#FAST Video Machine
8 messages in this thread
Does anyone in this very knowledgable group know about the FAST
Video Machine? I know this group uses high end video — has anyone
actually seen or used this machine? I've read a lot of great reviews
on it, and it looks like a great PC solution to the desktop video problem —
would give me A/B roll editing and DVE similar to the Toaster and yet
keep me in the PC World.
Mike,
For the money the Video Machine is tough to beat. The advantage it has over
the Toaster is that it is on PC and MAC and it has an actual editor. (although
the Toaster has LightWave 3D) Take your pick. The problem with the Video
Machine right now is that not everything works yet and they have had problems
shipping product.
The other thing to consider is that it is an all-in-one closed system. If you
have an external swither that you want to use or you want to upgrade to
somethng better at some point, you can't, if you have an external audio mixer
you want to use you can't. It does use the V-LAN controller so it supports
every VTR from the low end to the high end.
The Character generator is very good. The effects are only 2D (now) and are as
good as compressed effects are right now. The editor is cumbersome. The audio
mixer is 4 channel and pretty good, the video mixer is 4 channel and getting
better.
Regards,
Larry
First of all, let me thank you for your reply — it's exactly what I was
looking for
in the way of information. I have a couple of further questions/comments that
I hope will still be appropriate to this forum (Bear with me, guys — this does
relate because the Lightwave 3D software with the Toaster is a 3DStudio
competitor).
>For the money the Video Machine is tough to beat. The advantage it has over
the >Toaster is that it is on PC and MAC and it has an actual editor. (although
the >Toaster has LightWave 3D) Take your pick. The problem with the Video
Machine >right now is that not everything works yet and they have had problems
shipping >product.
First of all, since I have 3DStudio I don't see Lightwave being a factor —
unless
there's something about it that I don't know. However, what do you mean
about everything not working yet — are there things (like Chromakeying) that
don't work? I've talked with a dealer (so remote it's not really an easy thing
for
me to visit) who has the product, so I can't see shipping as a problem.
>The other thing to consider is that it is an all-in-one closed system. If you
have an >external swither that you want to use or you want to upgrade to
somethng better at >some point, you can't, if you have an external audio mixer
you want to use you >can't. It does use the V-LAN controller so it supports
every VTR from the low end >to the high end.
This is a good point, but in my case it's in the favor of the VM, since I WANT
an
all-in-one solution. I do have an external switch (the MX-12) but I want to
use it
strictly for remote shoots and not worry about the studio — that I want all
set up.
But why couldn't I use an external audio mixer and just send the feed from that
into the Video Machine?
>The Character generator is very good. The effects are only 2D (now) and are
as >good as compressed effects are right now. The editor is cumbersome. The
audio >mixer is 4 channel and pretty good, the video mixer is 4 channel and
getting >better.
Getting better? That IS intriguing. You mean they're improving the software,
or
is there a better hardware release? I'm most interesting in the Character
generator and the Chromakey — I've used lots of Character generators (as well
as Ani Pro and 3DStudio for titles) and need something clean and fast. And
why is the editor cumbersome? It looks (in the articles I've read) pretty
straightforward — is there something I'm missing? I use FutureVideo's editor
which is okay but only stores 9 scenes and loses accuracy if you try more than
one or two edits in a row, with my 1960s.
Sorry for all the questions, but you sound like you've actually used the Video
Machine — most of the other people who've expressed opinions to me have
just read about it or perhaps sat down in front of it for five minutes.
For what it's worth, don't count out the Video Toaster yet! IMHO it's only real
strike is that it accepts and outputs composite video only right now.
The New Toaster 4000 is stunning. Real time 256,000 color animation
playback…incredible 2D and 3D wipes, Lightwave (slower than 3DS but superior
output 'cos of raytracing), a new Character Generator with Postscript support,
a huge array of 3rd party add-ons…and the decline in price of TBC's ($1250
for 2 channel infinite frame!)..make it a powerful solution.
I use TAO's A/B Roll editizer on my PC (in Windows) to control a VDECK, an
SLV-R5, a canon L-1..and next week a SVO-9600. The Editizer also hooks up to
the toaster and/or any other GPI switcher for perfectly cued effects.
Having said all of this the VM $4,000 price for TBC's (albeit not full frame
ones), A/B roll s/w, CG and Switcher is pretty amazing.
"Jingoism ain't dead!"
SK.
>For what it's worth, don't count out the Video Toaster yet! IMHO it's only
real >strike is that it accepts and outputs composite video only right now.
Well, I wasn't counting the Video Toaster out by any means — only that I
am kind of committed now to the PC world (with 3DStudio, hundreds of
True Type fonts, Ani Pro, etc. etc.) and also that I can't really afford the
kind of money that a comparable Toaster environment (A/B, TBCs and Chromakey)
would cost (just conservatively I figure it to be 5K more).
I'm sure Lightwave is nice — but I don't even want to THINK about
ray-tracing…
life's way too short for that. As it is I'm hoping that release 3 of 3DS will
bring
the speed up (don't we ALL want to render in real time!) No matter how much
better something is, the tradeoff in time is a killer in the video production
world.
Also… I think people make too much of DVE — no matter how many "killer" 3D
DVEs you have, the odds are high that you aren't going to make much use of
them in most production environments. Let's face it, one or two of those
effects a production go a long way (I've seen a lot of overkill in DVEs just
because they can be done — kind of like Morphing after T2). To my way of
thinking, a good Chromakey beats the hell out of any DVE you can do — and
the Toaster doesn't even have one.
But I'm not out to Toaster bash — I think it's wonderful that ANY of this
stuff
is available to us (less than professional) video types. The pros (and you
may be one) can afford to use the best — some of us are just lucky to get
things like 3DS and the VM.
Fair points.
The toaster has a luminance keyer and with a $250 add-on from MicroSearch a
SVHS chromakeyer can be easily added.
I too had made a big PC investment..I find that being able to farm out a whole
set of tasks to the Toaster (switching, rendering, chromafx, titling (& it
s'ports postscipt and therefore with a $50 vconversion program TT)
etc..)..speeds up my work time considerably.
Anyhow, horses for courses…good luck to you – if you go with the VM let me
know what you think of it.
>The toaster has a luminance keyer and with a $250 add-on from MicroSearch a
>SVHS chromakeyer can be easily added.
Well, not to beat the dead horse, but I HAVE the Microsearch Chromakey — it
sucks. It ain't anything like a professional quality key.
And luminance key is not a substitute, as I'm sure you know. IMHO, this is the
most serious omission from the Toaster — in terms of DVE I just can't
understand
why they didn't include it (actually, I think I do understand — it's not easy
to
do Chromakey right — I have three hardware "attempts" for various platforms
and none of them are Broadcast quality.
>I too had made a big PC investment..I find that being able to farm out a whole
set >of tasks to the Toaster (switching, rendering, chromafx, titling (& it
s'ports >postscipt and therefore with a $50 vconversion program TT)
etc..)..speeds up my >work time considerably.
It's not so much the investment — if you actually added it up, I probably have
spent just about the same amount of money (and time, which is far more
valuable)
on the Amiga, in terms of hardware and software. But for me, all the really
cool
stuff is in Windows nowadays (that's just IMHO — I don't want to open up THAT
can of worms) and if I want to use the best word processor available (Ami Pro),
or the best language (Visual Basic/C++) or the best spreadsheet… well, I
think
you get the idea.
I don't know if I mentioned it here or not, but I've owned three Amigas, I had
the
first one in our state, I was the head of the first user's group here, etc.
etc., so
I did enjoy the platform — I just found one I liked better (converts are
always the
most zealous).
>Anyhow, horses for courses…good luck to you – if you go with the VM let me
know >what you think of it.
Yeah, we'll see how the money shakes out, but if I can swing it that's which
way
I'm heading.
Mike, see my reply in the multimedia forum. Good to get feedback over here
too. I'm especially interested to see if anyone has used the Fast VM with 3DS
to record animations to tape. It would be nice to be able to do all the VM
does PLUS have it function as a Targa and Diaquest as well! Anyone?
Barry