scott@nbc1.ge.com (Scott Barman) (05/25/90)
A while ago I posted the following: >I just noticed an ad for a product by Willow Peripherals called VGA TV. >The ad says its a VGA video card with 256K and an RCA output jack so >that images can be recorded on the VCR. What a neat idea! And I can >find an application for this! > >Now the questions: > >Who is Willow Peripherals? >Where are they located? (are they on the net?) >How can I get in touch with them for technical information? >Are there other vendors who has a similar product (this was is listed at >$329.95 at 47 Street Photo in NYC)? Since I received more than a dozen requests for a summary, I decided to post it. Before I begin, I would like to thank the following people who with information on the Willow Peripherals board or other options (listed in order that I received their notes): Irwin M. Fargo <fargo@iear.arts.rpi.edu!fargo> Ken Mandelberg <km@mathcs.emory.edu!km> eakin@rsmas.miami.edu Scott E. Wright <scholar@pawl.rpi.edu> Robert Tait <rt@itivax.iti.org> Peter da Silva <peter@ficc.ferranti.com> Marshall L. Buhl <marshall@Seri.GOV> Russ Nelson <nelson@image.soe.clarkson.edu> Vera Vallentin-Price <vera@cadence.com> I thank you all! First let me add something to the explanation I left out. I was looking for something that would output video in NTSC format (525 line 59.94 Hz television) so I can have the display from a PC output to a preview monitor in a production truck at live events. I was not looking for graphics generation stuff since, quite frankly, the PC does not cut it when considering broadcast quality. What I noticed was the RCA output jack that would lead to a VCR. This could be introduced to our patch system to get the output where we want it. Oh, and for those who recomended the Amiga, I am restricted to PCs (quite frankly, I would never have chosen a PC for this project but I didn't do the choosin'!). There were a lot of good things said about the VGA TV card and it all seems to be true! OK, so the output is not perfect, but it is very good! After looking around (here) I found a few in use here and saw what it can do. Small letters are a little fuzzy but it was quite legible when viewing on 9-inch monitors. It also seemed to record well on our equipment so it does seem like it would be worth purchasing if this is what you want: Willow Peripherals 190 Willow Avenue Bronx, New York 10454 800/444-1585 212/402-0010 I have not had a chance to see other boards or call other vendors, yet! (have you ever delt with producers or production coordinators? They only change their mind once every five minutes!!!!) But I have the following information on other vendors (with apologies to the people who gave this info to me--I can't give them credit because I accidentally wrote over my original file as I was typing this :-( ): Jovian VIN $495 Jovian Logic Corp. Fremont, CA 415-651-4823 desc: external box requiring user already own a VGA card. conclusion: flexible, some drawbacks. USVIDEO Recordable VGA $799 USVIDEO Inc. Stanford, CT 800-842-8780 desc: PC VGA card conclusion: pricey, but worth it-best color, genlock, 16 bit bus Of these, the US Video card had the best reviews! I also understand the output is clearer than the VGA-TV card so there are some people here that are interested (I will see it when they get an evaluation version). If there are those who are interested in just duplicating their monitor in another location, I found a couple of vendors that can help: CyberResearch, Inc. P.O. Box 9565 New Haven, CT 06535-0565 800/341-2525 They have two products that seem to be real interesting: The Extender Series Extension Cables for One Monitor and Keyboard will let you run a monitor and keyboard up to 150 feet away from the PC. Cables are available for Mono/CGA/EGA, VGA, and PS/2 adapters. Cables for Mono/CGA/EGA at 150 feet cost $245. The other interesting item is the Companion Series. This allows both local and remote monitor and keyboard. This will allow a monitor and keyboard up to 150 feet away to share the same PC (as in the same display on the local monitor is on the remote monitor). Cables for Mono/CGA/EGA at 150 feet cost $345. We may try to get one of these in for evaluation. I also found the following from: Communications Specialties, Inc. 89A Cabot Ct. Hauppauge, NY 11788 516/273-0404 FAX: 516/273-1638 The ENC-1/ENC-2/ENC-3 will encode analog or digital RGB signals to NTSC video with color burst genlock circuit. The ENC-1 takes analog input, the ENC-2 takes TTL input from a CGA, and the ENC-3 takes sync-on-green analog input. They sell cables to take VGA input. All output is through a female BNC connector (they also sell a BNC to RCA connector which is something I can use!). Depending on the whims of the people who deal with the project I am working on, I may have a ENC-2 for evaluation. That's if they don't change the project on me!!! :-( I hope this helps somebody! -- scott barman NBC Systems Development scott@nbc1.ge.com 30 Rockerfeller Plaza, Room 1615W {philabs,ge-dab,crdgw1}!nbc1!scott New York, NY 10112 +1 212/664-2787 (This does not represent any [un]official opinions of NBC or their affiliates)
balden@van-bc.UUCP (Bruce Balden) (05/29/90)
I am interested in VGA-TV for PAL TV's. Anyone seen a product in this direction? I will summarize reponses. ========================================================== Bruce Balden INTERNET: balden@wimey.bc.ca uucp: ...!uunet!ubc-cs!van-bc!balden