CompuServe Thread

#editting devices

2 messages in this thread
#2566From: Dave EbertFeb 3, 1995 4:34 AM
You must remember though that Video Director works with many edit controllers and has drivers to accomplish this through the com port. So although the product ships with a lanc/ir cable, it is not limited to that as the only control over VCR's. Drivers included with V 2.0 include such as editlink, visca, and vuport. The editlink driver is designed for use with FutureVideo's control, and ie. others for Sony products etc. Also, as I read it, Video Director will do frame-accurate edits if your deck is capable of that precision. Video Director has lots of plus marks for its ability to catalog tapes and clips too. Whatever you might say about it, version 2.0 is up to speed, including titles, animation playback to video, sound overlays, use of .avi files and a host of other features that can produce videos with WOW factors. Video Director does depend on what other hardware you have installed but even so it is flexible enough that you can work with it even if you want to upgrade your hardware later. Of interest you might note that if you have a Video Toaster, you can also connect that to your PC and access transitions, titles, and framestores from there. You can also sync sound to video clips from CD-Rom, Midi, or .Wav files. I guess this just demonstrates that upgrade software releases are not always just a mechanism to generate more income to the vendor, in many cases they are leaps forward in computing power. One last note, Video Director supports time code if your video deck has it available. What say we more !!!
#2582From: Timothy LiebeFeb 3, 1995 8:56 AM
Dave: >You must remember though that Video Director works with many edit controllers and has drivers to accomplish this through the com port.< Okay, that's true–but that means you have to buy "more stuff" (to quote George Carlin <g>) to make it work w/your particular non-LANC setup. >Also, as I read it, Video Director will do frame-accurate edits if your deck is capable of that precision.< I don't know–can a device that uses your IR remote controls to your record deck *really* be frame-accurate? Seems a bit slipshod to me for higher-end use… >Whatever you might say about it, version 2.0 is up to speed, including titles, animation playback to video, sound overlays, use of .avi files and a host of other features that can produce videos with WOW factors.< Yes, provided you already have the computer hardware in place to do them anyway, like genlock and sound cards–the Video Director doesn't come with that capability in and of itself. Most of these cards already come with software capable of doing that bundled with them… Sorry, I'm not trying to be negative here–for $200, it *is* a good consumer-level edit controller and doesn't require a superpowered computer to run it. And you're right about the logging capabilities, too. OTOH, my results with it (Sony TR-400 w/LANC for source, Panasonic AG-1960 for my record deck, and at the time, no genlock card) didn't suggest much more than a straightforward tape cutter. Tim