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[orb85750]

Is some manifestation(s) of Amiga capable of modern, pro-quality video production, say from straight
documentary production all the way up to art film with specialized effects, etc. (Wasn't Amiga the original artists' computer?) What hardware/OS and specific software is available?

[Sig999]

In the 90's Video Toaster made quite a splash in production as a very affordable editing system.

However... Modern in the 90's... not modern 'today'.

Nowadays putting one together would be quite expensive and underpowered compared to other alternatives.

If you want to play with such a system just to capture the nostalgia... to see what you can do with an older system (I'm guilty of that myself programming a classic in 68k when I could do things faster and better in flash) then more power to you! Enjoy!

If you're looking to actually do professional work in the industry - your dollars are better spent elsewhere.


(I expect a fair amount of flak for saying that - but it's the truth - based on using various systems in professional video and film production for the last 15 years).

[davideo]

The original Classic Casablanca is a non-linear video editor based on the Amiga.

I used (still have it but don't use it much nowadays) it up until a few years ago when I moved over to DVCAM filming. I now use my PC as my editor and DVD writer.

Hence my handle on the various boards :-)

Dave G 8-)

[orb85750]

>>>>>>Nowadays putting one together would be quite expensive and underpowered compared to other alternatives.>>>>>>

Can you elaborate a bit on what is available, if one does not mind spending the extra money, due to my aspirations for Amiga loyalty? Thanks.

[Sig999]

how do you want me to elaborate?

The video toaster at its base level is an A/B roll mixer pretty much... requiring now archaic hardware to use - and at the end of the day you're going to be slaved to decks with a bunch of outdated wipe and mix effects.
Todays systems are faster, cheaper, more reliable, easier to use, and afford many more options in the way of effects, color correction, and compositing capabilities.

You could spend even more money for the flyer and get rudimentary non-linear capabilities.. but again - slow, outdated, and will cost you even more when the near 20yr hardware fails.

Forget about HD or non standard formats.
Forget about any of the advantages to new technology used by things like XD cam (where I treat the deck itself like a harddrive and bypass digitizing all together)
Forget about using firewire too...
Forget about doing any kind of modern compositing effects - that have been made trivial to todays editors with programs like after effects.

Not to mention storage... being slaved to old small drives slung in a tower case when you could get many many many times the storage capacity for your projects much much cheaper today.

I mean if you want to tinker around with home vids - more power to you, but professional..... Forget it.

A handful of years ago I'd have suggested the toaster as a cheap alternative if you wanted to do live switching.. but I can't even do that anymore with switching boards going as low as 500 that work with modern systems..

as for whats available - fire up google and type 'video editing'

theres everything from low end software for small PC's from Avid, Adobe and others, all the way up to high end Avid and Final Cut systems.

There's too many available for such a wide range of prices-power-needs to list.

[Pyromania]

@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]

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.

[orb85750]

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

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.

[Sig999]

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.

That 'dream' has been my reality for over a decade.. and standard practice on any modern system. I think the money and time spent tracking one down isn't worth it, for something that is considered standard in this day and age.

Especially considering the topic of this thread.. PRO video production. Now with things going over to HD, doubly so - money and time better invested in a FCP system with a KONA card if you ask me.

[AmigaPixel]

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]

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.

[AmigaPixel]

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. :-)

[AmigaPixel]

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

[yssing]

I am sorry, but DVD crecorders is so yesteryear

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

[persia]

True 320x240 is the resolution of a typical phone or web broadcast, but it would look pretty bad on your 1080 TV.

Also analogue video has a bit of a mushy look compared with the clean signal of digital.

So the question is, is it harder to port a modern video editor (Open Movie Producer) to the various Amiga platforms (AROS, OS4.1 Pegasos) or to take an already Amiga program, make it work on modern Amiga platforms and add modern video features?

AmigaPixel wrote:

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. :-)