Video SwitchersMr. Specter

Steel Valley High School

What Are They?

Video Switchers are used to determine what source will be put on-air or recorded.

From the earliest days of TV these units were expanded to include limited special effects such as dissolves and wipes.

Later expanded to include “digital effects”.Digital effects included the ability to compress and manipulate images in real time.

Production houses used to charge an additional $250 – $350 per hour to use digital effects.

Types of Effects

Basic effects include:Cuts

Dissolves

Wipes

KeysLuminance

Chroma

Blue or Green Screen

Digital Effects

Two basic types:Overlay

Effects happen on top of your live image

TransitionEffects cover a change in source

Digital Effects require that the image be broken down and stored in a computer-style memory. This is necessary for compression.

Our Video Switchers

We Own Three Different SystemsTrinity

Video Toaster

Panasonic WJ-MX-50

Main Switchers

TrinityUsed in the studio

Built around 1998 by Play Inc.

Offers graphics as well as switching

Can do graphics animation and custom special effects

Graphics module called “Titlewave”

Editing module called “Predator”

Switching module called “Air Command”

Framestore and moving video

Important to Know

The bottom row of buttons on the Trinity is Preview, not Program.

Program is what is on the air or being recorded.

This layout is consistent with most other switchers.

The Program buss is the second from the bottom.

The Mix/Effects buttons control which busses are active and how they interact.

The AUX buss is often called the Overlay buss on other switchers.

How to Grab a Framestore

Here’s how to grab a Framestore on the Trinity:Click the “Freeze” button on the switcher interface panel.

Drag the image into the bin in order to add it.

Trinity was designed to directly control a videotape machine.

This feature was used for both playback of material during live broadcasts and editing.

Main Switchers

Video ToasterUsed for remote productions due to size/weight

Built around 1991

Includes:Switcher

Character Generator

Color Effects/Filters

3-D Modeling/Animation

Lightwave

Paint System

Framestore

Cannot playback moving video on its own.

Main Switchers

Both The Toaster and the Trinity were designed by the same people.

Kiki Stockhammer

Michael Moore

Others

Main Differences

Toaster cannot store moving images.

Toaster cannot control videotape machines without additional 3rd party hardware and software.

Toaster includes high-end 3-D software called Lightwave.

Trinity effects are “cleaner” than Toaster effects that use compression.

Next Class

We will have a test on the switchers.

I hope you paid attention!