-BobW- wrote:
1) Must be able to pass through a video signal. The video source is coming from a cable news channel.
2) Must be able to display custom news in the form of text/graphics and possibly even video.
3) Needs to be able to switch automatically between the above sources on 30 minute intervals unless I can think of a better way to do it.
4) Needs to be as cheap as possible.
This is exactly what "Scala Multimedia" was made for. The Amiga version was abondoned nearly 10 years ago, but the available versions should handle that easily.
Here's what you'll need (note that I'm living in Germany, used hardware may be more expensive in other countries, especially the US):
1. An A1200 (faster processor than other cheap Amigas, AGA chipset with up to 256 colours, can take standard Laptop HDs) - about 25 EUR/USD
2. A RAM expansion (Scala requires at least 2 MB of FastRAM) - 5-10 EUR/USD
3. A Genlock for mixing the Amiga and TV video signals - no idea about the price
4. Scala Multimedia (preferably Scala Infochannel as this version includes remote maintainance facilities - you'll probably need this to update the textfile containing the "custom news" from a remote computer)
You'll then use Scala to create a presentation that either displays a blank screen (which the genlock will replace with the TV video signal) or your "custom news" in any fancy way you can imagine.
Switching between the two displays can be done in various ways:
1. by a timer (display A for x minutes, display B for y minutes)
2. user interaction (i.e. click the mouse button to switch between the displays)
3. remote (Infochannel only)
Note that with this setup, you're limited to 256 colours and low resulutions (IIRC 736x566 interlaced is the typical Scala resolution) - should be sufficient for a simple text scroller though...
5) The output would be sent to 2 TV's at opposite ends of the facility.
The Amiga setup would just create one video signal, what you do with it (e.g. if you send it to Panama or whatever) is of no interest to your Amiga ;-)
