CompuServe Messages

Tom… drive friendly in texas, Sorry about the response time but I've been playing really hard lately <grin>! Let's see, question about the VLAB-M — I hope you have seen some of my previous postings on the VLAB because they addressed some of the things you are asking about in more detail from my perspective. The weak-link with the VLAB-M software (MovieShop version 1.2) is audio editing! It's about as simiplistic as you can get — specify an audio file to play while the video stream is playing. Any audio editing out side of simply playing has to currently be done with another program called Samplitude (which is provided). This is a pain if all you want to do is shorten an audio segment, but sufficient if you want to do fun things like add echo, cut & paste, invert, reverse, etc. I am also experiencing a slight delay of the audio playback that is noticeable if you are doing head shots (lip-sync problem). I've heard rumors that the upcoming MovieShop Version 2.0 software will fix the slight audio delay problem, but don't know if any audio editing facilities have been added. If you want to lock audio to video for insertion, I suspect you would need to use SMPTE "optional module" for the Toccata audio board. When it comes to capturing decent video, there is NO such thing as a big hard drive <grin>. The first drive I abused with my VLAB-M was a Syquest 270 removeable — I was able to capture about 5 minutes of video at a 50% JPEG factor setting (looked like VHS tape playback to me with some visible JPEG artifacts). I soon went out and purchased a Micropolis 1Gb drive so I don't really know how well suited the Syquest is for heavy duty editing. I'm now running the Micropolis with a 80% JPEG factor and getting what I consider very impress output. I don't know how long of a video clip a can get on the Micropolis. I was messing around one day and don't remeber what JPEG factor I had set (probably 50%) but I recorded over 12 minutes of straight video before I got bored and stopped it. To me, this was incredible especially when I look back at my little adventure with the Broadcaster 32 board. I have dedicated 6Mb RAM for MovieShop buffering, but I have 18Mb in my system. How much RAM to use depends if your drives are up to the task of high sustained data rates. I noticed little difference if I went above 6MB, in fact, the 6Mb buffer offered just a little improvement over the MovieShop default of 4Mb but I have the memory so I said why not <grin>! If I didn't like multitasking so much, I'd probably give some more. I have experienced crashes <surprise, surprise>! Through experimentation, I have learned there are things you can do to cause a crash. Most of these are associated with setting MovieShop parameters, so once you've found the magical settings, it becomes pretty stable. As an example, if you monkey with the transfer buffers after using the system at least once, then I highly recommend you save your changes as defaults, quit MovieShop, and then restart it! If you don't follow this procedure, I will bet that your system will crash as soon as you attempt to record/playback after the change. Makes it a pain to setup, but this might prevent you inventing the same new curse words I spouted while setting mine up <grin>! I use the IV24 24 bit RGB/video board. You do not need a 24 bit board to use MovieShop! I use a good old flicker-free Amiga screen for all the MovieShop windows, but I only have certain ones open — the ones I use most <wink>. It is my understanding that with the Retina board will give you two things I don't have: A huge visible screen to open ALL the MovieShop windows on (if your monitor can support it), and the ability to view the MovieShop reference images/icons in full color vice my 16 color greyscale images (more like greyscale blobs!). I personally don't miss either but wouldn't turn it down if someone wanted to give it to me <grin>. You can export images out of any captured video scene which can then be processed by any Amiga image processing software! The exported images will reveal the JPEG artifacting much more readily than the video stream does and so if you are looking for good images, you need to bump up the JPEG factor to around 80% or higher. I use the IV24 for framegrabbing becuase it's obviously much faster. The VLAB-M does 60 fields/second. When exporting (or even importing) images, you can select field or frame mode. I have the VLAB-M and Toccata boards installed in my A3000 that has a 25MHz '040 squeezed into it. For all the effects you may want to do (they are all rendered), the '040 definately helps (I'm going to get an '060 for sure now) but I don't think it has much influence on the capturing/playback of the video. I believe the biggest bottle neck in any machine to achieving the 100% JPEG factor setting (the highest quality) is it's ability to transfer sustained data rates across the zorro bus through your SCSI controller and finally to your hard drive. I have used a maximum 80% JPEG factor with no problem but don't know what my upper limit is. I'm in the process of converting some captured video into Amiga anim files. I have no doubt that I could export these same individual images to a MAC or CLONE to create quicktime or AVI files (no software on the Amiga creates these file formats as far as I know). Technology makes sinking any money into anything a risky adventure! Aren't you pleased as punch you bought that 386 doorstop <wicked grin>? I believe the VLAB-M and Toccata hardware are great (or I wouldn't be getting the results I'm so impressed with) but the software does need some work. Fortunately, MacroSystem is based in Germany where the Amiga is still a viable product, so I expect future software releases for sometime. Whether VLAB-M mets your editing needs, I really can't say. If you're one of the fanatical and expect that elusive "broadcast quality" then you better wait for the next generation board which is supposed to support even higher sustained data rates through the Amiga zorro (3) bus. As a potential reference, if you have seen the PAR, I suspect the current VLAB-M quality is very comparable considering they use the same type of technology. It definitely has some warts (doesn't everything – they just don't tell you), but I still find it impressive and useable! Your best bet is to check it out at a knowledgeable dealer, then you could make a better determination. If you can't find a knowledgeable dealer (highly likely these dark days in the Amiga kingdom) you're welcome to come see mine even if it is one heck of a long drive <grin>. EdV