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From: CDO@ibm-b.rutherford.ac.UK (Chris)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.visualization
Subject: Re: Video Recording
Message-ID: <9105161957.AA29535@aramis.rutgers.edu>
Date: 16 May 91 19:43:43 GMT
Sender: nobody@aramis.rutgers.edu
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Here are descriptions of (a) our initial system, (b) our current
system and (c) what we may be about to add.

(a) Initial (pilot) system

VME crate with 68010 processor and 2 24-bit 768x576 video framestores,
genlocked to Acron sync pulse gen, RGB output going via Abekas Cox
PAL encoder to Sony VO-5850 (modified to record Hi-Band SP)
via Lyon-Lamb MiniVas animation controller.

Input to system: already rasterized images or (more usually) CGM
(Computer Graphics Metafile, IS 8632) files.

Time to render: anything between 10 seconds and 10 minutes;

Time to record: 40 seconds because of PAL colour framing requirements.

(b) Current production system

VME crate with 68030 processor and 1 24-bit framestore with convertor
to CCIR 601 (4:2:2) digital video standard; YUV output from this
(equivalent to YIQ on the other side of the Atlantic) via parallel
link (so real-time) in Abekas A60 magnetic video disk with 30 second
recording capability

Input to system: as before, plus UNIRAS; also, because Abekas also has
Ethernet interface, direct download of images from mainframes
(Cray and IBM 3090) over Ethernet onto the Abekas

Time to render: subsecond to 15 seconds

Time to record: close to nil onto Abekas (being lazy we send the
record command over Ethernet which is slow but not slow enough to
worry about); we download replay sequences into the Abekas (maximum
100 segments, each can be at a different playback speed from 0.001x
to 32x, forwards or backwards) and then the Lyon-Lamb drops the
whole sequence onto tape in one go; typically users add captions and
loop or repeat sequences, so we usually drop a minute or two's video from
disk to tape for a single 40 second insert edit.

(c)  Additions in the wings

Seriously looking at LVR-6000 system from Sony (component WORM disk,
24 minutes per side of a $290 (450 dollars equivalent) disk.  This
would connect straight up to the existing system, as we are already
running the computer in YUV although the recorder is composite.

Hope that is the sort of summary you are after - get back if you need
more information.  Be interested to see the reuslts you get.

Regards

Chris Osland
Head of Computer Graphics
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Chilton, DIDCOT, Oxfordshire, UK
tel +44 235 44 6565