Subject: Raptor, PVR, SpeedRazor Mach setup
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 1996 12:05:44 -0800

Steve Soltz wrote:

>  Its amazing how timely some of the subjects are on this list. I will
>be purchasing a Raptor with a PVR, SR MachIII and of course lightwave next
>week. I have a couple of questions.
>1. Will I be getting a pre-release version of Lightwave?

hi steve,

we received LW 4 rev A with our system.  i called newtek for a newer
version and they said deskstation was handling distribution of the alpha
versions.  i contacted deskstation and they said they would send after
verifying something with our dealer.. haven't received anything yet.

btw, i have previously been using lightwave & the PAR on the amiga.  the
raptor really rips in comparison. you'll love the increase in speed.

>2. I think that I am convinced that the PVR has excellent quality but
>someone said something on the list like 'too bad there isn't a REAL
>non-linear editor available yet-maybe at NAB...'. Would anybody out there
>respond to the charge that SR Mach III isn't a REAL NLE?
>... (snip)

for much of the last six weeks i've been editing with SR3, and it never
once occurred to me that i wasn't doing "real" non-linear editing.

we took delivery of a Raptor/PVR/SR3/LW system about two months ago.
we had  problems getting it to work out-of-the-box, but this was due to the
micropolis hard drives apparently 'dying' during shipment.  working through
our dealer, micropolis replaced the drives immediately.

we use a sony uvw-1800 betaSP vtr with the pvr, using the component ins &
outs.  the pvr quality is very good. the results i'm getting are equal to
the quality of our main editing room that uses composite betaSP and
one-inch.

SR3 is a pretty powerful edit system. there are still bugs in it.  it has a
very full set of professional features, tho some aren't fully functional
yet. but in:sync seems to be hard at work on the problems.  i've talked to
tech support three times, and each time received a new software revision.
so, at this point, i'd agree that SR3 is in its infancy and the software
isn't fully matured yet.  nevertheless, i'm turning out finished video
projects with it.

i've been working fulltime in video production for over ten years.  i
haven't used an avid or a cube so i can't personally compare SR3/PVR with
them.  but we couldn't afford those systems when it came time to purchase
either.  so, all things considered, i'm quite pleased so far with our
investment in the Raptor/SR3/PVR/LW.

Dave Tong
UIdaho Video Center