In Box

by Wendy Nichols
May 2000

Thanks! With the help of your All-Camcorder Buyer�s Guide (December 1999 issue of Videomaker), I bought a camcorder. I Paid $899 for a Panasonic PV-DV910. It has all the bells and whistles. I never would have been able to do it without [the buyer�s guide]. I had it with me as I looked through the sales circulars. I think I got exactly what I wanted, feature for feature, thanks to your handy buyer�s guide.
Russ Jones
Internet

Re-Applied Magic

Thank you for honoring ScreenPlay as Videomaker�s "Best Turnkey Nonlinear Editing Appliance for 1999" (February 2000 issue), and for the favorable product review recognizing ScreenPlay as "...a serious contender in the nonlinear editing appliance marketplace.�
Because ScreenPlay owners and users typically rate its picture quality as outstanding, I was surprised that the reviewer saw artifacts, which he stated were "probably from the use of Wavelet-based codec." Applied Magic chose wavelet compression over MJPEG due to its higher image quality. It is also interesting to note that Wavelet is now beginning to be recognized as a superior compression method by industry standards committees and organizations, most notably, the JPEG 2000 committee, which has chosen Wavelet as its new standard.
There are certainly a number of reasons why the reviewer may have experienced artifacts, but this is not the norm for ScreenPlay, nor is it the result of the Wavelet coding.
All of us at Applied Magic are proud of ScreenPlay�s overall quality and performance. Therefore, I encourage your readers to see for themselves how crisp and clean ScreenPlay�s picture quality truly is.
We would like to invite your readers to any of our personal demonstrations offered by our many dealers, or any one of the many industry tradeshows and expos Applied Magic attends. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Expo in Las Vegas in April, or the Videomaker Expo East, in New Jersey in August are the two we will be attending in the near future.
David Newman, Chief Technical Officer
Applied Magic, Inc.

Thanks for setting the record straight, David. It is certainly possible that the artifacts we saw were not due to the Wavelet compression.
The Editors


More Tech Please

I read the [January 2000] cover article on making video CDs, with interest. However, I felt that the information presented in this article was somewhat general in scope. The author didn�t mention anything about the actual Video CD format, or how to make it using a computer. The Video CD format is popular and can be viewed on almost every DVD player, which is easier than playing it on a PC. I would like to hear more about this format either from the author, or on the Videomaker Web site (www.videomaker.com).
Taras Makogon
Internet

When to Begin

I want to shoot and edit home movies. I�ve been looking for a digital camcorder that can transfer digital video and audio directly to a PC for viewing, editing and recording onto CD-ROM or VHS tape, and trying to select the right editing system.
It appears I will be spending up to $5,000 for what I�d like to do. I have looked seriously at several camcorders and computers. I also looked at nonlinear editing software and capture cards. Would it be better to wait another year for prices to come down in this rapidly changing field?
Rudy Nichols
Internet

Rudy,
There�s no time like the present. The good news is that $5,000 goes a long ways right now. You can get a very nice 3-chip DV camcorder for around $2,500 and a well-equipped single chipper for less than $1,500. There are several turnkey editing systems (both computer-based systems and appliances) for less than $2,000 (see the Turnkey section of our March 2000 All Computer Video Buyer�s Guide). With $5,000, you could buy a complete system and have enough change left to get a light kit!
The Editors

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