#Video Equipment
2 messages in this thread
Joel, I have just read your exhanges with Louis Markoya and I happen to be in
a similar situation: I have done quite a bit of amateur work with my Amiga
and video recorders (+DigiView, LIVE!, Genlock and animations) and I
volunteer in our elementary school effort to put video on the air (school
events report on the Pub. Chan. of the local CATV company). I am at the point
where I wish to upgrade. S-VHS is an important topic to consider, but I agree
with Louis that it is not "the only way to go". I wonder at this point: since
such good and unique graphics software is now becoming available for the
AMIGA (paint, ray-tracing, 3D animations, titling and special effects), what
is more important in acquiring video equipment – picture quality (400 lines
with S-VHS) OR mechanical stability (300-lines industrial equipment with
accurate and stable transport mechanisms-example JVC BR8600-U). After all, I
have often come across good animations that could really use a frame by frame
tune up (example Deluxe Video Construction Set or even VideoScape 3D). I have
thought about S-VHS myself but I have also seen what similarly priced (for
now) industrial machines can do in terms for example of allowing precise
location of spots on tapes and glitch free editing. Also I have often worked
with consumer machines for long periods of time (editing fom one recorder to
another) and I have noticed that 1)They do not allow as fast forward and
rewing as industrial machines and 2)They often sort os get sloppy (=too warm
or something) after a while.
Boy, a long-winded comment! Roger
Thanks for your observations, Roger. They weren't "long-winded" at all.
I guess that I haven't been giving very serious consideration to the
industrial equipment. I don't have a good directory of such equipment (as is
available on the newsstand for consumer equipment). Thre are a couple of
advertisements for Panasonic industrial VCR's in the magazines. For example,
I gather that the Panasonic AG-1950 is one of the lowest priced models with
an edit/search knob. This model sells discount for around $900. So if I
decide that S-VHS is out of my price range, then the industrial VCR's may be
also.
You mention that the industrial equipment can resolve around 300 lines,
which is close to NTSC broadcast resolution. That surprised me, because the
articles I've read in consumer magazines seem to say that the absolute limit
of VHS-HQ is around 240 lines – I'm making the assumption that the
consumer-oriented magazines would not use a particularly stringent definition
of the resolution spec.
There are also "industrial" or "pro" lines of camcorders, but I have no
information about their advantages over the consumer models.
For me at the moment, it might be more sensible to buy mid-line consumer
models, use the money I've "saved" to get some Amiga software and video
hardware, and then see what develops. If the professional video-making urge
becomes more powerful, I can always upgrade later.
Thanks again.
Joel