wanted - TBC (used? new?), digital audio, and WJ-MX12 mod
I want to be eating rich soup in another town
but I don't need any of the effects. I just completed a project using A/B
roll without a TBC on my second deck, and let me tell you that it was hell.
I had to make sure that I had good video all the way through both edits on
the deck that was being used as the sync source in my setup (WJ-MX12), and
still my character generator wouldn't sync up properly to the 2nd deck's
sync; I had to go another generationn and use my Videotek color bar/sync
generator as the sync source to get my CG to lock up properly, and with
S-VHS, every generation that you can AVOID is good news!
After having my 2 AG-1960's and my AG-460, I know I'm ready to move up to
real industrial S-VHS decks (the 460 is OK though), unfortunately I asked my
landlord if I could suspend rent payments for a year or so and sink the rent
money into video equipment, by he didn't share the same joy of video that I
do :-).
Another issue - audio. I'm seriously considering getting one of the digital
multi-track digital audio card sets for the Mac (or PC?) and using that as
my master audio "deck", and just using the linear audio track on my master
(record) VCR for SMPTE. Anybody have any suggestions? I want to get a
setup that I can use when (not if!) I go industrial. I looked at several
multi-track SMPTE-slavable audio decks (reel-to-reel), but for the price of
the deck and the necessary synchronizer and costs of audio tape, I've come
to the conclusion that digital audio is more cost effective for me in the
long run. Hard disks and memory are cheaper than audio tape, plus you don't
have the latency time associated with the mechanical audio transport trying
to chase-lock to the video deck. Any thoughts from my esteemed collegues on
rec.video?
Another side note - I completed the mod to my WJ-MX12 to allow the video 2
source to be keyed over the video 1 source (instead of just a set of
pre-defined background colors), using either the video 1, video 2 or
external key source inputs as the key matte. It's not quite chroma key, but
it works remarkably well (I'm in the process of doing a music video using
this effect). It requires a lot of thought as to how you light your
subjects that you want to key with, but I've found that if you give the
scene setup some thought and intelligently light the scene and are aware of
all the objects in your scene and what your talent is wearing, I get a very
nice simulation of chroma key for a fraction of the cost of a real chroma
keyer. The mod was fairly simple, and I don't know why Panasonic didn't
include it as a standard operating mode in the MX-12; maybe it's another one
of those industrial vs. broadcast video division arguments, and has to do
with where they wanted to position the MX-12 in the marketplace.
mike
--
Won't look like rain, Won't look like snow, | DOD #000007
Won't look like fog, That's all we know! | AMA #511250
We just can't tell you anymore, We've never made oobleck before! | MSC #298726
Paul Kerchen
>keyer. The mod was fairly simple, and I don't know why Panasonic didn't
>include it as a standard operating mode in the MX-12; maybe it's another one
>of those industrial vs. broadcast video division arguments, and has to do
>with where they wanted to position the MX-12 in the marketplace.
>
Any chance that you might post this mod?
Paul Kerchen
ker...@fuji.eecs.ucdavis.edu - or - ker...@holly.eecs.ucdavis.edu
Brian Katzung
I was under the impression that the WJ-MX12 could take any two
NTSC video sources and generate TBC output. Is this not correct then?
All the ads I've seen for the Future Video EC1000 Pro controller
suggested to me that you could do A/B roll without additional TBCs when
using a WJ-MX12 or equivalent.
Also, what is the difference between the 10 and the 12? Is the
10 essentially a 12 without Y/C inputs?
-- Brian Katzung kat...@i88.isc.com
I want to be eating rich soup in another town
> I was under the impression that the WJ-MX12 could take any two
>NTSC video sources and generate TBC output. Is this not correct then?
The MX-12 (and I think the MX-10) "cheat" to provide the ability to mix two
unsyncronized video sources. One of the video sources (video 2) is used as
the sync source (if a signal is present at the video 2 connector), and it
uses that sync source to synchronize the other (video 1) video source. What
that means is that if you're using 2 decks as your video sources, the sync
for the whole system will only be as good as the sync coming from the video
2 source, and since this is typically off-tape sync, it really stinks
(off-tape sync is inherently unstable). It also means that if you stop the
tape in the deck connected to the video 2 input, or put it into pause or use
any of the fast search features, you're going to get sync tearing on the
final output of the MX-12. Ideally, the MX-12 should have been designed so
that both video sources could be unsynchronized and the MX-12 would use
either an external sync source or it's internal sync generator irrespective
of the sync coming from either video input.
I haven't had much of a chance to play with the consumer version of the
MX-12 (the WJ-EV% or something like that), but for the few minutes I did
spend with it, it seems at least that you don't have to have your key camera
genlocked to the switcher; the same might be true of both video sources -
anyone know for sure?
> All the ads I've seen for the Future Video EC1000 Pro controller
>suggested to me that you could do A/B roll without additional TBCs when
>using a WJ-MX12 or equivalent.
Sure you can, but the way the EC1000 does A/B roll is to simply take
the second video deck out of pause at the right time.
> Also, what is the difference between the 10 and the 12? Is the
>10 essentially a 12 without Y/C inputs?
For the most part, I think yes. I don't know if the 12 has any more
effects than the 10.
mike
--
Won't look like rain, Won't look like snow, | DOD #000007
Won't look like fog, That's all we know! | AMA #511250
We just can't tell you anymore, We've never made oobleck before! | MSC #298726
"NeXT is like Sun was 4 years ago & Sun is becoming like DEC" -misc
Vidiot
<NTSC video sources and generate TBC output. Is this not correct then?
Yes and no. The unit uses channel 2 (I believe it is 2) as a reference for
the internal TBC that is used on channel 1. So, there is a TBC on only one
channel. If your reference is in pretty poor shape, you are going to have
trouble.
< All the ads I've seen for the Future Video EC1000 Pro controller
<suggested to me that you could do A/B roll without additional TBCs when
<using a WJ-MX12 or equivalent.
This is true, but keep in mind what I said above.
< Also, what is the difference between the 10 and the 12? Is the
<10 essentially a 12 without Y/C inputs?
Yes. But the bandwidth of the 10 is really poor. I had one for a brief
weekend. It was only 300 lines and broadcast is 330.
--
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Bill Cherry
WJ-AVE5, as I have one, as well as the service manual for it.
If no external cammera is in use for superimposition, the
schematics for the WJ-AVE5 seem to imply that the unit runs with
it's own internal (crystal controlled) sync generator; and the
two source inputs are synchronized to this through use of the two
channel field memory (also used for the digital effects).
If an external camera is used, the internal sync generator seems
to be slaved to it (genlock).
Also, the WJ-AVE5 is highly integrated, that is the digital
portions are in VLSI.
Hope this helps.
Bill Cherry, HP Fort Collins, CO