VidBlaster Studio

[Mike]

I have been working on a studio version of VidBlaster, which simulates a basic control room setup. If you have ties to (local) tv stations or professional internet tv stations, or teach tv production, and you want to test drive this program and offer valuable feedback then please drop me a note.

[Tony]

I have been working on a studio version of VidBlaster, which simulates a basic control room setup. If you have ties to (local) tv stations or professional internet tv stations, or teach tv production, and you want to test drive this program and offer valuable feedback then please drop me a note.


i would like to give it a try. what are the system requirements?

[Mike]

Do you have ties to (local) tv stations or professional internet tv stations, or teach tv production?

[Skettalee]

I do.
I am a chyron op(graphics) as well as I know a few switchers and work at WISTV.COM which is an NBC news station. Also I own my own company doing media and music videos and have my own live reality webcast show and what not... i think i could help test it..

I actually would love to help with alot, especially UI and feature requests. I got some that will blow your mind. I been doing my own streaming of some kind for years now both using video and audio so i think i can figure out how to make something great. I also program, i just dont have time.... Let me help with these projects. im not asking for anything but maybe a free copy of vidblaster pro :-P hehe

ok contact me : damien.benoit@gmail.com

[Tony]

Do you have ties to (local) tv stations or professional internet tv stations, or teach tv production?


i'm on an adult networks called Rudetv.com but we use tricaster studio there.

[slickricks]

I am a Tech Director for a church in near Rochester, NY. I am very close to pulling the trigger on a Tricaster and today I read a comment on a YouTube that mentioned VIDBlaster. I am very interested in checking out the studio version if it has the ability to display the live output to a second monitor. This is what we would be using the Tricaster for but if this ap does something similar, we would be all over it. Being able to get live cameras via firewire and USB is a big plus because you dont have the A/D/A/D/A problem like you have with Tricaster.

We currently run a 3 camera shoot with analog switching equipment and then use a nice Kramer scaler/switcher to upscale the video to our projectors.

Will the software be able to stream VGA or XVGA resolution from a networked PC like Tricaster at some point? This would also be HUGE!

Where can I go to check out this software? I am going to try the pro version right now, but I know already that we would be a very good candidate for the studio version if you are able to incorporate these features.

[Mike]

Because of the success of the Pro version, the Studio version has been delayed. Note the Pro version already goes up to about half frame resolution, and supports video output. If there's any news re the Studio version, I will post it on the RSS feed (http://vidblaster.com/?feed=rss) and send an email to all registered beta testers.

[slickricks]

I would like to be a beta tester, please. We are very close to getting a tricaster and I would rather spend a grand or so on vidblaster rather than 8 grand on a tricaster pro. Ya, feel?

I absolutely need full frame output with at least 720 x 480 output. I have checked out the Pro version and it works well for what it is but it isn't working for our live broadcast situation. We are outputting to projectors so anything less than 480 is unacceptable. We have a really nice scaler unit (Kramer VP-719xl) so I can scale the 480 signal up if needed but if vidblaster can scale the video up to 1024 x 768 we are gold.

I am trying to get DV Processor to work with a screen capture application to stream a screen capture from another computer as a DV stream into vidblaster. This way we could run Power Points, Media Shout, or other media from another machine and cut to it as necessary.

Perhaps you dont know what the studio version could mean for church productions, but it is big. There are many, many churches like ours who want to do live video production but do not have 200-300k to invest in it. We are more bare bones. We have 3 decent cameras and are already using a $1000 announce video mixer. We have around 20k in video and projection systems and have about 12k in the budget for this year. Vidblaster Studio looks to be filling a nice niche in the church market.

What so we have to do to become a beta tester?

Thanks Mike!

DB

[Tony]

Because of the success of the Pro version, the Studio version has been delayed. Note the Pro version already goes up to about half frame resolution, and supports video output. If there's any news re the Studio version, I will post it on the RSS feed (http://vidblaster.com/?feed=rss) and send an email to all registered beta testers.


would love to try it on my system i am building. will be a dual quad...

[Mike]

Dave, I have added you to the beta testers list. I'll see what I can do about the Studio version. What's your deadline? What minimum functionality are you looking for that day? Note you're not ready with spending one grand, you'll also need some hardware to capture the video, and obviously a fast PC.

[slickricks]

Dave, I have added you to the beta testers list. I'll see what I can do about the Studio version. What's your deadline? What minimum functionality are you looking for that day? Note you're not ready with spending one grand, you'll also need some hardware to capture the video, and obviously a fast PC.


Great. I dont know what this means, "Note you're not ready with spending one grand..." but as soon as you get a stable working version we would be most certainly customers.

I am looking for something probably by December 1st so we can get it integrated and working for out Christmas production.

Functionality - I need to switch 3 cameras at 720 x 480 and a computer feed at at least 720 x 480 (I know this isn't a standard res for PC), output full frame video on a attached second monitor at 800 x 600 or better, and record at 720 x480. It would be best if the second monitor could be 1024 x 768. If I could get these things working and stable with simple fade transitions, we would be good. The rest of the features in vidblaster pro seem to be adequate at this point.

I also need to work out how to get a VGA type signal as an input to switch to. I understand that the VGA type input is tricky, and I am not exactly sure how to make this work at this point, but it is very important.

For the near future functionality it would be good to have a chromakey function. It would also be good to have the lower third graphics have a box where you can have 20-30 graphics, perhaps sorted with folders, so that you can build a list of graphics and have them ready for a show. It would be good if these lower thirds could fade in and out as well.

Is that pretty clear?

I understand that I need a fast system to make this happen. I have a fast dual core system that is very optimized for speed to put it on right now to test and if this all worked out I would build a 8 core workstation with 16GB of ram and lots of raid drives (if vidblaster will run on Vista 64). That should be fast enough I would think. I have that system spec'd out for a After Effects workstation, so if vidblaster studio worked out it would double for that.

The captures would all be firewire and vga type input. Would vidblaster work with Blackmagic Design's HDMI input cards?

I hope that helps.

[Mike]

Sorry, bad Dutch to English translation I guess. You said you'd rather spend 1 grand than 8. I just wanted to remind you that there are more costs than the software alone (depending on what you already have), although of course you will never get near those 8 grand.
VidBlaster pretty much already does what you mention except the resolution. I expect a Core 2 Quad will suffice, but I'd have to run some more tests to confirm.
Not sure why you want to grab video from another PC and not run that program on VidBlaster's PC? But grabbing video from another PC is easy, just use its secondary output (s-video) and run it into your frame grabber. I would recommend a 4 input frame grabber instead of firewire anyway, as it will give less delay and less CPU load. Also composite video is much more friendlier for long camera cables than firewire. Any card that comes with a WDM driver for Windows should work.

[slickricks]

Thanks Mike,

The reason that I need a direct input for another PC is for power point and other media presentation software. We have the ability to down convert our XGA output to s-video and we use that occasionally with our Edirol video mixer along with our 3 other cameras. There is a significant loss in quality when it get's upscaled back to XGA for the projectors to display. Our projection screens are 15' diagonal rear projected so and we feed them with a native resolution via the Kramer VP-719xl video switcher scaler. When you down convert a XGA or even a VGA signal to s-video and then upconvert it back to XGA it looks much worse. It is noticeable 120' back from the screens. The picture gets noticeable less sharp and has less color depth.

Having the video come in via a screen capture and streamed to vidblaster digitally is better because for one we are never down converting the signal to anything. We are essentially cropping the screen and then upscaling that, which is much, much cleaner looking. When we use the Kramer scaler for upscaling DVD's they look great, but if we played them through the PC via s-video and then upscaled from that... it looks bad.

This is a crutial element for the church market. Most churches who have a basic projections system are running it at native resolution so the text and graphics look fantastic when displayed on a huge screen. I will keep working on it and see what I come up with. When do think I could get a beta version of Studio to work with?

Dave

[blueridgebruce]

I love watching the development of this thread. This church market is sizable for sure. I continue to talk with our IT guys at Blueridge Community Church here in Lynchburg about the possibilities. I love Vidblaster and the responsiveness of both Mike as developer and all the enthusiastic end users.

Indeed... the future is bright!

[cbudrecki]

I'd like to be a tester for Studio. I'm looking for a low-cost substitute for Newtek's Tricaster, and judging by the one screen shot on the web site, it looks like Studio could do it.

[Mike]

C, I've added your email address to the beta testers list. Once a beta is out, you will be notified. Meanwhile, can you tell me why you can't/don't like to use VBPro for your purpose?

[Tony]

plase add me to the beta list to. since my other job they use a tricaster i would like to test the studio on the machine i am going to build.

[Mike]

Done.

[Tony]

thank you. i hope you add GPU support to it. i will be getting the nvidia 8800GTS pcie ;)

[Mike]

In there from day one :)

[compropc]

i would like to be a beta tester own hometowntvnow.com and am building tnclive.com and we produced leesburg bike fest 2008 live on the internet to 303 thousand viewers and we just produced the aarp convention in washington dc you can see video from that at grandtv.hometowntvnow.com at any rate i would like to test and buy the studio version of vidblaster thanks

[compropc]

oh yeah also will vidblaster studio have keying possabilities built in i have been using visual communicator 3 and it is good but lacks alot when trying to produce a show on the fly

[Mike]

I've added you to the list.

Yes for chroma keying, see the forum.

I'd like to hear what you need that's not in VBPro.

[compropc]

live keying is what i need the most

[cbudrecki]

C, I've added your email address to the beta testers list. Once a beta is out, you will be notified. Meanwhile, can you tell me why you can't/don't like to use VBPro for your purpose?


Well, I need to be able to use a chroma keyer, first off. I do, however, like the fact that you haven't tried to make it a jack-of-all-trades and have kept the audio mixing separate.

-Carl

[JOE1378]

hi,please add me in the beta list, i have a site www.liriodelosvalles.tv , Vid blaster studio is like -videomixer-
4 cameras ,titling,streaming, but i need full frame support 720 x 480.

Regards

[Tony]

i want better lower3rd functioning.

[Vanlen]

I'll second the lower thirds as well. Be nice to have fade in and out etc.

I can't wait to see a beta available for the studio version so I can try it out before buying. What I want is to be able use it for interactive live programing on stage with music cues, live presenters, video, graphics still store, lower thirds etc thrown up on projectors on stage and record - stream for later. What Mike has been able to do thus far is amazing. Keep on going :)

Cheers

[Mike]

Just an update for those of you who are not following me on twitter (https://twitter.com/MikeVersteeg), I've been working hard on VidBlaster Studio and will do a demo this week for a select few. If all goes well I'll start working on an alpha version and plan to release it this month. Should give you plenty of time to play with it during the holidays :)

PS: make sure to ask Santa for that Core 2 Quad with super fast graphics card.

[Tony]

Just an update for those of you who are not following me on twitter (https://twitter.com/MikeVersteeg), I've been working hard on VidBlaster Studio and will do a demo this week for a select few. If all goes well I'll start working on an alpha version and plan to release it this month. Should give you plenty of time to play with it during the holidays :)

PS: make sure to ask Santa for that Core 2 Quad with super fast graphics card.


cool i will be getting a quad system to build and a nvideo 8800 gts with a min of 4g of ram

[Tony]

what about support for the new intel i7 chip that came out?

[Mike]

As soon as Windows supports it, VidBlaster will.

[cycleroland]

Hi Mike!

I've recently purchased the Pro and it's certainly a fabulous tool for a weekly LIVE show I produce with my 9 year old son every Friday!! As a video professional since 1988, I am very interested in "test driving" the studio version for several LIVE multi source shoots (both streaming and terrestrial) scheduled for 2009. I continue to work as a freelance engineer for both studio and mobile productions, and have taught video production (from 1990 to 1993) to over 100 volunteer producers at a public access station / Local Origination . I would be honored if you can add me to your "beta tester" listing as I look forward in evaluating this promising software.

Thanks Mike for creating such a great product!

[Mike]

Honoured to have you on board! Do you have a link to your show?

[cycleroland]

Hi Mike!

Thanks so much for the honor! You can watch the Vidblaster Pro in action tonight at 8:00pm PST and every Friday night at:

www.i-tj.net

Here's a list of upcoming shoots for 2009 which will be a perfect opportunity to give the Studio a good test:

*-- National Multiple Sclerosis Society - Pacific South Coast Chapter Awards Ceremony
Saturday, January 31, 2008 - 11:00am - 1:30pm

*-- "Team24 Update"
Weekly Series beginning February, 2009

*-- "Amateur Television Network National Meeting"
February, 2009 (TBD)

Thanks Mike and I look forward in giving the Studio an "industry trial" upon beta release.

[maharrey]

I would love to give this a test drive. I produce a Local tv program, and also teach and provide training and consulting to Churches on Video Production. Let me know what I need to Do. bishop@faithtoday.org

Rick MaHarrey

[Mike]

Hi Rick. Thanks, I added you to my list. I'm building a resellers network so I'll also email you direct regarding your consulting work.

[SLT23C]

Hey Mike,

This is Danny Evans and I was wondering if I could get added to the beta of Vidblaster Studio? I have ties to WRAL TV-5 Raleigh and I am in there Post 5 Production group. We produce two shows that air called "The Pulse" and "The Locker". I also have my own production network on the internet called Sky Line Times Studios at www.sltstudios.net. I produce a daily weekday show called SLT News. I also do 24-7 Live stream over ustream.tv with Manycam (eww) ya I know. So I would like to put Vidblaster Studio Beta into the 24-7 stream to replace Manycam. In addition I will be sure to do a review of it when it is released as the final product and shoot a video on how I use it for the studio. You can contact me at admin@sltstudios.net

Thanks- Danny Evans

[Mike]

Hi Danny,

Welcome to the forum. I've added you to the list. Notice for internet streaming VidBlaster Pro offers plenty of options, no need for VidBlaster Studio's higher resolution. So you can already start using VidBlaster for your ustream show.

Mike

[SLT23C]

Hi Danny,

Welcome to the forum. I've added you to the list. Notice for internet streaming VidBlaster Pro offers plenty of options, no need for VidBlaster Studio's higher resolution. So you can already start using VidBlaster for your ustream show.

Mike


Thank you so much :)

[compropc]

how much longer for beta of studio anxiously waiting thanks

[Mike]

Sorry for delay, I added more than I planned so everything takes longer. Target is now end of this month.

[SLT23C]

That's wonderfull can't wait to see it.

[Vanlen]

Yes!!!! Crossing fingers that this will be the solution I'm looking for. Can't wait.


Regards

[cycleroland]

That's AWESOME Mike! Looking forward to the test!

Roland Hoffman

[Mike]

A little update.. The release has been further delayed as I decided to rewrite several important parts of the program to get lower CPU usage in VidBlaster Studio, while at the same time get smoother frame updating. This has been quite a difficult task. I'm currently testing and finishing some minor things. Still planning to release by the end of the month, but it may have to be a "true" beta.

[Tony]

A little update.. The release has been further delayed as I decided to rewrite several important parts of the program to get lower CPU usage in VidBlaster Studio, while at the same time get smoother frame updating. This has been quite a difficult task. I'm currently testing and finishing some minor things. Still planning to release by the end of the month, but it may have to be a "true" beta.


will some of this rewrite for lower CPU threads be in pro?

[Mike]

Eventually yes.

[damn2good4u]

Eventually yes.


This is pretty good and a very nice initiative, since I came across this wonderful piece I have been in LOVE with it...

I am just wondering if you have taken time to see a similar machine "Tricaster Studio" and see what can be added to the soon to be released "VB Studio" from the Tricaster functionality.

I have a link http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BEIn4uyEySA&feature=related from YOUTUBE I feel might be of help

[Mike]

Going over the help file now. A link to VidBlaster Studio will shortly be published at http://vidblaster.com/forum/index.php?topic=192.msg814#msg814.

[djWHEAT]

I sent you an email Mike, but I wasn't sure if I should post here. My mail is djwheat @ gmail.com

I've been a high-level user of the Newtek products for over 5 years. Over the course of about 3 years, my production team and I created over 2000 hours of programming (we ran a daily show). All of our content is geared around Video Games, Video Game Competitions, and Webisode production. Sometimes we would even travel to the corners of China will all our equipment (and the proper documents :P) to cover an event.

The development of your VidBlaster has completely changed the scope of that, and I'd like to make sure that I give VidBlaster the same rave reviews I once gave the TriCaster. In addition to the many projects I do with smaller productions (churches, non-profit, etc), I do many of my own productions (probably about 3-5 hours a week).

I'd really like to be considered for beta tester of VB Studio and beyond. I feel like my expertise with the Newtek systems and web production would be a good asset for you to continue to improve VB and empower more people TO USE it.

Here are a few links to some shows/videos:
- http://epilepticgaming.ggl.com/video/
- http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=EpilepticGaming&view=videos

Unfortunately after Brightcove went NOT FREE, they stopped hosting all our videos (which was about 2,500 videos)... but I can put some up if requested!

Thanks!

[digixmedia]

Hello Mike,
I'm hamid and I work for PRESS TV -the news tv-
I used many switcher like: newtek tricaster studio, datavideo se-500 , data video se-800 and old fashion huge analogue mixers,
I hope to test your nice look software, and think that I have some suggestion to improve your software.
sorry for my english.
best regard.

[Mike]

Hello Hamid,

Welcome to the VidBlaster forum!

The first beta of VidBlaster Studio has already been released, you can find it in the Download section of the forum.

Mike