Good/inexpensive external DSK

[johnsoncz3]

Can anyone recommend a good, inexpensive external downstream keyer for use with the VT5? I have an Avid Deko CG and want to use that to generate graphics downstream for a score bug, lower thirds, ect. I know the toaster can do that. But I have a pretty advanced database driven system already programmed on the Deko and labor to reprogram everything would be a killer.

Problem is, right now I can't find a good SD downstream external keyer for less than $2k, which is half the price of the toaster. I was hoping for something in the $1K area.

Oh, and my Deko doesn't support pass through. It outputs a key and a fill.

Suggestions? Thanks!!

[gcj_triplem]

From memory, i think the sav.tv boxes would be less that 2k

http://www.communitekvideo.com/MKR200-2003.pdf

(link for the US market)

We used to use a hire studio that had one installed, it worked very well (which is more than we could say for the rest of the studio...)

[Bobt]

Can you make a png or bmp image with Alpha with that thing?
Might be able to rewire 3rd channel to allow you to send overlays in.

[PhilThompson]

I have a home grown cg which works by creating bitmaps for each frame and sending them out through a card (bluefish 444) to get SDI.

I'd like use my CG with VT (as it has some custom features that the built in CG lacks) but could never work out the SDK.

If 3rd channel could take a bitmap (with alpha) and insert it into the DSK, it would be the perfect solution for me.

[PIZAZZ]

Can anyone recommend a good, inexpensive external downstream keyer for use with the VT5? I have an Avid Deko CG and want to use that to generate graphics downstream for a score bug, lower thirds, ect. I know the toaster can do that. But I have a pretty advanced database driven system already programmed on the Deko and labor to reprogram everything would be a killer.

Problem is, right now I can't find a good SD downstream external keyer for less than $2k, which is half the price of the toaster. I was hoping for something in the $1K area.

Oh, and my Deko doesn't support pass through. It outputs a key and a fill.

Suggestions? Thanks!!

Welcome to my pain... for the World Series of Poker last June/July in Vegas we had the same challenge. The graphics company brought in at the last moment used a Deko to generate all the real time graphics for the final tables. We also had a Chyron single channel box to input too. We ended up subrenting a Sony 500 switcher to combine the VT's output and the Deko. The Deko fed into the Chyron and then the Chryon fed the combined feed into the Sony switcher for keying.

I did find a couple hardware units that can do a combining of the key/fill and background without using a full bore switcher. There is an Evertz unit that costs around 10k. There is also a For-A unit that cost around $8500. I just could make my client drop that kind of money on a SD only dumb box.

Before we landed on the Sony subrent solution, I did play around with using the SDI out of Deko into the VT's SX-SDI. I then placed a liveset on every input that mapped the Deko input from the Aux row over each input channel's video. We needed to keep switching on the main row so the Tally lights would work correctly otherwise we could of done the switching on the Aux row without a special LiveSet. We set the output of the Deko to be on a green background. The graphical elements had too much black in them so the lumakey didn't work that well. We had some crashes while testing this but I am not sure if it was VT related or what. I haven't had a moment to retest this setup to see what was up. I plan on doing it again in a few weeks when we do the WSOP-Europe. I had to have a stable live solution within 2 hours so I decided not to take a chance and put the Sony into place.

The key was cleaner when using the LiveSet keyer than when we used the Sony switcher. We had 8 SDI inputs from the cameras and the LiveSet on 6 of those inputs so maybe it was resources. I sure wish I could of figured out what it was. It could of saved us a ton of money in subrenting the Sony.

So if you have the availability to do the setup like this with the Deko going into a SDI input, please email me for the special LiveSet we created. I would even be willing to loan you a SDI VT card to test with if you don't have one. You will need a spare 32bit PCI slot next to the VT Card.

Email me if I can help. (jef at pizazzme dot com) I am not around here as much as I used to be due to the prep I am having to do for Europe.