Cool Accessory
A new accessory to help hold your compact camcorder is being produced by Cool-Lux. Called the Stablecam, this new product attaches to the bottom of your camcorder using the tripod screw mount and the padded handgrip runs upward along the left side of the camcorder. On top of the grip is a universal accessory shoe for mounting a small light, external microphone or LCD screen viewfinder. The unit, which weighs 26 grams, also features a quick release mechanism for easy camera removal. (805) 482-4820
Suggested retail price: $89.95
| Crane for the High Shots |  |
Theres a new crane in town. Distributed by Classic Video Productions, the Cobra Crane works with cameras up to six pounds. The eight-pound unit mounts directly on a tripod head and will allow shots from the floor up to nine feet high (12 feet with the optional extension). Using a cable and pulley parallelogram system the new crane will allow the operator to tilt the camcorder up to 180-degrees. Options include remote zoom, pause and focus controls. (949) 362-3741
Suggested retail price: $599.95
| Creating Sparks |  |
Digital Processing Systems (DPS) is releasing a new addition to the Spark family of DV editing products, the DPS Spark Plus[TM]/Video Action[TM] editing bundle. According to DPS, adding the Video Action nonlinear editing software to Spark Plus will allow DV editors to work in the same environment as users of DPS Perception and Perception RT. The new bundle, which includes an Ultra Wide SCSI adapter with IEEE 1394 technology, offers native 32KHz audio support and direct timeline playback of media clips larger than 2GB. (800) 775-3314
Suggested retail price: $799
| A Sound Idea |  |
Sonic Foundry has introduced ACID, a new software program that will enable video producers to create royalty-free music elements for videos on a 133Mhz, or higher, Pentium computer. The program includes pre-recorded loops (a short segment of audio that can continuously repeat) of music, sound effects and ambient sounds. According to Sonic Foundry, the user can select loops and the program will automatically adjust the tempos and keys to fit them together as new musical material. ACID outputs .WAV and .AIFF files. (608) 256-3133
Suggested retail price: $399
| DV Editing with Pinnacle |  |
Pinnacle has released its new DV nonlinear editing solution for the PC and Mac platforms. The miroVIDEO DV300 offers a high-speed digital connection between DV camcorders and desktop computers. Pinnacle claims that the intuitive software application permits frame-accurate DV camcorder control and the ability to intelligently search digital videotapes. Using an on-board SCSI control, the miroVIDEO DV300 passes video data directly from the IEEE 1394 interface to the attached SCSI drives, bypassing the computers PCI bus. According to Pinnacle, the unit is compatible with all Sony DV camcorders. (650) 526-1600
Suggested retail price: $799
| DV Engine |  |
COMO, Inc. has introduced the DVX Capture Engine, which, COMO says, has capabilities beyond DV capture, editing and playback. The unit will support up to three Sony codec modules. Once installed, a second codec module will increase rendering speeds by four times, according to COMO. A third codec module will provide two DV inputs and a DV output for A/B roll editing with real-time transitions. The DVX Capture Engine ships with Media Studio Pro nonlinear editing software and COMOs Assembly Line software for DV tape deck control. (606) 647-1077
Suggested retail price: $2995
| Mixer with Spirit |  |
Spirit by Soundcraft, Inc. has introduced a new audio mixer, the Folio Powerpad, which the manufacturer claims is ideal for the home studio and A/V use. The compact mixer features four XLR microphone inputs, four -inch microphone inputs and two sets of stereo line-level inputs. The Powerpad also includes a power amplifier section to drive speakers and incorporates overload and thermal protection. Spirit by Soundcraft states the studio-quality microphone pre-amps are capable of DAT quality sound. (916) 630-3960
Suggested retail price: $429.95
| Extreme Video |  |
AIMS Lab has released a new PCI video capture card for use with the Windows 98 operating system. VideoHighway Xtreme 98 is a do-it-all multimedia card compatible with Windows 95 and Windows 98, according to AIMS Lab. The new card will capture video at 30 frames-per-second and save it as an AVI file. VideoHighway Xtreme 98 will also create video e-mail (v-mail), allow video conferencing over the internet and tuning and displaying television on your PCs monitor.
Suggested retail price: $129
| Its a Raid |  |
Medea Corporation has announced the addition of the VideoRaid DV to its product line of high-speed disk arrays for desktop video editing systems. According to Medea, the new VideoRaid DV was developed for digital video (DV) nonlinear editing systems. The disk array is compatible with all popular DV capture boards, says Medea, and comes in three sizes for storing 30, 60 and 120 minutes of video footage. The VideoRaid DV delivers a sustained transfer rate of 8MB/second, which supports both audio and video without dropping frames.
Suggested retail prices: VideoRaid DV 30, $999; VideoRaid DV 60, $1399; VideoRaid DV 120 $2599
| New CyberCam |  |
JVC has announced a new addition to the CyberCam series of products, the GR-DVM5 digital video (DV) camcorder. The DV camcorder features a 460,000-pixel, 1/4-inch CCD. The GR-DVM5 also has a 2.5-inch color LCD monitor with 400 lines of resolution and the camcorder automatically powers-up and opens the lens cap whenever the LCD monitor is opened or the viewfinder is extended, according to JVC. The GR-DVM5 also has a new JVC-manufactured compact lens assembly that has 40% less size then the assembly in the GR-DV1
Suggested retail price: $1800