CCIR 601, D1, Digital Video

[Charlie Gibson]

In article <8911250531.AA27913 at dasys1.UUCP> rpaul at dasys1.UUCP (Rod Paul) writes:
>
>I'm sorry to hear about the kludge; VideoCreator, that has just been anounced
>on this newsgroup.
>
>It it such a pity that SGI, who undoubtedly produce one of the finest platforms
>for high-end 3D graphics, continue to neglect the field of BROADCAST video.
....

>To get some form of decent video out, I've had to use an Abekas A60 via 
>ethernet, an option that I'm sure is not within the budget of many a user.
>The one problem with the above method is the time it takes to convert RGB images
>to the digital video format, CCIR 601, which the Abekas needs as input.
>
>I must admit that dealing with digital video is the easiest, and that is why
>I wonder why SGI doesn't seem to be addressing this avenue.


Since Tektronix now offers an RGB-IN 601-OUT framebuffer in
their 88000 based workstations, and because those stations are causing
a bit of a rumble in the video world, I suspect that SGI will soon 
follow suit.  I know that this is not a new request -- we've been 
harping on them for over a year.

Vertigo also manufactures a hardware-based RGB-601 converter, but, alas,
they are only selling it in conjunctionn with their software.  I think
that their feeling is that it will boost software sales.  Also, unlike
the TEK board, I think that the conversion is slow -- like, I've even
heard as slow as 23 seconds per frame, which is far worse than doing
it in software.

If speed is a real problem, and you have an Abekas A60, you might want to
buy an A20, which is a real-time ANALOG RGB to 601 encoder.  I think that
it's only about $5000.  We have one, and you can snap frames onto the A60
as fast as you can display them on a frame buffer.  The quality is obviously
not quite as good as a purely digital transfer, but it sure beats waiting
around for some old tape machine to preroll and edit single frames.

-- 
Charlie Gibson -- Rhythm & Hues, Inc.
INTERNET: celia!charlie at usc.edu                    Consequences, shmonsequences,
          celia!charlie at tis.llnl.gov               as long as I'm rich....
UUCP:     ...{ames,hplabs}!lll-tis!celia!charlie