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#Multimedia Solution

11 messages in this thread

#80038From: BITSJan 31, 1994 9:16 AM

I posted this message on the Broadcast Professional Forum as you suggested but got no response. Maybe someone on this forum can give me some pointers….. Andy. ——————- We want a system that will allow us to produce 24-bit frame accurate presentations down to BetaCAM/SVHS/VHS formats. These animations would be anything from company showreel to music video to games demo and as such we have 2 major requirements: 1. We need the ability to combine video with the generated images. The video could come from LaserDisc/Video Camera or BetaCam/SVHS tape. Hence this system must recognise alpha channel information and anti-alias graphics to the video images. 2. We want the ability to queue up audio (music or sound effects) frame accurately. We only want to go down to tape when _necessary_ to avoid quality loss. I want to be able to queue up animations, define transitions between rushes on-screen and check them out beforehand. I want to line up audio and quickly check out different sound effects for any given animation. When I'm completely happy with my sequence of sound and audio, THEN I want to lay this all down to tape. I'm currently looking at some Mac solutions which will read my TGA's (from 3ds) in as a QuickTime movie and allow me to define transitions and preview them. It also allows me to "scrub" the video and audio by moving the timeline back and forth over segments – which seems ideal for checking parts of an animation out. Another bonus was that all the PhotoShop filters were recognised, allowing you to apply a wide range of special effects to rendered animations/video. There was a question mark over the frame accuracy of the animation once converted to QuickTime format. I think QuickTime is a lossy compression solution, and I would prefer to avoid any quality loss. For the past 9 years I've been a diehard PC fan, but it seems as though multimedia in the Mac world is miles ahead of the PC. What do you think? I would really like to do as much as possible in software, maintaining quality and control over the results – rather than fiddling about with multiple BetaCAM decks, switchers and the like. My address is: BITS Corporation 112 Cricklewood Lane LONDON NW2 2DP ENGLAND Voice (081) 450-7733 Fax (081) 450-9966

#80048From: Jan 31, 1994 10:09 AM

Andy: You have some high requirements! How we do this is to dump Targas to the Sony CRV laser disc, control it through an in-house program we wrote to control both this and a Sony MPU-F100 effects box, and lay it off real-time onto M-II. We then work the sound on a separate system, all digital, with a SMPTE chaser (sounds like a drink!), and lay the sound down on the same tape when that is finalized. So our tape has first second generation component video and first generation audio, both from digital sources. Works great! But I agree, to do it all real-time in the computer would be even better, but this is the closest we've found! Greg Pyros

#80255From: BITSFeb 1, 1994 4:27 AM

Hi Greg, What facilities does the Sony MPU-F100 have? It sounds like you have a pretty decent system there! Is there stuff which you wish you could do easier with your setup? Thanks for your help. Andy

#80297From: Feb 1, 1994 9:56 AM

Andy: The Sony MPU-F100 is a pretty neat box! It has RGB/Component, Y/C, and composite in and out (you can use it as an encoder/decoder or switcher if you want!) in addition to dissolves, posterization, mosaic, and a bunch of other effects that can be controlled through a RS-232 or RS-422 port. We wrote a program to control it from a PC in conjunction with the Sony Laser Disc Recorder, and use the two together as a non-linear editing system. (Play from frame x to y, hold three seconds, dissolve to frame z, play backwards to frame w, etc. Greg Pyros

#80599From: BITSFeb 2, 1994 4:25 AM

Thanks Greg! I think I'm getting a little closer. BITS

#80193From: John TissavaryJan 31, 1994 10:17 PM

Quicktime has its place, but I definitely wouldn't want to use it for broadcast stuff, unless something has changed drastically that I'm not aware of. Why don't you check out an Avid or IMIX? These are digital, non-linear editing systems, and although they use compression (JPEG, I think), the output looks really good, much better than Quicktime (no comparison, really). Fast Electronics' Video Machine is slated to have a non-linear editing add on sometime soon, also. Or you could use Beta Digital, which is theoretically lossles (you can do a lot of dubs before dropout causes poserization), and supposedly is as good quality as D1. I would consider this the best solution, although it's not non-linear. John Tissavary (La Luna cie)

#80254From: BITSFeb 1, 1994 4:23 AM

Hi John, Thanks for your input – I'll check out Avid and Imix. Could you tell me a little more about Beta Digital and Fast Electronics' Video Machine? How do the above systems deal with audio? Thanks again, Andy

#80442From: John TissavaryFeb 1, 1994 7:02 PM

Beta Digital is simply a Sony Beta tape format that records digital instead of analog. You can even play BetaSP tapes in it. It is definitely the high end of the video spectrum since it provides, supposedly, equal video quality to D1 at less than half the cost (D1 = $120,000 Beta Digital = @ $50,000). The Avid and Imix are non-linear devices. I don't know much about the Imix (other than that it was recommended over the Avid by every video professional when I mentioned the name Avid <g>), but the Avid Media Suite 100 is basically a Mac Quadra with a bunch of hardware. I don't know how audio is dealt with, I imagine it is digitized as well. The Fast Video Machine is a set of hardware peripherals and software that you install in a PC that provide an edit and control interface. They will be coming out with a non-linear system, I imagine it will be another pc card with a big HD or two. Actually, if you're REALLY serious about non-linear, and don't deal with extremely long sequences, then I would suggest an Abekas A60 series DDR. This is a D1 digital disk recorder that plays back 720x486x24bit uncompressed video back in real time. It is far and away the best digital disk playback device, but I don't know how much info it will hold in one shot. Definitely the more disk space you get with it, the more expensive it will get. I think they dropped the prices on the A66 to $19,000, but that only gets you around 55 seconds of playback time. John Tissavary (La Luna cie)

#80525From: John TissavaryFeb 2, 1994 1:41 AM

I may have gotten Avid mixed up with Media 100, which is the Mac with hardware. Ooops, sorry for the misinformation <sheepish g>. John Tissavary (La Luna cie)

#80489From: John TissavaryFeb 1, 1994 10:02 PM

#80598From: BITSFeb 2, 1994 4:23 AM

Thanks for that info John. I'll go follow up those leads. BITS.