thanks for your help mike. i'll look into it. guess it's back to the drawing board. it never ends. i'm anxious to just go out and buy, but after spending most of what i've saved up on a new pd150, i really can't afford to find out i bought a useless, or not good enough, piece of hardware.

quiet so far, in my neighborhood.

thanks again,

adi

Good luck.

When the AVID software was first introduced, BTW, there was a very restricted set of hardware that was approved. I assume you've checked their web site for approved hardware.

http://support01.avid.com/support/AvidMain.nsf/QualificationR3?ReadForm is the location of AVID's Express DV information on this.

yeah i read their list of approved hardware. but i'm not sure i'll go exactly according to what they suggest and rely on forums for support. from what i've heard, their support isn't always that hot anyway.

regarding the usb external box you suggested, i did some research and found the SOUNBLASTER EXTIGY to be a nice card for me, but then on a message board got the following post:

< < < The biggest problem with them (external sound cards) is that they're given a lower priority than the PCI ports inside the computer, meaning there can be a delay in sound processing or, sometimes, breaks and hiccups in the sound playback. > > >

what do you think?

I still vote for a PCI card UNLESS you are going to capture audio from your sound card, a DV capture does not occur through the sound card, so unless you are capturing through the card or mixing out from the card then I would stick with PCI card.