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A Full-Featured, Turn-Key Digital Video Editing Workstation
Matrox's Realtime Pro-Edit Workstation is designed as a turn-key system for video editing, DVD authoring, and web streaming. The system, an IBM IntelliStation M Pro ($8,995: DigiSuite LE version for analog, or $11,795: DigiSuite DTV for DV25/DV50), includes a Pentium III 550 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM, Matrox Millennium 6400, four 9.1 GB LVD SCSI drives (one drive for the system and 27 GB for video storage), CDROM, and a floppy drive. Compaq AP500 workstation models ($9,495 and up) are also available. Adobe Premiere 5.1c, Boris FX, Inscriber CG (character generator), and Sonic Solutions DVDit! SE are bundled with the system. Cable sets for the DigiSuite board are included. However, most users should consider buying the optional breakout boxes, which can be rack-mounted.
The video breakout box ($450) has labeled composite, component, and Y/C inputs and outputs. There are separate preview and program outputs. The IEEE-1394 port is located on the computer. The audio breakout box ($550) provides four channels each of analog and digital (AES/EBU) audio ins and outs. An IEEE-1394 card is an option for the DigiSuite LE and included with the DigiSuite DTV. The one sour note is that Matrox's IEEE-1394 option only handles two channels of 16-bit 48 kHz audio. It resam-- ples and upconverts 32 kHz and 44.1 kHz audio. An SDI module ($1,995) is available for both DigiSuite cards.
The software bundle contains familiar products. Adobe Premiere is a feature-rich product that relies on nested menus, an apbroach that makes Premiere better suited For multimedia programmers than to the needs of video editors. Boris FX is a 3D effects program that significantly improves the capabilities of Adobe Premiere. Boris' well-designed interface has made it the effects add-on of choice for many editing systems. For titling, inscriber CG is just as ubiquitous and very easy to use. DVDit! SE has enough power to author a simple DVD for corporate or educational use. We tested a prototype of the turn-key DTV system with the optional SDI module. The software version of the DigiSuite drivers was 4.0. The shipping version of the turn-key system will have version 4.1 drivers. Our system had dual Xeon 450 MHz processors and 256 MB of...