final. If someone needs higher end, you can use it as a final test, then send the files out to be layed on high-end tape or laser. In that price range, for those needs, it can't be beat, IMHO. Greg Pyros [Pyros Partnership, Inc] 17-Dec-93 at 11:58a PST