Recording/digitizing a live session at a computer monitor
Easy version
- Decide which computer you're using as the source. Use the patch
panel to route that computer to the Lyon Lamb scan converter. The default
straight-through path sends pipe 1 of radiance to the Lyon Lamb. Use a
patch cord to override this path. The names of sources are on the top
of each patch panel row, and destinations are at the bottom.
- If you're using radiance, you'll need to reset its
resolution if it's in maximum (double-screen) mode. When the X login
prompt is onscreen there will be a small
window in the upper left, pick one of the "Max Res ... to Lyon Lamb"
options. The screen will go dark momentarily when the X server
restarts, then it will return at your chosen resolution. In this mode
the monitors both have the same upper left screen, but one is your big
work monitor so that you can see a large area, and one is
smaller showing you exactly what you'd see on the Lyon
Lamb when it's zoomed all the way out.
- If you're using a specific PC with fast graphics, it's probably
easiest to haul the CPU into the video lab and just cannibalize the
video hookup for the NLE PC. Or, if you need to stay out in the main
lab floor, there are two sets of cables coming up from under the floor
on the other side of the mural that end up at the patch bay slots
labelled Lightening and Lightening2. In either case, you'll probably
need to use the Extron sync converter box in order to deal with the
fact the PCs have both horizontal and vertical sync, but the video
rack was only designed to handle a single sync channel.
- Use the Web interface to
route the Lyon Lamb to a tape deck or digitizing computer (moviola or
kinora).
If you're digitizing, follow the instructions on the Capture page.
- To see what's happening, middle-click on the Lyon Lamb and
left-click on one of the monitors.
More detail
Using the Lyon Lamb
See the Lyon Lamb configuration
page for details on zooming, panning, and filtering to avoid
annoying jitter.
O2 hardware scanconverter - an alternate path
If you want to use the SGI O2 moviola, you can use one of its own
built-in scan converter. The quality of the hardware one seems to be
better than the Lyon Lamb external scan converter (although the
software one seems to be worse). To do this:
- Route directly from moviola to the tape deck of your choice, using
the Web interface or the telect
command.
- Run the Live Video Output program. Either run "videoout" from the
command line, or run "vcp" and then pick "Live Video Output"
from the Utilities menu.
- Run the Live Video Output program. Either run "videoout" from the
command line, or run "vcp" and then pick "Live Video Output"
from the Utilities menu. If you change any of the video
parameters using vcp, you'll need to quit and restart videoout
in order to see their effect.
- You should be able to output either composite (NTSC VHS) or
digital (SDI/CCIR601).
Additional notes
- Radiance is the highest-end SGI, so you should use it if you need
a lot of graphics power. Moviola will suffice if you're not
doing anything too major.
- If you're going directly to a VHS deck, you should just use the NTSC
output of the Lyon Lamb. If you're going to one of the higher end Beta
decks which have component input, then you should use the CAV/YUV
output. If you want to see the best-possible results on a monitor, use
the RGBS output.
Troubleshooting
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videolab@graphics.stanford.edu
Last modified: Fri Jan 28 15:30:54 PST 2000