#video toaster advice
5 messages in this thread
I am an artist and video person on a small island in the middle of the
pacific and would like to purchase an Amiga 4000. My aim is to
produce animations and videos that I would like to output to SVHS
quality or better. I'm confused and worried that I might have to buy
too many peripherals to output a decent quality video. What I've
heard is that the foregoing is the case despite newteks advertising.
I would like to get a video toaster, but I need someone to guide me
through the process. I'm computer literate as far as the dos
environment is concerned, but the amigaworld is new to me. Can anyone
helpaand advise me? aloha and mahalo………john
John, I assume you live in Hawaii, and you are lucky that there are a few
Toaster heads in your area. This will also help you in creating work even
without all the required equipment since you might be able to rent,borrow,
or trade services with other ToasterHeads.
I am sure some of your Toaster neighbors will make themselves known.
<<< Tony D. Tracer >>>
(Any render time >0 needs acceleration.)
John, I too am on a small island in the middle of the Pacific. Oahu, to be
precise. I have an amiga 2500 and a toaster 4000. I too am trying to do
animations and videos… To do animation output the catch is to get the single
frames onto tape. Personally, I would get the DPS Personal Animation Recorder
to do this. Output is excellent, and you don't wear out your tape deck doing
single frame recording.
To do video, you would need to buy TBC's for each input into the Toaster. They
cost $$$, but if you want to switch between multiple inputs, they must by time
base corrected. You can feed a single laserdisc or broadcast video input
directly into the toaster without a tbc, but you are limited to ONE input
without a tbc. I personally felt a bit mislead by Newtek's ads in this regard.
You buy a $2000 package which is not really useful as a switcher unless you
spend thousands more on TBC's and expensive VTR's. Let me say that I am still
extremely pleased with my Toaster 4000 due primarily to the excellent 3D
animation software and great output quality of Lightwave 3D, plus the CG,
Toasterpaint, and Modeler thrown in. This is excellent software and well worth
the price.
If you want to discuss this further, just call me at 808 672-3129, or e-mail me
here. Aloha,
Danny
You are under a slight but common misconception: Tohe Toaster doesn't
need TBCs!!! But it needs a video signal which is free of time-base
errors, and if multiple signals are present them must be 'in sync'. What
this means is that using consumer or industrial quality VCRs for inputs
requires TBCs to fix the signal from these decks. This is a common
requirement for video switchers. Broadcast sources, live camera feeds,
laser disks, and computers can all generate video signals which have no
time-base errors (no stretchy tape!). Many cameras can accept a sync-in
or genlock signal, to which they will synchronize their signals. With 4
of these cameras, your toaster could work with 4 signals without a TBC.
If you had 1 or more genlockable cameras and a camcorder, you could use
the camcorder on input 1 of the Toaster, and sync the other cameras to it,
again, sans TBC. People do commonly use TBCs just to sync up signals from
non-genlockable sources, but this is really overkill.
For recording animations, no TBCs are needed, as the vcr is only used to
record Toaster output
Aki, thanks… Obviously my knowledge of video hardware is limited. Good to
know that multiple tbc's are not required… I'll re read your message later.
Thanks again!
-danny