More Details on the Igniter RT

(Aug. 20, 2001) -- As we reported last week, Aurora Video Systems has started shipping the real-time version of its Igniter video capture and editing board for the Macintosh. Not a whole lot of details were available then, but we've been able to get a little more information on the card's capabilities.

Aurora says that the current shipping version of the RT card supports one layer of real-time but that future versions will support up to three. The company also said the board does not support nested effects but that such functionality will be considered for future driver releases.

Finally, when asked which real-time effects the board supports in Final Cut Pro and Premiere, a representative responded: "Right now, we handle brightness and contrast in real time. The board can only handle single-stream effects, so we will be focusing on filters. However, we are investigating a cross dissolve on a field by field basis that will only require a single stream. More effects will be added over the next couple of months through driver updates. Ultimately, the Igniter RT will support up to 10 real-time effects.

The new RT card, which supports Apple Final Cut Pro 2 and Adobe Premiere 6, sells for $1,999, but users of previous versions of Igniter and Aurora's Fuse products will receive a discount on an upgrade with the return of the original card. For Igniter users, the trade-up price the Igniter RT is $850 (including the return of the original board). For Fuse users, the tradeup runs $1,749. For more information, visit http://www.auroravideosys.com.