#PVR Delay!!!!!!!:-(
21 messages in this thread
I just talked to my dealer ( The Computer Room, Ft Lauderdale, Fl.)
He just got back from NAB with some bad news….
The DPS sales people are telling everyone about a June release for the PVR, but
the DPS engineer he spoke to said ( off the record) that even though the card
itself works fine, the software is realistically about 5 – 6 months away from
working, and DPS , rightfully, wont release the PVR until the software can be
made relatively bug free.
According to my friends "source", the DPS technical dept. is looking at an
August or September deadline for working out the bugs.
DPS slowed down production of PAR's in anticipation of a June PVR release, but
now another person from DPS (this one in marketing) is telling my dealer to be
prepared to sell PARs ( of which there is currently a shortage at the factory
because of the production slowdown) for at least another 4 months or so.
In other words…
The official "off the record" word from DPS (according to one dealer)
is…. DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH
I hope that this is wrong… but………..
Bye
David
David, Nope, I fear you're right about the PVR. The Pres. of our company just
got back from NAB also, and he spoke to one of the tech guys and was told the
same thing. They told him, it would be ready around Siggraph! It's odd though,
isn't it? There have been several reports from people who saw demos working
flawlessly. I don't understand. Can anyone actually confirm this? I was hoping
to get a PVR right away.
DM
No doubt one of our production guys was feeding out false info. It looks good
for a June 15th ship date.
Dave
DPS
>No doubt one of our production guys was feeding out false info. It looks
>good for a June 15th ship date.
The person that relayed the info about the delay to me , spoke to two of your
"production" people at NAB. He was told that the windows 3.1 software is "no
where near ready" and "if it released by the june deadline, it will be riddled
with bugs" another DPS person said (off the record) "be prepared to sell
nothing but PAR's for at least four months,…. it will take at least that long
to work out the software problems"
My dealer put it to me this way…"who do you believe, a DPS sales geek, or a
DPS engineer that's actually working on the project?
He recominded that I get a PAR, unless the PVR isreally released, and it seems
VERY stable.
Now this is very important. I must make a decision withen 30 days for a project
that I'm working on.
Please let us know what's going on ( honestly)
Thank you
David Camp
I have a working version here and IT will start shipping in June. I wish I
could find out who you talked to because it is not true.
Dave
>I have a working version here and IT will start shipping in June. I wish I
>could find out who you talked to because it is not true.
Ok I'll take your word for it and wait, but I sure hope that you're right. If
it is delayed more than 3 weeks ( or if the shipping version of the Windows 3.1
drivers are unstable), I'll be up the proverbial creek. But I am a trusting
sort of guy. (Please do me a favor and let me know ASAP (by private mail if
you'd like) if there will be any substantial delay in shipping the Perception.)
Also, while I've got your ear…….. I am working with Adobe Premiere for
Windows 4.0. I keep hearing that drivers that will allow it to work directly
with the PAR (or PVR) and read ANI files are just around the corner. Do you
know what the status of these drivers are? Should I just get RAZOR PRO and
forget about using Premiere with the PVR?
Thanks
David Camp
PS. I'll relay your message to my dealer. ( He wasn't the only one that heard
these "rumors")
I believe the rumors are from the PAL version which will not ship until
September.
Dave
What about my other question? Premiere 4.0 support? Can the PVR and Premiere
work together or must I get RAZOR right away? Where are the PAR drivers for
Premiere? ( I was offered a new PAR for an amazingly low price, I may go for
it.)
>I believe the rumors are from the PAL version which will not ship until
>September.
I HATE rumors….<g>
Thanks
David Camp
It is true that the PAL version will not ship until September.
Dave
DPS
Thanks Dave, PAL really isn't an issue for me right now, It does come up often
here in Miami, but if the NTSC card ships on sched. , I'll be a happy camper.
Now that you brought it up, will a NTSC card be software changeable to PAL?
David Camp
No the PAL and NTSC are very similar but not exactly the same.
Different boards.
Dave
DPS
Dave,
I'm having problems getting the Windows drivers (mci) running. It crashes
every time I try to run the Media Player. (and sometimes even installing the
software!) Do I need the new chip? I'm running WfWG.
Also, I'm having problems running my Wacom SD-1212 mouse drivers with the
latest PAR software for dos. I've checked it with a MS mouse, and am pretty
sure it's only with the Wacom. (but the Wacom works well in Win/3DS)
What happens is that the mouse gets "lost" or "forgotten". I can change
project folders and animations just fine- play, rewind, loop, arm the gpi, slow
mo are all ok. But when I use the scrub the mouse dies. It's pointer just
stays there. Also, when I change dos directories the mouse seems to disappear
altogether, or dies like the scrub. Any ideas? (I have the latest Wacom SD
drivers online.)
JNJ
>>problems running my Wacom SD-1212 mouse drivers with the latest PAR
software…
I had the same problem when I upgraded to a P90 a few months ago. I was
having all kinds of problems with the par, my scsi controller, and some other
things, and spent two weeks trying to figure it out before switching back to
the old wmouse driver. As soon as I did that, all the problems went away. You
should just use an older wmouse.com (there's no reason to use the new one).
David
You should contact Scott or Gary at 606.371.5533. I am the advanced prodject
manager and work on upcoming hardware. I handed off the PC PAR over a year ago
and they work with on a daily basis.
Regards,
Dave
Dave,
I think Dave S. may have the solution, but if it doesn't work I'll give them a
call. It would be nice to see some official DPS tech presence here though,
instead of wasting time on the phone.
Good luck with the PVR.
JNJ
>> June 15th ship date.
Very cool. I knew it. 🙂
DM
>There have been several reports from people who saw demos working flawlessly.
I don't understand
From what I hear, the windows NT software is coming along just fine (I guess
that is what is demo'd at NAB)
It's the Windows 3.1 code that seems to be having the problems.
Apparently, the plan is to release the PVR for win 3.1, and when 3DS 5 comes
out, DPS will start to phase over to a strickly NT op-sys.
Well…. the reply we got from DPS (David White) says June 15 … I wish we
could find out what really is going on. I don't want to put off getting a PAR
and end up waiting, and waiting, and waiting………for the bugs to be worked
out.
Bye
David
David:
>> PVR Windoze delay
Since you can't render directly to 3D Studio with the PVR anyway, what
difference does it make? Dual boot your system for NT and then copy all the
files over after they are rendered. (I know, easy for me to say!)
Greg Pyros
Accually you will be able to run it all from windows until you go NT. We will
be shipping a Windows applet to do just that. So if you just need to play back
your animations just run the supplied Windows app. No need to install NT until
you need it.
Dave
Dave:
>> Actually you will be able to run it [PVR] all from windows until you go NT.
I realize that, it's just that since you don't want to render 3D Studio under
Windoze, you will either have to take a machine off-line while rendering or
re-boot after rendering to copy all the frames over. That's why we're looking
into other options for controlling the PVR, neither of these is satisfactory in
a production environment like ours.
Greg Pyros
>(I know, easy for me to say!)
Ok…. sometimes you make a lot sense <g>
I was just offered a PAR (new in box, from a dealer) for $1400.
This decision is getting harder all the time.
The only thing that "might" make me go for the old instead of the new is the
fact that I have a 486/66 vlb mother board sitting around. I would just need 8
megs of mem and an ISA slot (and a few cheap accessories) to put together a PAR
render box. If I get a PVR then I would give up a PCI slot on my main computer,
(or get a new motherboard, and at lest 12 – 16 megs of mem) to make a PVR box.
Most PCI motherboards have a maximum of 3 PCI slots ( Vid. card, 100Mb/s LAN
card, SCSI card) which one do give up?
Decisions, decisions…..
Thanks Greg
David