CompuServe Thread

#Video Director Products

9 messages in this thread
#3748From: Mark L. SanzMar 15, 1995 12:13 PM
Has anyone used the Video Director hardware products? I have the Software, Video Director 2.0 and it is great. I use it with a Sony Hi-8 and Go video VHS and it performs very well and is quite accurate despite the fact that this is all amateur stuff. However, I want to be able to put in titles and some superimposition. I'd also like to be able to capture from video and make some slides (like family). They have a family of hardware from 150 to 400$ which seems pretty reasonable in this area. Anyone used this stuff? Thanks in advance
#3779From: John SmallMar 16, 1995 12:37 PM
I'm in the search mode for VD stuff too. The couple of users I've talked with were NOT impressed with the Gold Disk hardware. Made by ADDA I think. I'm asking this very question now in the WINAPC forum, section 16, where they've just started to provide regular support. Check out 'VD 2.0 graphics & sound' thread. Up until this week the forum was mostly filled with Gold Disk bashing. Quite frankly I'm not too optimistic but I'm trying to keep an open mind. I bought a copy of VD 2.0 last week then returned it when the manual failed to outline specific recommendations for adding just the things we're looking for. Hope this helps some. -jts
#3780From: Mark L. SanzMar 16, 1995 5:37 PM
Thanks for the help. I have used VD2.0 for basic editing and have been happy for the 70.00 it cost me. I'll look elsewhere for hardware I guess. If they bashed Gold Disk, who did they like for under 400.00. A lot of this stuff is overly expensive for amateurs. Mark
#3784From: John SmallMar 16, 1995 6:54 PM
Well, best I can figure that's the $64,000 question. What's in the vast waste land between VD 2.0 and ///FAST VM Lite? Gotta be something but it looks like a roll-your-own situation. Program from here, card from there and a little shake-and-bake. So far I haven't come across anything that I've seen or heard about more solid than Videonic's stand-alone solutions with the MX-1, TM2000 and Edit Suite (when it hits the market about June). But there's just gotta be some way to overlay True Type Fonts for titling using the PC and maybe decent edit control. BUT the Edit Suite with MX-1 will give A/B/C/D roll. That's ///FAST VM territory isn't it? -jts
#3810From: Steve Bennett/SYSOPMar 17, 1995 9:20 PM
John, I may simplify here but … re: overlay true type fonts, ie. CG. Load any windows or dos application that supports CG fonts, tell your overlay genlock that "white" (or whatever the background color is) is transparent, type your CG screen, hit play on the player, record on the recorder and off you go. -John
#3814From: John SmallMar 17, 1995 10:29 PM
The application you load, won't the card dump the whole screen out to video including the board, pull down menus, etc? Thanks. -jts
#3830From: Steve Bennett/SYSOPMar 18, 1995 10:35 AM
John, Yes it will, therefore you will need an application that allows you to hide the menus and you will probably want to tell the genlock that "black", the color of the border, is the transparent color, and then make the background color of the application that same black. -John
#3836From: Gary r. BettanMar 18, 1995 1:43 PM
John, You have the solution. GVP Personal Suite Plus is fully integrated with True Type font usage through Curtain Call, a fantastic overlay, titling and effects software program.
#3842From: John SmallMar 18, 1995 7:58 PM
The GVP G-Lock VGA+ card, it seems like it does a lot. According to Videomaker's roundup of DTV this month they show it as one of the few cards that cover all the genlock features in their listing. Including TBC. My only significant concern right now is the ET-4000 chip it uses. While this chip is compatible with nearly all software and hardware it is really SLOW in Windows. Ok for DOS but way slow for Windows. Does GVP make a card with faster video chip? Thanks. -jts