Gear

Deluxe In-camera Titles

Ever wished you could improve on the crummy little titler that comes with most consumer camcorders? Panasonic's PV-L958 gives you a way to do just that. Acting as both a digital still camera and a VHS-C camcorder, the PV-L958 offers two-way communication between the camcorder and a PC, allowing the videographer to load a pre-prepared JPEG image into the camcorder and onto tape. (201) 348-9090.

Suggested retail price: $1000

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DVD Storage

Panasonic announced its new DVD-RAM drive. DVD-RAM is a recordable DVD format that is fully compliant with the DVD Forum DVD-RAM standard. With a read/write capacity of 2.6GB, the new LF-D101 drive is ideal for storing real-time videos, commercials, animated designs, renderings, scanned photos and illustrations, according to Panasonic. The drive includes an audio output jack in the rear of the unit and is available as an internal drive with a SCSI-2 interface or an ATAPI interface. (408) 945-5600.

Suggested retail price: $799

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Century Lens Accessories for the XL1

Century Precision Optics has introduced some new products in its Value Series line of lens accessories. The new accessories are for the Canon XL1, and lock and attach directly to the front of the lens with a simple twist, according to Century. The new accessories include a .6x and a .8x wide-angle adapter, a fisheye adapter, a 1.6x tele-converter and +2.0 and +3.5 macro attachments. The .6x increases coverage by 40% and the .8x increases coverage by 20%. (800) 228-1254.

Suggested retail price: .6x, $395; .8x, $895; fisheye, $495; 1.6x tele-converter, $895; macro +2.0, $395; macro +3.5, $395

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Mount your Monitor

Peerless Industries announces their newest line of monitor mounting systems, the Jumbo 2000. These new mounts are available in sizes to support monitors from 13 inches up to 42 inches. The Jumbo 2000 monitor mounts feature a yoke-style, wrap-around design and are available for wall installations or ceiling installations from structural, finished, or suspended ceilings. (800) 865-2112.

Suggested retail price: $161 to $212 depending on your monitor size.

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All-in-One Marvel from Matrox

For those who want 3D graphics, PC/TV functionality and video capture all rolled into one, Matrox Graphics Inc. introduces its Marvel G200-TV graphics accelerator. The G200-TV delivers 2D, 3D and 704x480 MJPEG video capture applications in a single AGP board design. Targeted at the home and business user, the Matrox Marvel G200-TV includes features that will please the gaming enthusiast, the television enthusiast and the multimedia hobbyist. (800) 361-1408.

Suggested retail price: $299

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Motion from Stills

Bencher, Inc., a well-known manufacturer of high-quality copy stands, introduces a new companion product for videographers who want to combine panning and scrolling effects with photographs, artworks, printed matter, etc. The Motion Picture Maker has simple palm-size hand controls with two switches and two speed adjusters, allowing for separate panning (right/left) and scrolling (top/bottom). These motions may also be used in combination to create unlimited special effects, such as diagonals, zigzags, arcs and circles. (630) 238-1183.

Suggested retail price: $995

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Super Small Video Transmitter

A new low cost, pocket-sized video transmitter is available from Supercircuits. The Microplate Video Transmitter is only 2x1.25x.16-inches and weights only 1/2-ounce, according to Supercircuits. The transmitter's signal can be received on channel 59 of any cable ready television or just below channel 14 on most portable receivers with analog slide-type tuners. Power requirements are 12 volts at 100 milliamps. (800) 335-9777.

Suggested retail price: $180

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Dazzle 'em

Dazzle Multimedia's new Digital Video Producer is the latest in the company's line of MPEG video capture devices. The new family of products includes parallel port, USB and PCI versions. Dazzle 3.0 software integrates MPEG video capture and editing, video Web publishing, video e-mail, multimedia file management, still-image capture and editing, Windows NT support and DirectShow compatibility. (510) 360-2300.

Suggested retail price: $199 (USB and parallel); $399 (PCI)

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Compact Handicam

Stating that it's the most compact, yet high performance addition to its Digital Handycam line, Sony has introduced the DCR-PC1 camcorder. Featuring a Carl Zeiss lens block with a 10x optical zoom range, the camcorder has a 1/4-inch, 650k pixel CCD, a 120x digital zoom and 14 picture effects. The DCR-PC1 has a 2.5-inch LCD screen, a viewfinder and incorporates Sony's Super SteadyShot stabilization technology and AccuPower charging system. (800) 282-2848.

Suggested retail prices: $2199

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Pounding Audio

Creating custom soundtracks for videos is a problem for many producers. Sonic Foundry introduces its latest solution with Sound Forge XP 4.5, which is a consumer version of the popular Sonic Forge professional-level digital audio system. According to Sonic Foundry, Sound Forge XP allows anyone with a relatively up-to-date PC and sound card (Pentium CPU with 8MB RAM, 5MB of hard drive space, a CD-ROM and a sound card) to create professional quality digital audio productions. The software operates under Windows 95/98 and NT 4.0. (608) 256-3133.

Suggested retail price: $60