Mac OS 9 Lives

Classic Mac OS Software => Video Capturing & Editing Software => Topic started by: part12studios on April 07, 2019, 09:42:38 PM

Title: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: part12studios on April 07, 2019, 09:42:38 PM
So I got this device, but I can't find anything online about it.  Here are some pictures.

I think the thing is called "media 100" but i'm not sure.  It is this weird power strip looking video in / out that goes to a large dedicated video card inside that's also pretty beefy looking.

the external device
https://www.dropbox.com/s/t61ohy8wy7ipdvo/IMG_1191.JPG?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/t61ohy8wy7ipdvo/IMG_1191.JPG?dl=0)

what the card looks like from the back of the G4
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mcqw6hjqa2325uw/IMG_1197.JPG?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/mcqw6hjqa2325uw/IMG_1197.JPG?dl=0)

inside what the monster card looks like
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u6r4ydbvs6st8xu/IMG_1220.JPG?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/u6r4ydbvs6st8xu/IMG_1220.JPG?dl=0)

Thanks,
Caleb
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: GaryN on April 07, 2019, 11:48:11 PM
Best guess, it's an A/V interface designed to work with the M100 editing system. That's an A/V editor like Final Cut, Adobe Premier etc.
It was/is (like all things pro video) a very expensive bit of hardware in a very vertical market.
Some info below…

https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/21058/media-100-suite

https://www.provideocoalition.com/media-100-suite-video-editor-macos-free/

https://www.provideocoalition.com/editblogs-2017-nle-buyers-guide/
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: part12studios on April 08, 2019, 03:38:11 AM
I see, I'd not heard of M100 before, but I did see some modern software that was video related.  I just thought it's interesting that it has this massive card inside.. like it's not just a simple interface item like a midi in/out or something..   it has some (i can only assume) decent stuff (for the time) on that card inside. 

Or maybe the card inside.

I'll contact M100 support and see if maybe they have the inside scoop on this.  It made me think of the old Amiga days with the video Toaster.  However this interface is only one A/V source in and one A/V source out.  Thanks! 


Caleb
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: Knezzen on April 09, 2019, 10:45:36 AM
Not really that obscure. Was just as big as Pro Tools TDM was on the audio side (but for video editing of course) back in the 90's and early 00's before Final Cut made the entrance.

I used Media 100 quite a bit back in the early 00's to edit programs for a local TV station.
Rock solid system, never missed a beat. Would love to have one around to mess with :)
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: devils_advisor on April 09, 2019, 04:30:58 PM
You can grab media 100 free of charge these days including Boris red. That breakout box is a p6000 junction and the card is a media 100 i. Software wise the last sources was a server in Germany but they purged recently the storage. Should be good to version 8 but it's serial is hardware bound. You can indeed contact the guy from media 100 and he can relay your request but you need the software installed and give him the number to generate a serial. The top of the line was a XR system with real time option (another card).
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: part12studios on April 09, 2019, 05:51:36 PM
well i'm more curious about the hardware specs..  that's the thing that seems obscure not the software so much.  I mean it's old but Media is still around and I guess they have modern versions of the software so it's great to see they are still around. 

I am definitely going to try it out though!  I have the M100 CDs with a s/n so technically i'm legit.. lol.. but yea if doesn't work I'll find a free version out there.  I'm really curious if the video interface works. 

I just wonder if the card has any interesting realtime capabilities or maybe video capturing was just that cumbersome back then..   I remember the video toaster had a lot of real time mixing capabilities and that card would approximately the same size and a few years older..  so eh.. just curious..

Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: devils_advisor on April 09, 2019, 06:31:08 PM
The free version today is Intel, you would have to get the higher ppc versions from somewhere and the serials won't work except for the version you got at hand. The real time functionality was a extra card bridged via cable to the one you got. It's a SD capture board with pretty good quality at the time. You also lacking the lossless option. Titler and fx software was Boris graffiti and Boris FX or red back in the day. My system has 2 cards and 2 breakout boxes with SDI connection. That was the XR version. I got it from a dealer who used it for demonstration. With the card you got you will be limited to SD resolution but still good capture quality as long as your drives can keep up. The video toaster is not really a capture card, more a mixer as you need 2 sources and a target tape to record to. The media 100 is a real capture card to actually capture footage to a drive. I know video toaster had that to at some point but just for short clips. M100 can capture a entire tape if you want to. And the data rate is much higher than video toaster. Like mentioned if you had the extra board you could go as high as lossless. Right now you can capture various formats like vhs and component and the quality by today's standards should be known. I mean if you watch a DVD that's the results you can expect. There is a wiki page with movie's that have been cut on m100 systems like gladiator for example.
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: part12studios on April 10, 2019, 05:13:35 AM
ok that's great to know.  I did notice it was missing some of those items, which is a shame, but fun still.  I'm curious about making videos with "old school" tech.  As long as it can do a good frame rate, SD resolution is fine.  I'm going to install the software soon and hopefully see it work.

I'm going to try and move the G4 Sawtooth HD over so I don't have to reinstall things.  I'm going to bring over the same ATI video card to help insure things go smoother.. Although I'm not sure if the Quicksilver board even has an AGP slot. 

Thanks,
Caleb
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: part12studios on May 10, 2019, 07:01:22 AM
So I'm happy to report I was able to move the card and interface over to my old(er) sawtooth and install 8.1.1 and the S/N was accepted.  So I'm now just working on seeing if i can get some devices to send video in / out of it and try to figure out how to use the software.  I have all the manuals and such so it should be ok.. 

I had to order an SVHS cable and two BNS to RCA cables so I can experiment with it...  right now the two screens show black in the software. So i imagine that's because there is no real time signal coming in..

I'm really interested in seeing how the component stuff works.   i don't know if i've ever seen a camera or recorder that has those ports on them but i never worked with pro video at any given time. 
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: devils_advisor on May 11, 2019, 09:18:16 AM
BNC is the Prosumer version of your Consumer version known Composite Port/Plug. Your Audio in out should have the same on the in/out side. Since you already realized its a pro system or was [/size]you have to adapt/adjust to it.
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: part12studios on May 11, 2019, 10:52:35 AM
awesome, yea i'm excited to test things out.  my S-VHS cable arrived in the mail today.  the BNS cables will arrive probably sometime this week which will allow me to fully test the I/O of the card and interface.  I have to run some errands today but this evening i should be able to hook up my VHS/DVD player to it and test the s-vhs input to make sure it sees a live external signal..  i won't be able to test playback till i get the other composite cables. 


So does anyone know of any particular devices (cameras especially) that might use component?  was that a thing?   i'm just wondering what the pro (antiquanted) cameras used when transporting signal from camera to pro machines..  maybe they were self contained like camcorders and didn't need component at all. 
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: devils_advisor on May 11, 2019, 11:01:04 AM
Dont use prerecorded Video tapes. Macrovision will give you a green screen since they seem to recognize that there is no Monitor/TV on the other end, Thats what Macrovision was all about anyway. Make sure you select the bitrate according to your Drive Speed or you get Dropouts and or it will Stop recording, I hope i dont have to mention "Dont use the System drive". That SCSI raid is a very good idea and the only way to capture with maximum Settings.


The Pro's used SVHS before Recording/Edit devices became available for much higher standards because of the Higher Resolution. Resolution is about DVD Size. Also SVHS had separate wires for each channel. Composite is one wire for all. Component is 3 channels 1 for green 1 for blue and one for red. Much better image and control over each channel. The blues seem to carry the most noise therefore Bluescreen was more complicated.
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: part12studios on May 11, 2019, 03:32:44 PM
very interesting.. ok so far i hooked up the s-vhs cable i have for my vcr which supports s-vhs out..  good news right now is that audio is showing up..   bad news is that when i check the "v" there is yellow box next to it and when i go to digitize it says it can't find proper source.

i've not done anything to configure / setup..  i have the hardware in.. and installed the software.  i'm running 8.2.2 currently.   I've got a video tutorial and going to watch that and see what i can learn.. 

I was able to record audio if i de-selected the video checkbox (i'll take pictures for next post)

I would imagine there is some place to select s-vhs / component / composite..  all i see is black on the monitor / record screens right now. 


Caleb
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: devils_advisor on May 11, 2019, 03:50:21 PM
yes you go into the setup and select the recording source. from memory only the outputs are hot at all times
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: devils_advisor on May 11, 2019, 04:01:39 PM
Press -M or choose Media 100 i>Project Settings

Keep in mind you wont be able to go over version 8.2.3 or 8.3.2 with that vincent card
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: part12studios on May 11, 2019, 04:29:13 PM
yep yep that was it.. project settings.. svhs..  and now i can digitize with audio!  looks like it's working as it should and that's a big relief.. i need to test playback on a monitor when the cables arrive i can test further.. i'll get a few more cables to be able to do the full I/O testing and hear things, etc.. but this is definitely a big step in knowing things are 100%

Thanks so much for the input / coaching..  i need to figure out how to get the video editing view to appear.. seems like a lot of options are grayed out but i have all the documentation. 
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: devils_advisor on May 11, 2019, 04:32:33 PM
they are grey because you need to create a project a bin a program to make use of it. its complicated but seems to work towards sorting footage and staying on top of the material. similar to after effects folder nested inside to sort pics, video, audio and such. what you can do is use the vhs out and go into a vcr and route the output to a tv set and enjoy your video there  ;D


anything that accepts a vhs signal as input can be useful even a older tv
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: part12studios on May 11, 2019, 04:38:25 PM
ok that makes sense..  i'm sure it will make sense once i see it all working.. glad the grayed out isn't some other "uh oh, license problem.." thing :)

I do have an after effects folder in my install.. hoping that can do something interesting with that..   i have some boris fx stuff also i need to figure out..  some cds and licenses.. but i had some sketchy issues with some cd/dvds not appearing on the system..
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: devils_advisor on May 11, 2019, 04:44:34 PM
the boris fx and grafitti  represent your Titler and FX software. The after effects folder contains a plugin for after effects to read media 100 projects i believe. it can read your entire timeline. pretty neat feature. but it may not work with versions above 5.5 or 7 ? i have a hdx system with a newer version which may not work with your osx version/adobe after effects version in general.
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: part12studios on May 11, 2019, 05:15:52 PM
ah i see.. so its a way to export to after effects?   that is cool.  but yea i can imagine i'd have to really hunt around for a specific version of after effects for this.  i guess i'll just have to be ok with an OSX video editing situation for now.

Caleb
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: devils_advisor on May 11, 2019, 05:19:48 PM
dont throw in the towel, you are the first one i see to find a os9 based video editing system worth the effort. i started collecting years ago.


this is one of my systems


http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php/topic,2855.msg17983.html#msg17983


i dig it up soon and we see what can be done.
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: devils_advisor on May 11, 2019, 05:26:07 PM
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Media100-HDX-board-breakout-box-software-activation-keys-/362593740231?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=wGE2rCJfCtTqXfEqgpVbmhgPRtU%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc


latest system with support up to leopard but only on pci-x macs
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: devils_advisor on May 11, 2019, 05:30:29 PM
[youtube]fk--SppBJhY[/youtube]


[youtube]wjj9G-A7D9I[/youtube]
Title: Re: Obscure Video/Audio digital device. Anyone know if this thing is cool?
Post by: part12studios on May 11, 2019, 07:04:03 PM
i'm not able to run this on OS9 am i?  I was thinking that 8.2.2 (the key i have) only works on OSX right?  I couldn't run OS9 and install this software or software that would honor my 8.2.2 key? 

I love the videos!  I will definitely look at them.