On Sat, 17 Apr 1999 07:43:35 -0700, "Tim" wrote:

>I'm reading about people's enthusiasm for the Canopus Raptor firewire card.
>However, I'm looking for the best of the firewire + SCSI cards out there.
>I'm aware of a few - DPS Spark Plus, Adaptec 8945, and Miro DV300 (?).
>PCI slots run out quickly on pc's, so the combined card is the only way to
>go for me.
>Can anyone recommend the best of these combined cards please?

The three cards are virtually identical, as others have
pointed out - the software is different... I started with
Spark, and like it, but only with version 2.00 of the
software (other versions either don't work well [or
at all...;-], or compromise an essential function to
better another function, which may still not work well...
(I suspect that Spark software development at DPS has
been handed over to the mailroom guy......;-), ;-), ;-)
Except for needing a DV converter (like a camcorder...)
running all the time to see previews, the Canopus works
well for us too (and batch capture and timeline playback
DO work...! ;-). It doesn't come with Premiere, though,
alas.
BTW, with a good set-up (using dedicated video drives)
and avoidance of fragmenting files, good UDMA drives work
fine (RAID and SCSI are not needed for mini-DV editing).
(The Canopus does not have SCSI on it, but you may not
need it...;-)