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Real-Time DV Output
One of the biggest feature requests from original Pro-ONE owners and potential buyers was for real-time DV output. That means that you can play your video directly from the Premiere timeline without rendering. The RTDV version of the Pro-ONE is a new PCI card that adds a Divio chip which supplies the 3rd codec and provides the RT DV output
. The Canopus DV Storm and the new Matrox RTX.100 have this capability, but they require some very serious CPU power to deliver it. Because Pinnacle has taken the hardware approach for their solution, you can now get real-time DV output on a much slower and affordable computer. We're running the Pro-ONE RTDV on an old Dell Precision 330 workstation with a 1.4 Ghz Pentium 4 processor and 256 megs of RAM with excellent results.
Today you can pick up a fully loaded P4 1.8 Ghz machine with a dedicated 80GB drive for video for under $1,000. Add in the Pro-One RTDV card ($999.95) and a Pioneer DVR-A04 and for under $2,500 you've got a killer real-time NLE system with real-time DV Output, professional DVD authoring and more!
Pro-ONE Version 2.0
The following new features are in the 2.0 drivers for the Pro-ONE and the Pro-ONE RTDV. If you already own a Pro-ONE you can download them for free from the Pinnacle website. Once you install these new drivers you're going to feel like you've gotten a brand new NLE system. Pinnacle has significantly improved the overall quality, reliability and stability of the Pro-ONE and they've added a ton of new features and utilities to make your editing more productive. Please note, these drivers will not give you real-time DV output, for this you will need to replace your hardware.
Real-Time Color Correction
Pinnacle has done a great job improving the real-time color corrector of the Pro-ONE. The interface is very easy to use and understand. It offers you just the right amount of controls to get the job done right, without requiring you to be an expert with photoshop or vectorscopes. I was able to easily fix improper white balance, remove green casts from fluorescent lighting and compensate for back lighting. While it is not the most powerful real-time color corrector on the market, there is something to be said for providing a clean, straight forward interface. I give the new color corrector high marks for this very reason
Motion Tracker & Stabilizer
One of the coolest new features in the original Pro-One was the automatic real-time image stabilizer. This was an example of Pinnacle integrating technology from Commotion into the Pro-One. When it worked, it was amazing. Unfortunately it did not give you the ability to control or tweak the stabilization, which sometimes resulted in footage that wasn't usable. The new Stabilizer lets you pick a specific area of the image to use as the 'anchor' of the image. The stabilizer uses this smaller area to lock in on and the results are much better. I try and find a strong vertical or horizontal contrast line in the image such as a window frame or fence post for best results. If you don't like the stabilized image you get, you can go back and try again picking a different 'anchor' area. I used the fence behind the pool to get a beautiful locked in image of my daughter jumping off the diving board at camp.
Now Pinnacle has added another great feature from Commotion Pro, the Motion Tracker. I used it on the same footage of my daughter jumping off the diving board. The image tracker analyzes the footage frame by frame setting keyframe points along the way. If it looses the track I can insert a new keyframe and it will lock right back on. Now for the really cool part – I can bring this motion track into a wide variety of Pro-ONE filters and have them use the keyframes from the motion tracker to control the movement of the effect in the video. In my example I combined this with the new lens flare filter. First I tracked my daughter jumping of the diving board, then I added a lends flare at her feet. I went into the keyframer and set the lens flare to 100% at the point she impacts the water.
Without the motion tracker it would have taken me hours to have the flare follow her into the water. With the Pro-ONE this sophisticated special effect sequence took just a few minutes! The motion tracker is one of those features that you don't quite understand at first, but once you start using it, it will end up in almost all of your productions. Now if only Pinnacle would add a real-time blur or mosaic effect, we could do the reality Cop show hidden faces trick in real-time!!
New Filters
Pinnacle Magic Shape
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Pinnacle Magic Shape
They've also got new layering tool called the Pinnacle Magic Shape filter. This allows you to create an area on video track 2 that will reveal the video from layer 1 beneath it. You can combine this feature with other filters, graphics, effects and the motion tracker for some very interesting and powerful sequences. I used it here to insert the mommies watching the girls swim in the pool.
Pinnacle Multiform PIP
Another new filter that I think is very cool is the Multiform PIP. It's very similar to the Magic Shape filter, only this time it is applied as a PIP. With the keyframer you can really have fun with this effect. I used a star pattern for the PIP and had it rotating as it moved along the screen.
Pinnacle Scene Cutter
This feature was first introduced in the DV500 DVD. It lets you take one big DV video file and it automatically chops it up into smaller clips. Every time the camera stopped, you get a new scene. What I really like about this feature is how it integrates with the Premiere Storyboard tool. The Scene Cutter loads all the clips into the Storyboard bin. In there you can re-arrange and trim them or delete any you don't want. Then you just press a button and they are exported to the timeline. I use a real-time 1 second cross dissolve as my default transition that gets inserted automatically between each clip. You can also playback directly from the Storyboard editor for rough cuts or when you require no additional titles, filters or effects. This is one of those productivity tools that will save you hours on your projects.
DVD/ MPEG2 Productivity tools
Pro-One now incorporates all the latest DVD optimization tools found in the DV500DVD.
TurboMPEG Export allows you to export MPEG files directly from the Premiere timeline for DVD authoring. If you're going to make your own DVDs, this is a very important and powerful tool. The quality of the exported MPEG video is superb and it is very fast. On my 1.4 Ghz machine it took about 14 minutes to export a 10-minute timeline. On faster 2Ghz machine you should be able to export the same 10-minute timeline in about 12 minutes.
The MPEG2 import allows you to bring MPEG2 footage back into Premiere and edit it. I find this tool very handy. Sometimes I'll export to DVD and then realize that I want to make a few small changes to the video. Before I had to go back into Premiere and re-export the entire timeline. Even better, the intelligent rendering means that only the portions of the video that have changed gets re-rendered.
The T-Rex file converter lets you convert your DV files into MPEG or vice versa. You can select from MPEG1 VCD, MPEG2 for SVCD or MPEG2 DVD for your output files. This is a very handy tool that will be especially valuable to those of you who have been messing around with VCD and SVCD over the past year.
You also get the new 2.21 version of Impressions DVD SE. This new version allows you to burn directly to the Pioneer DVR-A03 or A04 DVD burner, as well as the Panasonic LF-D311 and HP +RW burners. It also allows you to make a DVD with up to 10 menus. For me, the features in SE are a bit limited. That's why the FREE upgrade to Impressions DVD Pro 2.2 is such a cool promotion for RTDV purchasers. The DVD Pro upgrade adds chapter points, motion menus, unlimited menus, 8 audio tracks and 2 camera angles.
Improved Video Quality
One of the things you'll notice about the new Pro-One 2.0 and RTDV is the overall video quality. The real-time slow motion and speed control, including reverse playback, is field based ands looks very good. So does the image quality during 3D transitions and multiple PIP. The analog output quality has improved as well.
3D transitions & Hollywood FX
No discussion about the Pro-ONE family of products could be complete without talking about the wide range of 3D transitions and FX you get. I've always liked using Hollywood FX animated 3D transitions in my projects. Now that I can add them in real-time, I love them even more. With Hollywood FX you can create sequences that look like the very same ones we see everyday on broadcast television. You know the ones I'm talking about. The dual 3D PIP w/ graphics used on late night news programs, the flying cube w/ the teams logo on the side you see during NFL games and the Olympics and the spinning slabs you see on the entertainment shows. You can add these very same style of FX to your videos with ease and in real-time!! No other product on the market comes close to offering you such a wide range of real-time 3D animated transitions and FX. Each with 1 or 2 video layers plus additional graphics.
New Breakout Box 
Pinnacle has also included their new breakout box with FireWire jacks to both the Pro-ONE 2.0 and RTDV models. This is a nice added touch. I really like having all my gear plug into one central breakout box. I hate having to crawl under and reach around back to find the FireWire port on the card. Now all my jacks are right on my desktop were I want them.
There you have it, the new Pro-One Family.
Both cards offer you an excellent value for the money. If you're looking to upgrade to a real-time NLE system they are certainly worth considering, especially if you've got an older / slower machine or you have a very tight overall budget. The new Motion Tracker, improved stabilizer, real-time color correction, Scene Cutter and DVD tools combine to take Pro-One to the next level and deliver the features and performance that we all hoped for from the start. Add in real-time Hollywood FX and multiple layers of real-time performance you get with a single PIII 1Ghz processor, it's easy to see the value in these new cards. With a price tag under $1,000 and a FREE upgrade to Impressions DVD Pro the new Pro-ONE RTDV is an excellent performer and a tremendous value.
NEW!! Real-Time DV Output plus fantastic 3D FX and Impressions DVD Pro authoring software.
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Pinnacle Pro-One RTDV $799.95
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Pinnacle Multiform PIP
