On 25 Oct 1998 20:23:08 GMT, chasin@ERC.MsState.Edu (Ezra Marvin Chasin) wrote:

>I'm looking to put together a (hopefully reasonable) Firewire/DV setup for
>putting computer animations to tape. I have the computer (PII+NT4), but I
>need the UW drive (and controller), Firewire card, and digital VCR (or
>camcorder?). Can anyone offer me any insight into this? I'm looking into
>the Miro DV300 to cover the Firewire/controller (other suggestions?), but
>the big question mark for me is the deck. What do I need? Will a
>camcorder of some kind suffice (in place of a digtal VCR, very few of
>which seem to exist)? I obviously want a Firewire interface, but also
>would like composite/SVHS in/out. From there, I'm lost...

First, I have a running, stable DPS-Spark based DV system I might be
persuaded to part with....! ;-) Second, you don't need SCSI drives for
mini-DV, nor do you need a DV-VCR (AV-rated UDMA drives work fine,
and a FireWire-enabled camcorder works fine, also). Third, if you
want analogue "S" and composite in/out in addition to FireWire, that
limits you to a DV-VCR or the Sony TRV-9 and 900 camcorders (though
Sony is introducing a stand-alone converter for A->D, D->A
conversion).


On Sun, 25 Oct 1998 19:20:00 -0800, Laurie wrote:

>I got a copy of Adobe Premier 4.2 but my computer is not powerful enough to run it
>properly. I plan to get a new computer and need to know what to equip it with. How
>many gigs, how much RAM. I need to edit 90min.of digital video. Thanks.

If you have a Pentium 200 or equivalent, and enough RAM (64 megs...?),
P-4.2 should be able to be made to run fine... As to drives, the
amount of space needed is determined by how you edit (mini-DV takes
1-gig of drive space for 4.75 minutes of video). I currently use
three drives - an 8.4 UDMA for programs and for storing video
files, and two 9.1-gig SCSI's (one for capturing, one for
editing-to/playback-from - *BUT*, SCSI drives are NOT necessary for
mini-DV editing - AV-rated UDMA drives work fine for this). I make
long videos by making a series of 9-9.5 minute AVI files (as they
are made, I make two DV-tape backups, dump the original material
captured to make them, and capture more material), which can be
seamlessly played back to DV tape as if they were one large file,
using the Spark software that comes with the DPS Spark FireWire
card(not "+", since SCSI is not needed...). The system is very
stable, and long videos can be made with it without "glitches".
(BTW, it may be for sale - I'm thinking of building a faster system,
not that I really need it...! ;-)