Left panel

left panel

Main, with scroll

Leitch-DPS, for example, remains the only NLE manufacturer with products that can convert and store all popular file formats as soon as your software creates the sequence. This firm’s Reality package (which comes with their proprietary board set) has been my favorite tool for rendering finished animation sequences since 1992 when DPS invented the first economical desktop digital video disk recorder (DDR). DPS products all work in real time with a direct-to-NTSC signal and therefore are a bit more costly than the average video acquisition/playback card that requires CPU rendering to produce a recordable signal. Pinnacle Systems, on the other hand, offers a wide assortment of products, including both hardware and NLE solutions beginning with the Studio 8 and Edition DV500, which comes with a digital video capture/ playback card and real-time playback to an NTSC monitor. The professional features found in Edition rival those found in Final Cut Pro and other systems costing quite a bit more. These low-cost systems represent Pinnacle’s consumer division. Pinnacle’s professional division is more expensive, offers more features, and provides a higher quality, but for beginning animators, the consumer products are all you really need for now.