CasablancaForum.us

Hi All,

I fell in love with the Casablanca systems after playing with a friend's Prestige. He suggested as an entry level purchase I should start with the Avio. So I found and purchased a used Avio, and now I have a ton of questions!

1. The biggest question: Is the system upgrade-able?
A. Can I get a larger hard-drive? (it has 20GB) Is the system compatible with any type of drive, or is it proprietary, ie. could I purchase a terabyte drive and install that?
B. Can I upgrade the software? I think it is running Avio version 1.6 - on the forum and FAQs on the macrosystem sight, I've seen references to something called Bogart, and also to Media Manager.
C. The device has a VGA port - but doesn't seem to support a VGA monitor. I saw the port on the photos when purchasing the system, and I purchased a monitor separately, but the monitor apparently doesn't work with my system! (The monitor is Dell 1707FPt) Is there any way to fix this?

2. Is there any way to import and export video using a USB flash drive or something like that? My camera has Firewire, but my computer doesn't, and I need some way to transfer video to/from my computer.

3. Can I use some kind of USB hub to increase the USB connections - and will a USB option output to a monitor?

Thanks so much for your help!

Nadine Sabulsky

Nadine,

The Avio was the lowest powered model of the Generation2 machines and is outdated technology. That doesn't mean you cannot edit video with it, but there are serious limitations when trying to use it with today's technology and there is not much you can upgrade at this point as it's a long discontinued model (all Gen2 machines are.

For instance, the USB jacks are USB1 and while you can use a USB hub to increase USB ports there is not much need to increase your USB port numbers as they can only be used for connections to a few simple things like a trackball and keyboard, not USB cameras, monitors or hard drives. There is no practical ability to transfer footage through the USB jacks and that includes to a USB flash drive. There was an old extra cost software that could use the USB connection to transfer photos, but it was very problematical, temperamental and incredibly slow when it DID work and I would never recommend anyone paying for it or using it.

The Avio uses the OS Smart Edit and is not compatible with the Bogart OS which is used in Generation3 machines only. Same with Media Manager, that is a software that resides only in the Gen3 machines. You mentioned your unit is firewire capable. With that you can input footage directly from the cam to the Avio digitally (ALWAYS have at least one of the two powered off while connecting or you can easily short one or both out). The OS you mentioned Smart Edit 1.6 is a very early OS version. The last Smart Edit OS version they have made is 9.something, but I am not really sure what OS would be best for the Avio (best bang for the buck). I think Chet Davis would be the best one to respond to that. It's been many, many years since I owned an Avio and it seemed with the proper software you could use a VGA monitor, but frankly, the system was designed to use a regular TV monitor, either with the RCA connections or an S-Video connection.

With a more modern OS version you can use larger hard drives although I think a TB drive would be too way too large for the Avio. I know for sure 80GB drives work and I think the limit towards the end of the Avio's active life might have been 320GB drives. There was an issue with WD drives on those Gen2 machines, but I think that is basically the only manufacturer for the IDE 100 or 133 PATA 7200 RPM hard drives now (which is the kind you would need with the Avio as SATA drives are incompatible without some adapters and/or some internal modifications).

If you have no Casablanca units now what do you use?

Thank you Tim! I'm learning more about the capabilities and limitations.

As I mentioned, I bought this product used, and while it did come with the product manual, there is one piece of information I have not been able to figure out... Do you have any idea how I can determine how much RAM I have?

Nadine

methuenbill wrote:If you have no Casablanca units now what do you use?

I do have a Casablanca Avio

Bill, I took a hiatus from the video business. I found I could not keep my hands entirely out of editing though. I have edited several personal video pieces and several short vids for work using Sony Vegas Professional. I have had Vegas for decades and have kept it's version up to date all along while only using it previously for what it could do early on for photo manipulation (Ken Burns effect) and video transfer from PC to MSUS equipment as I use to author all my DVD work on the PC when all we had was Arabesk 1,2 and 3 which I found to primitive and restrictive for my final products. I have found the Timeline editing to be easier than I thought it would be although I still prefer the Storyboard style and the edits I have done to date are no where near as complex as I tended to do when I was doing it as a dedicated business.

Nadine, It's been a long, long time since I owned the Avio, but if I remember right you go into the Install menu and then click on the wording in the lower left (?) hand corner? If that is the right menu to be in that will cause a pop up box that will list your hard drive size, your ram number and OS version.

If you click on System Settings you should see the serial number and software version down on the bottom left.

If you click on that you should get a new box telling you the processor, ram and hard drive sizes.

Yep, that was the menu to go to, System Settings. Thanks Michael.

The best advice I can give you is not to spend any money upgrading the machine you have. Most likely it has 32 megs of RAM - the amount that came with the machines when they shipped with 20 Meg hard drives. When the larger hard drive option came out it required an upgrade to 64 megs of RAM. You don't even know if the machine's firewire interface was enabled (probably not). When you add the cost of additional memory, software, larger hard drive, etc. it will come close to the price of a more recent model - like your friend's Prestige. And it will still be slow compared to later models. If you have a Smart Card that came with your Avio you can get a free upgrade to version 1.10 of the original operating system, but if not and what you have works then stay with that. You may still be able to download a manual here:

http://www.clamcamvideo.com/SysManuals/AvioUser.pdf

I believe you can use a regular USB keyboard that does not have a pass-through.

Look at the Swap Shop section below and from time to time someone will put up a machine for sale that is more recent in design and included software.

Actually, the local Casablanca dealer will upgrade my RAM to 256 for only $60 if/when I decide to do that... And the DV cable works to record video from my camera to the Avio...

...But... I just tried to output (Finish) the movie and record it back to my camera and it didn't work. Not sure why. The manual that came with the Avio has very simple instructions: Put camera in record mode, hit the record button on the camera and hit the "record to VCR" button on the user interface. I did that and it didn't work, it just recorded what my camera was pointing at in the house. Any suggestions?

I am also stymied in transferring video from my computer to camera, although I can record from camera to computer.

I have a Toshiba Satellite P740-ST5N01 and it doesn't have a Firewire port. My camera is a Panasonic PV-GS500. The camera has a USB and a Firewire connection. I can actually transfer video from the camera to the computer using the USB, but in the camera manual it says it will only record to the camera from the computer using the DV cable. So... any idea where I can get a firewire port that will work with my laptop?