mark@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU (Mark Goodwin) (11/20/90)
Seen in "Computer Graphics World", Sept. 1990, page 113 :- Panasonic LQ-4000 is a **rewritable** optical disk recorder for S-VHS, NTSC and RGB, with standard RS-232C interface and built in video transcoders. Has anyone evaluated one of these yet? Mark Goodwin Senior Programmer Monash Uni. Comp. Sci. A U S T R A L I A.
dave@imax.com (Dave Martindale) (11/28/90)
In article <3382@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU> mark@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU (Mark Goodwin) writes: >Seen in "Computer Graphics World", Sept. 1990, page 113 :- > >Panasonic LQ-4000 is a **rewritable** optical disk recorder >for S-VHS, NTSC and RGB, with standard RS-232C interface >and built in video transcoders. They had one of these at SIGGRAPH. However, it was $35-40k to buy, compared with the Sony write-once unit at $20k. And the rewritable medium is $1000, compared with $300 or $400 for the Sony's write-once. So, you'd need to rewrite each disc several times before it saved you any money on media at all, and you'd have to reuse a *lot* of discs to make back the difference in purchase price. Unless you are a production studio that would use such a unit for single-frame recording before transfer to tape, and use it heavily, it probably doesn't work out to be cheaper within its lifetime.
subramn@cs.utexas.edu (K. R. Subramanian) (11/29/90)
In article <1990Nov27.185614.8769@imax.com> dave@imax.com (Dave Martindale) writes: >In article <3382@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU> mark@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU (Mark Goodwin) writes: >>Seen in "Computer Graphics World", Sept. 1990, page 113 :- >> >>Panasonic LQ-4000 is a **rewritable** optical disk recorder >>for S-VHS, NTSC and RGB, with standard RS-232C interface >>and built in video transcoders. > >They had one of these at SIGGRAPH. However, it was $35-40k to buy, >compared with the Sony write-once unit at $20k. And the rewritable >medium is $1000, compared with $300 or $400 for the Sony's write-once. > I have used one of the Panasonic disc recorders at our supercomputer center. One big problem during playback is, if the frames in the disc are not in sequence, then you are going to see an annoying flicker (the search time to go to a different part of the disc is clearly noticeable). On a rewriteable disc, it is possible to move the frames around so that they are in sequence and produce flicker free animation. Perhaps the newer versions of the video discs are better than the one we used, I dont know. -- KRS --
jbm@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Jeffrey Mulligan) (11/29/90)
subramn@cs.utexas.edu (K. R. Subramanian) writes: >I have used one of the Panasonic disc recorders at our supercomputer >center. One big problem during playback is, if the frames in the >disc are not in sequence, then you are going to see an annoying >flicker (the search time to go to a different part of the disc >is clearly noticeable). Yes. >On a rewriteable disc, it is possible >to move the frames around so that they are in sequence and >produce flicker free animation. Perhaps the newer versions >of the video discs are better than the one we used, I dont know. Rewritable or not, you need two drives to do this type of editing (unless you are prepared to digitize the frame to be moved and store it while you seek back to the new destination). For the non-erasable media, Panasonic makes a play-only player which is a lot cheaper that the unit which can also record. -- Jeff Mulligan (jbm@eos.arc.nasa.gov) NASA/Ames Research Ctr., Mail Stop 262-2, Moffett Field CA, 94035 (415) 604-3745