Milpitas, California-based Storage Dimensions Inc has launched new desktop digital video storage systems designed for the Macintosh Quadra 950, 900, 800, 700 and 650. Based on Wide SCSI-2 disk drives, the systems support full-screen – 640 by 480, full motion video (30 frames and 60 fields per second) capture and playback with no dropped frames. The Fast and Wide SCSI-2 PDS DataCannon incorporates several special data handling capabilities, including an on-board RISC-based processor that off-loads system management tasks from the host CPU, freeing the host to pursue other tasks; a dedicated PDS SCSI path, which eliminates system overhead associated with other ports; and an automatic disconnect-reconnect which frees up bus bandwidth after commands are executed. The new systems, which are available this month, are offered as a 4Gb array or a 2Gb single-drive system. The 2Gb system provides sustained video data transfer rates of 4Mbps, and the 4Gb MacinStor SpeedArray disk array provides throughput of 5Mbps. They list at $4,010 and $7,115 respectively.
