So Patrick, where else are you going to get a DVR, Monitor, vectorscope, waveform monitor, audio monitor, spectrum analyzer, shot correction tool....for less?

I think it is priced just right-------now! Great piece of software.

Spot, sorry but I cant see spending the same amount of money on capturing software that I did for the NLE I edit on. More so, when I last tried it, it wouldnt allow you to have all of the different options on the screen at the same time without having to scroll and it wouldnt let you widen the program window so that it takes full advantage of your entire desktop.

If I am going to drop $500 for capture software I might as well throw a couple extra hundred in there and get a hardware capture solution and be truly tapeless.

>If I am going to drop $500 for capture software I might as well throw a couple extra hundred in there and get a hardware capture solution and be truly tapeless.<

Umm its $295 that seems allot closer to $300 than $500 and why tapeless, this lets you capture directly to a drive AND have the tape as a back up.

First and foremost, 700.00 isn't going to approach buying a tapeless sytem. I've got all three tapeless systems, and even at dealer cost, 700.00 doesn't get you anything.
Second, you get a monitor that is necessary in the field for any kind of shooting. That's a huge benefit. There is no time ever, that you need to see anything except the audio monitor and the video monitor once you've got the shot setup.
Yeah, it would be nice if you could size things differently, but then they couldn't guarantee accuracy due to resolution. I wish you could dock the tools like you have the ability to do in Vegas, I've told them I don't care for this aspect. I'd like a more horizontal arrangement vs vertical.
But it is a true DVR/logging system, and for 300.00, it's a great deal. We just bought another copy, giving us four laptops loaded.
There just isn't any way to KNOW what you are shooting in the field is good without the monitor that is correctly calibrated for an LCD screen.
And they've got some other tools coming that are even more useful.

$295 is a steal especially when you go back to the studio and find dropouts on your tape.. what's that worth?

I did some audio work last summer for a client who had 6 audio sources recording, 3 mics each with back up - they went to break and came back, he failed to check them again and ended up with 6 useless tracks of audio. Client flew in for the taping.

Analogy is with audio, but with Video.. even more crucial. What's the lost time worth if you could have used a backup?

Mike

anyone have any idea of if/when DVRack will support HDV capture?

And consider that you can get it from B&H for $349. Take the $200 rebate off that, and it's an incredible steal -- $149 for this program is just a flat-out amazing value.

. .er at:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=348618&is=REG


B&H offering it at $449 .. rebate $200 = $249? I'm now getting interested .. even if it aint the MAGIC price of. . . Your, " . .. $149 for this program is just a flat-out amazing value. " maybe more valid than you thought! ;-)

Trouble is, I wont get it for $249 here in the UK.

Regards,

Grazie

. .Arrgghh .. now I'm confused!

The B&H check out cart comes up with the "Lower" price statement of $349. Now is this subject TO the $200 rebate too? Making Barry's comment spot on .. or what? Discuss?

Grazie

Okay - if the rebate kicks-in AND this brings it down to $139 = £70GBps, then having just done a "best-price" here in the UK . .. you lot sitting down! . . . .

* * * * * £250 GBps = * * * *

now THAT is a difference of $360 USD . .. . yeah, right! OR another 2.5 copies of the same s/w!

Grazie

I think I can give a definate maybe on that one!
To do that right though you're going to need a LOT of screen real estate.
As to the price, well, it's a steal as SPOT says. I work mostly with old school analogue video guys and even they were blown away. Just a hardware vectorscope will cost you many times more than this whole setup including a laptop to run it on. Now all we need is a PCMCIA capture card that'll work with DV Rack and the old farts will be in seventh heaven :)
Seriously we don't know how easy we've got it, watching one of them playout a 1" tape makes me wince, turn on waveform monitor, turn on vectorscope, find tweaker, tweak lost of pots and pray video comes out of the thing. And this stuff was way easier than 2" quad!
Bob.

Of course you and Spot are correct . . but you haven't got my bank statements - yeah? Checks/cheques - and literally - balances!

Maybe I should augment my meagre "Community & Event" stuff by hiring equipment or doing Vegas demos? Whaddyah think? . .. Yeah, maybe not. It would take up too much time travelling about away from the edit deck AND away from the creative stuff I really enjoy doing, and when I get it, well paid. Guess one makes decisions in ones life and stick to them - yeah?

"Seriously we don't know how easy we've got it, . . " .. ok .. but .. at $139 in the US I'd do it. At an equiv here in the UK at $500? What I'm looking at here in the UK is $500 USDs! . . . Someone is extracting the yellow stuff . .

Grazie

Can't you get some friend in the states to get it for you? Oops... I are one.

DVR is great ... it's a big help to be able to correct signals ahead of time and hd capture .. terrific value.. watch Karl's demo movie at:

http://www.seriousmagic.com/dvrack.cfm

well done promo video work .. very glad I bought DV rack

ken

stream a bigger version from:
http://xgen.vitalstream.com/mcasx.asx?media=1871268&package=6357

I am not sure if the rebate is applicable if you buy it from someone other then Serious Magic---if it does, then heck, its an even better deal.

B&H is advertising with rebate.
jimmy

As far as I can tell these are the *only* requirements to get the rebate -

• Purchase one (1) copy of DV Rack between February 1, 2005 and February 28, 2005.
• Complete and mail this form with the original UPC bar code, a copy of the DV Rack receipt dated between February 1, 2005 and February 28, 2005.
• All requests must be postmarked by March 31, 2005.

No mention of who you can, or can't, buy it from.

So in may case even with the "cheapest" shipping of $8.95 and taxes of $25.95 it would still be under 200 bucks after the rebate. Hmmmmm.....

under $200 is the only way it's worth the money, strictly because of the waveform/vectorscope capability... using a laptop as a tool for evaluating the picture quality of video is a fool's game, because you can't get the correct gamma/contrast range with an lcd monitor... always take a portable studio monitor on critical shoots, just like it's been done for decades.

the huge price drop of that software reflects it's overpriced nature... with scenealyzer capturing, you can also play the video right back with any media player, so there is little advantage to dv rack that i can see.

the prices of portable hard drive video recorders will continue to drop... canon will soon be distributing the firestore recorder, and there will be more competition in that market.

How do you get from a 1700.00 firestore to sub 200.00 software by adding Canon's distribution? Ain't gonna happen. The software is priced about right, IMO.

In case I missed someone else's posting of this -- here's the rebate in PDF form:

http://www.seriousmagic.com/DVR_Rebate_Feb.05.pdf

couple of questions: How far off is the LCD monitor going to be, and how much screen realestate is going to be necessary? I have 1920x1200 on my laptop. Hopefully this would be enough to make decent use of it.