Turnkey Editing Computer Review: Core Microsystems PhEnix DV-X2000

Bruce Coykendall
February 2001

Core Microsystems' PhEnix DV-X2000 is a feature-packed turnkey video editing system designed for the budget conscious video professional. The video board inside is the Pinnacle DC2000, which supports FireWire as well as all analog video I/Os: component, S-video and composite. The DC2000 also captures and digitizes in either .avi or MPEG-2 video.
In addition to analog & DV output, you can output MPEG 2 to tape or to DVD using bundled DVD authoring tools. The Pinnacle DC2000 is an upgrade from the DC1000, adding component video and balanced audio I/Os. In Addition, the DC2000 also supports RS-422 and RS-232 machine control.
The NT 4.0-based workstation comes in a full tower with a 300-watt power supply. There are plenty of slots and drive bays open for future expansion. Inside are dual Pentium III 800MHz processors - which make short work of most rendering tasks - and plenty of fans to keep it cool. Unfortunately, the cooling fans make a lot of noise. Don't try doing any voice-overs or live mike work in the vicinity.
Bundled with Adobe Premiere 5.1 RT, Hollywood FX Bronze, Pixelan Video SpiceRack Effects, Sonic Foundry's ACID Music, Minerva Impression CD, Pinnacle's TitleDeko and Pipeline Pro VTR, the software side of this system is worthy.
Set up of the system is very simple, even though the system does not come with setup diagrams. The Pinnacle DC2000 breakout box, computer monitor, speakers and power cables are the extent of setup. Core does all system and software installations, and application icon shortcuts appear on the desktop.

The Pinnacle DC2000's breakout box is a dream come true to the video editor who needs input support for analog gear. All the analog I/Os are present on the breakout box: component, S-video and composite (along with composite aux for reference). The FireWire port is on the card itself in the back of the computer. Analog audio I/Os are also onboard, with balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA, but this seemingly impressive attention to audio is only on the surface.
According to Pinnacle's manual, the DC2000 card cannot capture audio without a video signal present. If you are taking source audio with video you'll be fine, but if you want to digitize audio from a cassette player, mike or DAT machine, think again. Grab your mini phone plug, get on your hands and knees and find that Sound Blaster input on the back of the computer (it's the one with the little mike icon). It's currently the only way to capture audio without video.

You can, however edit MPEG 2 files. Historically you would have to edit .avi files for frame accuracy and then perform a time consuming conversion to MPEG 2. Pinnacle has patented SmartGOP technology, allowing frame-accurate edits within GOPs (groups of pictures) without the need for recompression.

We were glad to find Pipeline Pro VTR included in the software bundle. The software-based analog device controller, Pipeline Pro VTR handles RS-422 and RS-232 control protocols, but be sure that your particular machine meets their requirements and that you receive the correct cabling for your setup. You need different cables to control the two different protocols. Although Core Microsystems assured us that the DV-X2000 ships with Pipeline Pro VTR, our test unit did not have the plug-in installed, so we were unable to test it.
Hollywood FX Bronze provides highly tweekable and keyframeable transition and color effects. Preset Hollywood FX render in less than 30 seconds, but if you apply frame blending or motion blur then rendering increases dramatically. Pinnacle FX, on-board Adobe transitions and static titles are all real-time so long as only one effect is playing at a time. Core also added Minerva Impression 2.0 CD and DVD authoring software to the list. Use of this program is simple and intuitive. If creating CD-ROMs or mastering for DVD onto Digital Linear Tape (DLT) is a feature you need, you will be glad to see this addition.

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