CompuServe Thread

Frank, I'm trying to keep things around the $10-12K mark for the 3 machines, if possible. I wouldn't be opposed to used equipment AT ALL; I was a pawnbroker for 12 years, so I know full well the savings to be had by letting someone else absorb the beating of new equipment. My 2 current problems on used equipment are: 1. Finding it. 2. Knowing what to look for and roughly how much to pay. It's terribly easy to get burned when you jump into a category that you know very little about, as is the case with me and 3/4" equipment… Also, I realize that there is a whole lot of activity right now concerning nonlinear products being released. My concern here is that the buyers of the first round of released equipment are going to pay drastically more than this stuff will be going for in a year or so, and more importantly, they're gonna be guinea pigs. I don't have a problem with the pricing aspect, because in the world of computers and electronics in general, whatever you buy tends to be surpassed in quality and value within a very short time. I do, however, have a problem with being an unwilling test subject for new technologies that cost a lot of money, and I'm afraid that's gonna be the case with the nonlinear gear. Thus my decision to go ahead and upgrade via the VTR route. By the time nonlinear systems are perfected and their price has equalized with their value, hopefully I'll have made my money back several times over, and won't give a flip if everyone else in the world thinks my equipment is obsolete. Back to specifics; I have the TAO Editizer, which is a PC-based A/B roll edit controller that is purported to work great with any RS-422 VTR, so that part shouldn't be a problem. I also have a Sony EVO-9650 that I could keep for my anim's if necessary, although I'd really prefer to sell it, buy a SFC, and use one of my upgraded machines for anim recording and editing. What I'm trying to accomplish is an upgrade in quality through the generations, and accuracy to speed up the editing process. Using these EVS-3000's is a nightmare if you have a lot of scenes that need to be put together accurately. If I decide to stick with S-VHS, have you heard anything about the new Sony SVO-9000 & SVO-9600?? Sony quality is usually pretty dependable, and we're talking quite a bit less $$$ than the Panasonic or JVC equivalents for frame accurate editing. On the 3/4" end of things, you'll have to bear with my ignorance, cause I know virtually nothing about them, never having worked with ANY of them. What's SP?? What's MII?? What are the standard models in each?? Where's a good place to buy them new?? Where's a good place to start looking for them used?? Will I have any problem dumping my tapes that have been shot on Hi8 onto these formats?? Will I have any problem dumping copies of the master to VHS?? How's that for some specific questions that expose my true ignorance <G> ? I'm comfortable asking stupid questions in this forum; I paid a v