On Wed, 18 Oct 2000 08:48:48 -0700, "L Swerdlove" wrote:
>"Neuman - Ruether" wrote in message
>news:39ed6d9d.3089816@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu...
>> On Tue, 17 Oct 2000 07:11:09 -0700, "L Swerdlove"

>> None of the above is needed - this is Mini-DV, and
>> 3.6MB/sec (+ maybe a bit to spare) is all that is
>> needed to input/output Mini-DV. You can use the 20-gig
>> split into a program drive and partition(s) for anything
>> else you want (though ideally probably not for most
>> video files, unless they are source material which will
>> be rendered into other files...). You may want to place
>> the preview files on this drive, though (maybe in its
>> own partition). Use the other drive (not in a RAID) for
>> most of your video files. 128-megs of RAM is OK, 256
>> may be better, but more is overkill (I just took 128
>> megs out of my computer, since it was unnecessary).

>Right now I have all my program files on my C Drive and all my media files
>(scene files and audio and video preview files) on my D Drive (the 40 gig
>Maxtor). Are you saying I should have my preview files on a different
>drive?

Yes. Often the "C" drive is used for the preview files
unless you have another dedicated drive.

>I know that the specs on my computer are higher than what's needed - but in
>real life it's not working. It was Pinnacle tech support that said
>everything is set up correctly, but I need faster hard disks. When I added
>a slightly faster controller card to my system and could output 8 minutes of
>video instead of one, I figured they were right.

No, they aren't...;-) I've built several machines, including
three based on the DPS Spark (same card as the DV200), and
there were no drive issues with single UDMA 33 drives.
With the Spark card, I could not play off the timeline,
though, and instead made "finished-AVI files" of the
edited material and played these in sequence using a Spark
playlist utility.

>I know now that I should have bought the Raptor, but I didn't and I don't
>want to spend $370 for another firewire card. I know there's a way to get
>this DV200 working.

If you are thinking of putting money into RAID, SCSI, etc.
to try to get the DV200 working, selling it for $100 and
buying the Raptor will put you ahead of your alternative,
I think... It is a pretty trouble-free card, and you may
find render speed noticeably faster with it, too.
Playback from the timeline is pretty easy with it, with
no special drive requirements.