Frequently
Asked Questions:
Testimonials click here
 Who edits with Casablanca?
Casablanca
is designed specifically for the Prosumer or Industrial
user. Many educators from grade school to university use
Casablanca. Its quite popular among Event Videographers
and Professionals as well.
Casablanca
is found in science labs, real estate offices, police and fire
departments and among serious video enthusiasts.
What's the picture quality of
Casablanca?
Casablanca's
digital video greatly exceeds broadcast quality.
Horizontal resolution extends beyond 700 lines in both
MPEG-2 and DV modes.
Casablanca's
MPEG-2 IBP codec is endorsed by the
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and
the European Broadcasting Union. These same
organizations endorse
Casablanca's DV25 codec for Electronic News Gathering applications. The
EBU's tests confirmed that both
Casablanca's digital video compression formats provide
picture quality equal to or better than Betacam SP which
is regarded as analogue video's best tape format.
What's the sound quality of Casablanca?
Casablanca provides CD quality digital stereo audio.
How does Casablanca differ from Editing
on a PC or Mac?
Casablanca
is designed and
built with one purpose in mind: Non Linear Video Editing. Both the
Operating and File Systems used by Casablanca are optimized for
video, providing bug-free operation, absolute immunity from
viruses and unbelievable speed.
Casablanca's user interface is intuitive which makes
learning a snap. Casablanca works right out of the box.
What do TV stations and other Pro's use?
Many cable and television stations use
Casablanca worldwide since it provides broadcast quality audio/video
and can be operated without extensive training. Those facilities
with bigger budgets may choose either a SONY or Panasonic NLE
workstation. Production houses often employ heavily customized
PC's and Mac's worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
How long does it take to set up
Casablanca?
Casablanca
needs AC, a TV monitor and a trackball/mouse. Setup takes a couple
of minutes. Doing a Hard Drive swap takes less than 15 minutes
including the installation of the software.
Casablanca
boots up in under 30 seconds.
What input/output jacks does Casablanca
provide?
Each
Casablanca
configuration provides Composite, Digital (DV) and S-Video in and
output jacks. A USB port is included for a keyboard and
Casablanca
can be upgraded with a USB/PC Link option to connect directly to a
PC for file swapping.
What are Casablanca's technical
specifications?
MPEG-2 (IBP Full-Frame Editing). User-adjustable Variable Bit
Rate: 1.8 - 28.8 megabits/second with 4:2:2@ML. This codec is
endorsed by SMPTE and EBU for studio quality editing, post
production and transmission.
DV25 Fixed Bit Rate: 25 megabits/second with 4:1:1 chroma endorsed
by SMPTE and EBU for News and Sports gathering. DV25 has been
tested and acknowledged by SMPTE and EBU to exceed broadcast
quality and to be comparable to analogue Betacam, while exceeding
Betacam after multiple generations.
NTSC visible resolution: 460 vertical by 700 horizontal lines
(minimum).
TESTIMONIALS
Here is an unedited e-mail from Mike Madden,
a customer who has owned multiple Casablancas beginning with our
first month of shipping in March, 1997.
Some refreshing things about MacroSystem:
1. They listen. And they respond to problems.
2. At least in the U.S., they are serious about
technical support. They usually call back the same day.
3. They keep developing new products; but they
do not abandon support for the old (with the exception of the
Cassie Classic, but that was because the Motorola chips were no
longer available).
4. Their CEO in Germany actually takes the time
to read this forum, and when appropriate, he responds!
5. The Cassies are the quickest to learn and
easiest to use, yet they offer a sophisticated set of serious
tools and are sufficient for a wide variety of editing jobs.
6. They are the fastest for creating DVD's with
a pretty menu (the only thing faster is a stand alone recorder,
but the menu looks yucky and there is no precise control over
chapters).
7. When something goes wrong, there is a single
place to go to and they will not blame other component
manufacturers---because they are the single source.
8. When a know-it-all video editor asks, "What
system do you edit on, PC or the Mac?", I can say "neither."
Then there's a confused, blank stare. When I proudly say I use
"the Casablanca," I either get another blank look because they
have no idea what I'm talking about, or they kind of sneer, as
if to say, "That's just a toy." Until they find out I can smoke
'em on turn-around time and quality. Yes, there are bugs and
I've complained (I think rightly so) about them. But every
system has bugs. Some have defects. Most do not care.
MacroSystem cares, listens, responds. Are they
perfect? No. Have they released products before they were ready
for release? Yes, I think so. But they offer a refreshing way to
do business in a world where that is rare, and I thank them for
that.
Mike Madden
Mike Madden Video
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