Muff's Modules & More

lizlarsen

I ran across this site today:
http://www.ambery.com/expctotvvico.html

Some extremely useful, very cheap video devices. I ordered the Composite to Component/RGsB converter -- $84. There's also a very compact media player that accepts usb/sd card input for the same price: http://www.ambery.com/hidediphtvpl.html (if only it could genlock). hihi

There are some picture-in-picture devices and some pal/ntsc conversion devices, hd upscalers, as well. Everything's in the $80-$200 range for the most part. I'll report back if I have good luck with the Composite to RGsB converter.

kjellb · Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:20 am Post subject:

The media player looks interesting, I used a very similar product the TMS-001. If I remember right I could MPEG2 encode at 15 mbps.
http://www.glorystarcom.com/catalog.asp?catid=50148. Of course we also have the WD live player.

MrDys · Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 10:59 am Post subject:

That media player is exactly something that I'm looking for. Good lookin' out.

Another thing that caught my eye:

http://www.ambery.com/pivipr.html If you mult a video signal, this is a cheap way to do mirrored/kaleidoscopic effects (Each channel lets you pick whether horizontal or vertical or both h&v are mirrored).

lizlarsen · Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 11:30 am Post subject:

daverj · Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:08 pm Post subject:

Wow! Those guys have a lot of devices. Some of them are incredibly cheap.

lizlarsen · Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:12 pm Post subject:

The feature set and I/O on the $500 video mixer is pretty ridiculous. I wonder if you can get two separate post-TBC outputs?

daverj · Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:42 pm Post subject:

I doubt it. I would expect that they digitize the inputs and TBC them as they feed digitally into a big FPGA to do all the effects, and then out from that to a digital encoder to bring it back to normal video.

That's typical of a number of similar digital effects boxes available for the past decade or so.

lizlarsen · Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 5:05 pm Post subject:

Yeah. That's what makes most sense to me too. Still, it's something like half the price of most things on the market.

I wonder if any of the upscalers are decent.

MrDys · Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 5:31 pm Post subject:

That mixer looks like a direct rip off of the Panasonic WJ-AVE mixers. The Panasonic dealies come up on eBay pretty frequently for a lot cheaper than $500.

I have a WJ-AVE5 and it's a lot of fun to feed back into itself.

daverj · Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 8:33 pm Post subject:

Yeah, maybe a hybrid of the Panasonic and the Videonics mixers. But it's new price is lower than the new price of any of those.

You can certainly find used mixers on ebay for less though. You can even pick up old school DVE machines like Abekas on ebay for next to nothing.

lizlarsen · Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 8:40 pm Post subject:

I'd like to pick up a Video Toaster rig someday when I have more space for it, there are a ton of expansion cards for the Amigas that seem extremely useful for modification.

Ed (my LZX partner) just picked up one of those Panasonic mixers and a friend has one he uses a lot for feedback. I have a Videonics MX-1 but have not messed with it much.

The Composite to RGsB/YPrPb converter I bought is half the price of the cheapest other option I've found.

I just picked up a genlock'able Extron scan converter on eBay for about $80, works quite well and has RGB/YPrPb out too.

Dave (or anyone) do you know anything about For-A? I think they were a japanese company. I picked up some very cheap rack units from them: Contour Synthesizer (an edge extractor/highpass filter for xray analysis, only works on luma) and Background Title Colorizer, which just arrived today but I believe is a simple keyer/title inserter. They went for $50 and $10 on eBay (thanks snufkin for the tip!)

daverj · Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 9:02 pm Post subject:

We have a couple of For-A TBCs at the TV Center. They're great. Automatic and manual controls for most things.

I think Kjell has (or had?) one of those contour synthesizers.

snufkin · Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 4:03 am Post subject:

I have two WJ-AVE5 picked one up for £20 and the other for a bit more like £80

I hear the sliders are -/+ 5v (haven't tested myself) so I want to mod/rack them eventually for cv control as they are awesome for feedback and taking dirty signals

that ambery video mixer often goes for around £100/200 on ebay over here
never tried one tho

barto · Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 4:56 pm Post subject:

excellent links. does anyone know of any cheap video wall solutions? definitely doesnt need to be HD or anything fancy

lizlarsen · Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 5:04 pm Post subject:

daverj · Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 8:52 pm Post subject:

That's a hell of a price. Unfortunately it looks like not only is it cheap because it's discontinued, but Pelco has discontinued their entire line of B&W cameras.

lizlarsen · Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:50 am Post subject:

That's disappointing. Better start buying 'em guys! smile

Mine should arrive soon and I can take some clips.

lizlarsen · Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 2:26 pm Post subject:

I received my Composite-to-RGsB/YPrPb converter from Ambery Corp yesterday, well packaged and came with the power wallwart. It's nice and compact and does the job very well!! No noticeable artifacting or instability.

MrDys · Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:45 am Post subject:

I bought the 4-channel video processor to try out my kaleidoscopic theory. Quick shipping; it arrived over the weekend. Now it sits in my office waiting another six hours for me to play with it.

lizlarsen · Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:52 am Post subject:

Awesome! Keep in mind you can't mult a standard 75R terminated composite video signal the same way you would a system within the modular synth, so you may need to use a "Video Distribution Amplifier". Try it though, probably all that happens is you'll get a less bright signal and it's always possible there's some sort of automatic gain control inside the device.

I received my Pelco camera last week but haven't been able to test it yet -- looks really great for the price mechanically though. Really want to buy a set of 4-6 of these if it works out.

lizlarsen · Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 2:36 pm Post subject:

Okay, an update on the Pelco camera -- works great!!! It's a bit noisy with the AGC turned on, but you can easily switch it off on the backpanel. Very nice resolution. Genlock works just fine using an extra Color Video Encoder output. I'm going to have to order a couple more of these cameras, but yes, recommended!

snufkin · Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 3:33 pm Post subject:

nice Lars ! good to hear

MrDys · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:08 am Post subject:

Resurrecting a thread to let you know that I just picked one of these guys up. They're getting blown out at $20 with free shipping.

It's a multiformat card reader that will display stills and some encodings of video (MPEG-1, MJPEG). Outputs RCA. It has a slideshow mode with a few transitions.

I really just needed something that I could use to feed stills into my video modular for processing, and it looks like this will fit the bill, with some bonus features thrown in.

lizlarsen · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:15 am Post subject:

That's very cool, what a great price!

giorgio · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 12:45 pm Post subject:

grabbed one of these. I've been trying to source cheap and simple digital video players for the past few days, and gonna use an old iphone as one as well although it wasn't as cheap to begin with...

revmutt · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 4:00 pm Post subject:

Good catch. I bit too.

nickciontea · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 4:28 pm Post subject:

overkill, overcost but extremely over-versatile. i use my ipad for stills and stock footage

bitSmasher · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:29 pm Post subject:

Continuing the discussion of peripherals - what else do you guys augment your systems with? in addition to the usual synths/mixers/effects...

I've found a video matrix switcher to be invaluable when running a lot of stand-alone devices. Something like Extron MAV or a Kramer unit is worth buying - good quality and clever features.

Also, very cheap security cameras are fun for mixing/keying in live use - the ones I bought (cheap Chinese stuff from ebay) do wired and wireless from the same camera and the wireless receiver uses analogue tuning which is great to slightly untune for added fuzz/glitch. The automatic brightness circuitry is really slow so gives good effect when stage lighting flashes on/off.

As an additional input, I keep a bunch of videos on my phone and pack an A/V cable for it. Can also stream YouTube videos if you feel the need. Will buy an ipod touch for this purpose soon enough, less liability!

lizlarsen · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:32 pm Post subject:

As for peripherals, I love the camera-mount adapters for microphone stands! I have a couple of boom mic stands and a short tabletop stand I use all the time. Mic stands can be wobbly, but they're very convenient, don't take up much space, are cheap, and probably more rugged/giggable than cheapo tripods within the same price point.

revmutt · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:03 pm Post subject:

I use a couple of different types of camera to capture footage. Pxl 2000, color and black & white ccd cams, a hd helmet cam that has a slight wide angle to it.

I also use lighting and projection and process that.

giorgio · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:26 pm Post subject:

reminds me i have to figure out what is going on with my PXL2000! it has been a few years but it ate tapes last time I tried to use it IIRC

MrDys · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 10:38 am Post subject:

barto · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 2:12 pm Post subject:

for those of you using smaller cameras, i just found my little gorillapod works pretty well

daverj · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 2:52 pm Post subject:

I was looking at those things, but ended up recently getting a couple of table top tripods with "spider" legs (similar idea but more like rubber coated gooseneck legs), and a couple of C-clamp tripod mounts.

giorgio · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 6:12 pm Post subject:

have you played any videos on this yet? it looks like it does 8 frames a second? I can't get any videos properly encoded to play on this thing yet :(

lizlarsen · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:54 pm Post subject:

Which codecs are you using? MPEG-1 and MJPEG is pretty specific.

MrDys · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:45 pm Post subject:

giorgio · Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 3:02 am Post subject:

yeah it does seem very specific. I tried using ffmpegx to convert to what I thought was mpeg-1 but it is a format I know almost nothing about. seems outdated maybe or something, similar to VCD format maybe?

MrDys · Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 4:55 pm Post subject:

It's very picky about its file formats. I had a JPEG with an embedded color profile and it couldn't read it. I had to take it into Photoshop and re-export it as a JPEG to get it to load.

On another note (probably more directed towards Lars), I can't seem to get this thing to sync correctly with my system. The image scrolls horizontally no matter what position the external sync switch is in. It locks fine when directly plugged into my capture device, but running through the VSG makes it all scrolly.

revmutt · Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 5:03 pm Post subject:

lizlarsen · Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 6:08 pm Post subject:

lizlarsen · Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 6:10 pm Post subject:

FWIW, I have a Sony network'ed media player box I paid about $80 for, that plays Netflix via wi-fi and will also play tons of video file formats off of a USB drive port. That works fine as a sync source, and has Composite, Component and HDMI outputs. I think it runs a similar software interface to the PS3.

giorgio · Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 7:52 pm Post subject:

just found this, it looks way easier to deal with.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/828837-REG/Diamond_MP700_HD_Medi a_Wonder_Mini.html

In the meantime I am going to pick up some AV cables for iphone as I have an old iPhone as well as an iPad. I think that the iOS player "with its built-in preview monitor" might be a good way to go for playing pre-recorded clips

lizlarsen · Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 7:54 pm Post subject:

That looks very promising.

bitSmasher · Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:09 am Post subject:

spaceship · Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 11:48 am Post subject:

How would I connect my ipad to the lzx system? Is there a dock connector that outputs to composite video? Or would I need something like this, with an addition vga-> composite converter?

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-AV-Adapter-connector-Manufacturer/dp/B00 4Y12S9W

EDIT:

Just found this: Dock connector to composite

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC748ZM/A

lizlarsen · Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 7:24 pm Post subject:

Yep that's what you need. Nick Ciontea here also has some sort of Alesis I/O dock with a video output.

giorgio · Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 10:33 pm Post subject:

spaceship · Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 2:02 pm Post subject:

Sorry in advance for the extremely noobish question -

Can I use this to connect the s-video out on the CVE to a component input?

http://www.amazon.com/7-pin-mini-DIN-Component-YPbPr-Adapter/dp/B0042L HBJ6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1339612674&sr=8-3

barto · Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 2:48 pm Post subject:

spaceship · Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 3:51 pm Post subject:

lizlarsen · Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 4:21 pm Post subject:

Those 7-pin connectors are used on some computer video cards as more of a break-out cable to give you component outs, etc.

Ambery.com makes a Composite/S-Video to Component converter that is about $80, I have one and it works well.

Doing a Component output module for the LZX system would be very straightforward, actually (just a modification on a portion of the Color Video Encoder circuitry), but so far there hasn't been a lot of requests or demand for it. It would cost about the same as the CVE.

Cat-A-Tonic · Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 11:45 pm Post subject:

Cat-A-Tonic · Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 4:56 am Post subject:

Does anyone know if these are good units?

-Sony SEG-2550 (Special Effects Generator)
and other various model numbers

-Asaca ASW-100 (video switcher)

lizlarsen · Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 10:57 pm Post subject:

I've seen lots of awesome videos from MrDys that use the Ambery device for mirroring (see his latest post in the video clips thread.) It is pretty cool!!

I don't know anything about those SEGs, but older mixers or switches that do not have TBCs built into the inputs will be more of a chore to interface than newer ones, such as those from the late 80's and 90's.

nickciontea · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:19 pm Post subject:

definitely worth the Alesis I/O dock if you are using an ipad..

1. if you do audio.. this thing takes care of everything from midi to audio I/O

2. gives you composite out.

3. gives you a nice angle/protection/stability for ergonomic, comfortable use.

MrDys · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 6:08 pm Post subject:

Arturo00 · Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 10:17 pm Post subject:

I mentioned a while ago that my friend was going to sell me a TBC. I got it for $20 and had no idea what I was in for. This thing is a magic box!!! Video Feedback loops are amazing! Twisting those 4 knobs produce the trippiest resutls!

Cat-A-Tonic · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 8:02 am Post subject:

I found a Videonics mixer listed as 'junk' because it has no power adapter.

I looked up the manual for the unit:
http://www.focusinfo.com/dynassets/documents/products/MX-ProDV_UserMan ual.pdf
and (on page 31) it shows an unusual pinout with NO voltage specs!
If I knew the power specs and connector type I might be able to find a replacement at Mouser...

Cat-A-Tonic · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 8:51 am Post subject:

exactly the same situation with
SONY XV-Z10000

Looks great, dirt cheap, but no power cable. very frustrating

lizlarsen · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 9:55 am Post subject:

Finding/making power supplies for those mixers with the "mysterious MiniDINs" can be a huge hassle!

daverj · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 10:37 am Post subject:

According to the Focus web site there were two power supplies for the MX-ProDV, depending on how it's marked on the bottom:

revmutt · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 11:28 am Post subject:

barto · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:02 pm Post subject:

i have the videonics titlemaker and video enhancer both using wall warts, you can probably find one that works.

giorgio · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:41 pm Post subject:

there are 2 generations of videonics, one has a barrel power and the other a mini-din kind thing. we have both here IIRC

barto · Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2012 1:13 pm Post subject:

can someone recommend a decent scan converter? the cheap one i got is having power connection issues (i might cut off the barrel plug and soldier the power directly). the one i have takes vga and goes to composite, s-video, and vga simultaneously

i know some people use extron but i need one that has all of those outputs. any recommendations?

barto · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:46 pm Post subject:

can anyone recommend a small lcd monitor? thinking around 7" or so. ive been looking online and the tech details tend to be pretty vague. i need to find a couple for monitoring for my travel ready visual station

daverj · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 3:19 pm Post subject:

I don't have any specific one to suggest, but you might want to narrow the search by searching for the terms NTSC and PAL. Any monitor that includes that in the description should work with standard composite video.

You probably also want to exclude any that are 16:9, since you'll probably be using standard 4:3 images. But most of the monitors that are 4:3 don't say that, but the 16:9 ones do typically say that. In other words you probably can't specifically search for 4:3 without losing a lot of good results, but you could exclude 16:9 to get rid of some results you won't want.

nickciontea · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 3:21 pm Post subject:

A small monitor is also very high on my list.. prolly the one remaining thing i want at most shows

giorgio · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 3:31 pm Post subject:

small monitors are cheap online. i got a 4" for like $35 or $25 or $30 and it is great. think i got it on ebay but amazon and dealextreme probably have the same things. i think it is made for a car, and runs off 12v. if you have extra power you could probably power is from a modular case. and then RCA in. the resolution is shitty i think, but it doesn't matter, its just a preview monitor smile

never dragging a CRT out again.

barto · Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 3:50 pm Post subject:

yeah i need one to be a monitor and one for feedback