Efx

[MACC the AVCOtek]

Greetings all!

I'm curious to learn if anybody is using any special effects generators for VTC calls. I'm especially interested to know about chromakey effects. If you're doing something like this and would like to share, I'd like to learn what equipment you're using and the actual application you use it for.

Does anybody know of a VTC friendly EFX unit? :cheeky:

[trapehzoid]

good news is.. you aren't doing anything special for VTC.. you can use any product made for video for this. Unfortunatly I can't recall the vendor's names I've seen in the past. Maybe a quick browse of Infocomm's vendor's would help?

[tom9933]

We sometimes tie the output of our studio switcher to a codec for high profile events. As trapehzoid said there is nothing special about the video input on the codec so you can do pretty much anything you like. One thing to remember though is that the effects may not look as smooth at the far site due to the compression. We do mostly high bit rate calls so this is not as much of an issue for us but it could be rather nasty at 128. BTW the switcher/dve/cg unit we use is made by a company called global streams. Check out
http://www.globalstreams.com/
for more information.

[Oliver Black]

I have put together several rooms with a device called the studio sketch (http://www.studiosketch.com/) It runs around $1600 and we usually set it for either Chroma or PIP. The systems are AMX controlled, and we just put an 'FX' button on the AMX and they select their PC for presentation, and then FX and they are Chroma'ed into it. The end users don't touch the box itself, as it is set for one effect. The system remembers settings. Lighting is critical however...

[tom9933]

Oliver,
That looks like a really nice product! I’m thinking we might try something like that to use in place of pip inserter we currently use. The cost seems comparable and annotation is a really nice feature to have.
Thanks

[panzer]

Hey all
also may want to check out Chyron, they have doing CG for a very long time
http://www.chyron.com/products/cgsolutions/

Have a good one

[George]

I have put together several rooms with a device called the studio sketch (http://www.studiosketch.com/) It runs around $1600 and we usually set it for either Chroma or PIP. The systems are AMX controlled, and we just put an 'FX' button on the AMX and they select their PC for presentation, and then FX and they are Chroma'ed into it. The end users don't touch the box itself, as it is set for one effect. The system remembers settings. Lighting is critical however...
Wow that does look promising. I learn something new here almost every day :).