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From: yeidel@wsuvm1.csc.wsu.edu (Joshua Yeidel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
Subject: Re: Movies from a Decstation 5000
Message-ID: <1991Mar04.193544.25474@eecs.wsu.edu>
Date: 4 Mar 91 19:35:44 GMT
References: <1991Mar5.005311.176@csc.canterbury.ac.nz>
Sender: @eecs.wsu.edu
Distribution: usa
Organization: Washington State University
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In article <1991Mar5.005311.176@csc.canterbury.ac.nz>
phys009@csc.canterbury.ac.nz writes:
>Hi Folks
>
>I am about to buy a DecStation 5000 to do visualization with, and am wondering
>about presentation animation...
>
>Has anyone out there tried to attach a frame grabber in order to produce
movies
>from one of these. Is anyone in a position to tell me what hardware I might
>need, and how  to go about it?
>
>Help ...
>
>Bryan Lawrence                             
>                                           
>Voice: (44)(865)272930                     
>Janet: uk.ac.ox.atm.isams::lawrence                                           

>Internet: lawrence@isams.dnet.nasa.gov                                        

>Mail:   Dept. Atmos. Physics., Clarendon Lab., Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3PU. U.K.
>

I presume from your mention of a frame-grabber that you are thinking in terms
of video when you say "movies".  You may want to think about film as well.  

We are in the process of setting up to do scientific visualization (including
animation) on a DECstation 5000 PXG Turbo (3-D accelerated system).  We are
intending to use S_VHS as our capture and distribution medium. 

We will use a Chromatek Scan Converter to take the system's RGB video output
(with loop-through back to the system monitor) and down-convert it to S-Video. 
This is a very expensive device (about $23,000), but it offers a capability to
specify exactly what rectangle on the computer screen is converted to the full
video screen (plus indcependent horizontal and vertical scaling to adjust
aspect ratio).  The net result is that images of any size can be captured
WITHOUT messing with the generating software.  

The Lyon-Lamb RTC converter is the only competitor I know of with a similar
capability, but it is slightly more expensive, uses 10 amps instead of 2 amps,
has six fans (noisy) instead of one, and is three times the size.  (On the
other hand, L-L is THE top name in the field and is USA-made, whereas the
Chromatek is made in Japan.)

We are hoping at this point to do without stop-frame animation (that is, we
will use a free-running VTR to capture images as they appear on the computer,
rather than trying to drop one frame at a time onto the VTR).  The latter
approach requires an animation controller, and I hear it grinds up VTR
transports due to the rewind-preroll sequence required for each frame.  I'm
hoping that we will be able to rack up frames on disk in some convenient
format and then play them back at appropriate speeds.

We are also working to get money for an S-VHS editing bench (two decks,
controller, and audio gear) so we can make something that resembles
professional output (i.e., not immediately obvious that they're "home movies").
 We would like some sort of switcher/effects device to go with that, but it
surely won't come out of this budget year.

I caution you that everything I say is WITHOUT benefit of experience -- we're
expecting the Chromatek in about two weeks, and the VTR's are not even ordered
yet.  Draw your own conclusions.

-- Joshua Yeidel