#Premiere and PAR
25 messages in this thread
I agree that PAR is a wonderful product. I just wish DPS would spend less time
in BUG DENIAL mode and more time working with real users. I get the feeling
that feeling that they are the "Amiga Elite" and have little use for "mere DOS
scum".
Cal Haines, 70302,3153
>>I agree that PAR is a wonderful product. I just wish DPS would spend less
time in BUG DENIAL mode and more time working with real users. I get the
feeling that feeling that they are the "Amiga Elite" and have little use for
"mere DOS scum".<<
Amen.
Dean
Dean,
After visiting DPS I would have to disagree with you. PARs on PCs
are high on their agenda.
Jamie Carr
in:sync
Jamie,
What's the latest with Razor Pro?
I'm very interested but I've been waiting for the software to shakeout — or to
have it truly tested by someone like Don Landis (who knows the true meaning of
"evaluation.") I've got a great collection of software I've bought because it
"looked great" but which turned out to be unusable for various reasons. And
your $800 price makes me very cautious.
Have all the other modules been completed and are they shipping? Does it
actually work, bug free, with the PAR?
Seems strange that there is no one around here who has been using it.
Thanks,
Alec Jason
>>or to have it truly tested by someone like Don Landis (who knows the true
meaning of "evaluation.")
Thanks Alec!
I've been doing a bunch of NLE editing with the PAR's split and join lately.
Something like the RAZOR PRO would sure expand the present capability. I've
been working with a video (film) producer who has a great imagination for
comedy. We have been using PAR features like ping pong and reverse for some
truly funny motion effects that would be a nightmare of editing in the
traditional sense. I have been very closely following the Razor Pro and the
Premier 4.0 write ups and these threads because one of them will be on my 1st
priority purchasing agenda after the new year. I can assure you that I won't
buy either until i see a demo and both are on the market or in beta. I too
won't pay $800 for something and find out it won't work as claimed, only to
have the software mfg. make excuses about bugs, and next release, etc.
Don,
why would you be interested in Razor Pro or Premier if you have the Fast Video
Machine? Wouldn't they duplicate each others abilities?
>>Wouldn't they duplicate each others abilities?
Actually not. The Video machine is a modular approach to setting up a video
edit suite. You can start out at low (consumer grade only) end and keep
adding on until you have the full YUV non-linear setup. My current system only
includes the Full VM bboard with alpha channel and the Studio Control box
(allows for balanced audio feeds, external sync, and RS-422 control) with
Inscriber. My next add-on would be the jog shuttle hardware interface (I do it
with a mouse like in the Toaster now) and the YUV I/O option card. Next would
be the NLE board which is a 3:1 capable A/B roll player. This is a $15000 add
on and, quite frankly, I'd prefer to beef up my PAR at ~$500 for now. If I
find the NLE is really adicting I will try to budget for it. Also, the Fast
NLE system is so new that I think it should get a year of debugging first. So
far the only people that have it are also dealers and you can guess what they
are saying or not saying.
Don,
thanks for the explanation. I'd like to see 3:1 compression capability on the
PAR 🙂
They do it with 64 megs of RAM buffer and two SCSI Hard drives that have a
special bus, bypassing the computer's bus. Of course you don't have to
configure it for 3:1 but it is possible.
Don,
I ordered RAZOR PRO this week, because with Premiere 1.1A i could not write
to the PAR. But everybody tells me that this must be possible also with
Premiere 1.1A. I can not find the way to do this however. Somebody
here told me "just choose the PAR-drive for output", which i did but Premiere
told me that i was not entitled to acces the networkdrive (????).(it's a
standalone machine)
I only can choose AVI, Quicktime or Filmrol format as output no TGA's though?
Isn't that what the PAR needs (TGA's). Maybe you can lead me in the right
direction with Premiere while waiting for RAZOR because i have to "charkcoal" a
2400 frames animation with a deadline coming closer and closer.
Thanx in advange
Theo
I don't have Premier at all yet but have attended seminars on the product.
You should be able to output your Premier results to sequential TGA's and then
port them to the par using the PAR's import function. Yes, I know this is an
extra time consuming step but if that is not satisfactory wait a few weeks for
the 4.0 version which I understand will support the PAR directly.
From what I've been hearing you probably won't go wrong with Razor Pro.
just one user's opinion…..
I have been using Razor Pro for about 10 days now. There were a few
initial bumps, ( Ok bugs) but things have smoothed out. I find the product to
be very intuitive and FAST…. After the upgrade that ships next week I think
all remaining questions about Razor Pro's professional qualifications will be
answered.
P. S. For all users that feel customer support is integral to a product
that you invest in, IN-SYNC is terrific. I had a question the other day and
left a message after 5:30pm and recieved a called back that evening at 9:30 !
Jamie Carr went way out of his way to help me achieve an effect I needed. this
is quite rare. Try that with Adobe !
Brendan G.
P. S.
Does anyone know definitively if Premiere 4.0 will support the PAR. I
losely followed this thread but was'nt clear as to the outcome ?
B-
Thanks for the good word on Razor Pro. Why are they bringing out an upgrade
already? I thought the product just started shipping.
Don,
I guess you could say it is more of a stabalization of the previously
released version. Although it will also offer the Text generator and the
motion path generator which were not included in the initial shipping, it will
also fix a few of the
little creepers that snuck in the intial offering.
It is difficult to know exactly which basket to put your eggs in. On
one hand Adobe has been around and will be around. On the other hand if for
some absurd reason they don't catch a clue from PC users that devices such as
the PAR, MATROX or the TARGA, are here to stay, they will have forced a
decision by users like us to go with a young startup company such as In-Sync
who actually keep their ear to the ground.
B-
Agreed!
Thanks for the update.
Alec,
"What's the latest with Razor Pro?"
We released RAZOR PRO a couple of weeks ago and at the time we
weren't quite ready to ship the character generator and the
DVE generator. Those modules are being finalised now and we are
upgrading all of our existing users at the end of next week.
DPS and ourselves are resolving some issues (ok, bugs) which have
come up and that's why we're doing the upgrade next week.
There are a bunch of people using it – I don't have all their
names to hand but try asking Greg Pyros about his experiences.
Jamie Carr
in:sync
Jamie,
could you please repeat your BBS number for those asking for it? TIA.
Martin,
The in:sync BBS number is 301-983 3763. The best time to call is during the
evening and the weekend as it is getting very busy during the day.
We will be sending an upgrade to users on Wednesday which should be
with end users by the end of this week or the beginning of the next. The
upgrade includes the titler, DVE, bug fixes and a new manual.
Jamie Carr
in:sync
Hi Jamie:
I just spoke to my Fast VM dealer who sells your Razor Pro. He quoted me a
price that did not include the chip. He said I have to buy that separately.
Adding the two prices comes to more than the announced price I heard on this
forum. Does your product at $799 MSRP include the chip?
Do you sell through any national distributors like Merisel or Tech Data yet?
Regarding the chip: What is it that you need to modify the PAR for and Premier
4.0 does not in order to run properly? (I'm making some assumptions with this
question)
Do you have a demo tape ready yet? I would like to see the product in
operation first before I buy.
Don,
The chip is sold separately from RAZOR PRO because RAZOR PRO works
with other cards apart from the PAR and so not everyone needs the chip. For
instance we also work with the TARGA 2000's DVM format for which we don't
need the chip. To clarify then, the $799.00 SRP is for the software only.
We are not planning to sell through Merisel or Tech Data at present. A
national
distributor can't meet our present needs. 99% of our customers want to see the
program in action – only a local supported dealer can do this.
Quote:
"Regarding the chip: What is it that you need to modify the PAR for and
Premier
4.0 does not in order to run properly? (I'm making some assumptions with this
question)"
First, I would say that you have an interesting way of putting the question. I
would
like to answer your question by rephrasing it. What does DPS' chip upgrade do,
and how does RAZOR PRO use it ?
– The chip upgrade is a decimator chip – it strips information from the ANI
files
so that only a portion of them need to sent across the bus in order to preview
them.
The consequence is that RAZOR PRO can preview files extremely fast. To see
a 'filmstrip' view of a forty five second animation takes around two seconds.
On
the timeline you would see twelve frames. Try doing that in another program.
Editing becomes a fluid motion like wielding a brush rather than being
confined by
mechanical tasks such as disk reads and memory copies.
The demo tape is in production – we are also producing a demo CD, which may be
out first – ask your dealer for more info. To really get an idea of the
product you
should see it in action as well as seeing the tape. Anyone can produce a fancy
tape – the question is how easy would it be for you to produce it with the
tool. Having
said that check out the results of our new effects like the field rendered
character
generator which supports any true type font, shadows, blurred shadows etc.
Jamie Carr
in:sync
a frame – RAZOR PRO reads and writes ANI files
– RAZOR PRO is extremely fast (especially compared with other programs)
Thanks for your excellent reply. I really need to see this product as you
suggest. Unfortunately, the dealer I refered to is 360 miles away and does not
have it ready to demo yet. I know of some video/computer VARs in this area
that may be a distributor. Do you have any in Jacksonville, FL.? Are you
looking for any? I could deal with them but they are kind of in competition in
other markets.
Does Razor Pro work with Sound Blaster? I know there are better cards like
TB's and Rolands but does it work with SB's? Need to know if I need to figure
the cost of a new sound board in on the Razor Pro package. I currently have
several Sound Blaster's in stock since they are the most popular.
>>The consequence is that RAZOR PRO can preview files extremely fast. To see
a 'filmstrip' view of a forty five second animation takes around two seconds.
On
the timeline you would see twelve frames.<<
I LIKE THAT!
Thanks,
Don Landis
Don,
We don't currently have anybody in Jacksonville Florida. Our other
dealers in Florida are all central and southern Florida.
RAZOR PRO will work with any Windows compatible sound card.
We recommend the TB and Roland because these guys have their
act together and produce great sounding audio. The problem with
Sound Blaster cards is that they do not achieve stable frequency
sounds which is obviously critical when you are looking for sync.
Would you like me to send you a glossy which contains more of the
specs ?
Jamie Carr
in:sync
Don,
I wouldn't consider Adobe Premiere for serious production work at this time.
RAZOR has got it together for making their system run fast with clean
"rendering" and quick composition.
Now here's a question for a proficient user of FAST VM.
Basically whether you go Razor or Adobe, both are essentially
compositing/effects tools. What fuctions do you think would be needed to make
this whole setup truly a non-linear editing system, in your production
environment?
As I see it, a combination of 1 PAR w/TBC, Razor, and a VTR would give you
something close to a D2 setup in function. How much more VTR control would you
need incorporated into an interface to make this a full function production
non-linear editing system, and what else would you need included to create a
more productive NLE than your current configuration?
How do you feel about using "mouse" control as opposed to a "physical"
controller and manual "switcher"?
John
Jamie,
>> The in:sync BBS number is 301-983 3763 <<
thanks for the info, sir.