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The secret is in the bundle.
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I have been using and reviewing the latest cutting edge, affordable non linear editing products over the past few years. The technology has progressed to the point that the whole bundle is now greater then the sum of its parts. New utilities and integration software have pushed the technology beyond the actual limitations of the operating system itself. Let me explain.
Windows 95 uses an archaic 16 bit code called Video for Windows as the underlying 'engine' for all desk top video software and hardware. Microsoft has been promising new 32 bit code since the introduction of Win95. Since then it has delayed and renamed the new 32 bit video 'engine' several times, but even Win98 will not have a truly 32 bit video system. The hardware and software manufacturers of desk top video products were caught in a pickle. They had increased the power of their products to the point that they were constantly running up against the barriers of Windows. The biggest barrier of them all was a 2 GB AVI file limitation. AVI files are the type of file you create when you capture and edit video for output back to videotape. Although the now famous Win95 OSR2 release includes a new file system (FAT32) that allows you to create partitions over 2 GB, you still have the AVI file limit. At S-Video quality, you get about 5 minutes per gig of storage. So with a 2 GB file limit, it meant that the longest video you could produce was about 10 minutes. With the new DV format, you only get 4 ½ minutes per GB, so you can only make a 9 minute video. What was a digital videographer to do? Storage prices had plummeted to the point were a 9GB SCSI drive was affordable, yet you still couldn't make an SVHS video over 10 minutes long. Fortunately for all of us, the industry did not give into this limitation, but created there own very clever methods of breaking through the 2 GB file limitation and unlocking the ability to make long videos, up to and over an hour in length!!
The first company to break through the 2GB limit with an under $1000 card was miro (now Pinnacle systems) with the DC30+ and its INSTANT video plug-in for Adobe Premiere. Since then most of the leading companies in the under $1000 video capture card market have come up with their own solutions. I have had the good fortune to test most of them out, and I have reviewed them here for you. Some of the boards were not available for me to test for this article, but the new bundles warranted mention.
For the boards I actually tested (DC30+, AV Master Plus, EditBay), I used the same computer I used for my Round Up Article a few months ago. It's a Pentium 200 MMX with 64 megs of RAM, a 4 meg Diamond Stealth 3D graphics card plus the typical home multimedia extras (CD ROM, sound card, 33 kbs modem, Zip drive, etc). I have a 3 GB ultra DMA drive for my operation system and all my software. I have two different video storage solutions on my machine. I have a CTI 9GB Ultra Wide external SCSI drive hooked onto an Adaptec 2940UW controller and a 14GB Medea Video RAID. Both storage solutions worked equally well in all my tests, and I was able to move video files from one to the other with no difference in playback quality. Which brings me to my next point. I used a data rate of 3600 kb/sec for all my video work. The video quality of all cards tested was outstanding and only a trained video eye can tell the difference between the edited and original footage. My goal was to make a 15 minute video production using each card. I have also made longer productions, up to and over 30 minutes long, but I did not have the time to capture and create a 30 minute production with each card.
Pinnacle has made INSTANT video available to owners of the original DC30 card. The feature is part of the miro Productivity Pack available for around $200. In addition to INSTANT Video, you get device control capabilities from a Sony Control L or Panasonic 5 Pin source. Device control automates the video capture process by letting you control the source tape from within the capture program and lets you batch capture. Batch capture allows you to pre-select the footage you want, so you only capture what you need. This can save you tons of disk space and makes the actual editing process much faster. DC30+ owners who want these features will find the Productivity Pack a very good investment.
The DV300 FireWire card was not available for me to test in time for this article. It will ship with two very important utilities. INSTANT DV will let you play video straight from the timeline, just like INSTANT video. DV Tools will give you a very sophisticated batch capture and story boarding capability that will allow you to capture only the DV footage you want, and not a frame more!! It will also make the actual process of editing much faster and easier.
A new version of Video Action for Spark PLUS should be also be available by now. This new version will include timeline playback, FireWire deck control and be totally optimized for the DV/FireWire editing environment. This means you will be able to capture, preview and playback video clips from within the project window. You won't have to exit the editing software just to see how the final full screen, full speed DV image will look.
miro INSTANT Video
Pinnacle Systems worked with Adobe to create a plug-in technology that allows for direct playback from the Premiere Timeline. While you still can't capture or create a file longer then 2GB, you can string a whole bunch of smaller files together. INSTANT video goes through your timeline and only renders the transitions/filters/effects portions of your video. The original digitized clips are used for the finished video. Once all the transitions etc. have been rendered into temporary files, the entire video is played from beginning to end, out to tape. Since you don't create a new file, you save a ton of disk space. I have made 30 minute videos from a single 9GB drive. INSTANT video does have it's limitations. All the video clips must be captured at the same exact settings. Fortunately, the DC30+ installs several presets for you to select before you start a Premiere project. The only variable I change is the data rate. I leave everything else alone and INSTANT video works great. Every now and then I would get an message that INSTANT video will not work. Usually the problem was a rogue clip I brought into the timeline that I captured outside of Premiere, or without the DC30+ preset loaded. (It had a at a different frame rate, screen size or data rate then the rest of the production). I also found that if I used a bunch of still frames I grabbed or images I created myself, INSTANT video didn't always work correctly. Fortunately, I found a very simple solution. I simply render these sections of the video the old fashioned way, into a new AVI file. I then bring this new AVI file, created using the exact same settings as the video clips I captured, into the timeline. Now everything worked great.Fast PowerPlay
Fast was the pioneer of adding custom utilities to their cards. Media Cache was the first solution to Win95 playback of jitter free, locked audio and video at data rates over 3 megs/second. Fast Cap was the first custom capture utility that gave you a very easy, graphical interface to not only capture but manage your video clips. Later, FastCap was enhanced with the capability to play back multiple AVI files end to end seamlessly, getting around the 2GB limit. Now, Fast and Ulead have worked together to create their own timeline playback utility for the AV Master and DV Master. PowerPlay works similar to INSTANT video. It renders only the portion of the video that has changed. The AV Master Plus ships with the full version of Ulead Media Studio Pro 5.1, PowerPlay and FastCap utilities. Currently the AV Master PLUS is the only card available for under $1000 with timeline playback under the NT operating system. Since the AV Master Plus ships with the full Media Studio Pro, you also get the CG Infinity and Video Paint utilities that are part of it. CG Infinity is an excellent titling software that lets you create very cool animated and 3D titles. Video Paint lets you actually paint on moving sections of the video. Without this very cool utility you would have to paint on each frame individually, a very slow and time consuming process.
DPS Video Action
DPS, the makers of the Spark and EditBay hardware purchased Star Media last year. Video Action was a key reason for this. Video Action was always loaded with transitions, filters and special effects that you can't find in other NLE programs. Now DPS has gone in and actually added timeline playback as part of the program itself. I was only able to download and try a beta version of the new software for the EditBay for this article. Even though it was a beta, it was quite stable and performed very well on my 15 minute test production. By the time you read this EditBay should be shipping with the new improved version of Video Action that has timeline playback built in. My sources tell me that several other utilities will be added to the EditBay bundle by the time you read this that will give it even more power and features.Canopus Rex Edit
A new entry into the FireWire video editing market is Canopus. Their DVRex-M1 card will have hardware DV CODEC chips on board, similar to the DV Master. This will let you mix analog and DV footage in the same timeline, plus convert DV to analog and vice-versa in real time. But what will really set the DV Rex-M1 apart from the competition is the Rex Edit software. It will be the first card that can capture long form video. I saw a demo that captured a full 15 minute clip to a Medea 17 GB drive!! The secret is a very sophisticated capture program that has the ability to virtually combine multiple 2 GB files into a single file. The Rex Edit software has another very cool feature. If you have one of the new computer mice that is a Microsoft IntelliMouse or compatible you can scrub through the timeline using the scroll button. I hope to have a DVRex-M1 in my hands very soon to do a complete hands on review for a future issue.
Radius EditDV
This Mac based DV/FireWire bundle is very impressive. I saw a demo of it on a 9600 PowerMac. The EditDV interface was very professional and it provided several very cool capabilities that other DV cards have yet to achieve. The coolest is DraftDV which allows draft rendering of DV format video in VHS quality. By letting you create lower resolution previews, editing and creating a DV video is dramatically faster. With other DV boards you may have to wait several minutes for a 5 second transition to render. In DV Draft mode these same previews took about ¼ the time!! Another cool feature is LiveDV. Other DV devices require you to edit using only a thumbnail image of the video on your computer monitor. If you want to see how the actual footage will look you have to create the new video, exit the NLE software and then play the clips in full DV resolution out the FireWire connection. EditDV can output directly to the FireWire while you are editing. Very cool for setting in and out points, marking scenes, and gives you real time playback for reviewing cuts and precision trims. By the time you read this, Radius should have added FireWire deck control and a timeline playback solution for the 2GB file limit, which I discovered also exists on the Mac platform.
Conclusion
The key point of this article was to make you aware of all the new power being unleashed from today's Desk Top Video Cards. All the cards mentioned in this article deliver exceptional video quality. So much so that the issues of dropped frames, jerky motion, color quality and video sharpness are in the past. If you buy any of the cards mentioned in this article and give it adequate video storage, you will be able to produce video that will knock your audience off their feet. Debating which card is better based on the hardware alone is just not the correct way to make your buying decision. You need to research the entire bundle. Most of the custom utilities and features reviewed in this article will only work with the specific bundles sold by the vendor. You can't mix and match software and hardware. As an example, Adobe Premiere and the Fast AV Master will work great together, but you won't get PowerPlay because you aren't using Media Studio Pro and you can't use INSTANT video because it will only work with the Pinnacle hardware. If you use this combination (AV Master & Premiere) you will get great looking videos, but they will be limited to 10 minutes at S-Video quality. So, before you decide which bundle is for you, you may want to download a trial version to check it out for yourself. You can download trial versions of the software from our free software page.Gary Bettan, The Videoguy
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