Once again, I'm prepairing to take the bittersweet plunge. Another (complete) system upgrade. I'm doing a DV feature and need something that really works. I'm still walking with a Pinnacle-limp. Are any of you guys using a Firemax Studio, and are you satisfied ? I'm looking at a G3 400, Premiere 5.0, 67 gigs of ultra ATA. thanks in advance, Bob Sherman Phat Farm Productions Austin, Tx. phatfarm@io.com

-- Bob Sherman (phatfarm@io.com), January 30, 1999

Answers

Bob:

If I were you I would go with a G3/350...not the 400 since SCSI has issues on video playback - random gray blocks appear. This is being worked but as of now still a problem.

Our installer removes some extensions that conflict and adds a new enabler that works excellent with the built in FireWire ports. Check our features on our web site at www.promax.com.

We also have developed and shipping a new ATA/33 EIDE PCI host adapter that allows four EIDE drives to be installed in the new G3's. Very cost effective and works great with DV editing systems.

Let us quote you a turnkey system. We are direct with Apple, Sony, Canon, Adobe, Adaptec, and many others and offer excellent pricing and support.

Thanks,

Charles F. McConathy President ProMax Systems, Inc. 1-800-977-6629

-- Charles F. McConathy (mcconathy@promax.com), February 05, 1999.

I actually took the plunge and ordered a Promax system (G3MT300Mhz) today. I basically did months of research and decided that this was the route to take. Unfortunately, most post houses around town either use high end Avid or Media 100 systems. It is difficult to get opinions on affordable systems, at least for me, without hunting down people on the internet or searching for magazine articles. Anyway, I'll have my system soon and if you are still unsure about what to do, feel free to write and I'll be happy to share whatever I can.

-- Ben Worsham (ben.worsham@nashville.com), February 10, 1999.

Thanks Ben. I ordered a Big Mac from Promax, all the way, about a week ago. Should be here in 3 or 4 days. Good luck to all. Bob

-- Bob Sherman (phatfarm@io.com), February 10, 1999.

If anyone could give an update about how the Firmax Studio on the new blue G# is working out.... I would really appreciate it. I'm close to buying one and would love to hear from a user. Thanks

-- adam farhi (afarhi@bloomberg.net), March 31, 1999.

Response to Firemax/blueG3/users?

Dispite claims to the contrary, I am having sync issues when laying DV out to tape using the Firemax Drivers. My audio is consistently shifted 3 frames down when using the print to Firemax feature. When I simply preview, it is only 1 frame out of sync. I've notified Promax and have received no response other than that they are looking into it.

[Test consisted of 1 frame of image once per second for 15 seconds with 1 frame of 1khz tone directly under the frame of image. This test clip was then laid out to tape on both a PC-7 and VX-1000. Once on tape, it was recaptured and placed in the timeline of Premiere. Zooming all the way in reveals that the image frame is ahead of the sound frame by 3 to 3.5 frames using the Firemax "Print to Firemax" export module.]

Phil Glau

-- Phil Glau (CircusRedk@aol.com), April 01, 1999.