#VLAB-M Chit Chat
7 messages in this thread
Ed & Paul
I also have the VLab-M and the Tocatta. I would be intersted in exchanging
information on how it is working out for you and vice versa. I am using it on a
A2000 with CSA 040 booard and micropolis drives. Have either of you tried to
render to it from a 3D package? Also I was talking with Eric and they are
getting ready to ship the new manual soon.
Do you use the UPN mode of the time line or the the other? Have you been able
to figure out all the effects yet?
Anyway I am anxious to share any info I have with either of you so let me know
if I can help.
Rick Unland
Rick,
Glad to met another VLAB-M user! It's been such an amazing product from my
perspective that I find it a little hard to believe there are only three of us
<grin>.
My VLAB-M is installed in an A3000 and I'm feeding it Micropolis drives too!
I've pushed upto 75% JPEG factor without problem, but I'm routinely using 65%.
What level are you using and what quality you getting out?
I started with the Simple Mode timeline and stayed there for quite awhile not
realizing I could actually do somethings easier in the UPN mode. I finally
forced myself into the UPN mode when I wanted to try one of them squeazed video
boxes over-the-shoulder (like in the news casts). It took a little effort to
sort it out but now I see how flexible it is and how it lets one do just about
anything!
The docs are pretty weak <gross misunderstatement there!> I've been putting
an AmigaGuide doc together on the stuff I've tried and mentioned in the
MacroSystems readme files. I'll EMail you a copy and you can help me fill it
out with any of your experiences or comments.
EdV
Ed,
I understand how you feel. The product is too good for their to be only three
of us around, I am sure that there have to belurkers about somewhere:-)
Presently I am about %65 and the output is quite good. I would say that it is
at least equal too or better than s-video. I am running the vlab-m intoa sony
1910 pvm. I can also ab the signal through a special box I have. They are about
the same with the vlab showing only smal artifacting of the jpeg format on
still images.
I have not yet had the time to figure out the upn mode suffciently. I plan on
doing a lot of it in the near future though.
I would really like to help out on the amigaguide doc if you send it to me. I
will be able to have much more time on the system then I was able to have
before which should definatly speed up my learning process.
Look forward to hering from you and passing tips and hints back and forth.
Rick Unland
Ed,
I just "moved" out of my Barracuda drive freeing it all up for video, I found
out I was taking a performance hit by using just a partition instead of
allocating the entire drive. Now I routinely record at 75% easily moving up to
85% (with vertical and one notch of horizontal smoothing on) except for a
"noisy" source. I even recorded quite a long segment at 90% before I got the
video buffer overflow message. 🙂
…Warp Engine Engaged…
-Paul-
Paul,
That's awesome! With 75% looking so good, does 90% make the video playback
even better than the source <big grin>?
I started to mess around with the buffers to see what kind of trouble I could
create. I managed to invoke a new error message: video buffer underflow! I
wonder if this means I need to raise the JPEG compression factor — don't I
wish!
I EMailed you and Rick the first draft of the MovieShop AmigaGuide reference.
You might have to change the icon's tooltype to reflect MultiView or AmigaGuide
to use it.
EdV
Rick,
I've been rendering with Imagine for the VLM. I just render 640×480 24bit
images with a 1:1 aspect ratio. Pegger automatically converts these to JPEGS
which I import. Works great!
…Warp Engine Engaged…
-Paul-
Paul,
I actually have pegger and have not loaded it yet. Using Imagine sounds
like a great deal. I also have a toaster in the same system and am trying to
get arexx to use the Vlab-M as the buffer so I can see the quality difference
between the two. This will give me the ability to determine the exact amount of
Jpeg loss I am experiencing at all levels. I will let you know how it goes.
Rick Unland