Product review: TV*Show - Zuma Group Inc, Lights, Camera, Action - Aegis by DAVID MORGAN Surfers Paradise QUEENSLAND Being a bit of a videophile as well as a computer nut I felt that some comments on two new video related products might be helpful to others wanting to use their computers for some creative video production. First it is not a simple case of plugging your Amiga into a video for recording purposes, without all the technical jargon it just cannot be done without the interface of a genlock which is a device that "SYNCs" the signal from the Amiga with that of a video recorder. In my case I use a Neriki image master Genlock which is a great Australian product that interfaces with the Amiga perfectly. Once the above is accomplished you can now record video signals and the Amiga output (whatever that may be) onto another VCR, or direct all Amiga video output to a VCR without any other source video. The next phase is to use software that can enhance your video masterpieces, thus the need for this review. You can use any paint programmes that use Amiga colour "0" as a base, which is the colour a GENLOCK uses as a transparent colour in order to give you the appearance of characters or other things appearing in/on your video. The problem with this approach is the lack of control between the image and recording. As an example, moving your image requires the mouse cursor - this would be unacceptable if it appeared on your video. A number of software programmes are now on the market, including Pro- Video from JDK, a character-generation programme that allows you to manipulate only words/characters in fades, wipes etc. The Director is a slide-show script-driven program. TV*Show - the subject of this review. Lights, Camera, Action - also the subject of this review. There must be some others out there! Before we go any further perhaps we should explain some of the more common TERMINOLOGY used in this review. Transitions: the method one screen moves to another Fade: A gradual replacement of a back screen with the front screen Wipe: The removal of one screen with another by a "pushing effect" Reveal: One screen replacing another with an "overlay effect" Chip Memory: Presently on all Amiga's 512K of system memory. Fast Ram: Optional expandable memory up to 8 megs. PAL/NTSC: Two different video formats available to the Amiga. Interlace: A different refresh rate that makes screens look smoother HAM: The Hold and modify format on the Amiga permitting 4096 colours. Event: One screen or action in a script. TV*SHOW: Like L,C,A (Lights, Camera, Action), comes in two parts, an EDITOR and a PLAYER. The player is allowed to be distributed to other people and permits the showing of your creations. The editor portion of the set is 162540 bytes in size and the player is 82108 bytes. TV*Show comes with a slick tutorial created using TV*Show and leaves little out in order to get you up and running fast. The manual is just adequate. With both programmes reviewed, the purpose of them is to build a script file that the player uses to call your video images from various places and permit screen transitions using different video effects. This process can be enhanced by holding an image on screen and overlay another images such as a brush or animation. With Director this is done by use of a WordProcessor or Text Editor with TV*Show, and with L,C,A the user interface builds the script. With TV*Show the editor is completely mouse controlled and by clicking on various Icons you build a script that is saved upon request to a location selected by the user. TV*Show also permits you to narrate your video using the Amiga voice in either male or female gender. If a screen is saved with a colour cycle routine this can also be replayed using TV*Show. TV*Show uses Objects which can be brushes saved from other programmes - as an example you could create a title using, say Photon Paint, save it as a brush and then use it as an object in TV*Show. This permits you to put the title over an existing picture by having it fade or wipe over the picture and then disappear in the same manner before the programme moves on. The number of screen transitions available in TV*Show is extensive and all you'd probably ever need. Objects also have other transitions and all you need to do is position the object on the screen where you want it to end and detail the method of transition and it's done. TV*Show allows as many events as your memory will permit and has many other control modes to permit transition rates to be altered in speed and to create loops and key prompts. LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION ---------------------- The editor portion of this programme is 172952 bytes and the player is 112132 bytes. As both programmes are similar we won't go over familiar ground but point out the differences between L,C,A, and TV*Show. You must stipulate the screen format in L,C,A, and then use all the events in the same format. L,C,A, is designed to work with, and software control "SuperGen", another genlock for the Amiga, but it does work with all other genlocks except in the software control area. L,C,A, only permits a total of 50 events, about 10 minutes of video at a 10 second view (delay) per screen, and as a minimum of three events are used for playing a score this is a major limitation. With L,C,A, you can use music to enhance your show providing it has been saved as a SMUS file compatible with Aegis Sonix. You can use animations in your show providing they are created using an ANIM. format or taken from another programme using the GRABanim utility supplied with L,C,A,. You can attach certain events to others such as having music start and finish to coincide with certain screen showings. Screen transitions are extensive and the user interface is logical. L,C,A, also permits severe overscan suitable for video applications and it also provides a mode called Video-res which doubles the vertical resolution at a saving over memory as associated with Hi-Res. My Conclusions -------------- Both programmes are very good, the prices are about the same although I did purchase both of them at the AmiExpo in Chicago so do not know what the cost here will be. Both programmes need at least 1 meg of memory to operate effectively and I would suggest that a hard drive is desirable to cut down disk access time. Both programmes autoconfigure for PAL/NTSC Amiga formats, however NTSC output on a PAL VCR leaves a lot to be desired, so try to get everything compatible. Both programmes use buffers to aid in clean/smooth transitions but at a cost to memory availability. The interface in TV*Show is much more user friendly and the usage of chip ram is more efficient than that of L,C,A,: this is important as a small chip memory availability could and normally will result in the visit from the guru. Both programmes use "art" created in all Amiga resolutions including HAM, but once again HAM mode needs to be used with care as it is very memory intensive and in some applications you can have 1 1/2 HAM screens visible or in memory at once using some transition formats. TV*Show allows you to "see" the image you're working with and to only show portions of your entire script as you're building a programme. L,C,A, does not have this facility. L,C,A permits you to play Amiga music or digitised sounds saved where TV*Show only allows the use of the Amiga "say" voice. L,C,A, is orientated to Aegis-compatible support programmes where TV*Show is happy with anything. The size of the player is important as it is designed to be distributed with the disk that your pictures are on. TV*Show has the smaller player. I have found L,C,A, does not "cleanup" after itself too well especially when using HAM and Video-Res this results in low chip memory and a visit from you know who! TV*Show has a utility called SCRIPTMOVER that, once started, will move and rewrite your script to any location you nominate, whereas this must be done in L,C,A, by reactivating the editor or using a WP-based editor. Therefore without being insulting to Aegis I cast my vote for TV*Show by Zuma Group Inc., a great product that adds that professional touch to home or commercial videos. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX END OF DESKTOPVIDEO XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX