Author Topic: Pro video production on Amiga? (Read 8103 times)

AmigaPixel · « **Reply #44 from previous page:** January 28, 2009, 02:20:46 AM »

The Toaster 4000 Flyer combo isn't as outdated as you might think. At least for SD video. You would be hard pressed to find a real time switcher and composite system on the Mac or PC under $5000. I use Pinnacle System's Studio 9 Plus on my Windows XP system, which is certainly good but every thing has to be rendered. Most videos don't need a lot fancy transitions and layers anyway.

However you could add updated effects or create your own to spice things up using Lightwave 3D or Image FX etc. If you already have a big box Amiga you could now get A Toaster and Flyer boards for probably less than $250 now. In some cases less than $200. I paid only $60 for Video Toaster 4000.

Finally with digital DVD recorders and other digital equipment I don't think you really need to rely on Time base correctors to sync your video sources anymore. :-D

persia · « **Reply #45 on:** January 28, 2009, 09:34:51 AM »

You don't find analogue sources very much anymore but yes the Toaster still allows you to mix analogue video. Of course it's 4x3 and all video nowadays is 16x9.

Varthall · « **Reply #46 on:** January 28, 2009, 10:00:03 AM »

Quote

Hans_ wrote:

Exactly how good are they? A few years ago I went ahead and tried every open-source video editor that I could find. Kino and Cinelera couldn't even open my video files that I had (they were DV format only). Jahshaka crashed every other minute and had the most disorganized GUI that I have ever seen. They were all so unusable that I ended up using Windows Movie Maker and an old copy of Cyberlink Power DVD for the project I had at the time. After that I bought Premiere Elements.

Things may have changed, but I didn't see a single editor that I thought was worth using as a basis for anything.

I have used Open Movie Editor on Linux, it has some drawbacks but otherwise it's a solid and well working editor. I have started to port on OS4 the dependencies it requires (libsamplerate is the first I have ported, I'll recompile it as a shared object now that the new SDK is out), and later will try to port the application itself. The GUI uses FLTK, we already have an old port of it but all the ports of FLTK apps I have tried don't work, I have the sources from the original porter and I will try to fix it as well. I haven't set any release date yet, as this port is still in its early stages.

Varthall

Colani1200 · « **Reply #47 on:** January 28, 2009, 12:52:44 PM »

I am using Kino from time to time (on FreeBSD and Ubuntu) and am quite happy with it. The major drawback IMHO is that it doesn't have any timeline system which makes overdubbing the audio a real adventure. The website claimed that some TV stations use it for preproduction so it can't be that bad.

@Varthall: Open movie editor looks awesome, gotta try that one on my BSD box. I'm really looking forward to your port. Oh, and forgive me for asking, but maybe you can try to compile it for AROS aswell? ;-)

Varthall · « **Reply #48 on:** January 28, 2009, 01:54:58 PM »

Quote

Colani1200 wrote:
@Varthall: Open movie editor looks awesome, gotta try that one on my BSD box. I'm really looking forward to your port. Oh, and forgive me for asking, but maybe you can try to compile it for AROS aswell? ;-)

Not for now, unfortunately, because of my limited time I can only focus on one platform, and besides this project is a pretty demanding one

Varthall

persia · « **Reply #49 on:** January 29, 2009, 04:47:48 PM »

Hmm Open Movie Editor does look interesting. Wonder how it compares to Final Cut?

hardlink · « **Reply #50 on:** January 29, 2009, 06:58:02 PM »

Quote

Sig999 wrote:
... It would be a very very poor choice and they'd end up wasting time and money.

Well, I suppose I made those poor choices and am wasting time and money, but I sure am having a blast doing it!

Pyromania · « **Reply #51 on:** January 30, 2009, 12:28:14 AM »

Do you want and need very cool video editing software for Amiga OS 4.1, MorphOS 2.2 & AROS? Why not just remove hardware dependencies from the software at the following link?

www.openvideotoaster.org

The GUI, feature set and ease of use are still awesome even after all these years. This is one very good video editing system with CG, Paint, Editing & Effects. And the code is already Amiga code.

FYI

We are now making the full ISO file available to any Amiga programmer that asks for it via FTP. This was not done before.

Pyromania · « **Reply #52 on:** January 30, 2009, 12:33:37 AM »

@Sig999

Don't forget the Flyer card for the Amiga Video Toaster. Then decks are no longer needed and the dream of real time tapeless editing is at hand on Amiga OS.

terminator4 · « **Reply #53 on:** January 30, 2009, 03:41:08 AM »

I sure someone takes up this offer. Better than porting open source stuff, this at least was professional and can be improved again. But then again porting may seem less work

I still think this would have to be a commercially viable thing.

AmigaPixel · « **Reply #54 on:** January 30, 2009, 07:24:49 AM »

Quote

persia wrote:
You don't find analogue sources very much anymore but yes the Toaster still allows you to mix analogue video. Of course it's 4x3 and all video nowadays is 16x9.

Again with using DVD recorders, you don't need rely on analog devices as long as you can connect with composite cables. Many DVD recorders have Fire wire and one button recording so it is easy to transfer your digital video to DVD. Then into the Toaster/Flyer, as for the 16x9 ratio I believe there is a simple way to adjust the resolution for that. Also the video could be used online in the 4x3, many online videos are no more than 320x240. :-)

orb85750 · « **Reply #55 on:** January 30, 2009, 07:40:17 AM »

Are the toaster/flyer manuals available somewhere online? Available anywhere in hardcopy form?

Quote

Pyromania wrote:
@Sig999

Don't forget the Flyer card for the Amiga Video Toaster. Then decks are no longer needed and the dream of real time tapeless editing is at hand on Amiga OS.

AmigaPixel · « **Reply #56 on:** January 30, 2009, 07:43:32 AM »

Also to reinforce what Pyromania said, the Flyer is a high quality non-linear editor part. It bypasses the Amiga mb buss and plugs directly into it's own dedicated SCSI-2 drives, and of course into the Toaster. :-D

AmigaPixel · « **Reply #57 on:** January 30, 2009, 07:50:53 AM »

Quote

orb85750 wrote:
Are the toaster/flyer manuals available somewhere online? Available anywhere in hardcopy form?
Quote

Good question, I need to get a Flyer manual.

Here is a link to Newteks Amiga/Toaster forum http://www.newtek.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=47

:-)

yssing · « **Reply #58 on:** January 30, 2009, 09:52:17 AM »

I am sorry, but DVD crecorders is so yesteryear

USe HD or Blueray.. you can have much better quality and store much bigger movies...

KimmoK · « **Reply #59 on:** January 30, 2009, 10:08:25 AM »

In theory:
Could it be possible to do SW emulation of Video Toaster Flyer HW, so that Video Toaster Flyer SW could be used on PPC Amigas?

In real life:
How huge task it would be? :-? :crazy: :-?

AND THE NEXT STEP:
How big task it would be to redirect/route VTF Zorro I/O over ethernet, so that VTF-HW could be on some other "Amiga" or done by SW emulation on another x86 computer.

AND PERHAPS:
Re-implement the VTF HW in FPGA?