VTR Animation System

[Bill Johnston]

In article <1990Oct26.144932.27028 at eecs.wsu.edu> mkibler at eecs.wsu.edu (Michael K. Kibler) writes:
>We are looking for a Video Tape Animation system for our computer
>.......
>   NTSC Encoder
>   VTR Controller
>   3/4" VTR
>Most of my prices on new equipment are several months out of date, but
>unless prices have dropped drastically, new setups are still too
>expensive for our class budget. 

Michael;
I have several suggestions.

The first and foremost is to forget video tape for the master (first
level) recording. Video-optical disk is vastly easier to work with,
especially if you do not have access to video editing equipment (and in
my opinion, even if you do). Clips may be assembled on the video disk,
together with titles, etc., and the final result (represented,
incidentally, as a simple animation script file that is just loaded
into the optical disk controller when you want to view or record the
video) is dubbed to video tape as a final step.  The video disks obey a
simple language that allows you to piece together a video, select play
speeds on a frame by frame basis, add in the title frames, etc. (Though
you cannot play perfectly continuous video from the video disk unless
the clips are adjacent on the disk.)

It is also the case that video-optical disks do not require an
animation controller. They are essentially frame-at-a-time recording
devices that can move from frame to frame fast enough that you can
record live video.

Both Sony and Panasonic make video-optical disks. Panasonic makes an 8"
version that is probably now well below $10K.  The 12" versions (both
Sony and Panasonic) record RGB and are substantially higher quality,
but cost on the order of $20K. The 8" Panasonic - TQ2026 I think - is
advertised to be about equivalent to 3/4" in quality, but I never found
that to be quite true.  The 12" Sony - LVR-5000, if I remember - is
close to Betacam quality (that is, substantially higher quality than
3/4") and is, by our experience indeed very high quality. I have no
experience w/ the 12" Panasonic.

Our setup uses a PC w/ a Targa 24 bit frame buffer to generate the
RS-170 video (actually an AT Vista board, but any such board should
work). The PC runs as an Internet server, accepting raster images from
any client using a fairly simple protocol. The PC loads the image into
the FB, and controls the Sony or Panasonic recorder. Actually, any
source of RS-170 video will probably work, and both optical disks have
simple serial line interfaces for control.  An NTSC encoder is required
for the 8" Panasonic (it records NTSC), and for the Sony for doing the
dub after the fact.  (We use a Sigma encoder - about $2K - but I
believe that True Vision makes a $700 PC board level encoder.)

Ignoring my comments about abandoning video tape for primary recording,
probably the least expensive setup (if you already have a PC) would be
the following:

  a used 3/4" machine (easy to come by);
  a DiaQuest animation controller (a PC board) (Berkeley, CA, (415) 527-7700);
  a True Vision encoder (reguardless of whether the signal
	originates on the PC, or elsewhere);

If you want the use the PC to generate the video then add:

  one of the new True Vision boards (I have forgotten the model number,
	but they are much less expensive than the Vista boards, the DiaQuest
	folks can tell you about these, as well).
	(The Targa-16 is probably the least expensive option, as it has
	a built-in encoder, but  3 x 5 bit RGB images are a little low
	in color resolution, especially if you look at them as a still frame.);
  an ethernet interface and Sun's PC-NFS, Programmer Toolkit (to get a socket
	library onto the PC);

   (and maybe our software for the client and server)


		Hope this helps;

		Bill Johnston
		Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
		Imaging Technologies Group