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even as mainstream PCs and Macs get faster and faster, and increasingly capable of editing video alongside other tasks, the decreasing cost of all that processing power is reason enough to devote your primary editing machine to video and video alone. Another approach is to purchase a workstation, like the Macrosystem Casablanca AVIO, that's video-dedicated by definition. Many dedicated video editors-such as Media 100's 844/x or Leitch's dpsVelocity Q-cost significantly more than the most expensive mainstream PCs and Macs, even those based on dual Xeon or G5 processors, but they offer more focused processing, customized interfaces, turnkey operation, and advanced video I/O. Macrosystem's Casablanca line features HD-capable $5,000-$6,000 Solitaire systems that reach (price-wise) into the lower regions of Leitch territory (VelocityQ NLE but not VelocityHD).
The lower-cost variation on the Casablanca theme is the AVIO, with configurations ranging from a rock-bottom $999 to a $2,199 model that targets independent and corporate/ departmental videographers. The top-end AVIO includes DV and analog video support plus a DVD recorder and the same proprietary Smart Edit NLE and Arabesk-DVD authoring tool found in Solitaire. Higher-end systems are also more likely to be found running specialized Macrosystem applications like the CBPaint graphics package or QuadCam, a multiple-camera syncing tool [see Lee Rickwood's review in the February issue], although you can purchase and add these to any Casablanca machine.
Macrosystem sent us the $2,199 AVIO DV-DVD system for review, with full Smart Edit 3 functionality as well as DVD-Arabesk 2, the latest version of the DVD tool, and a factory-installed Pioneer DVR-A07 8X DVD recorder. With VGA, component, and S-Video output (in addition to DV for writing finished productions to tape), the AVIO is equally at home being attached to a CRT or LCD monitor as to an ordinary television set (assuming it takes component or S-Video input). So you can also use it to record TV shows. But our interest here is strictly its video production capabilities, which are in fact quite remarkable-and not just because they get to do their thing without a multitasking OS getting in the way.
STEADYPERFORMER
If you're starting from scratch with a dedicated video editing system (and running the rest of your business on another computer), the $2,199 AVIO DV-DVD compares well to similarly...