#DTV Handbook
14 messages in this thread
I would like to introduce myself to this excellent forum. I am a technical
advice specialist for The Electronic Mailbox. We have been selling home video
editing equipment for over 10 years. We have changed with the technology and we
are now helping to bring DTV to the home/prosumer user.
We offer a free booklet "The Desktop Video Handbook". It is loaded with tech
tips, a DTV glossary and product specs. If you would like a FREE copy call
(800) 323-2325 or send me your s-mail address.
I think this forum is fantastic, and I will be participating in it from now on.
I am not trying to get anyone upset. I feel we offer valuable info to those who
want it, and we pride ourselves on our knowledge and customer service. If
anyone has info on new technologies for the hobbiest.prosumer, please let me
know.
Thank you
Garyt Bettan
The Electronic Mailbox
Gary,
What did you do, log on and type go DTVFORUM? hehehe. We welcome you here and
would only ask that when you recommend one product over another that you
explain why… so that all of us may learn from your areas of expertise.
Welcome to the DeskTop Video Forum, Gary.
-John
John,
you got it! Why don't you give me your s-mail address and I'll send you out the
handbook. I would really appreciate the feedback.
Gary Bettan
Gary,
Please send me a copy of your DTV brochure.
Thanks,
Bruce Pollack
Sharp Electronics Corp.
LCD Products Group
Sharp Plaza, Mail Stop One
Mahwah, NJ 07430-2135
Nice to see you here Gary. I'm still having problems with the Video Producer
(crashes alot), Just sent off another inquiry to Aver Tech, mostly having lock
ups with scrolls. I am giving serious thought to dumping this system and
swithing to the VM Lite, If you have some hard info on it I would appreciate
if you could send it to me, I've read all the blurbs on it, but still not sure
of it's capabilities. Seems to me that it would work better with the longer
programs that I do. Maybe a trade up perhaps for the VM Lite.
Arnie Solomon
Waterbury, CT
PMJI … what were the factors in choosing VP over VM? How long have you
been using VP?
Thanks.
-jts <TX>
P.S. CT is one beautiful state.
Hi John..
Been using the Producer on and off for about 4 months now. In researching VP
and VM lite at the time I was having problems getting info on the products
other than advertisements and rumor. Fast gave me the names of two dealers
within 100 miles and niether was much help. My initial desire was to get a
Toaster 4000 and then Commodore jumped ship…
My main concerns at the time were CG and graphics. The responses i got back
then , was that VMlite was a bit weak in the CG dept. (imported text from other
programs). The Producer works with Shereff Deputy CG which does a nice job. It
also has the ability to run FLC. (animation ) files. I think it would excel in
doing short projects (i.e. commercials ) involving heavy graphic usage ( it
loads and displays graphics almost instantly). Most of my shows run 30 – 60
minutes long and without an intergrated editor I find the VP a bit clumsy. It's
a powerful system and if someone would write a user friedly front end for it ,
it could truly be called toaster-like. Also it seems that it has problems
running on a pentium, I'm told it is at home on a 386/486 platform, and the
frame buffer doesnt work with more than 8 meg of ram installed(still waiting
for fix !!!). I would really like to go to a VM Pro for the expandability
factor but my present system has stressed the budget for now.
arnie
Arnie, we now carry the VM Lite, but it is still quite knew to us. We have sold
some, and so far no problems.
re the 8meg problem:
I'm upset with ADDA on this one to. Unfortunately, I think they are
proceding down the non-linear path, and dropping the ball on support for the
Producer in the process. Your assesment is still right on thoough-
Incredibly powerful, real time effects on a non-powerful platform
(386/486 8 meg RAM)
I will send you out the latest brochure on the VM lite when I get more from
FAST
Gary
I saw a quasi demo last nite of the VM Lite given by Armatos at a PVACT
meeting. They pretty much answered all my questions I had about it. I think
that I would be willing to give up the graphics and animation capabilities of
the Video Producer for the VM Lite. The big question now is, are you willing to
take back my producer as a trade-in on the lite.
arnie
One thing I'm learning for sure … the maket for these products is
sufficiently limited that every purchase is a shot in the dark until you try
it out and see if it does what you THINK it will do. And the $$$ for the
amateur is rather high.
I'm still wondering if stand alone solutions sans computer, like Videonics,
is not the way to go. Even Videonics says that the home video editing
market is extremely small compared to overall video sales.
Thanks.
-jts
Thats right John, Seems like every mfg thinks you are an unlimited funds beta
tester. Looks like I'm gonna eat this one, which means I'll spend more time in
the studio using the toaster. If anyone is in the market for Aver Tech
(formerly ADDA) Video Producer make me an offer. I had the MX-1 for awhile,
it's a nice little unit, coupled with the titlemaker 2000 and thier new (not
yet released) editor , it should make for a nice low end system. The Aver VP
seems to be a bit cleaner than the MX-1, with more control over the video
internally, not to mention the graphics capabilities. At least it's not
vaporware.
arnie
> Aver Tech (formerly ADDA) Video Producer make me an offer
Wait a minute! In talking with Gold Disk today I found that they offer a
Video Director Studio bundle that includes VD 2.0 and ADDA's video encoder
and outboard VGA encoder. While this won't do A/B editing it will allow for
titles with TT fonts and graphics (from which an A/X fade can be
constructed). I also believe GD will eventually upgrade VD to an A/B
version. The ADDA board will allow one to capture Picons and view the video
on screen w/o a separate monitor. The VD 2.0 software is said by tech
support to simulate genlock and output anything in the video window. Unlike
a true genlock card the VGA video will not flicker at the 30 fps rate so the
computer screen will be less fatiguing. And genlock cards are expensive.
Tech also said any MCI compative overlay card with video output will work.
An example given was Orchid's Videola Pro. I think it's about $600.
So right now since I really want ///FAST VM Lite at 1/2 the price, I can get
a *taste* with either Studio Magic OR Video Director Studio. At least this
is what I've concluded. It may well come down to buying both and returning
the one least capable. In the meantime there's a copy of GVP's Personal
Suite Plus (bundled with an extended version of VD 1.5) on it's way to try
out from Electronic Mailbox. Now Gary (please, please comment!), Electronic
Mailbox, in another thread (Cards for VideoDirector) says this AV/ADDA card
and external box is a clumsy solution with a poor overlay. He much prefer's
the GVP card.
I sure wish local video dealers also carried video editing equipment. Doing
this by long distance is a big strain since this technology is not common
knowledge.
-jts
One thing I'm learning for sure … the maket for these products is
sufficiently limited that every purchase is a shot in the dark until you try
it out and see if it does what you THINK it will do. And the $$$ for the
amateur is rather high.
I'm still wondering if stand alone solutions sans computer, like Videonics,
is not the way to go. Even Videonics says that the home video editing
market is extremely small compared to overall video sales.
Thanks.
-jts