@3Amiga Video:[6 @5 This months Frontier special gives users who are even remotely interested in video work on their Amiga the @4 Quack! Get the camera @5chance to find out what everything does and which equipment offers the best price to performance ratio. We show you the affordable route to making home video titles and effects which are only made possible because of the Amiga. (none of that MovieMaker gold shite on the Pee Cee) So, what do I need and how much dosh do I need, I hear you say. Well that's the beauty of it, I don't know, anyway, what I want to #7More>> @5 know is who the hell is Jenny Lock and who's her mate Carla? I suppose it's just one of those unanswerable questions (is that a real word or did I just make it up?- Answers on blank disk please) Right, the bad thing is you'll need a fair bit of dosh even for the cheapo route, plus plenty of memory, decent processors help, but by no means are they necessary. O.K, so you want to produce some neato effects dubbed over those sad boring old holiday videos, but you are new to computing and don't have a clue what you need, well that's alright because I'm here (once again) to lend a hand. What you need to start up is your Amiga, preferably a 1200, a Genlock, 2 video sources i.e a camcorder and a VCR or two VCRs or even two #7More>> @5camcorders. Next, you need a titling program for use with genlocks and that's about it. Make sure that you have all necessary leads needed for playing video through the genlock and the correct software for your set up. Now you'll need a load of video tapes, believe me you do! Those people who fancy themselves as video freaks can buy extras such as digitisers, video mixing decks for advanced fade effects, audio fades, silly coloured blocks on the screen which make even better fades, picture clarifier etc etc. The list is endless. Right, where to get hold of this equipment and how much. For a decent but cheap genlock, I can recommend the Amitek Fusion #7More>> @5 genlock as it doesn't fuzz your words and it is so simple to use it makes me feel clever. Try contacting your local Amiga dealer for the Amitek Genlock, failing that try a major magazine mail order dealer. Other genlocks available are the Minigen, GVP G-Lock, Lola L3000 genlock and the Hama 290. The latter two genlocks are more professional and expensive. Rendale genlocks have always been good little err things. There are several other genlocks available, but the only type I've seen and tried are the Amitek and GVP genlocks which are both very good, although the GVP is a more professional genlock with a bucket load of features. #7More>> @5Amitek Genlock is 99 pounds & the GVP G-Lock is around 250 pounds. I suppose I'd better tell you what a genlock actually does hadn't I? Well, basically you connect a genlock to the video port of your Amiga and then connect your source video (from) to the genlock and then through the other plug, the OUT plug, on your genlock you connect your destination (to) video. My set up has a camcorder playing the source and an VHS HQ video recorder recording the genlocked signal. The genlock and your Amiga are at the centre of it all. The genlock receives the (from) video signal and then resyncs the video signal with the Amiga graphics video and with the technical wonders of modern day computing you will have computer graphics mixed with actual video footage piped through the genlock sent out to the other recorder which will record your #7More>>> @5 titles, pictures or whatever. BUT, it's not all just a case of connecting it all up and recording titles, you must use a titling program. Any of the Scala range will do. Scala 100 comes with the Amitek, so this is what I'll base my articles on, although we do have Scala 300 and I may do a tutorial/feature on this package (even if it is my Dads, but he won't mind) Once Scala is up and running you must write your script such as a piece of blue text dropping to the bottom of the screen saying something like: "This is my Holiday video from 1995" blah blah. If you're like me and are a menace with titlers then you'll be putting silly text like "This is Frankenstein, I mean my Dad" #7More>>> @5or whatever. This feature isn't really about showing you how to use Scala, but for more info on Scala, see the article curiously named, Titling + Effects. When it comes to buying equipment you will know what's the best buy for your budget having read our definitive guide (see below) So the cost: (arrgh!) A video camera-- doesn't have to be amazing, just basic and good picture quality, HI8 cassettes definitely help, HI8 is just a video cassette grade that is higher than standard VHS (those large crappy tapes) and they have the advantage of being very small, just like a normal audio cassette only thicker. Price can vary from about 300 pounds to 1000 Second hand cameras can be much cheaper. #7More>>> @5 Video recorder-- Most households already have a VHS recorder anyway, so just pinch this from the living room. Price again varies from about: 130 pounds to 400 pounds Genlocks-- Amitek Fusion 99 pounds with Scala (well worth it) Hama 290 650 pounds (very professional) G-Lock 259 pounds (again professional and well designed) Others are available but the above are for low end users, middle and rich professional users who want the best. Scala-- The Scala packages include the HT range and MM range. H.T is home titler, MM is Multimedia. Scala HT 100 is a basic, but nice titler which will do everything that the part time user will want. Scala 200 goes further and is reasonably cheap these days. Scala 300 and 400 are absolutely brilliant and allow the user to use graphics, graphic effects, your own fonts, brushes, music modules, pictures, scripts and even controlling T.Vs, hi-fi's with the info channel and a controller, absolutely brilliant and @5 expensive!! They cost over 300 pounds. #7More>>> @5Scala is available on both PC and Amiga, although I don't know which one is better, but seeing how this is an Amiga magazine with obvious Amiga bias, then obviously the Amiga. (was it that obvious?) Please note that the Amiga route will save you hundreds and hundreds of pounds and can have genlocks attached, cheaply and with ease. Many people say that this is the Amigas home and I think they're right. Amiga Specs needed-- You can use anything right down to a mingey A500 with 1 Meg, but I strongly recommend an A1200 and if you're using anything over Scala 200 then fast ram is NEEDED, an 030 might speed operations up, but it is fast enough even with just 2 meg added. We recommend an A1200/4 Meg fast and an Amitek Fusion genlock running either Scala 200/300. But that's just my opinion. See the next few pages for info on titlers, using a digitiser to aid video presentations...