A2000 w/Video Toaster Ebay Trend

[mdv2000]

I've noticed a lot of Amiga 2000 w/Toaster cards on sale - more so than usual - on Ebay.  Is this cause Video Toaster only work with Analog systems and everything moving to digital?  Or people just moving on to other hardware and finally dumping their Amigas?

Just food for thought....

[save2600]

I've noticed that too. I'd go with the analogue vs. digital thing, systems/power supplies are starting to die, I think people would rather deal with post production vs. real time and those pesky overpriced TBC's in order to work with the VT  :mad:

[T3000]

Considering the FCC has changed American video formats, along with the fact that the host machines are no longer viable, the VT is now obsolete as a professional video production tool. Yes, anolog is dead. Producing cheesy video on home computers is now a standard application. Setting a VT/Flyer system up these days and spending more money on antiquated equipment and expecting it to perform without problems is futile. Although, there are still people making decent money with VT/Flyers.

save2600 ~ The VT with a Flyer makes the system an excellent post production tool. You seem to have a slight problem with those "over priced" TBCs. I take it you never purchased one brand new. The TBC topic was discussed before, and I'm sure if you were around when the VT was in it's heyday, you'd have a different opinion about it all. TBCs are going cheep on ebay these days. $1000+ then -vs- $100 now.

[B00tDisk]

Years and years back, a buddy of mine who's in film production in H'wood told me that just about everybody involved in production (or so it seemed) had a Toaster 2000 gathering dust on a shelf or stuck under a desk or something like that.  I guess folks are just finally getting rid of 'em.

Heck somebody on here just the other day put a couple up for sale, $20 for a Toaster and $30 for a Toaster 4000.

[save2600]

save2600 ~ The VT with a Flyer makes the system an excellent post production tool. You seem to have a slight problem with those "over priced" TBCs. I take it you never purchased one brand new. The TBC topic was discussed before, and I'm sure if you were around when the VT was in it's heyday, you'd have a different opinion about it all. TBCs are going cheep on ebay these days. $1000+ then -vs- $100 now.

I bought a used TBC off eBay once (I'd have to research and see what brand it was, etc.) and it never worked right. It was an external unit that had layers and layers of boards. Heavy and as large as an old fashioned VCR. Seller said it was fine. BS. Power supply was bad and after I replaced it, had to adjust and tune more pots than I'd care to admit getting a "good" picture. Yeah, I'm sure I was duped and bought a bad unit and all, but it is my strong opinion that a VT system and all the things that go along with making one work is too much trouble than it's worth. Like you said, especially in this day and age of amateur videos.

I did have a Flyer setup for a very short stint. A4000, Ad516 soundcard, VT4000 and the Flyer. Great system for sure! For_the_time and those are three important words in regards to today's modern and cheaper alternatives. And looking through the current B&H Photo catalouge... TBC's (new) are still outrageously expensive. Cheapest one I think I saw was $300 and it looked like a POS. The model I had supposedly sold for $1500 new and thought I was getting a "good" deal by only paying $200 for it  

[T3000]

I bought a used TBC off eBay once (I'd have to research and see what brand it was, etc.) and it never worked right. It was an external unit that had layers and layers of boards. Heavy and as large as an old fashioned VCR.

I know what you are referring to, an external unit designed for TBCs in a live switching environment.  Almost "scored" one of those TBC units "cheap". Had five DPS TBCs installed. Pics look like it was semi-dismantled and had a "does not power up" notation. I'd image all the TBCs worked fine as the cards are near bullet proof. Didn't need any more projects at the time though. heh, still don't... Can't get the scsi termination error resolved that the Flyer reports when tring to use digital wipes.

A4000, Ad516 soundcard, VT4000 and the Flyer.

Nice! Were you able to get the AD516 and Flyer to work together transperantly? I know the Flyer sound editing abilities are almost nil. The AD516 was really fun to work with and played back nicely with the Toaster/PAR setup before the Flyer arrived.

[save2600]

Nice! Were you able to get the AD516 and Flyer to work together transperantly?

Nope    :lol:  After repairing the TBC box, I was too frustrated to bugger getting the soundcard to jive with the Flyer. That particular Amiga scenario, to me, was typical in that you had to perform an Indian Rain Dance of sorts getting anything to cooperate. lol  Course, bought everything used, with little to no documentation just as everyone is buying up now because nobody can be bothered keeping this stuff next to their computers! :mad:

Ended up parting everything out and completely ditched the big box Amiga scene for a few years before getting back into it (nothing as fancy as the video production stuff, of which I really don't have a legitimate use for anyway). Was just hoping to use a VT system for the various special effects with home movies and such. Much easier and headache free dumping video into my Mac now, doing whatever needs to be done and outputting to a DVD.

[zombie10k]

I used an A2000 toaster around 93-94 when doing event videography and corporate videos. We had a number of professional JVC S-VHS decks for the source and target video. People loved the effects, titles, and even a small 3d lightwave animation once in a while.

It was definately impressive for the time, Newtek was on the cutting edge. Who can forget Kiki Stockhammer?

http://www.patswayne.com/kiki/

nowadays, we can tear through 1080P video like it was nothing on a laptop. times have changed!!

[RobertB]

Heh, that other Play employee standing by her on your webpage is Karl Miller, lead in the band, Warp 11, of which Kiki is a member.

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org