What It Takes

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DIGITAL VIDEO

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TOTAL COST: $12,700 Digital video works best when the output medium is a CD-ROM or hard drive. The video segments should be relatively short and launched from interactive buttons. Among digital video's advantages are nonlinear editing and playback, a broad range of Windows editing tools, and a wide variety of digital video effects to choose from. The mainstream emergence of MPEG promises to improve quality and expand playback windows to half-screen or full-screen. And while the resource requirements of digital video can reach astronomical proportions, they are scalable: You can start experimenting with a $700 capture board (like the miro shown here), your current PC, and a consumer camcorder.

A.  Gateway P5-100XL
, a high-end Windows system ($4400) with:

    -- a 100-MHz Pentium
    -- 32 MB of RAM
    -- a 2-GB hard drive with PCI-SCSI controller
    -- a quad-speed CD-ROM
    -- 16-bit audio
    -- 24-bit video and a 17-inch monitor


B.  The Sony CCD-TR700 Hi8 Handycam camcorder
.
    S-Video and composite video jacks, LANC connector, and color
    viewfinder ($1100).


C.  Consumer Technologies' Presenter3
    Computer-to-Video
 scan converter ($349). (For comparison
    purposes, we used the Scan Do Pro pricing, listed in "Analog Video,"
    for both setups).


D.  miroVideo DC1
. Video capture and Motion-JPEG
    compression board ($700). (Not included in total cost--MPEG station
    comes with capture board).


E.  The MPEG Creation Station
 ($4699). Smart and
    Friendly's
 bundled solution includes all the hardware and software
    components you'll need to create MPEG titles from the desktop:

    -- Fast Electronic's MovieMachine Pro video capture board
    -- Smart and Friendly CDR-2000 CD Recorder (shown here)
    -- Macromedia Director and Authorware Professional
    -- Xing MPEG encoder software
    -- Fast Motion-JPEG daughtercard
    -- Autodesk Animator Pro
    -- Adobe Premiere for Windows
    -- Gear CD-R software

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ANALOG VIDEO

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TOTAL COST: $17,200 Analog editing works best when the output medium is VHS tape and the content is long-length videos such as speeches and customer testimonials. Analog production avoids many of the headaches associated with digital video. There are no quality degradations or performance issues surrounding video compression because analog production requires no compression. An d with analog video, VHS tapes are, in effect, your storage medium, so you avoid the eye-popping hard drive requirements of digital capture and edit. Video Machine doesn't demand memory beyond what you need for traditional Windows applications because the digital effects are processed in on-board frame buffers. Total cost (for both systems) includes $500 for cables, tripods, lighting, and other expenses.

A.  Panasonic OmniMovieHQ SuperVHS camcorder
. S-Video and 
    composite ports ($1600).


B.  Video Machine Lite
 from Fast Electronic. Along with
    Matrox Studio, it is the leading analog video-editing platform for
    Windows. An internal board is installed in the computer. Shown here
    is the optional Studio Control Box ($2495). The same functionality is
    available with VM Lite and the Multi I/0 cable ($2995).


C.  Scan Do Pro
. Computer-to-Video scan converter for
    capturing computer screen to analog tape. From Communications

    Specialties ($1995).


D.  13-inch Sony Trinitron monitor
 with composite inputs and
    a video sequencer to monitor the various video sources ($600). This
    is a low-end solution. Alternatively, we used Sampo's new AlphaScan
    LC, a beautiful 20-inch monitor with two VGA inputs, a composite
    video input, a stereo audio input, and a cable TV input with tuner.
    You use remote control to switch among video sources.


E.  Two Sanyo GVR-S955 SuperVHS decks
. For true A/B roll
    editing, you'll need three decks, but if you don't mind shuffling
    tapes, you can get away with two ($3495 each). For desktop video
    applications, your deck should support:

    -- Computer control
    -- SMPTE time code
    -- S-Video I/O
    -- SuperVHS
    -- DCI drivers
    -- Drivers for Video Machine (or selected analog control system)


F.  The Video Machine
 does not require a high-end system. We
    used a Gateway 486/66 with 8 MB of RAM, a 500-
MB hard drive, PCI
    video, and a 17-inch monitor ($2500).