by Mark Pirro
November 15, 2001
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If you’re looking for a real-time video editing solution on the PC platform in the $1,000 price range, you basically have four products to choose from: Pinnacle Systems’ DV500 Plus, its recently released Pro-ONE, Matrox's RT2500, and Canopus’ DVStorm SE Plus. (Pinnacle's new Pro-ONE, a slightly higher-end version of the DV500 Plus, is currently in our labs for review, the results of which we'll be posting soon. We should also note that Canopus offers the DVStorm SE, which includes its StormEdit software in lieu of Premiere and doesn’t include the StormBay breakout box, for $1,088.)
Overall, we’d choose the DVStorm SE, for two big reasons: It’s incredibly stable and it has real-time DV output, something that neither the Matrox nor the Pinnacle solutions offer.
Crash-Resistant Performance
One of the key features of the DVStorm is its ability to export video from your timeline to your FireWire device in real time. The Matrox and Pinnacle solutions require you to render before you go out to tape, which, depending on how long your project is and the amount of effects in your movie, could take hours to do.
One thing we should make clear up front is, while the DVStorm can in fact do everything it is advertised to do, all of the real-time effects are processor dependent (the DV video is processed via hardware on the card). Thus, performance can be affected by the host hardware configuration. For example, although the DVStorm is touted to handle three tracks of video plus 10 graphic tracks in real time, you’re only going to achieve that in the best-case scenario — i.e., with a dual 1GHz processor machine with 512MB RAM. Most people are not going to have that kind of hardware. Ultimately, the amount of real-time effects you’re able to achieve will vary from machine to machine. If you already have a FireWire card and want to be able to use real-time transitions and effects, we suggest you check Canopus’ Xplode Professional for $399.
Pinnacle Systems’ Pro-ONE, on the other hand, uses on-board hardware to accelerate effects, freeing up the CPU to do other things. Another advantage the Pro-ONE has over DVStorm is the ability to do real-time 3D digital video effects (DVE) in hardware. Any kind of 3D DVE built using Premiere using the DVStorm will have to be rendered.
Even so, during our 13-hour marathon editing session, the Canopus system didn’t crash once. That’s not to say the card is totally crash-resistant. During our weeks of testing we found that, on average, the system crashed about once every couple of days. When we did crash, it was when we layered numerous clips of video and applied multiple effects to our clips. It never crashed during straightforward editing.
We should also note that we did discover one anomaly where, for no apparent reason, the timeline playback settings mysteriously reverted to Video for Windows, instead of DVStorm. When this happens, video playback to your NTSC monitor is lost. To fix it, you need to go back into the project settings and reset the option to DVStorm. This glitch only happened a few times during our tests, but neither us, nor Canopus, could figure out why it was happening.
I/O, I/O
From a design perspective, Canopus deserves kudos for developing the most practical breakout box we’ve seen from any real-time editor. The compact box fits snugly into a free computer drive bay on the face of your tower system, making it especially easy to patch in all of your A/V equipment. The Pinnacle and Matrox solutions use an often unruly snake-like cable, and to get to the FireWire ports, you have to climb around to the back of your computer. The DVStorm breakout box has connections for S-Video (in/out), RCA audio (in/out), composite (in/out) and FireWire (in/out).
Like the Pinnacle and Matrox cards, the DVStorm can capture and output both analog and digital video, or any combination of the two. The DVStorm software drivers can control your DV device, or you can control your DV device manually, which comes in handy when you need to perform accurate last-minute insert edits into your finished videos.
Software Cornucopia
The DVStorm software, which seamlessly integrates itself into Premiere’s interface, includes 15 transitions and 24 filter effects, all of which can be executed in real time. Even more exciting is the fact that you can mix and match multiple filters to create an infinite number of customized effects. For example, you can choose color correct, letterbox, noise, scratches, and specks of dust, and save that batch as “Movie effect.” If you want to apply a “film look” to your video, the DVStorm filters give you just as many of the options that you’d find in more expensive film-look applications. In all, the DVStorm’s effects filters are the best we’ve ever worked with outside of a dedicated effects program such as Adobe After Effects. If you choose any of the non-Canopus effects or transitions, such as the ones included in Premiere, or other third-party plug-ins, you’ll have to render the effect.
In addition to Adobe Premiere 6.0, the software bundle includes Canopus’ own StormEdit (an additional software video editor), StormAudio (audio editor), Xplode (additional transitions that plug into Premiere), Boris Graffiti (a titling application) and Sonic Foundry’s Acid Style (a music generation program).
Why Canopus included its StormEdit is a mystery to us. While the application gives you all the real-time capabilities found in Premiere, it isn’t as full-featured as Premiere. Canopus said it included the program because the software has tighter integration with its hardware, offers better performance, and is more stable.
Canopus’ StormAudio lets you edit audio clips outside of Premiere, but it’s nowhere near as comprehensive as something like Sonic Foundry’s Sound Forge.
Canopus’ Xplode is a nice addition if you need fluffy-looking transitions in your projects. Event videographers will dig them, but professional editors will likely ignore them.
Boris Graffiti is a compelling titling application and makes up for Premiere’s poor built-in titler.
And Sonic Foundry’s Acid Style lets anyone compose original music for their projects using simple mouse clicks.
Smooth Upgrade Path
For those of you looking to output your videos in the MPEG-2 format for DVD authoring, Canopus sells the StormEncoder ($499), a snap-on daughter card that lets you encode MPEG-2 video through hardware at near-real-time speed. But keep in mind that there are some compelling software solutions out there as well, such as Ligos’ LSX-MPEG (see review) that can be found for $100 less.
The Bottom Line
The Canopus DVStorm has given us the confidence to edit with clients sitting behind us, knowing that we won’t have to sweat while waiting for our computer to reboot after a nasty crash. The DVStorm is one product that actually lives up to its claims. If you need real-time 3D DVE effects in your video productions, then we’d suggest you look closely at Pinnacle’s Pro-ONE. But if real-time customizable effects filters are more your bag, then look no further than the DVStorm.
