Re: Igniter driver for Tiger?

Not to beat a dead horse...but,
The Igniter card came out in 1999. They were the first card for FCP that offered uncompressed 601 video for both NTSC and PAL. This was two and a half years before AJA came out with their first Kona card. This was three and a half years before Decklink came out with their first card.
That original Igniter card was based on the cutting edge technology at the time. I think the Blue and White G3 was the computer of choice at that moment in time. Let's get some perspective here. The PCI technology of computers at that time was about 1/10 the speed it is now. As we demand more and more data to be pumped through the the data chain (drives to computer) the PCI bandwidth becomes a potential bottleneck for older technology like the Igniter. With the introduction of the G5 and PCI-X, the Igniter cards had to make a shift in their fundamental design to maintain compatibility with this new technology. With the advent of PCI Express I seriously doubt the Igniter will see any future upgrades. There's only so much one can squeeze out of outdated technology.
I think it's commendable that Aurora has been able to maintain the Igniter family for this long. We have several Igniter cards at our facility which we find ourselves using less and less. We need the optimal PCI-X speed that only the Pipe cards can offer. I wish we had true 24 frame capability in the Pipe cards, but that would add to the cost of the Pipe cards for a feature that maybe 5% of the users require. Besides, Apple offers this feature in Cinema Tools, be it a slower workflow.

I don't want to go into my Avid upgrade experience when moving up from NUBUS, to PCI AVBV to Meredian and now total obsolescence. Let's just say those "upgrades" alone totaled $50,000 per system. But the return on my investment was worth it. The same holds true for my upgrades to FCP, the computers and the video hardware. It all pays for itself on the first several jobs. The day will come when Aurora no longer offers updates to the Igniter. They've already stated that they will be updating the driver for OS 10.4 Tiger. This should get you another year or so of usability. But don't be surprised if/when they stop releasing updates for the Igniter. Aurora offers a 25% trade-in discount for people moving to a Pipe card. I've gotten several people moved over to Pipe with this discounted upgrade. They are all happy for the ability to stay with Aurora products and save a bit on the upgrade. Besides, this stuff is so cheap now a days you can't go wrong.

That's my 2 cents. I'm getting off my soapbox now.

Michael Alberts
Ambidextrous Productions, Inc.