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View Full Version : For sale: RocGen Genlock



Stephen Coates
4th August 2007, 12:33
I never actually got round to using this.

You can have it for the postage cost if you want it. Sold as untested.

More info: http://www.amiga.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=39464&forum=21

Cheers
Steve

Harrison
4th August 2007, 12:41
Does it include any sellotape hacks? ;)

How come you never used it? It can be great fun playing around with a genlock. You should definitely have some fun with it before you get rid of it.

Stephen Coates
4th August 2007, 18:07
No Sellotape.

I suppose could have a mess about with it when I can set a VCR up with the amiga.

Actually, I do have a VCR and a monitor and an A500+ setup at my Dad's house which I could use.

Stephen Coates
28th November 2007, 13:03
I finally got it working.

It has a socket on the back fora 12volt DC power supply, but it didn't come with one. But if I plug it into the RGB socket, even without a power supply, the lights come on. So, using a soldering iron, a bit of spare wire and sellotape (for insulation), I conected two wires to it, and then connected those to the 12v supply from an ATX power supply, and nothing happened.

So, I connected it to the video recorder and to the A500+ (and not a power supply), and it works fine. I can now word process stuff in Pen Pal and have the television as a background. There are lots of conbinations of pictures you can have using the AMIGA and VIDEO dials on the front.

Has anyone else here used the RocGen? (Or any other genlock for that matter)

Buleste
28th November 2007, 13:12
Watch this for a basic look at what the Genloc can do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YyMBPptJWA&feature=related
I've always wondered what a genloc is so I can't help you on what they can do i'm afraid.

Harrison
28th November 2007, 13:38
Yep, I used to use genlocks and chromakeyers all the time when I used to work with analogue video editing equipment. At the time it was really cool being able to create some graphics on the Amiga and then overlay them on top of a video source, and being able to control a dissolve (or fade) of the graphics.

But these days much more advanced versions of both are built into most good post Non Linear video editing (NLE) applications and post production software. I tend to use Combustion and After Effects for such things these days, and sometimes Premiere for quick things that don't need much work. As an example, with software these days you can refine the colour key for blue or green screen removal and refine it but selecting addition colours to remove exactly what you need. And also to then remove the colour cast that always happens when something is positioned in front of a coloured background. You can also feather the edges between the colour being keyed and the object to soften the edges and reduce the appearance of two sources being overlaid. And for genlocking type work, with something like Adobe After Effects you can just render the graphics or titles with a black background which contains an alpha channel and seemlessly overlay it over multiple video sources in a video editing package.

Of course, back in the Amiga days, all of this was completely beyond current technology, and if someone had shown me what today's video editing packages can do I would have stood open mouthed for hours staring!

For those that don't know what genlocking or chromakeying are:

A genlock is a device that mixes multiple video sources together. For Amiga genlocks this means you can overlay the Amiga graphical output over a video source. This was often used for adding titles and subtitles to a video, or to add graphics to video, such as a logo.

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/display_photos/glock.jpg

One of the best Genlocks every made for the Amiga was the GVP G-Lock. This is what I used to use at college. It had a nice selection of ports and could even work with a S-Video source, and all of it's features were software controlled from the Amiga so you could time fades and other effects.

Another make that were quite good were Hama. Hama made a lot of affordable home video equipment for video editing and their Amiga genlocks offered a lot of nice features including proper fader controls and mixing dials.

Another device that was available for the Amiga is called a Chromakey. This does the opposite of a genlock. Instead over overlaying Amiga graphics on top of a video source, a chromakey will replace a colour within the video source with Amiga graphics. This is how bluescreen works as you set the chromakey to "key out" the blue, and this is then replaced with the Amiga graphics. Exactly how weather forecasts are done.

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/display_photos/rockey_2.jpg

This is what a Chroma-key or Luma-key unit looks like. As you can see you have three dials and can adjust them to match the colour you wish to key the graphics too, so you can fine tune the colour it is keyed too to match the background you used for the best results.

BTW Steve, which RocGen model do you have? The original one was meant to be quite unreliable and lost it's colour quite often, but I think the later RocGen Plus was much better.

Stephen Coates
28th November 2007, 13:57
What is the connector on the end of that wire on the GVP one? Does it connect to the joystick port?

I have the RocGen Plus, and as I said, the quality is quite good, but obviously not as good as RGB. If I wanted graphics on top of a video, I would most likely use Adobe Premier. Genlocks are fun for messing about though, and I suppose they might still be suitable if you had a really good one.

Am I right in thinking that the RocKey connects to the RocGen? I think I read somewhere that it does, and the RocGen does have a 'Key In' socket on the back. I'm not sure what it would actually do though if you did connect them together.

Harrison
28th November 2007, 14:56
Yes, the RocKey does connect to the RocGen, although it can also be used with most other Amiga keygens that support a keying input.

The cable on the G-Lock is indeed a joystick connect that you plug into the Amiga's joystick port and the GVP software uses this to control the Genlock via software.

Merlin
1st December 2007, 22:27
@ Stephen

Is this still up for grabs or have you found a use for it?

Ta

Merlin

Stephen Coates
2nd December 2007, 11:00
I have set it up and been using it a little, but I don't really have any need for it. So I suppose it might still be up for grabs if anyone wants it.

Although I do quite fancy getting the RocKey to use with it.

Harrison
3rd December 2007, 00:44
Coming soon to a TV near Yorkshire... "The Stephen Coates weather forecast!"

;)

Stephen Coates
3rd December 2007, 10:05
Maybe I could work for the BBC and replace Paul Hudson (weather forcaster on Look North)!

It looks like look north actually have some sort of big display which he stands in front of. You can see where the lights and shining on it where the camera is too low and showing a couple of inches of the wall above the screen.

Harrison
3rd December 2007, 10:26
Some of them are now using proper displays rather than blue screens. Sky News seems to have the best video wall setup out of them all though.

Stephen Coates
6th December 2007, 18:40
I saw that one on Sky News the other day. Whats the point in having it so big? It doesn't make it any bigger on the television.

v85rawdeal
6th December 2007, 18:56
Whats the point in having it so big?

That is a similar argument I had with my ex... after all, any more than a mouthful is a waste...

Er...

Must stop posting my private thoughts!