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Reader SurveyEdit Review — Canopus DVStorm2
Apr 1, 2003 12:00 PM, By Steve Mullen
Realtime editing capability scales as high as the host CPU allows.
 Canopus DVStorm2 bundles a wide-ranging collection of software applications and hardware, including the DVStorm PCI board, a daughtercard MPEG encoder, Canopus StormEdit, Sonic Foundry Acid Style, and Ulead DVD Workshop SE. . |
When Canopus introduced what it calls Scalable Video Technology in 1998, it pushed the limits of our imagination. It was difficult to believe several streams of DV could be decompressed without relying on hardware DV codecs. Even harder to accept was the idea that while decompression was proceeding, special effects could be rendered without hardware effects chips. (See my DVStorm review in the August 2001 issue of Video Systems.)
Since 1998, CPU processing power has steadily increased in the manner we have come to expect. That's good news for the Canopus DVStorm2, because with enough computing power and adequate disk bandwidth, DVStorm2 can uncompress five DV streams simultaneously.
Last fall Intel released the first Pentium 4 to fulfill its original marketing hype that described the processor as a successor to the P3. Intel accomplished this by introducing a 3.06GHz P4 that supports Hyper-Threading. In simple terms, Hyper-Threading means that a P4 processor is divided internally into two virtual CPUs and recognized as a multi-processor configuration by the XP operating system.
Dual processors are ideal for applications that involve multiple processes executing simultaneously. Moreover, providing this capability in a single chip makes it far easier to configure a relatively low-cost computer system. This, in turn, makes Canopus Scalable Video Technology more powerful and more cost-effective.
DVStorm2 assembles in one package a number of components that were previously available for use with DVStorm. Most notably, the DVStorm board remains the same. Video input comes from three connections: FireWire (four-pin), composite video, and S-Video. Video is output simultaneously via FireWire plus composite video and S-Video. Using the 5.25in. StormBay box, you can connect analog input directly to the DVStorm board or to the front-panel jacks.
Canopus DVStorm2 bundles the MPEG hardware encoder that was an extra-cost option for the DVStorm. (See my StormEncoder review in the February 2002 issue of Video Systems.) StormEncoder is a tiny daughtercard, holding a Panasonic MN85560 encoder chip, that snaps onto the DVStorm board. StormEncoder supports MPEG-1 (352×240) plus MPEG-2 at SIF (352×240), half-D1 (352×480), and D1 (720×480) frame sizes. Minimum and maximum MPEG-2 bit rates are 4.0 and 15Mbps, respectively. Both CBR and VBR modes are supported. Users can select either PCM or MPEG-2 Layer II audio output. Sampling rates of 32kHz, 44.1kHz, and 48kHz are supported. Audio bit rates can be adjusted in steps from 128kbps to 384kbps.
DVStorm2 is bundled with a large collection of software: the very efficient Canopus StormEdit, Sonic Foundry's Acid Style, and Ulead's DVD Workshop SE. Canopus MediaCruise offers realtime MPEG capture from FireWire and analog sources. The bundle also includes the SoftMPG Encoder plus four MPEG utilities: MpegExplorer, MpegCutter, MpegAVSplitter, and MpegRe-encoder. Finally, DVStorm2 includes a video output plug-in for Adobe After Effects 5.x, Adobe Photoshop 7.x, and NewTek LightWave 3D 7.0. There's a realtime effects plug-in for Premiere, too. The basic bundle has an MSRP of $1,088. The DVStorm2 Plus bundle adds Premiere 6.5 and StormBay at $1,299.
Canopus DV Capture enables single-pass scene detection as well as capture of up to three DV streams via three FireWire ports. As mentioned, DVStorm2 can uncompress up to five DV tracks simultaneously in realtime if the host computer has sufficient computing power and disk bandwidth. Of course, the number and complexity of realtime effects that can be applied to these tracks is limited by the total amount of CPU power remaining after the DV decompression tasks. When I visited the Canopus DVStorm2 website to find data about how the product performs on today's high-performance hardware, I was disappointed. There was no information on DVStorm2 performance with a multi-threaded P4.
DVStorm2 provides multiple types of realtime support. Premiere's new titler is supported, as is the Canopus title filter. Use the Canopus title filter as you would any video filter to create multiple dynamic title layers. The remaining types of realtime support involve video filters and video transitions. There are now 30 realtime video filters. The package provides six new ones: Mirror, Raster Scroll, Tunnel Vision, Loop Slide, Strobe, and White Balance and Black Balance. Of these new filters, color balance is by far the most useful. It allows you to adjust color balance independently for shadow detail and highlights. The new color balance filter is supported by Waveform and Vector Scope functions.
DVStorm2 supports powerful realtime 3D Picture-in-Picture and Pan and Zoom functions. Canopus provides its 3DRT-II library of 13 realtime 3D DVEs. DVStorm2 also supports seven realtime audio filters, including Equalizer, Delay, High Pass Filter, and Tone Controller.
DVStorm2 supports 2D and 3D transitions in five categories: realtime 2D motion transitions; Standard Xplode 3D; Xplode 3D Alpha Vapor Dissolve; Xplode 3D Objects; and Xplode 3D Alpha Wipes.
Because I already had a DVStorm board installed, I did not need to install any hardware. Software installation went relatively smoothly, but took a very long time because 18 software packages must be loaded from five CD-ROMs. After that I downloaded four patches — one of which added a very welcome automatic color balance function. After all that work, the Premiere timeline wouldn't play. Even after several more reinstalls, Premiere still wouldn't function. So I switched to Canopus StormEdit, which performed perfectly.
Even if I had been able to get DVStorm2 running with Premiere, Premiere's A/B-roll transition model is really not ideal for DVStorm2. That's because the key virtue of Scalable Video Technology is that no “realtime rules” need to be observed when applying effects. A transition should be able to be placed on any track. Thankfully, Canopus has recently announced its Edius NLE software that offers multi-track editing with extensive transition support — including the ability to transition among multiple video tracks. That's why I'm looking forward to using Edius with a super-fast, multi-threaded Pentium 4-based computer.
BOTTOM LINE
Company: Canopus San Jose, Calif.; (408) 954-4500 www.canopus.com
Product: DVStorm2
Assets: Up to five DV streams can be uncompressed simultaneously; extensive software bundle that works as expected.
Caveats: Many included effects won't prove very useful.
Demographic: Editors with powerful host PCs looking for multi-stream capture and realtime effects.
Price: $1,088; $1,299 with Premiere 6.5 and StormBay
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To comment on this article, email the Video Systems editorial staff at vsfeedback@primediabusiness.com.
