At the MacWorld Exposition, August 4 to 7 in Boston, Supermac Technology Inc of Sunnyvale, California will be showing off its DigitalFilm video production system, a $6,000 single-slot system for the Macintosh computer that the company claims is comparable in features and quality to editing systems costing $100,000 or more. It enables the user to capture full-screen video and stereo sound to an ordinary Macintosh hard disk at 30 frames per second and to output directly to a videotape recorder at the same, full-screen, 30-frames-per-second rate. It also comes with the Adobe Premier 2.0 on-line editing package. The system supports NTSC, PAL and higher-resolution S-video standards for video input and can capture full-motion video in formats ranging from video cassette recorders to laser disks and TV tuners, in real time. As it records, it digitises stereo audio input and synchronises it to video. With support for 44KHz sound sampling, it is positioned for future CD-quality audio capture (as soon as Apple’s QuickTime standard supports that sampling rate). Featuring hardware-accelerated JPEG compression, the standard used in the Macintosh prepress industry, the system offers a range of options suited to a variety of video requirements and real-time compression directly to disk, the company says. The compressed video is frame accurate, enabling instant, random access for editing. It supports QuickTime-compatible editing and effects packages and produces files that can be integrated with animation, graphics and effects from any other QuickTime-aware product. The Adobe Premiere 2.0 makes it easy to assemble productions, select and manage input from multiple sources, apply professional effects and transitions, and mix audio. It also produces edit decision lists in CMX format, provides the SMPTE time-code support required for editing video, and features a sequencer for rough-edit support. DigitalFilm boasts professional standard frame-accurate capabilities, the company says, providing non-linear random access and manipulation of individual frames. Like SuperMac’s Thunder Line of products it features integral workstation-class, 24-bit accelerated graphics on displays up to 17. It gives editors room to develop full PAL- or NTSC-sized videos, design photorealistic graphics, and view other windows and tools all on one display. Its output facility, an integrated NTSC/PAL encoder, has been designed to preserve colour quality, again to professional standards when recording a finished production to videotape. Users can also embed comps in Quick Time-aware applications to share with colleagues or present to clients. The DigitalFilm system will be available by late autumn, priced at $6,000; the Adobe package, worth $700, is bundled at no extra charge.
