Have been checking around for a DV card and have more or less shortlisted the Pinnacle DV300 and Canopus DVRaptor.
I am not too bothered with the SCSI facility since I am happy with my FastTrack & Seagate setup (30Gb).
I have read a brief inconclusive comparison at videoguys.com/dvshoot.htm but don't recall reading any DVRaptor review in CV mag.
What I need is any feedback from anyone who has experience using these two cards so that I can make an educated decision. Any help?
[This message has been edited by kkchin (edited 09-05-99).]
The DV raptor is in a totally different league to the dv300 , it is by far the more stable card in premier 5.1 and media studio pro. Ive yet to see my system crash even on large projects 1 hr plus.
Check out the forthcoming review in computer video next month i bet they will back me up
Chris
Digital Paintbox
[This message has been edited by digitalpaintbox (edited 09-05-99).]
DVRaptor seems to be getting favourable support, or perhaps people had enough of Pinnacles.
What about in terms of features? Any shortcomings in DVRaptor that's better in DV300 i.e. anything the DV300 can do that DVRaptor can't? One feature I'm aware of is the full screen preview on the DVRaptor.
Comments appreciated.
Through some clever cableing the dvraptor can display previews on your output monitor without rendering the movie , that is a lot more useful than the scsi interface on the dv300.
chris
I have a DV300 and agree that the SCSI facility is something I'd rather they left out. You can of course now buy the DV200.
Also the full screen preview sounds extremely attractive. The DV300 only offers a half screen version. It would also be interesting to know the quality of this preview on the Raptor, as the DV300 effort is far from perfect.
I have heard much about the stability problems of the DV300, yet once my system was set-up correctly I have only experienced one crash in an estimated 50-100 hours of using it, and that could have been due to me doing something I shouldn't.
The project I recently completed was 1hr 5min long and included a high level of effects and transitions; yet the DV300 behaved without fault.
I am using the latest drivers and Premiere 5.1.
For the record the DV300 also includes a facility to instantly preview any effects / transitions from the timeline (in the monitor window) without the need to render them first.
I would have no hesitation recommending this product to other and are extremely pleased with my choice. Setting it up though does require a decent knowledge of PC's.
Andrew
Thanks for the input. My PII-LX PC has only one PCI slot left (there's five physical harddisks in there as well, so it's pretty pack!) and only irq 10 is available. I've read that the DV300 requires two interrupts; can it share one of them with other devices?
The DV300 seems to be around longer but the DVRaptor is a new kid on the block though seems to be well-behaved!
Decisions are always so difficult - I still can't decide between the two 
.
hi
which card did you go for in the end and what swung it??
i'm in the same boat and am edgint towards the dv raptor?
let me know
thanks
steveT
In my experience you only need a separate IRQ for the DV300 card. The SCSI interface will happily share (it does in my machine).
Others have also posted messages on this board saying that their DV300 will share IRQ's as well. Just that mine won't...
Andrew
My DV300 certainly won't share IRQs, and the BIOS used to always give the SCSI controller its own IRQ while sharing the Firewire IRQ with the DC30+, so that didn't help.
I have had a raptor now for 7days. Very impressive. No crashes. Excellent overlay. The card in my opinion is the "Dog's B******s.
Alan
Just out of interest here. I've been comparing like for like prices in the UK and the Raptor seems to be £150 - £200 more expensive than the DV300.
When Bob wrote the review he thought it was actually cheaper than the DV300, but that is not the case.
Perhaps the marks would have been lower if the true price had been known.
I appreciate the loads of you are buying them from the states, but you can buy DV300s from there as well.
Hopefully the addition of a new card like this can only be good news. It should force all the other card manufacturers to get off their backsides and start innovating. Because if this is Version 1 of the Raptor then imagine how good Version 2 will be..?
It is also very impressive that they have got it so stable straight away. I wonder why Pinnacle have taken so long to get the DV300 sorted out..? And there's still the tricky install.. Once it's in though it's worth it.
Andy
As far as I am aware, you cannot buy the DV300 from America - Pinnacle only market NTSC specific cards in America. The Raptor can work with both NTSC and PAL signals, so it can be purchased from the US without problems. The US prices for the DV300 and DV Raptor are similar.