Withdrawal of Recommendation

We no longer recommend or use the Casablanca video editing appliance. The market has changed dramatically since we first recommended these units as an easy-to-use alternative to the expensive non-linear editors on the market. A complete turnaround has occurred since then. There are now several WindowsXP and Mac based editing systems that are far less expensive and far more powerful than was the old Casablanca editor in any of its incarnations.

In addition, the newer CASABLANCA 2 series is unfortunately extremely underpowered (Avio uses 233MHz, Kron uses 500MHz, Prestige uses 1Ghz), amazingly overpriced (see Avio below ... Kron & Prestige cost thousands more than WinXP & Mac systems with similar capabilities), and after several years of retail sales and numerous software updates, the Avio and Kron continue to harbor major project-smashing bugs, and many more minor bugs.  Also, none of the editors has yet featured a timeline editing interface, but has continued to be limited to a single stream storyboard interface for editing.  In our opinion, this greatly hinders any effort at complex editing, and is totally out-of-sync with the rest of the industry.

Here is just one example of what a well-equipped Avio will cost to purchase. The editing capabilities are approximately equivalent to a $500 PC with $200 of software, or an old iMac with iMovie2 and a few public domain plug-ins. However, the system is a closed, proprietary system with no way to perform any functions other than what MacroSystem US charges you for in another software package:

MacroSystem US (formerly DraCo USA, formerly Noahji's) pricing as of publication date (02/03):

The KRON is supposed to be the most professional unit, and it's base cost is $4000.  It includes the HD update and PRO software listed above, but unfortunately, the rest of the above utilities will still cost the above prices.  Finally, the newest unit, the PRESTIGE, has a base cost of $3500 and completely eliminates the major recording modes of the KRON and AVIO, and thus does not even begin to be competitive with the other units.  It's unfortunate to see what started out as a terrific alternative degenerate to this level, and we feel compelled to make it clear that we no longer can recommend this system.