🚀 go-pugleaf

>>>>> On 6 Oct 92 22:07:18 GMT, messina@netcom.com (Tony Porczyk) said:
> Article-I.D.: netcom.1992Oct6.220718.15978


> I was wondering if there are some either software or hardware products
> (or combination) that would allow saving animation or presentations
> (such as from Power Point) directly to video tape.  Platform would be
> PC (but I would be curious also about Mac).

> I understand that it can be achieved easily on the Amiga using Video
> Toaster.  Any equivalents on the PC side?

The Toaster allows you to do much more, but if that is all you want, there are
much cheaper ways of doing this on an Amiga - indeed the A600 has a built in
modulator for use with a TV instead of a monitor. You probably want better
quality than that though - genlocks and encoders are available over a wide
price range (genlock will allow you to overlay your computer graphics on live
video).

The PC equivalent of a Toaster is a Toaster - the PC version of this is an 
Amiga with the badge covered by a Toaster badge and a serial cable and a
front end running on the PC to control it. The Mac version is similar.
--
     Alan Braggins, alanb@sdl.mdcbbs.com, abraggins@cix.compulink.co.uk
Shape Data - A division of EDS-Scicon Limited.   Cambridge, UK +44-223-316673
   "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."
 "My employer does not necessarily share my views - but I'm working on it."

Hi,

If your PC has a VGA card with NTSC output, you can record your PowerPoint
presentation directly to videotape.  I have such a vga card, and record
presentations on my editing VHS recorder.  Also if you have a sound board,
you can record your audio at the same time.

Brett

messina@netcom.com  writes:
> 
> I was wondering if there are some either software or hardware products
> (or combination) that would allow saving animation or presentations
> (such as from Power Point) directly to video tape.  Platform would be
> PC (but I would be curious also about Mac).
> I understand that it can be achieved easily on the Amiga using Video
> Toaster.  Any equivalents on the PC side?
> 
We just bought a Videologic Mediator for abour $2000 for that
purpose.  It is a box that plugs in to any VGA card (which must
be running at 640x480) OR any Mac video source and outputs NTSC
or PAL video.  It will genlock, has SVHS output as well as
composite, will under or overscan, and has several other useful
adjustments.  It is a nice multi-purpose box that gives a very
good picture for the price.
--
John Jackson                            jmj5g@galen.med.virginia.edu
Office of Medical Education             jmj5g@virginia.edu
University of Virginia                  (804)924-5839

In article <1992Oct8.183737.1959@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>,
jmj5g@galen.med.Virginia.EDU (John M. Jackson) wrote:
> 
> messina@netcom.com  writes:
> > 
> > I was wondering if there are some either software or hardware products
> > (or combination) that would allow saving animation or presentations
> > (such as from Power Point) directly to video tape.  Platform would be
> > PC (but I would be curious also about Mac).
> > I understand that it can be achieved easily on the Amiga using Video
> > Toaster.  Any equivalents on the PC side?
> > 
> We just bought a Videologic Mediator for abour $2000 for that
> purpose.  It is a box that plugs in to any VGA card (which must
> be running at 640x480) OR any Mac video source and outputs NTSC
> or PAL video.  It will genlock, has SVHS output as well as
> composite, will under or overscan, and has several other useful
> adjustments.  It is a nice multi-purpose box that gives a very
> good picture for the price.
> --
> John Jackson                            jmj5g@galen.med.virginia.edu

Tell me John, what does text from your mediator look like. The reason I ask
is that we have one here (A$4500 ~US$6000) and so far, I have been quite
disappointed with it. I don't believe the quality is even adequate for
output to tape and I am having trouble getting the suppliers to acknowledge
a problem.

Cheers
Bob Jenner
Northern Territory University
Darwin, Australia

Most mac-II models will record direct to video with the addition of
some init or something, which is available from apda for about $30.
The quadras also have some built-in circuit for de-interlacing video,
so you don't get bouncing 1-pixel lines.

Rasterops 364 and 24stv (roughly $800-$1400) will encode video
and digitize video, though the video cannot be saved to disk at 30fps.  
They will also display a video source in a window.

My impression is that the encoder with these products is not
'broadcast quality' if that is important.  Candidates for this
nebulous quality are the Nuvista and possibly the Radius Videovision.
Alternatively you can probably interface to any external high quality
encoder, once the mac signal is down to ntsc frame rates & resolution.

In article <1992Oct13.002950.3397@research.nj.nec.com> zilla@ccrl.nj.nec.com (John Lewis) writes:
>Most mac-II models will record direct to video with the addition of
>some init or something, which is available from apda for about $30.

I assume you are referring to VideoSync. Saying that this will allow
you to "record direct to video" is a bit misleading. What it does is
allow change the scan rate on a monitor so that it can be videotaped
*from a camera*. It also allows you to change the phase of the scan
so that the horizontal line caused by the relative phases of the monitor
and camera being out of sync is not visible. It does not work with many
monitor types, Portrait, 9", 19", and so on. I have only used it with
13" 8 bit or 24 bit video cards. It works OK, though getting the camera
tilt to match that of the monitor, trying to eliminate all glare from
the monitor glass, and constantly adjusting the phase made it frustrating
sometimes.

To truly record direct to video, you need some kind of video card that
has an NTSC output option. Someone earlier posted a list of such cards
for the Mac that were evaluated in MacUser August 1991:

Generation Systems TV Board $395
Generation Systems TV Box $395
Mass Microsystems Colorspace IIi/fx $1995
RasterOps Provideo 32 $1750
RastorOps Video Expander $575
Truevision NuVista Board $2995

I think the RastorOps products have since been replaced by the 24stv
and related boards. All of these products vary considerably in options.
I have used the Colorspace IIi/fx board. It does a lot of nifty things,
but it's only 8 bit and rather slow. The NTSC output has been fine,
though it will only operate in RGB or NTSC at one time and has to be
rebooted to change from NTSC to RGB.

>Rasterops 364 and 24stv (roughly $800-$1400) will encode video
>and digitize video, though the video cannot be saved to disk at 30fps.  
>They will also display a video source in a window.

Now digital video, i.e. QuickTime, is another matter. There are an
increasing number of boards that will record QuickTime, if that fits
your purpose, but I had understood the original question to be about
NTSC conversion. By the way, I just got a release from Vision Software
about CameraMan - an application that records to QuickTime whatever shows
on the Mac monitor. They are touting it as a way to record demos and
presentations. They are offering it to attendees of the Apple Developer's
Conference for $74.50 and giving the list price as $149.

Another application especially made for people videotaping presentations
is MacroMind's MediaMaker. You can edit and synchronize your presentation
using Director animations, sound files, audio CDs, graphic images, etc.
If you have a video card with NTSC output, MediaMaker will then control
a VCR through a control-L/M/S/P interface to automatically assemble the
presentation on videotape.

Bill Alves