DraCo's FAQ

DraCo Systems
3380 Mitchell Lane, Suite 102
Boulder, CO 80301 Phone: 303.440.5311
Fax: 303.440.5322
Technical Support: 303.440.5399
Email: draco-info@draco.com

18 Questions to Ask Before You Buy a Digital Editing System

Image quality is not such an issue anymore. There are other important issues to consider when buying a nonlinear system. Here are some important questions to ask before you buy a nonlinear system.

1. Can I directly digitize scenes into the editing software ... or do I have to start a special recording software program first, then save the scenes, quit the recording software, start the editing software, and then load the scenes into the editing software?

2. Can I then play the captured scenes in my editing software in full resolution and without stuttering ... or will I lose all real-time access? In other words, can I rearrange my video scenes in real-time and then play back the result in 60 field-per-second, full-frame video?

3. Can I use any 9GB SCSI II hard drives, or any combination of hard drives, or do I have to split my recording partitions into smaller pieces and partitions?

4. Can I use any off-the-shelf SCSI II hard drive, or do I have to buy expensive A/V drives to get stutter-free video?

5. Will I have to clean up my hard drive to eliminate stuttering and will I have to defragmentize the hard drive so video playback is continuous?

6. Can I get an almost immediate real-time preview of the effect, or will the rendering of the preview itself take several seconds per image.

7. Do I only have to render video that's affected by a transition, or will I have to spend the time to copy all my raw material and then render everything to get my final result?

8. Will I only need a small amount of disk space for the transitions, or will I have to reserve half of my hard drive space for the end result video?

9. Will I have to wait longer than 10 seconds to render a simple one-second effect?

10. Can I save the complete editable pieces of an entire project to a streamer tape so I can access all the transitions and make any changes in the future while keeping all the effects, or do I only get to access an uneditable avi file?

11. How expensive will my purchase finally be to get a system that gives me the video quality I desire. Will there ever be an end to the hardware that's required?

12. Can I connect the new DV digital video cameras and edit loss-free, or will I always have to go over Y/C?

13. In case I should ever upgrade my camera equipment, will I have to buy new nonlinear equipment to use beta and get component in and outputs?

14. On an entry level system, will I get the same software that the professional higher cost systems come with, or will I get a stripped down lite version of the professional software?

15. Is the editing system a turnkey system ... does the computer, editing hardware, audio hardware, and editing software all come from one manufacturer, or will I have to configure my system from many different vendors and speak with many different manufacturers if I have any problems?

16. Can the system I'm thinking of buying satisfy my professional requirements?

17. Can the system handle PAL as well as NTSC or do I have to buy another board at more than twice the cost of the NTSC version?

18. Can I rely on the system to provide frame accurate audio sync, or will it drift off and become noticeable after a very few minutes?

©1996, DraCo Systems, Inc.
Phone: 303.440.5311
Fax: 303.440.5322
Technical Support: 303.440.5399
Email: draco-info@draco.com

Page Design: The Solution Studio

November 12, 1996

DraCo Systems 3380 Mitchell Lane, Suite 102 Boulder, CO 80301	Phone: 303.440.5311 Fax: 303.440.5322 Technical Support: 303.440.5399
Email: draco-info@draco.com