Got a Quadra 840AV or a 110Mhz NuBus PowerMac or clone? I have a Media 100 system I've no use for. Both NuBus boards, the interconnect cables, ADB dongles, breakout box, software and manuals. Even has a Media 100 sticker to put on the inside of your window or glass door to tell your clients you're using some hot new technology to digitize their VHS tapes. ;) It will work in many different NuBus Macs but the faster Quadras or NuBus PowerMac models are preferred. One gotcha though, due to never fully fixed hardware issues with the NuBus PowerMacs (and all the clones) you cannot use a NuBus SCSI card with the Media 100 hardware. However you *can* use a G3 upgrade, except for having to turn it off and run on the 601 for capturing video. The G3 will speed up rendering, effects and outputting to digital video files. In a Quadra it will work with any of the NuBus SCSI cards from ATTO, FWB and others. In a PowerMac the only way to get up enough speed on storage to hit the minimum 4 megabytes per second sustained write for 150K per frame (best quality) is to use software like FWB Hard Disk Toolkit to RAID 0 stripe across multiple drives on the internal and external SCSI. I tried a single 17 gig drive that had the specifications, and the internal bus is faster, with a theoretical speed above the minimum - but something always came along after a bit to steal bandwidth and drop it below 4 megabyte/sec and *pow* instant stoppage. It also really needs a professional VTR (VHS, BETA, Betacam etc) with a time base corrector and RS-422 serial for remote control. The system *can* be used with a manually operated VCR, even without a TBC - but it will stop capturing at the slightest problem with synch. There's no frame buffer nor any built in hardware correction in this first generation of Media 100. A TBC, built into the VCR or as an in between unit, will be a huge help for manual operation. It has to be a full frame TBC, the line type doesn't fix all types of sync problems.
With the right stuff to 'wrap around' the M100 you can get exceptionally good recordings from VHS and Beta tapes, at 640x480 for NTSC (slightly higher resolution for PAL). This equipment was used back in the day for editing and effects for television shows. It has inputs for Composite, S-Video and Component, and balanced (XLR) and unbalanced stereo audio inputs and outputs. It has the Component video daughterboard. Those tricky folks at Media 100 made *everything* optional on this. Everything except the component video function was actually built into the hardware and various dongles plugged into the ADB port between Mac and keyboard unlocked the functions. There was a basic dongle that limited the system to draft mode, only able to capture and output at lowest quality and pretty much limited the software to basic cutting and generating edit decision lists. The EDLs would then go to the people higher up the editing chain, entrusted with systems with the Full Deal dongle so they could do the fancy stuff. If I remember right, I'm sure there's a Full Deal dongle with this. There's also one from a newer M100 that when plugged in pops up "Power Input" on the splash screen that lists the enabled functions. "Power Input" is not listed in the manuals for this version. Or it's just some neat stuff for the collector of old Macintosh gear that wants something different. -- -- ----- You received this message because you are a member of the Vintage Macs group. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To leave this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vintage-macs Support for older Macs: http://lowendmac.com/services/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Vintage Macs" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
