#Analog Tech.
6 messages in this thread
Bruce-
Yep, Tom Molito is President; Dan's the Director of Production.
YRB transcoder? For use with the Toaster? Hmmmm… The Toaster is
composite only, so I'm not sure what you'd be transcoding..! That was one
of the things that kinda soured me on the Toaster…
The unit I'm using with the Impulse Firecracker-24 is a Panasonic UTP-2.
And much as I've never been thrilled with Panasonic as a brand name, the
UTP-2 is a pretty decent unit. It has Y/C 3.58, MII, RBB, composite and (I
believe, if I remember correctly) 688K dub ins and outs and can transcode
anything to anything. Except that the composite output is for monitoring
purposes only and is not clean enough for actual use. Sells for about $1.5
– $2K.
Nova also has a unit out; it's new, I haven't seen one firsthand. It's
called the "NCODER RGB". RGB/RGBS and YRB ins; YRB, Y/C 3.58, 688K dub and
composite outs. DVW has an ad for it on page 33 of the December '91 VIDEO
SYSTEMS for about $1K.
RE: AMPEX. After talking to some more people there, I decided I really,
REALLY don't want to run as a Vista SE. Apparently the ONLY version of ADO
firmware to support that configuration is 1.3. No future versions will
support it, they found it was too much of a hassle to keep both sets of
firmware — ADO and VISTA — talking to each other.
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[Continued]
As for "trying it" with having both consoles online, I'm going to have to
try to get an answer out of them before getting UST/CFE to plunk down the
$3K or so for the Ethernet mod for the Vista and the additional $?? for the
firmware upgrade to 2.X on the ADO. It's really tough to find someone who
actually KNOWS — I guess because they keep those people captive in some
closet somewhere…
And yes, I've heard about running the ADO as a VTR. I haven't tried it,
mostly because I'm maxxed out on 422 ports on the BVE-9000 and it would be
another $3K for another interface card. Sooner or later, though. I'm
kinda curious as to what controls that gives you.
Keep in touch — I'd like to get up there and see your collection of toys
sometime!
Pete
Bruce,
I had a talk with Marty Stein, the ADO product manager in Redwood City,
this afternoon. According to Marty, version 2.x of the ADO firmware and an
as-yet unreleased version of AVC Vista firmware will make possible an
RS-232 hookup between the two units to do what I was asking for. Now
that's a helluva switch — from "you need to buy Ethernet for the Vista and
Vista Disk and firmware for a total of $8,800.00" to "all you need is a
firmware upgrade and you can do it with the hardware you already have."
All depends on who you talk to, eh?
Pete
PS — Of course, the Vista firmware upgrade is vaporware. He won't comment
on a possible release date or even if anyone's actually working on it.
Pete-
So glad things are good at CFE. Stop by at any time for the nickel
tour (its quick).
I think we're going ahead with the toaster in a workstation
configuration, w/ accelerator and extra meg, perhaps a bridgeboard to get
IBM files across (.TGA, .PCX), and fur sur a RS-422 board for our BVW-75
for the lightwave. Any problems I should watch out for??
(PS: How do you like driving the BVE-9000??) – Bruce.
Bruce,
When it comes to the Toaster, I can't help much (believe it or not, I've
never TOUCHED one — I've seen a demo but that's about all). So you'll
have to depend on the other folks here to offer advice… Sorry…
The BVE-9000 is neat. Only problem is the documentation, which was
obviously not written to be read by a human being (or perhaps only by a
Japanese who speaks English as a P-O-O-R second language…).
The other problem is that Sony never completed the 9000-to-Vista interface;
"switcher learn" or anything else that involves the switcher uploading data
to the controller doesn't work. After making a real SOB out of myself I
finally got Sony to work on fixing it (ask me to tell you the story
sometime — it wouldn't fit in the thread). The fix is due RSN.
We're working on a promo with a heavy deadline this week, but I'd like to
take you up on your offer sometime soon. I'll give you a call.
Pete
Would love to hear about your Sony adventures. Call when you get a free
moment <G>.
-B.