Magic DaVE: Difference between revisions

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The station's main vision mixer, the front end control panel has been featured on air a number of times thanks to it's enamelled metal good looks and general air of sophistication.
Magic DaVE occupies 2 units in the rack which houses all the image processing, and has the inputs and output BNC sockets.  It also has four 'REF' (Black & Burst) BNC sockets, of which one is used for the 8x4 Video Switcher, and another is sent to Main Mux as a video input.


Thanks to [[Matt Hammond]]'s connections with Snell and Wilcox (his Dad worked for them!), YSTV acquired it's 4-input analogue Magic DaVE Vision mixer for much less than it should have cost (hence why we could afford it!). This wasn't some dodgy back room deal, however. The unit we have is an early Mark I back end, which has a subtle fault on the PCBs rendering the expansion slot unusable. This lead to it's return under warranty from the Middle Eastern broadcaster who had bought it when they acquired an expansion card. This left Snell wondering what to do with a perfectly good digital frame store vision mixer, which wasn't really saleable because it didn't meet the spec. It eventually found it's way to YSTV, and has been in active use ever since, although not many people have ever mastered the full range of special effects and sequences it can be programmed to produce.
There is also a 'front end' on the director's desk which is used by the vision mixer during a show to. This is the interface and is used to control the 2 unit device previously mentioned.


Often referred to simply as "Dave", which often caused confusion (and [[quotes board]] material) when [[Dave Baker]] joined.
As you'll see from the Vision Path page, the four inputs to Magic DaVE are from DaVE P169 (whence 'DaVE' P169 gets its name).


[[Category: Equipment]]
The 'Program' row of buttons dictates what is its output.  The 'Preview' row is the input or picture which will be faded to next. 
 
Fading is done by means of the T-bar.  The 'Program' out can be switched instantaneously (IE cutting to, without fading between inputs) by pressing one of the four input buttons, or Matte, Pattern, or Black.
 
Usually Matte or Pattern should never be broadcasted.  Black will be used occasionally; EG at the end of a show, or during severe technical difficulties when a ticker bar should be overlaid from Graphics PC to explain the lack of transmission (grapics PC could alternatively give a slide to explain that there's a problem, this probably looks more professional.
 
Magic DaVE has a lot of options and features.  It can do creative transitions between video inputs (some of which are a bit corny to say the least, but others such as 'wipe' which are good for variety).  It can also apply visual effects to the output, such as solarise and probably a lot of others.  Each of these features has a wealth of options to control the finer nuances, such as controlling the thickness and colour of the 'wipe' line between sources, or the threshold level of solarising.

Revision as of 20:22, 1 January 2010

Magic DaVE occupies 2 units in the rack which houses all the image processing, and has the inputs and output BNC sockets. It also has four 'REF' (Black & Burst) BNC sockets, of which one is used for the 8x4 Video Switcher, and another is sent to Main Mux as a video input.

There is also a 'front end' on the director's desk which is used by the vision mixer during a show to. This is the interface and is used to control the 2 unit device previously mentioned.

As you'll see from the Vision Path page, the four inputs to Magic DaVE are from DaVE P169 (whence 'DaVE' P169 gets its name).

The 'Program' row of buttons dictates what is its output. The 'Preview' row is the input or picture which will be faded to next.

Fading is done by means of the T-bar. The 'Program' out can be switched instantaneously (IE cutting to, without fading between inputs) by pressing one of the four input buttons, or Matte, Pattern, or Black.

Usually Matte or Pattern should never be broadcasted. Black will be used occasionally; EG at the end of a show, or during severe technical difficulties when a ticker bar should be overlaid from Graphics PC to explain the lack of transmission (grapics PC could alternatively give a slide to explain that there's a problem, this probably looks more professional.

Magic DaVE has a lot of options and features. It can do creative transitions between video inputs (some of which are a bit corny to say the least, but others such as 'wipe' which are good for variety). It can also apply visual effects to the output, such as solarise and probably a lot of others. Each of these features has a wealth of options to control the finer nuances, such as controlling the thickness and colour of the 'wipe' line between sources, or the threshold level of solarising.

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