[ckohler]

Some friends and I are wanting to experiment (for fun) with creating a sort of web "TV show" for ourselves using multiple cameras, titles, overlays and video clips, etc. Since this is only a hobby, we don't want to spend too much money... no more than perhaps several hundred dollars at the most.

We already have access to several DV and composite video cameras... my G4 iMac.. some Wintel PCs.. some microphones.. lots of technical know-how and a basic idea. We are thinking of trying to produce the show real-time and archiving it to DVD. So, I've been searching for various real-time audio/video switching solutions but haven't found much. Here's what I've found in our price range:

• Amiga Video Toaster: This is something I've always wanted to use since I used to be big into Amiga computers and they aren't that expensive since you can get them off eBay cheap. But I fear that it will be complicated to setup and configure. I also worry that maintaining the hardware will be a hassle since it's so antiquated.
  
• Channelstorm: This looks very promising. The only thing I don't like is that it doesn't support OSX but that's a trival issue. Has anyone here ever used this software?

Any other recommendations? This was all I could find in our price range.

[T Allen]

Originally posted by ckohler:
<STRONG>Channelstorm - This looks very promising. The only thing I don't like is that it doesn't support OSX but that's a trival issue. Has anyone here ever used this software?

Any other recommendations? This was all I could find in our price range.</STRONG>

Ron Margolis and Philip Hodgetts - The DV Guys - would be a great resource. They have a live show and chat every Thurs from 6 to 8 pst. Philip seems to know every detail about anything related to DV. And he's a huge Mac fan. You can also reach him at the Creative Cow forum for QT ( he's the forum leader) .
http://www.dvguys.com http://www.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/s...orum=quicktime

Live Channel, from what I've read, is the real thing. I don't recall hearing any major negatives about it. Philip did a review back in 10/01 - http://www.dvguys.com/news10_18_01.shtml

I see Channelstorm just released version 1.3.2 of Live Channel.

Good Luck. Let us know when it's "showtime".

[ckohler]

Thanks for the suggestion, T Allen. My friends and I have talked some more about what it is we're trying to do with this little hobby. =)

We are wanting to produce 30 minute episodes so they can be broadcast on our local public-access cable channel. We'll also archive these episodes to DVD using my G4 iMac. Again this is only for fun, but we want to try and make it as professional as possible. We may also put the episodes on mac.com or something.. but we're not sure about that yet since they will be 30 minutes long.

While Live Channel is a pretty darned cool product, I don't think it's going to cut the bill for what we want. The biggest reason is that it can only output at 320x240 resolution max. We need 640x480. It also cannot do any kind of green-screen effects that I could find. I did like that it was inexpensive and the fact that I could do it all in the Mac. I also liked the idea of queing up video clips using this software. If we were only streaming and using two cameras.. this would be enough.

We've pretty much ruled out getting a second hand Video Toaster setup. After talking with a video friend online, it turns out that supporting the Toaster could be a far more expensive investment than I thought. We would have to buy the Time-Base correctors, maybe upgrade the unit, etc. Also, the Video Toaster cannot mix sound what-so-ever. Overall.. the Toaster would probably be far too complicated and expensive to use.

The current solution we're considering is to hook several cameras, microphones and PCs (for video clips and overlays) all into one Videonics MX-1 mixing board. These boards can be gotten off of eBay for around $500 and can do live switching between four video and audio sources. It includes built in time-base correctors and will also allow us to do some green screen stuff... something we all agreed we'd like to try. This mixing board would then be plugged into my Hollywood DV bridge and the video converted to DV for my iMac to record. Finally, the episode would be put on DVD.

I welcome any other tips or suggestions from Mac video experts around here. The goal is to try to do it live and just have fun with it. =)

[ 03-15-2002: Message edited by: ckohler ]

[Big Mac]

Just speaking from personal experience, it's good that you ruled out Video Toaster, since it totally blows! I really don't know why such a fuss was made about that system years ago, because it is probably the worst thing I've ever worked with.

Before I read your reply, I was going to suggest getting a real switcher - that seems exactly like what you need. It's simply too much work with little benefit to attempt to do it through a PC. Good luck on your project.

[direktor]

If you really want to do a public access show, and actually get it done, I'd skip the "live" part.

Live TV is quite an art, and trying to do it with no experience on cobbled together equipment will probably be embarrasing and frustrating.

My advice would be to just put your copy of FCP to work. You'll find that you can do a lot more with less equipment if you're editing together a show, rather than trying to make everything happen at once for a live or live-to-tape show.

[EDIT]

Oh, I missed the part below that mentions that you really want to do it live.

Ok, if you're really stuck on this, then forget the computer mixing part. There's so little advantage to using a computer for live switching, it's silly. Beg borrow or steal a little Videonics MXPro or MXProDV switcher, and optionally, a little Mackie mixer. The MXPro already has audio inputs, but they are switched together with the video, so you can not have individual control over audio.

When I was doing large webcasts with a .com that shall remain nameless (and out of business), I was using those above pieces, and also airing pre-produced chunks (IDs, bumpers, etc) straight off of FCP into the mixer. Worked beautifully.

[ 03-20-2002: Message edited by: direktor ]