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Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:	AMIGA NOTES
Notice:	Join us in the NEW conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:	HYDRA::MOORE

Created:	Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:	Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5378
Total number of notes:	38326

3173.0. "Amiga + Camcorder" by LEDS::SKRALY (Sam Skraly, DTN 291-7244) Fri Dec 01 1989 12:20

    I am looking to buy a camcorder, and I'm wondering how I can use my
    A2000 to make better looking movies.  Specifically, what
    hardware/software is available to do the following:

        1) Titling
        2) Special effects, e.g. fades, wipes

    Is there any point to spending a couple hundred extra bucks to buy
    a camcorder with a digital superimposer and/or auto-fading, or can
    the amiga do all that for me post-production?  I'd appreciate any info
    from people who are using their Amigas in conjunction with camcorders.
    I'm new to this stuff, so forgive any dumb questions...

    Thanks,
    Sam

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
3173.1	Some suggestions..	DESENG::ALVAREZ	So much work to do...so little time	`Sun Dec 03 1989 13:20`	17
	To achieve the digital superimposer effects you will need a genlock device. This lets you "superimpose" graphics generated on the Amiga to your recording. Genlocks range from aprox. $100 to $1000 or more depending on the quality. Since I don't have one (but planning to buy one in the near future), I can't comment on a specific brand. I have a camcomder, and I use my Amiga for titles and short animations which I add in post-production. For starters, and to get a feeling of what you can do without spending too much money initially, I would suggest you buy DeluxePaint III, with a commercial font package like Kara Fonts. This will give you a start into the world of animation and will let you create great looking titles. I would suggest at least 1.5 megs of RAM to make full use of what Deluxe Paint can do. Good luck. Miguel A. Alvarez
3173.2	Director, maybe ?	CSOA1::CURTIS		`Tue Dec 05 1989 09:38`	4
	You will need a GENLOCK device in any case, but look into The Director, a nice software package which lets you do all manner of wipes, fades, color cycling and so on. I found some neat demos on various BBS, also. Check it out.
3173.3	VHS - Video8 - SVHS	CESARE::ZABOT	Marco Zabot-Adv.Tech.mgr-Turin ACT	`Fri Dec 15 1989 05:17`	22
	my 2�. Amiga is allowing you to do 'titling' and 'wiping' of a superior quality for very little money, BUT .... The problem is not with the Amiga. Is with the rest of your equipment. If you want to superimpose a title to a piece of your movie, you must use two sources ( amiga, camcorder) and one output ( another vcr) plus the Genlock. The quality of your output dipend mainly on the VCR and the standard you are using ! If you want to do wiping you need also a video mixer, software controlled. In this case product such as WipeMaster can give results of professional quality. A wiper that does what the Amiga+WipeMAster does will cost more then 30k$ !!! So , if you go for a Camcorder at amatorial level and don't have a super budget, consider first the standard you will use. VHS, Video-8 or SVHS. I'm moving from VHS to SVHS for the copy problem. A two pass copy of VHS gives you very poor quality. On SVHS the quality is almost unchanged. When adding titles you are loosing a little in quality since the amiga source is composite video, but it is still acceptable ( lot better than regular VHS ).