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Path: utzoo!watmath!watcgl!dmmartindale
From: dmmartindale@watcgl.UUCP (Dave Martindale)
Newsgroups: net.graphics,net.wanted
Subject: Re: Graphics to VCR, Help
Message-ID: <293@watcgl.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 2-Nov-84 00:07:16 EST
Article-I.D.: watcgl.293
Posted: Fri Nov  2 00:07:16 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 2-Nov-84 07:13:38 EST
References: <1051@trwrba.UUCP>, <567@watdcsu.UUCP>, <249@watcgl.UUCP>, <265@cadovax.UUCP>
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 31

Re using colour film as a way of getting good video:
There definitely is equipment around that will do high-quality transfer
from film to video.  The equipment itself is very expensive, but you should
be able to pay someone to do the transfer.

However, getting good images on film isn't easy.  Just photographing the
face of the monitor doesn't work too well - the colours seem to desaturate
a lot (we tried doing some animation tests using exactly this technique).
There are devices around that are designed specifically for producing
good-quality photographic images; typically they use a black&white CRT
and colour filters to generate colour images.  One real advantage of such
equipment over video equipment that generates NTSC directly is that your
frame buffer doesn't need to accept an external sync signal.  Anything
that the camera's monitor will lock to is fine.

On the other hand, to produce good, stable animation on film, you need
a film transport for your camera which holds a fair length of film and
uses pin registration of the film for precise positioning from one frame
to the next.  Such a camera might cost you almost as much as the video
equipment I mentioned, but in cases where you can use the final output
on film, the quality can be much better than standard television can
ever provide even on the best possible equipment.

A difference between this approach and generating video directly is
that the direct-to-video approach allows you to record in real time and
only in real time (unless you have a VTR which can record single
frames, still a very expensive item - $75000), while a film cameras
allows you to record only in non-real time.

So the video approach allows you to record interaction as it happens,
while film is much better for recording animation.