Re: Amiga Video Toaster in today's world???

> Just curious how the Amiga Toaster is being used
> in today's world of PC and Mac video for the masses?

    Given the world's propensity for pushing the newest far before the old
hardware is worn, I think that you will find precious few Amiga Toasters
alongside of professional studio PC's and Mac's.

    Of course there are those of us who keep them around for a variety of
reasons, but it would be very difficult to recommend one to someone starting
off in video editing at this point.

> Is it still a viable alternative?

    It is.  Since it is a broadcast quality device, it is still "viable"
just as an 80's era chromakeyer is.  I've kept mine around to use as a live
switcher, framebuffer, ChromaFX special effects, and effects generator.  It
is no longer something that I would use as the sole tool to do client work -
but that's a personal choice I've made.

    It's hard to beat the price when you find one used.  A friend of mine
found an Amiga 2000 at a thrift store with an '040, a Toaster and a TBC for
$2.  This is perfect for public access, or amateur video, or webcasting.  I
have used the Toaster with live webcasts.  Since the streaming video is only
quarter screen, the audience can't make out the Toaster's pixellated
transitions.

> Can the output be saved as modern digital formats avi, mpgs, DVDs, CDs
etc?

    An Amiga can save in a variety of contemporary formats, but you have to
jump through a lot of hoops to do it and often the render times just make it
a bad deal.  Best thing to do is to take the Toaster's output and digitize
it into a PC, letting it do all the standards conversion.

    I recently did this with a project where I had to recreate some old
Toaster transitions on a restored video.  I digitized the transitions going
between two solid colors (for later keying) into a PC.  There I was able to
lose some of the jaggy edges and even add motion blur, etc.

> Thanks for any input!!!

    As a live switcher, I think that the Toaster is still a tremendous tool.
If you can get the more compact Amiga 4000 or 3000 varieties, so much
better.  It's still smaller and more capable than a lot of stand-alone
switchers out there... and you can't beat today's prices.  It is an analog
composite system (though there are some very hard to find cards to allow the
Toaster to process Y/C signals), and is a great way to learn about
multi-camera shoots.

    If what you're looking for is to easily digitize and edit material shot
on DV cameras, there's little that the Toaster can offer you that you can't
get on a typical PC today (though you won't get the falling sheep
transitions!  :)

    OF course I still have three or four of them, so it's not like I hate
them or anything.  :)


--
- Bohus Blahut
  (BOH-hoosh BLAH-hoot)

  modern filmmaker