This list is only intended to cover some non-linear editing, DV and IEEE-1394 products for Windows. (Specifically Windows 95, Windows 98, Window NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 for Intel compatible systems.)
Be sure to read Ross Jones' Golden
List of DV & FireWire NLE's
which covers lots of general material as well as MacOS specific solutions. That
document and this list are available via http://desktopvideo.about.com
where you will find lots of other desktop video and DV resources.
If you are interested in the technical
details of the DV video format an excellent place to start your research is
Adam Wilt's DV site. http://www.adamwilt.com/DV.html
Digital Origin is now shipping a version of their IntroDV entry-level editing software which directly support OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 boards. They are also selling MotoDV Express: an OHCI-compliant PCI IEEE-1394 board bundled with IntroDV. Digital Origin is also now shipping a version of EditDV 2.0 which supports the Canopus DVRaptor IEEE-1394 board. Digital Origin now has a version of EditDV which supports generic OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 boards.
Sonic Foundry has released their new integrated video and audio editor Vegas Video. Vegas Video directly supports OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 ports, can import and edit Type-1 and Type-2 DV-AVI files as well as QuickTime DV media.
Features of the various DV and IEEE-1934 products are explained in detail on the accompanying Features page.
While not everyone needs all these features, it is important to know which products have them, to choose products that have the features you need and to encourage manufacturers to support the important ones.
I have tried to note any limitations on platforms and video formats supported by each product. I.e.:
NTSC and PAL formats,
Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows 2000 support,
All products discussed run on Intel-compatible CPUs and require one of the Intel-compatible versions of Windows: Windows NT for Intel, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows 2000 Professional.
The information presented here refers to products as they are marketed in the United States. Pricing, availability and features of many products may vary in other countries.
As a perusal of any typical day's
digest of the DV-List
(
http://www.dvcentral.org/thelist.html
) will show, assembling a non-linear editing system on Windows is often fraught
with frustration. The DV products on the market are all evolving rapidly. While
all these products do work to a large degree, most have some limited features
or limited device or system support.
Here are some tips for avoiding the most common frustrations and problems.
Check out the reviews in reliable
publications that focus on multimedia and digital video: DV
and NewMedia
are a few. Note that any printed review is going to be a bit out of date
in the rapidly changing word of DV. Not a bad thing -- it's good to get
a little perspective of time on these matters. But the relative merits of
different products vis-à-vis one another may have changed since the
review was written.
Check the product vendors' compatibility notes. Manufacturers often publish lists of tested equipment such as compatible motherboards, SCSI drives, DV camcorders and decks. This information is typically available from their web sites.
Pay attention to media system, media file format compatibility. The problems of getting your video from one file format to another are not insurmountable, but they are a headache and can seriously hamper your productivity.
Monitor the product's on-line discussion forums. Many manufacturers host on-line discussion forums to support their products. Keep in mind that you are likely to get a distorted perspective of any product on such support forums. Happy customers have a tendency to be busy doing productive work rather than posting their gripes on-line.
Start or enter discussions on
the DV-List
mailing list. (There used to be an archive of the DL-List at Reference.com
but it not longer seems to work.)
Pat Leong publishes an extensive
comparison matrix of IEEE-1394 card features and compatibility. http://www.geocities.com/dvnle
Gary Bettan of the Electronic
Mailbox has published the results of his comparison "shoot-out"
of the under-$1000 IEEE-1394 cards that his company sells. http://www.videoguys.com/dvshoot.htm
Check out "Digital Video
for Dummies" by Martin Doucette (IDG Books, ISBN 0-7645-0023-6 http://www.dummies.com,
$25) for a well organized introduction to using DV for desktop-based digital
video production. The book focuses on Adobe
Premiere and the Pinnacle DV300 IEEE-1394
card, but most of the material presented can be applied to other tools and
products.
Buy from a reseller with a liberal return policy. As noted above many of the products on this list have compatibility constraints with different computer systems, motherboards, disk drives, DV camcorders, DV decks, operating systems, media systems, and video boards. It's a good idea to make sure you can return your equipment or software purchases if they don't work with the rest of your system or you aren't satisfied.
>> Option 1: Do it yourself | Option 2: "turnkey" systems | Option 3: Consumer systems
There are three basic ways to go about putting together a DV-based non-linear editing system:
This approach entails modifying an existing or new PC to support DV editing. There are two basic requirements of such a system beyond those of most standard desktop PCs. The first requirement is an IEEE-1394 interface card. The second is hard drive storage that is fast enough and large enough to support DV capture and playback. In the context of desktop-computer-based digital video's short history that is a very simple set of requirements. Previous video technologies have required much more in the way of resources and were often much fussier about how you ran your computer. This is not to imply that adding IEEE-1394 and DV support to a PCs will always be trouble free, but it's demands are fewer than other video technologies and can reasonable added to just about any PC of recent vintage (say two-years-old or less). The first requirement can be met by selecting and installing an IEEE-1394 interface card (see below).
The storage requirement is a bit more vague. DV runs at a constant data rate of 3.6 MB/s. You can not trade quality for storage performance or size with DV as you can with other video compression technologies. DV uses the same data rate if you are video taping a solid piece of paper or a football game. That means that during transfer to and from a DV camcorder your computer must be able to write and read at least 3.6 MB/s continuously. It turns out that most modern PCs can do that without any problem using the UltraDMA EIDE disk drive technology that is now standard. Another alternative is to use one of the faster variations of the SCSI hard drive standard - Ultra SCSI or Ultra Wide SCSI. SCSI drives are significantly more expensive than UltraDMA EIDE drives however. And you will need a correspondingly fast SCSI controller which is also costly (although some IEEE-1394 cards have them built-in).
Keeping in mind that DV requires 3.6 MB/s of video and audio, that equates to 284 seconds (or 4 min 44 sec.) of video per gigabyte of storage. Figure how long your video compositions will be and double or triple that to get an idea how much storage you will require.
From there it's time to get out the screw driver and roll up your sleeves.
Option 2 - Buy a pre-assembled or "turnkey" system from a value added reseller (VAR),
In this case you are buying a new PC from a vendor experienced in assembling digital video editing systems. Such a vendor has already overcome the headaches of the do-it-yourself approach and is willing to sell you their experience in exchange for their profit on a pre-assembled system. They can usually configure a system to exactly match your needs and expectations.
Option 3 - Buy a consumer PC with built-in IEEE-1394 support,
These systems (see listings below) are easily the best value for getting started with DV editing. These systems cost almost the same as other similarly configured consumer PC systems which don't have IEEE-1394 support. But they are sometimes hampered by limited non-linear-editor integration or limited DV capture utilities that are not easily upgraded as your needs get more sophisticated. (Note: add-in IEEE-1394 solutions are sometimes hampered by the same issues.) But if and when such a time comes that you outgrow the built-in capabilities of such a system you can always circumvent the limitations by switching to a different IEEE-1394 interface card and software. There may be limited expansion options with some systems because they may have too few expansion slots or drive bays. These systems are usually only available running Windows 98. And even if you manage to install it, there may be no support for access to the IEEE-1394/DV features under the Windows NT operating system. But in all, for about the price of an entry-level DV camcorder you can get a state-of-the-art PC with IEEE-1394 already up an running.
These systems come with built-in or pre-installed IEEE-1394 interfaces to facilitate communication with a DV camcorder or other DV device. All of these system use a software DV codec and are based on the Video-for-Windows media system. These systems all come with a utility to transfer video clips to and from the DV camcorder and Type-2 DV-AVI media files on the system's hard drive. They also usually come with a "lite" version non-linear video editor for editing your clips.
VAIO Notebooks (starting at $1600)
VAIO Digital Studio PCs (starting at $800)
Many PC systems are available now with one or more OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 ports either standard or as a low-cost option. The IEEE-1394 ports can be used to facilitate communication with a DV camcorder or other IEEE-1394 devices such as harddrives and CD-RWs. All of these systems use a software DV codec and rely on Microsoft's support for DV and IEEE-1394 that is built-in to Windows 98 SE and Windows 2000 using the DirectShow media system. These systems sometimes don't come with any applications or utilities to transfer video clips to and from the DV camcorder and the system's hard drive. To use these systems for DV you will usually need one of the video editing applications which support DirectShow-based capture and playback or one of the OHCI-compatible software products from Digital Origin.
Additionly the following motherboard is available with a built-in OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 port.
P3B-1394 Motherboard
These add-in PCI cards add the ability to communicate with DV devices such as a DV camcorder via the IEEE-1394 interface to an existing PC. Some of these cards incorporate a hardware DV codec chip and therefore provide direct support for analog video in and out such as to and from Hi8 or S-VHS analog video tape equipment. Hardware DV codec-based cards with analog video out can also directly drive an NTSC or PAL video monitor.
Cards with only a software codec require an external DV camcorder or deck for analog video input or output. Note, many DV camcorders do not support analog video input.
A few cards also include an integrated Ultra Wide SCSI controller; this may save you a PCI slot if you need to add a SCSI interface to your system.
DVRex-M1 ($2795 list with Premiere, $2495 w/o Premiere)
DV Master ($1995 list); DV Master Pro ($2995 list)
RT2000 ($1295 list)Pinnacle
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/dv500
The Pinnacle DV500 is an exciting new product. The DV500 is an IEEE-1394 interface and hardware DV codec. The board uses two C-Cube DVxpress-MX25 codec chips. The DV500 includes Premiere 5.1 RT as well as other utilities and applications. The DV500 requires Windows 98, but preliminary Windows NT4 drivers are included with the product and final NT4 and Windows 2000 drivers are expected soon.
>> Video-for-Windows-compatible | QuickTime-compatible | DirectShow-compatible
Canopus
DVRaptor ($649 list with Premiere, SE version also available with Premiere
LE)
http://www.canopuscorp.com
DVRaptor is based on a software codec and has IEEE-1394 support and
analog video monitoring and pass-through.
Includes auto-logging and capture/playback application.
DVRaptor is available with either the full version of Adobe
Premiere 5.1 or Premiere LE.
Windows 95/98, Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 compatible.
Video-for-Windows/AVI media-based.
Captures to Type-2 DV-AVI files
up to 4 GB in size (~18 min.)
Supports seamless captures of unlimited length.
Requires video board supporting DirectDraw hardware overlay.
Adobe certified Premiere 5.1
drivers are now included.
DVRaptor options:
Raptor Bay ($129) - a break-out box for mounting on front of PC.
Raptor Edit - a version of Canopus' RexEdit NLE software.
JC-10 - Jog and shuttle controller.
Pinnacle
Systems
MiroVIDEO DV200/DV300 (DV200: $499 list;DV300: $799 list)
http://www.pinnaclesys.com
Software codec (Sony), Type-2 DV-AVI
media only
The DV300 card is an Adaptec 8945 which incorporates Adaptec 2940 UltraWide
SCSI controller
The DV200 does not have the SCSI controller
Windows 95/98 and Windows NT 4.0 (DV300 card also supports MacOS)
DV300 includes full Premiere
5.1 and TitleDeko.
DV200 now includes Premiere
5.1.
Both include miroDV Tools auto-logging
capture software,
Adobe certified plug-ins for Premiere
5.1 are now available.
Spark Plus ($599 with Video Action)
HotConnect Ultra 8945 ($699 list)
EZDV ($249 list);
Pyro ProDV ($499 list);
Studio DV ($199)
MotoDV ($399); MotoDV Studio 2.0 ($499 w/ full Premiere)
IntroDV for Windows ($199 direct including IEEE-1394 PCI card; $79 IntroDV
software only)
MotoDV Express ($99 list)
These PCI cards rely on the DV and IEEE-1394 support which Microsoft has built into Windows 98 SE and Windows 2000.
These boards implement the IEEE-1394 interface using the OHCI (Open Host Controller Interface) standard and a WDM minidriver. And they usually rely on Microsoft's DirectShow for DV codec and media support, but now you can also use these boards with Digital Origin's IntroDV and EditDV software and Digital Origin's QuickTime DV codec.
As a group these board currently suffer from many of the following problems any limitations. They work best in Windows 98 SE and Windows 2000. They typically capture to Type-1 DV-AVI media which are not readable by Video-for-Windows-compatible or QuickTime-compatible applications like Premiere et al. They do not provide a Video-for-Windows-compatible DV codec so even if you convert or capture clips to Type-2 DV-AVI files they are still not usable in Video-for-Windows-compatible applications.
To their credit these boards are cheap. If you are willing to live with editing with the limited number of DirectShow compatible editing applications they represent a serious value. The other thing they have going for them is that since they are based on openly defined design standards like OHCI, WDM and DirectShow support for these products will inevitably get better over time as new drivers and utilities arrive from hardware vendors, software vendors and Microsoft.
Important Compatibility Notes:
These boards typically capture DV clips as Type-1
DV-AVI files which are not compatible with many popular video editing
applications which use the Video-for-Windows
or QuickTime media system including Adobe
Premiere.
To use these boards with Video-for-Windows-compatible software such as Premiere
you will have to install a Video-for-Windows DV codec and capture to Type-2
DV-AVI files.
The following site provides details on how to use OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 boards
(such as the ADS Pyro they use) with Premiere. Similar techniques can be used
for other Video-for-Windows-compatible software.
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Office/7844/anglais1.htm
Alternatively you can use the OHCI version of Digital
Origin's IntroDV or EditDV software
to capture and edit QuickTime DV media files with these OHCI boards. (EditDV
is currently only supported under Windows 98SE)
http://www.digitalorigin.com/products/introdv-ohci
http://www.digitalorigin.com/support/download/EditDV-OHCI.html
Pyro ($129 list);
HotLink FireWire PCI Board ($129);
REX-PCIFW1U ($179)
ASB-30400 ($99)
IEEE-1394 3-Port PCI ($99)
IEEE-1394 PCI
Dazzle DV Editor ($99)
fireLINE PCI Card/PCI Combo Card ($70/$120 after rebates) CardBus is the 32-bit successor to the PC Card (ne PCMCIA) interface primarily used in notebook computers. This CardBus card adds the ability to communicate with DV devices such as a DV camcorder via the IEEE-1394 interface to a modern notebook computer.
These cards are all OHCI-compliant so they typically relly on OHCI IEEE-1394 drivers provided with Windows 98SE or Windows 2000. They are not compatible with Windows NT and Windows 95. Some vendors supply drivers to support Windows 98.
Important Compatibility Notes:
These
CardBus cards typically capture DV clips as Type-1
DV-AVI files which are not compatible with many popular video editing
applications which use the Video-for-Windows
or QuickTime media system including Adobe
Premiere.
REX-CBFW1U ($199).
HotLink FireWire CardBus ($149);
ASB-30400CB ($139)
IEEE-1394 CardBus Card ($99)
fireLINE CardBus/PCMCIA Card ($99)
also see http://akiba.giganet.net
VAIO PCG-Z505SX, Z505S, 505TR, 505TX and 505TS sub-notebook PCs:
VAIO PictureBook C1:
VAIO PCG-F150, F160 and F180 notebook PCs:
VAIO Network Docking Station for VAIO notebook PCs: http://www.ita.sel.sony.com/products/PC/notebook/nbdock.html
HotConnect 8920
PhotoDV ($299 list)Why do I need to know about all these media systems and file formats?
On the various Windows operating systems DV can be supported by three different media systems and file formats. These various media systems, file formats and operating systems each support DV and IEEE-1394 differently with varying compatibility and interoperability. It is important to understand these issues since they determine which software can be used with which hardware on which system.
There are several standard media file formats on Windows capable of storing DV video data. For the most part these media file formats just act as containers for the standard DV data stream. But the DV data must be stored in one of these standard containers in order for the various media systems and Windows video editing applications that rely on the media systems to be able to read and write the DV data.
http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/desinit/dvavi.htm)QuickTime
DV media:
Only applications that use the QuickTime media
system can use QuickTime DV media. While not every Windows video application
supports QuickTime, there is now broad enough support that you should have
little trouble finding tools. QuickTime-compatible
IEEE-1394 hardware like the Digital Origin MotoDV captures to QuickTime
DV media. QuickTime DV media can be easily moved to Macintosh computers
where there are many utilities that can manipulate QuickTime DV media files.
These standard media systems on Windows are each capable of supporting DV data:
(free, $30 for "Pro" upgrade) - http://www.apple.com/quicktime| QuickTime Pro DV Techniques |
|
Displaying
QuickTime DV media in "high quality" mode To set the "high quality"
hint for a QuickTime DV clip using the QuickTIme Pro Movie Player: |
| Masquerading
a Type-2 DV-AVI file as a QuickTime file QuickTime Pro can also be used to masquerade a Type-2 DV-AVI files as a QuickTime DV file. This can be useful for software that only knows how to open QuickTime media such as Adobe Photoshop 5.5's ImageReady module. This procedure creates a QuickTime reference movie which references your existing AVI file and sets the proper quality and size attributes for the clip. Here how: - Open the QuickTime Pro Player. - Open or Import a Type-2 DV-AVI file. - The file will typically be displayed using QuickTime's default low quality mode. Follow the instructions above to set the "high quality" hint for the movie. - Make sure your movie is displayed at "Normal Size" (Ctrl-1). - Choose "Save As" and give your movie clip a .MOV file extension. Make sure "Save normally (allowing dependencies)" is selected. |
Installing QuickTime 4
If you will be using QuickTime for digital video production you must install the "full" version with authoring features.Compatibility notes:
QuickTime 4 - The release version 4.0.0 of QuickTime 4 had some compatibility problems with a few programs like Adobe After Effects. Apple has since released several updates which fix these problems.
(free) (originally called ActiveMovie) - part of DirectX MediaDirectShow is Microsoft's intended successor to Video-for-Windows as the standard media system on Windows. The DirectShow media system is compatible with Video-for-Windows AVI media. But DirectShow is not backwards compatible with large library of applications that use the Video-for-Windows media system for video services. Such applications will have to be revised to use DirectShow instead of Video-for-Windows if they want to access the services provided by the DirectShow media system.
The Type-1 DV-AVI files that many DirectShow-compatible IEEE-1394 PCI cards and CardBus cards produce by default are not compatible with software that only uses the Video-for-Windows or QuickTime media systems. This means these files can not be used in the vast major of video applications on Windows.
A free utility called DVCap is available which can capture to Type-2 DV-AVI files using a DirectShow-based OHCI IEEE-1394 interface. Such Type-2 DV-AVI files can then be loaded by Video-for-Windows compatible software when a Video-for-Windows-compatible DV codec is also installed in ones system. (Note: some people have reported mixed results when attempting to use this method for application-to-media compatibility.)
DirectShow supports some types of QuickTime files but not QuickTime DV media.
Video capture using DirectShow requires a video capture board with a Video-for-Windows capture device driver, an OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 port or a board with a WDM video capture device driver. DirectShow only supports capture on Windows 98 and Windows 2000.
(included with Windows 98 SE and Windows 2000)
(full download includes DirectShow)The attributes of various PC operating systems with respect to DV.
Windows
NT Workstation 4.0
- Windows NT can be somewhat more difficult to setup and configure than
Windows 95 and Windows 98 since NT is not supported by as wide a range of
systems and peripherals. But once setup and running correctly it is not
unusual to hear of Windows NT systems that never crash. Also Windows NT
is a good choice for desktop video because it well supported by a number
of mature traditional motion JPEG digital video products from Truevision,
DPS and Matrox. Unfortunately, the intrinsic robustness of the NT platform
is easily undermined by the rapid pace of updates and new releases of DV
software and IEEE-1394 device drivers. Just about the worst thing you can
do for the stability of a Windows NT based computer is install new device
drivers. And it's not unusual to have new DV software and 1394 hardware
driver updates every quarter.
Windows NT has built-in disk striping support. Striping is a way to configure multiple disk drives in parallel as a single volume for increased speed. It reduces the reliability of the volume (because a failure on any drive in the striped set may bring down the volume), but it's a cheap way to get faster disk performance and it is ideal for working with digital video.
Windows NT also has symmetric multiprocessing to support multiple CPU systems. This allows you to use two processor systems efficiently for compute intensive tasks such as rendering video effects in Premiere or After Effects.
Systems running Windows NT can
usually be configured to run Windows 95 or 98 also using a dual boot configuration.
Note Windows NT does not have built-in support for the FAT32 file system
optionally used by Windows 98, but third-party FAT32 drivers are available
for NT (e.g.. http://www.sysinternals.com/fat32.htm).
Also Windows 95 and 98 cannot access NTFS partitions on dual boot systems.
Windows
2000 Professional
- Windows 2000 Professional is the next version of Windows NT Workstation.
Windows 2000 shipped in mid-February. Windows 2000 has all the features
of Windows NT, and adds many new features for enhance reliability and enhanced
hardware support. Some of the most relevant new features for DV and media
authoring applications are the full support for FAT32, DirectX and DirectShow-compatible
WDM-type IEEE-1394 video capture devices for DV. Windows 2000 ships with
the same DirectShow-compatible DV support that Windows 98 SE has. This means
Windows 2000 is supports the many low-cost, "generic" OHCI-compliant
IEEE-1394 cards and ports now available. Upgrading from either Windows NT
or Windows 95/98 can be complicated by many driver compatibility issues.
Be sure to research the compatibility of every device in your system before
proceding. Microsoft has a Windows 2000 Readiness Analyzer which can be
downloaded to help with this process. Pay particularly careful attention
that your IEEE-1394 interface hardware is compatible with this new operating
system before upgrading.
Windows
95
- Windows 95 is well supported by many IEEE-1394 boards and DV editing products.
Some newer products may require Windows 98 or Windows 98 SE.
- Most new PCs are now being sold with Windows 98. It is important to consider
driver compatibility between any hardware product (such as a 1394 interface
card) and a new operating system. Additionally Windows 98 supports new WDM-type
IEEE-1394 video capture drivers which will augment old-style Video-for-Windows
capture drivers. Windows 98's disk performance is faster than Windows 95.Windows
98 Second Edition "SE"
-
Windows 98 SE improves the IEEE-1394 and DV support in Windows 98. It provides
support for PAL DV camcorders, some bug fixes and includes the new Microsoft
Media Player and the DirectShow media
system.
Two patch updates are available
to improve performance of Microsoft's OHCI IEEE-1394 and DV device drivers.
The first - Q243174 - fixes a problem with lost audio. The second - Q252958
- is only needed for use in high speed data IEEE-1394 applications and is
not needed to support DV devices.
Microsoft
KBase article Q243174 and patch information
(http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q243/1/74.ASP?LNG=ENG&SA=ALLKB&FR=0)
Microsoft
KBase article Q252958 and patch information
(http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q252/9/58.ASP?LNG=ENG&SA=ALLKB&FR=0)
Windows
Millenium Edition "Windows Me"
-
Scheduled to ship this September, Windows Me will provide built-in basic
video editing features somewhat like like those in the entry-level video
editors like Digital Origin IntroDV, MGI VideoWave or Ulead VideoStudio.
Other than the built-in video editor Windows Me's DV and IEEE-1394 capabilities
are largely the same as Windows 98SE.
- If you don't have any particular requirement to use Windows-based PCs, don't
overlook this obvious solution. The DV solutions on the MacOS benefit from
QuickTime's maturity and ubiquitous support on that platform. Some MacOS-based
DV products outclass many of the current Windows DV solutions.
But be advised, switching computer platforms or supporting both Windows and Macintosh can be both expensive and troublesome in and of itself.
Probably the most compelling
reason to choose a Mac for DV editing is Apple's new Final
Cut Pro non-linear editing software which is exclusive available for
Macs. The ProMax DVTool
Kit
with Premiere or Final Cut Pro and the Digital
Origin MotoDV/EditDV MacOS products also come highly recommended. Ross
Jones' Golden
List of DV & FireWire NLE's
is a great place to find out more about MacOS-based DV.
Most Mac DV products don't run on just any PCI-based Mac or Mac clone. The interface cards are often only supported in a limited variety of systems. Setting up a Mac-based DV editing system may require buying a whole new PowerMac G3 or G4 system. Apple's blue G3 desktop systems, G4 systems and newest PowerBook G3s include built-in IEEE-1394 ports. And Apple's Final Cut Pro software requires at minimum a 300 MHz PowerMac G3 system for DV.
Apple's newest iMac DV computers
come with built-in IEEE-1394 ports and a special entry-level video editing
application called iMovie
developed by the same Apple team who created Final Cut Pro. (See David Simpson's
review
of iMovie
at http://desktopvideo.about.com).
(iMovie is now available as a free download for use with other recent IEEE-1394
equipped Macs.) The iMac DV models are somewhat hobbled by their limited
storage capacity and built-in screen size. Standard models are available
with a 13 GB maximum hard drive, and you can not add hard disk storage to
an iMac without replacing the standard hard drive with a larger model. (This
problem can be aleviated by the use of IEEE-1394-compatible expansion hard
drives which work for DV capture. But IEEE-1394 expansion drives sometimes
don't work for DV applications and all IEEE-1394 drives cost a premium compared
to EIDE drives.) (There is no way to add IEEE-1394 capabilities to older
non-DV iMac models.)
Adobe
Premiere 5.1c
($549 direct, $199 upgrade)
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/premiere
Premiere 5 features a new editing interface and QuickTime
3 support. Premiere 5 solves many problems that plagued version 4.2
with respect to editing DV. (Premiere 4.2 was particularly poorly suited
to DV editing since it could not handle DV's 32 kHz and 48 kHz audio formats
and it had problems with the SMPTE drop-frame timecode used by DV. Version
5 solved these problems.)
Premiere 5.1 supports both
Type-2 DV-AVI and QuickTime
DV files.
Demo available.
The Premiere 5.1c update
is available free to registered 5.0 users.
Important compatibility
note:
Adobe maintains a list
of video capture cards which they have certified as compatible with Premiere
5.1. The only DV capture cards for PCs on that list are the Canopus
DVRaptor, Canopus DVRex,
Pinnacle Miro DV200 and DV300,
Pinnacle DV500, Matrox
RT2000 and Digital Origin MotoDV
and its discontinued sibling the Truevision BRAVADO DV2000. While other
DV cards may work with Premiere 5.1 these are the only products that have
passed Adobe's rigorous certification process.
http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/cards.html
Ulead
MediaStudio Pro 6.0 ($495 list)
http://www.ulead.com/msp
MediaStudio Pro 6.0 is a versatile, full-featured NLE application which
consists of several different modules: capture, video editing, audio editing,
video paint and titling. MediaStudio Pro 6 now supports DirectShow
as well as Video-for-Windows for capture,
editing and output.
Version 6.0 supports Type-1
DV-AVI, Type-2 DV-AVI and QuickTime
DV media.
Compatibility note: MediaStudio Pro 6.0 only supports Type-1 DV-AVI
files if a conflicting Video-for-Windows DV codec is not installed
in your system. (Conflicting Video-for-Windows DV codecs are those that
use the same codec ID as Microsoft DV-AVI files. Conflicting DV codecs include
those installed with Adaptec, Pinnacle Miro, DPS Spark and Sony VAIO IEEE-1394
adapters. The DV codecs installed with Canopus boards and Fast DVMaster
boards are not conflicting since they use different codec IDs.)
Upgrades from older versions of MediaStudio Pro and Ulead
VideoStudio are available for $199.
Demo available.
Sonic
Foundry
Vegas Video 2.0 ($699 list, $399 introductory price)
http://www.vegas-video.com
Vegas Video 2.0 is a new version of Sonic Foundry's intuitive and powerful
multi-track audio editing software, but this version adds video editing
to the audio tools. Vegas Video implements a different approach to editing
video from the traditional Avid-like setups used by NLE's like Premiere,
Speed Razor and EditDV. Vegas Video also has some compositing capabilities,
and it's audio handling capabilities are probably unmatched by any other
video editing software.
Vegas Video fully supports DirectShow
as well as Video-for-Windows for capture,
editing and output. In fact Vegas Video is a bit of a show piece for the
DirectShow technology. The only DV boards it directly supports for capture
and direct print-to-DV tape are OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 PCI card, CardBus
cards and systems.
Vegas Video supports Type-1
DV-AVI, Type-2 DV-AVI and reading
QuickTime DV media.
Demo available.
in:sync
Speed Razor DV 4.7
http://www.in-sync.com/Products/More_Info/srdv.htm
Speed Razor is a highly regarded editing program.
In:sync has a special version of Speed Razor to support DV editing, but
it will only work with the now discontinued Fast DV
Master. The DV Master combined with Speed Razor DV is called DV Master
Pro.
Speed Razor DV runs on
Windows NT only.
Other versions of Speed Razor are available, but none offer integration
with IEEE-1394 devices.
Digital
Origin
EditDV 2.0 for Windows (software only - $499 direct, $799 with MotoDV
card, EditDV software for DVRaptor - $199)
http://www.digitalorigin.com/products/editwin/editdv.html
Digital
Origin
EditDV Unplugged for Windows ($149 direct)
http://www.digitalorigin.com/products/unplugov.html
Digital Origin has two
Windows versions of their highly regarded EditDV NLE and IEEE-1394 control
software. EditDV Unplugged lacks batch capture support and many other features.
(For details see http://www.digitalorigin.com/products/editor-comparison.html)
EditDV will work with the
Digital Origin MotoDV PCI IEEE-1394
card, the Canopus DVRaptor or an OHCI IEEE-1394
port (currently works on Windows 98SE only. See http://www.digitalorigin.com/support/download/EditDV-OHCI.html
for details.)
Compatibility note: EditDV 2.0 for the Canopus DVRaptor cannot directly
read AVI files captured with the Canopus DVRaptor software. The DV codec
type for these files must first be changed to the 'dvsd' Adaptec type before
QuickTime and EditDV can read them. Baobab's
DVConverter can accomplish this simple type change.
Demo available
DPS
Video Action 6.2 ($599 list bundled with DPS
Spark Plus)
http://www.dps.com
DPS has produced a special version of their Video Action editor for the
DPS Spark and Spark Plus. The Video
Action non-linear editing software supports direct timeline playback of
DV media clips larger than 2 GB.
Final Cut Pro ($1000)These applications are geared toward casual users and novices. They typically provide a reduced feature set and a simplified user interface compared to the full-featured applications listed above. In many cases they provide enough functionality to get basic editing jobs done.
Asymetrix
Digital Video Producer 5.5 ($249 list)
http://www.asymetrix.com/products/dvp
Digital Video Producer
is a simple but affordable editing program.
DVP's Recorder module captures
DV using Windows 98 WDM drivers. Recorder can import and render DirectShow-compatible
media.
But DVP's Producer editing
module uses Video-for-Windows for editing
and media output. It can import DirectShow-compatible Type-1
DV-AVI or Type-2 DV-AVI media,
but Producer can only render Video-for-Windows compatible Type-2 DV-AVI
files.
Demo available.
MGI
VideoWave III
($99 list)
http://www.videowave.com
VideWave III is a simple
video editor. Version III now support DirectShow
as well as Video for Windows so it can
import, edit and render Type-2 DV-AVI
files from Video-for-Windows-compatible
IEEE-1394 boards and Type-1 DV-AVI files from DirectShow-compatible
IEEE-1394 interfaces. It also supports DV input and output from and to DV
devices via OHCI IEEE-1394 devices.
MGI VideoWave III includes the Adaptec
DVSoft Video-for-Windows codec.
Ulead
VideoStudio 4.0 ($99 list)
http://www.ulead.com/vs
VideoStudio is a simple
video editor. It is currently one of the few video editors which fully supports
Microsoft's DirectShow media system
for capture, editing and rendering. VideoStudio also supports QuickTime
and Video for Windows so it can import,
edit and render all three major types
of DV media.
Demo available.
Digital
Origin
IntroDV ($199 with Digital Origin IEEE-1394 PCI card; "MotoDV
Express" $99 including OHCI IEEE-1394 PCI card; $79 IntroDV software
only)
http://www.digitalorigin.com
http://www.digitalorigin.com/products/introdv-ohci
IntroDV works with either Digital Origin's IEEE-1394 PCI card or with any
OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 interface. It available in combination with Digital
Origin's IEEE-1394 PCI board (which can be upgraded to support MotoDV Studio
and EditDV) or and a DV application which emphasises ease-of-use and simplicity.
IntroDV is a complete capture, editing and playback-to-DV solution based
on QuickTime and it captures DV to QuickTIme
DV media. IntroDV includes QuickTime Pro. IntroDV uses the same IEEE-1394
board as Digital Origin MotoDV. The
IntroDV software is available separately if you already own a Digital Origin
IEEE-1394 card any OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 card.
IntroDV for the Digital Origin IEEE-1394 card requires either Windows 95
or Windows 98. Windows NT and Windows 2000 support requires an upgrade to
MotoDV software. IntroDV for OHCI-compliant cards requires Windows 98 SE
or Windows 2000.
Demo available.
MainActor 3.5 for Windows($85);Pinnacle
Systems DV Studio
see hardware listing
DV Studio bundles
an IEEE-1394 PCI interface card with entry-level DV capture and editing
software.
Sound Forge 4.5 ($499 list, $50 for XP 4.5 version).Equilibrium
http://www.equilibrium.com
Debabelizer Pro is a still and video image processing and format conversion program. It features extensive automation and batch processing features. Version 4.5.1 adds support for QuickTime media, improves the program's AVI media support and now has support for audio soundtracks in media files.
Note: When using QuickTime DV media with the Apple QuickTime DV codec in Debabelizer Pro you must first set the "high-quality" hint for each clip. (See Displaying QuickTime DV media in "high quality" mode)
Supports Type-2 DV-AVI media and QuickTime DV media.
Demo available.
DV Converter ($35 registration fee; free 20-day trial version) DVCap
(free)
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Office/7844/anglais1.htm
DVCap is a free utility to capture Type-2
DV-AVI files when using a DirectShow-compatible
OHCI IEEE-1394 PCI board,
CardBus card or
system. Such Type-2 DV-AVI
can be used with Video-for-Windows-compatible
applications like Premiere
when a Video-for-Windows DV codec (such as the Adaptec
DVSoft codec) is also installed in your system. (Some people have
reported mixed results with this scheme however.)
Adaptec
http://www.adaptec.com/support/overview/1394.html
This DV and IEEE-1394 software from Adaptec is an alternative to the OEM-supplied software for products using the Adaptec 894x cards (Pinnacle DV200/DV300, DPS Spark, Compaq Presario).
First download and install HOTCONNECT_ULTRA_V20_WIN.EXE
Then download and install DVDECKV21.EXE
This will give you the Adaptec DVSoft codec, DVDeck 2.1 - a DV deck record/playback utility now with batch facilities, 1394 Diagnostics, DVPlay - Premiere capture device control plug-ins (now compatible with Premiere 5), Video-for-Windows capture driver, and DirectShow WDM drivers.
Important compatibility note: Adaptec has no plans to support the 894x boards on Windows 2000. But the DVSoft Video-for-Windows codec can be installed on Windows 2000 with a little work. (See http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Office/7844/anglais1.htm.)
Adobe
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/aftereffects
After Effects is a leading PC-based video effects and compositing tool. After Effects 4.1 provides many new features including the ability to import Adobe Premiere projects, better audio support and full support for both QuickTime media and Type-2 DV-AVI media on Windows. After Effects 4.1 Production Bundle features improved support for 3D data and network rendering and many other useful features. After Effects now has presets for all the DV video formats and pixel aspect ratios including 16:9 widescreen.
A demo is available.Terran
http://www.terran.com/products/CleanerOverview.html
Terran's highly respected video processing software is now available on Windows. Supports QuickTime DV media and Type-2 DV-AVI media.Puffin Designs
Puffin Designs
http://www.puffindesigns.com/products/commotion.html
The Windows versions of Puffin Design's highly regarded Commotion rotoscoping software.
Supports both Type-2 DV-AVI and QuickTime DV media.
Commotion DV is limited to video resolution frame sizes and doesn't have all the features of the full Commotion product.
A demo is available.Discreet
combustion replaces both discreet effect* and paint* and adds many new features.
combustion supports both Type-2 DV-AVI and QuickTime DV media.
A demo is available.eyeon
http://www.eyeonline.com
Video compositing. Digital Fusion supports both Type-2 DV-AVI and QuickTime DV media. Digital Fusion doesn't support QuickTime audio.
eyeon is introducing a new version of Digital Fusion which adds video painting capabilities as well as other new enhancements.Newtek
http://www.newtek.com
Video rotoscoping and compositing.Axogon
http://www.axogon.com/vcom/vcom.html
Video compositing. Supports Type-2 DV-AVI and QuickTime DV media.Media100
http://www.media100.com/product/shake/shakeoverview.html
Shake is a high-end compositing and effects program developed by Nothing Real (
This section lists products which are due to be available within the next few months
About the
Silver List
This document is copyright (c) 1998, 1999, 2000 by Richard Lawler.
Feedback is encouraged.
Richard Lawler
(richardl * at * well * dot * com)
The Silver List is formatted so that it can easily be printed or downloaded for off-line reading. The Silver List primarily consists of two documents: The Silver List and The Silver List Features Page.
This "off-site link" symbol
-
- is used to indicate links within the Silver List which reference information
on other websites. Links which don't have the off-site link reference other
parts of the Silver List.
Disclaimer:
Richard Lawler has no commercial affiliation with the vendors of any of the products discussed herein. He maintains this list as a public service and derives no direct compensation for his work.
While a great deal of effort is taken to make sure the information presented in this document is accurate and current, the information presented here is subject to change and is not guaranteed to be correct. Consumers are advised to investigate all products thoroughly prior to purchases and to purchase products from vendors offering a suitable return policy in case the products don't perform to the consumers' satisfaction.
Determination of any product's suitability to a given task, its features and performance is, of course, the responsibility of the reader. This document makes no guaranties about to the performance, suitability, compatibility or features of any product including those discussed herein.
Updated August 19, 2000
* slightly
tarnished silver but looking brighter every day
The IEEE-1394 interface standard specification is also known as "FireWire" by Apple Computer, Inc. (who also invented the interface) and as "iLink" or "iLink 1394" by Sony Corp. All these terms refer to the same thing. It is referred to as "IEEE-1394" herein.