Building a Video Toaster. No, not that one

Ғылым және технология

I didn't really have a plan in mind when I started shooting this, so... yeah! Hope you enjoy this mess of a video.
If you'd like to read more (largely unverified) info about this series of devices, you can do so on my website: gekk.info/articles/toaster.html
Support me on Patreon: / cathoderaydude
Tip me: ko-fi.com/cathoderaydude

Пікірлер: 523

  • @CathodeRayDude
    @CathodeRayDude Жыл бұрын

    Late breaking updates! 1) Regarding the VGA cable wiring, I wanted to clarify that I don't think Newtek screwed up here, they were just in a bind. VGA was the only non proprietary cable you could readily obtain in this era that could handle high quality analog signals - their desire to not make customers depend on them for replacements was valid and probably very appreciated. but what happens if someone plugs a monitor into the VT card by accident? well, if +10V is on one of the color lines, you might blow out the input amplifier. same for the EDID pin, H/V sync, etc. So the only safe place to put it is a ground pin, because the chances of blowing up _the customer's monitor_ that way are negligible. maybe newtek even current-limited the 10V rail, anticipating this exact scenario, in which case hey, there's really no problem - but even if shorting it out kills the card, at least that's _their device_ that blew up, due to _their decision_ to "misuse" a common connector. that's the right call, because newtek could say "send it back and we'll fix it at our cost," but they _couldn't_ commit to reimburse customers for damaged high-end monitors, it's just not practical. 2) Regarding the power supply for the breakout box, I overthought things completely. The original VTNT card doesn't have a power input... because it has no BoB connection! You have to add a daughterboard with two more plugs, and while I knew that, I'd never seen one, so it didn't occur to me - the power input is on the daughterboard! So there's really no mystery there.

  • @belg4mit

    @belg4mit

    Жыл бұрын

    I think pin 9 (+5V) would have been a more sensible option, in the hopes that things connected to it might be more tolerant than to a short. Even better if they switched their system to actually use 5V instead of 10V. (If they had a few bits and bobs that *really* needed the higher voltage for signalling they could have use a buck converter or similar) Wikipedia also shows precedent for overvolting this line (the PS55 used +12V), but it is already specced up to 1A at 5V. 5W seems sufficient to run some LEDs, etc. on the break-out box?

  • @TheGodOfAllThatWas

    @TheGodOfAllThatWas

    Жыл бұрын

    Even in the 90s it was pretty common that junk cables would do stupid things like short all the grounds together. So I really feel if they were going to go through the trouble to mention in the manual that a standard vga cable works they should have mentioned needing separate grounds.

  • @CathodeRayDude

    @CathodeRayDude

    Жыл бұрын

    @@TheGodOfAllThatWas Yeah that was my take as well, I'm positive this thing was going on even then, so they really owed people a warning

  • @RhizometricReality

    @RhizometricReality

    Жыл бұрын

    I love learning about things I had no idea about lol.

  • @cjadams7434

    @cjadams7434

    Жыл бұрын

    @@CathodeRayDude I don’t think I have my original cable but I think the one that did come with the toaster cards and the breakout box actually had a few pins missing which would explain a lot

  • @BuckeyeStormsProductions
    @BuckeyeStormsProductions Жыл бұрын

    I remember going to a club in the mid 90's with some friends, and not being much of a clubber, I was more interested in their video system. They had fixed cameras, and then people walking through the crowd with cameras and they would do all these psychedelic effects, and all these crazy transitions. I knew about the Video Toaster, so I managed to work my way back to the little production room where the guy doing all the mixing was working, and that's what they were using. I bought him a couple drinks and spent a chunk of the evening learning about how he did what he did while my friends did what they did.

  • @serpentza

    @serpentza

    6 ай бұрын

    Was this club in East London, South Africa by any chance?

  • @johnjimmies8256

    @johnjimmies8256

    3 ай бұрын

    Dudes from Ohio so probably not​@@serpentza

  • @adolphineatingchildren2641

    @adolphineatingchildren2641

    3 ай бұрын

    ​@@serpentzastrange to see you here

  • @crispymm12
    @crispymm12 Жыл бұрын

    The VT[4] was my college career at our university student TV station. Hacked the software to build it into a flypack to do mobile sports productions for the station. Our school's basketball games were covered by us with this setup with 3 cams. I built custom scoreboard graphics controls to do time and scores via a multi button gaming keypad, replay via a shuttle control using the ddr functions. The thing was barely capable of cutting the live video, doing graphics, and replay in one machine, but we put live sports on our student station without bothering the media department for their truck. Learned more putting that system together than all the years studying TV production at the university. Been engineering TV trucks for major productions for nearly 20 years now. Thanks NewTek.

  • @audiocrush
    @audiocrush Жыл бұрын

    I exactly know that feeling you describe in the first 3 minutes :D I built a 2 meter parabolic dish radio telescope in my front lawn to do hydrogen line observations an it is all great fun and stuff, until you realize there is pretty much just a handful of people in the world you can share that stuff with and suddenly it starts to feel weird.

  • @edgarwalk5637

    @edgarwalk5637

    Жыл бұрын

    You'd be surprised how many people would be interested! Sounds interesting to me!

  • @absurdengineering

    @absurdengineering

    5 ай бұрын

    I’d be the guy putting up a tent on your front lawn just to geek out on the thing :)

  • @lateve6243
    @lateve6243 Жыл бұрын

    I'm a 40+yo dude and I'm having a blast watching a kid so enthusiastic about the obsolete tech I used to work with 20y ago. At 14 I was dreaming about video toasters and eng betacams, went to trade school at 16 for 3yr learning about NTSC and SMPTE broadcast analog just to land in the industry in the big transition from analog to digibeta SD to HD.

  • @tomarnd8724
    @tomarnd8724 Жыл бұрын

    Watched this whole thing and would 100% watch a "weird stuff I got on eBay" series of shorter, off the cuff videos

  • @nbarrager
    @nbarrager Жыл бұрын

    THANK GOD!!! I've literally been sitting on a bucket in a mechanical room doom scrolling for the last six hours

  • @supernoob17

    @supernoob17

    Жыл бұрын

    sounds rough, brother.

  • @nbarrager

    @nbarrager

    Жыл бұрын

    @@supernoob17 I get off in a little over an hour. I could literally be at home smoking a blunt right now and my boss would never notice.

  • @cs8712

    @cs8712

    Жыл бұрын

    mechanical doom scrolling

  • @supernoob17

    @supernoob17

    Жыл бұрын

    @@nbarrager smoking this next bowl in your honor, man.

  • @nbarrager

    @nbarrager

    Жыл бұрын

    @@supernoob17 we're on the way back to the shop, thirty more minutes!

  • @pixelsbyprince
    @pixelsbyprince Жыл бұрын

    Fun fact: That CG dance animation clip @40:30 was created by Dick Van Dyke, who was an avid Lightwave/Toaster user.

  • @pittypolyphonic
    @pittypolyphonic Жыл бұрын

    i love videos like this! i'd kill for more casual vids in between all the big ones!

  • @mikewifak

    @mikewifak

    Жыл бұрын

    Hey, don’t do murder. Not cool.

  • @garbleduser

    @garbleduser

    Жыл бұрын

    @@mikewifak Or at least do it at bohemian grove when they are in session.

  • @Leo9ine

    @Leo9ine

    Жыл бұрын

    100%. Could listen to CRD talk all day

  • @blocktockblock6329

    @blocktockblock6329

    Жыл бұрын

    same!

  • @actuallyasriel
    @actuallyasriel Жыл бұрын

    That bit about EDID compatibility is interesting... I used to have a Logitech racing wheel and pedals, but the cable connecting the pedals to the wheel broke. It was just a DSUB connector, same form factor that VGA uses, so I figured I could splice together a VGA cable. I could never get it to work though, even after I triple-checked the pinout. Turned out, after dissecting the connector, that two of the pins were linked together with a wire! Which shouldn't have been a thing!

  • @josephmmuller
    @josephmmuller Жыл бұрын

    I'm so happy to see a full VT[5] setup again - I spent about a year and a half out of college working for a non-profit that ran the local access station (with a whopping TWO channels on the cable provider). We were fortunate to have received a good deal of late 00's Macs and DV prosumer gear, plus an old news set and three whole Panasonic full pedestal cameras with CCU's from the local TV station (KFTY) who were being wound down. We had the full VT[5] setup plus lots of goodies in the studio, plus another road case VT unit that did live-to-tape most of the time. (I think we used it once as a backup when the studio machine was broken.) I can say that as long as you didn't do anything too wild, the VT software and hardware would gladly do their duty. We never did much more than lower-thirds, titling, greenscreen, and the occasional canned sequences, with any sound usually done outboard via a Behringer 4 or 8-channel mixer. It was always a case of trying to get cheap camera operators (usually highschool AV kids) and managing to run whatever long feeds we could up and over/under whatever cramped space we were set up. (Highschool football games always tested the limits of patience, cable length, and sheer luck!) My favorite shoot we ever did was a local musical production in the community theater that was still very much set up as a single-screen cinema. (They basically just knocked down the walls of the projection booth, making it open-air and added some light rigging and a deeper stage.) We got the golden opportunity of a do-over on that one because of some recording issue I think, and while we barely made our money back, I was proud of my camera direction and tech work for the final product. This is all to say, I'm glad you're getting to play with all this stuff without the specter of tenuous employment and a rotating mystery crew to wrangle!

  • @leebee1100
    @leebee1100 Жыл бұрын

    Totally addicted to your content! You’re the only channel where I see an hour (or more) long video posted and just sit down to watch the entire thing. I have a similar thirst for random technological facts and niche interests that perfectly matches with your style of content. It’s so exciting because I never know what you will find and demonstrate and teach me about, next! Keep doing what you’re doing please. Also, please try not to put yourself down about what you’re passionate about. Be proud you’re you and that you have hundreds of thousands of people who’ve decided they like you enough to watch your videos for many, many hours! And that you figured out how to make money with your hobby/passion! I envy you!! Too bad I’m super poor, because I’d kill to have access to your patreon videos! Once I get another job and don’t literally have -$100 in my checking (lol fml), I will try to get in on that!! Thank you for your dedication to excellent and exciting content for us fellow nerds with a thirst for knowledge (compliment)! Your genius and speech fluidity and style are addictive. You are awesome!!! 👏👍

  • @CharlesSteinkuehler
    @CharlesSteinkuehler Жыл бұрын

    Oh man this brings back soooo many memories!!! I can tell you that you are 100% correct that NDI has it's roots in iVGA. The weirdness with the really early Windows products mostly relates to trying to keep the company going by selling ANYTHING we could between when Commodore went bankrupt and stopped selling Amigas and when we had an actually viable PC based system. It was Lightwave keeping the lights on while we frantically tried to get Windows NT to do real-time processing for video (which wasn't easy!).

  • @JuneNafziger

    @JuneNafziger

    3 ай бұрын

    It’s still not that easy today seemingly! Even today in the theatre world there’s no (or at least nothing that’s got a free version, there might be a paid program) complete PC alternative to QLab on Mac.

  • @kaitlyn__L
    @kaitlyn__L Жыл бұрын

    Holy crap, this is the complete package! I was suffering through rotoscoping by importing frames into Photoshop in timeline view, but this seems like it’d be better. Not to mention the 3D animation, and the live editing is wild! I would’ve loved to use that on Justin TV or Livestream, which is the main one I used back then. That thing about the VGA cable really is exceptionally poor, all down to cost-cutting. I kinda want to test my own cables but I don’t have much of a real reason to so I’ll probably forget. You experienced such an emotional roller coaster, the despair of defeat turned last minute into the ecstasy of victory (and scientific discovery)! Honestly this was a nice throwback to your old stuff, I know you’ve said before your standards are too high for it but as far as I’m concerned if it lets you talk about more stuff I’m all for mixing these in. And I’ve definitely been that person, probably the weirdest one for me was numbers stations, but definitely pre-film photography and stop motion animation and all sorts of other things were at one time or another.

  • @CathodeRayDude

    @CathodeRayDude

    Жыл бұрын

    I'm so glad you enjoyed this, I was worried people wouldn't be into it, haha. I've always wanted to release the odd roughcut... maybe this'll be a thing I do more often now!

  • @Just.A.T-Rex

    @Just.A.T-Rex

    Жыл бұрын

    Hear hear!

  • @garbleduser

    @garbleduser

    Жыл бұрын

    @@CathodeRayDude Give it to me ROUGH. Wait... Ummmm... I feel SCSI after that statement.

  • @dominicus9891
    @dominicus9891 Жыл бұрын

    I've been told the original Amiga toaster was used for the music video for the pet shop boys "go west" song, using Lightwave 3D. I've been eyeing one just to see if I could make visuals as unhinged and acid like as that video with authentic hardware.

  • @giklab
    @giklab Жыл бұрын

    1 minute old CRD, good timing. Just long enough to watch before bed. Also, the bit about wanting someone to talk to / discuss with a topic you're incredibly interested in - I feel that one. Thankfully, I've found a few photo communities which scratch that itch for me.

  • @truevudderhutz3482

    @truevudderhutz3482

    Жыл бұрын

    work grave yards or not in the west ?

  • @giklab

    @giklab

    Жыл бұрын

    @@truevudderhutz3482 Yurop!

  • @mndlessdrwer

    @mndlessdrwer

    Жыл бұрын

    Same. It's one of the more challenging side-effects of ADD and ADHD, which is hyperfixation. So you find a topic that interests you, research everything about it for days to years, and then you're just so packed full of excitement and knowledge about a topic with no real outlet for it because most people don't care enough about niche topics.

  • @nickbrockelman

    @nickbrockelman

    Жыл бұрын

    Are you saying you watch these videos to get sleepy for bed?

  • @giklab

    @giklab

    Жыл бұрын

    @@nickbrockelman No, I am not saying that at all?

  • @tony92506
    @tony92506 Жыл бұрын

    Lol this was all the rage when I was growing up, I even had an amiga 3000 tower but used it to learn lightwave 3d which led me to having a career in the VFX industry. Loved the toaster though, a great device, it had its quirks but man it really leveled the playing field as far as being an independent content creator.

  • @nkronert
    @nkronert Жыл бұрын

    I'm so happy for you that the VGA cable didn't manage to free the magic smoke and end the life of a vintage piece of equipment! I mean, 10 V to ground... When I'm working on electronics, hardware tends to expire when I look at it the wrong way. 🥴

  • @belg4mit

    @belg4mit

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes, it was fairly bad design in retrospect. If you're going to repurpose a standard connector, arrange your pinout such that you're not putting voltage on pins that would be ground in the original design.

  • @mndlessdrwer

    @mndlessdrwer

    Жыл бұрын

    I got very good at finding the old hardware at my previous R&D lab workplace. The magic smoke smells a bit like burning nickles. Metallic, acrid, and vaguely burning. I was the one that put the halt on an old HP server because the PSU decided to release its magic smoke. All four of them. So it was limping along, barely able to run and threatening to turn into an electrical fire before I found it entirely based on smell.

  • @loficampingguy9664
    @loficampingguy9664 Жыл бұрын

    I just came down with covid and everything feels like too much energy, but laying down to watch an hour of CRD is just what I needed :)

  • @CathodeRayDude

    @CathodeRayDude

    Жыл бұрын

    I'm so sorry, I hope you feel better soon. I'm glad I can help in any way!

  • @garbleduser

    @garbleduser

    Жыл бұрын

    @@CathodeRayDude Keep being you, wonderful person!

  • @knifedude97
    @knifedude97 Жыл бұрын

    In middle school (6th-8th grade) I was part of the video club and learned to use a tricaster to switch/livestream the "student news". This was 2009 so I am amazed to learn I was using something so new as it already felt dated.. The green screen capabilities were horrid.. No matter how much we tweaked the lighting, chroma key, and other settings we were left with a meh picture.

  • @pcefulpolarbear

    @pcefulpolarbear

    7 күн бұрын

    my middle school had a tricaster as well and it was the most unreliable piece of trash I have ever used. maybe it was just ours. and yeah the software felt dated even when new

  • @knifedude97

    @knifedude97

    6 күн бұрын

    @pcefulpolarbear OH ya, it was terrible and had many weird issues, but it was still fun as we weren't doing a serious production.

  • @VictorGIUBILEI
    @VictorGIUBILEI Жыл бұрын

    I watch your videos precisely for the huge information dump on niche topics, scratching the same itch you have talking about them. So keep them along and don't restrict yourself too much on the level of details you go into ;) Also really like the vlog/train of throughts style of video, so don't hesitate to publish more of them !

  • @josuelservin
    @josuelservin Жыл бұрын

    This was a wild ride with some cool tech I didn't know existed! And I'm liking this rough cuts format.

  • @darkwind9000
    @darkwind9000 Жыл бұрын

    That second Antec is a classic too! The only problem with mine was the USB ports plastic on the front of the case literally crumbled. I went onto Amazon and picked up a new pair of USB ports for the front of the case. It makes for a nice local server case with the 7 hard drive locations too.

  • @MajorOutage

    @MajorOutage

    Жыл бұрын

    I lost my shit when I saw it. I'm still using mine! with room cut in the top for a 280MM radiator. I also broke my front USB ports. Got in touch with Antec and they sent me one with USB 3.0 ports meant for the 302, but it's a direct replacement and works perfectly.

  • @znelson32
    @znelson32 Жыл бұрын

    Man.. you are speaking my language. Huge fan of the Toasted and NewTek. If you haven’t seen the original VHS tapes of their demo you’re missing out. Kiki Stockhammer! Capernicus! Chess Pieces!

  • @hxdmain
    @hxdmain Жыл бұрын

    bless this toasty mess

  • @thekornreeper

    @thekornreeper

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes

  • @petarpuskarich3366
    @petarpuskarich3366 Жыл бұрын

    One of the most fascinating videos on this topic I have come across. Personally love the format of discovery, testing, banging head against the wall, and success. Learned a lot about this topic and is right in line with many of the passion tech projects I get myself into with the really old Digidesign, Avid, Radius audio, and production video editing systems. It is amazingly hard to refind a lot of this information today because it was pre-internet and most of its utility died off before it could even be put on a page. Thanks for saving and publishing this information for posterity!

  • @repatch43
    @repatch43 Жыл бұрын

    Dude, you're too hard on yourself, this video was awesome! Your channel has become one of my favourites, up there with Technology Connections. BTW, don't worry about 'bricking' the FPGA, FPGAs are designed to power up 'blank', so any 'firmware' (actually, usually called bitfile) upload is safe to interrupt, all that will occur is the FPGA will remain unconfigured. Restart the upload and you'll be fine.

  • @CathodeRayDude

    @CathodeRayDude

    Жыл бұрын

    The problem is that however Newtek designed these, they don't do that. Multiple threads on their forums full of dire warnings that the cards will brick randomly during updates.

  • @poofygoof

    @poofygoof

    Жыл бұрын

    The FPGA itself will be fine, but depending where the bitstream is stored and if they did double-buffering and integrity checking before flipping the bootstrap location, you might need a chip clip or JTAG connector to fix it. The FPGAs I could see look like Altera MAX, some of which have internal flash, which could potentially be a PITA to recover from.

  • @garbleduser
    @garbleduser Жыл бұрын

    @54:30 This is why we hoard old equipment. When something breaks it just gets put onto the long term healing slab while one takes the needed time to learn to fix it. This happened to me, now I do component level medical equipment repair because of what I learned across the years.

  • @FreudRulz
    @FreudRulz Жыл бұрын

    OMG!! That is a SICK AJJ shirt!! Also, incredibly dope video subject I've wanted to know more about this for years, it just never got enough of my emotional energy for me to really deep dive into it 😭. Keep up the amazing work, I love ramble stuff like this is fucks 🖤

  • @CoyoteSeven
    @CoyoteSeven Жыл бұрын

    I knew a guy who once worked at NewTek, or so he said. I had no reason to doubt him! He showed me a prototype for what was pretty much an Amiga 500 on an ISA card. Presumably for using a Video Toaster on a PC. I'm guessing it was part of their initial attempts at expanding into the PC market. I'm also guessing that plan was scrapped when Commodore went bye-bye.

  • @TadanoHitohito
    @TadanoHitohito Жыл бұрын

    Dude, you put enough effort into your videos that I think we'd all totally understand if you hadn't posted anything at all and wanted to take a rain check. Thank you for sharing this with us.

  • @junkyardmagic
    @junkyardmagic Жыл бұрын

    If you are interested here is a video we shot only a couple of years ago in the VT5, we used Panasonic AJ-D610WA cameras using the component output,. These are from the same period as the VT5 and have a great look. The video was upscaled using the upscale effect on After Effects (no ai). If you want to use any screenshots, or any of the the video for that matter, do feel free. I think it shows just how well the system stands up, even today. kzread.info/dash/bejne/Yq2V2qunpc_Jnbg.html

  • @garbleduser
    @garbleduser Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for seeing the good in things, even through what could seem to be disaster at the time. I appreciate you for not being like Franlab who seems to always be looking for the nearest correctable disaster to nose dive into as mach 3.

  • @DumpTruckCentral
    @DumpTruckCentral Жыл бұрын

    Love this content! I commonly have grand ideas for a video project that usually becomes a jumbled mess of clips. However the way you took all this footage and still came out with an interesting, informative and entertaining video is really honestly inspiring.

  • @timixretroplays
    @timixretroplays Жыл бұрын

    It's reassuring to know we all ask our pets the exact same question. Some day, in the distance future, we will get an answer, and we will finally learn who is the good cat.

  • @brojack3570
    @brojack3570 Жыл бұрын

    I love seeing you passionate about something dude. your excitement gets me excited

  • @c31979839
    @c31979839 Жыл бұрын

    What a roller coaster of emotions in this one! Honestly wasn't boring at all. I love seeing your passion for this tech. I used to work at a local public-broadcast tv station who used tech like this, so it's a huge throwback to some of those memories.

  • @rnb250
    @rnb250 Жыл бұрын

    Love it when a build comes together! So happy for you brutha 🤗

  • @LaskyLabs
    @LaskyLabs Жыл бұрын

    Bless you. You know exactly what I needed after a long day of work. ❤️ Time to begin another EduQuest!

  • @Ni5ei
    @Ni5ei Жыл бұрын

    Love videos like these! Things don't need fancy editing and script. Valuable information is key. Thanks CRD!!!

  • @dimitrioskalfakis
    @dimitrioskalfakis Жыл бұрын

    thorough presentation, remarkable dedication and inspiring enthusiasm.

  • @leebee1100
    @leebee1100 Жыл бұрын

    Just enjoyed rewatching this and wanted to thank you again for putting content like this up for us. As rough as you say it was, I couldn’t pull myself away from watching the whole thing all the way through, even though I’ve ALREADY watched it before! Your intelligence and wit and humor are engaging to say the least.

  • @kcgeil
    @kcgeil Жыл бұрын

    Same mate, love that little thrill of discovery and cant wait to improve everyone else's life. Fascinating cludge!

  • @jasongoestoshows
    @jasongoestoshows4 ай бұрын

    I've been binging your videos for the last few weeks, and I can't express how exciting it was to see that AJJ shirt. Love your work on this channel.

  • @BanazirGalpsi1968
    @BanazirGalpsi19682 ай бұрын

    I remember years ago my friend and I were doing a title sequence for a local access TV show. If you remember local access TV you have an idea of the timeline, but it was late 8os or early 9os. We had a friend who was a broadcast news camera man who got us access to the news departments paint box video editing room. I was impressed with it .

  • @margieoffan8069
    @margieoffan8069 Жыл бұрын

    Dude! What an excellent video! Thank you for saving this history.

  • @Sevenigma777
    @Sevenigma777 Жыл бұрын

    Thats one of the internet's greatest strengths, no matter how niche a subject matter you are into, no matter how rare an object you have, there's someone on the internet who is into the same thing, has the same thing or knows the knowledge you are missing.

  • @3v1Bunny
    @3v1Bunny Жыл бұрын

    the rawness level is great. It gets to a point faster and it shows part of the dive into the unknown :D. Will store for watching later tonight!

  • @SSand4
    @SSand4 Жыл бұрын

    It's kind of amazing how one person just messing around because they think it's cool can _still_ discover new things about this classic equipment that either nobody knows or at least nobody thought to actually make a note of and put out there.

  • @Pytchblend
    @Pytchblend Жыл бұрын

    Fascinating video about some really interesting hardware. Bravo!.

  • @KarlHamilton
    @KarlHamilton Жыл бұрын

    Really enjoyed this video. More like this please!

  • @emilioleonard2460
    @emilioleonard2460 Жыл бұрын

    I wouldn’t be mad to see more “Rough Cuts.” Totally watchable.

  • @beef0678

    @beef0678

    Жыл бұрын

    I was thinking the same thing. After his warning at the beginning about how bad this might be I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it! Definitely want more of these!!

  • @ksrimhodddin7047
    @ksrimhodddin7047 Жыл бұрын

    It was what I was looking for. Very easy to follow the steps. It works!

  • @nobody8717
    @nobody8717 Жыл бұрын

    About a decade ago, I used to work at an it recycler/refurbisher. I know for a fact that i've scrapped about a hundred of those older looking cards. I spent about 4 hours trying to identify what they were. The weird socket on top and the backwards facing ram with the fpga chip. no labels, nothin. 2 vga and 2 phono jacks iirc. Was from an older big tech company's lot of replaced hardware. (hint hint) Couldn't list for sale if we didn't know what it was. RIP my man.

  • @CathodeRayDude

    @CathodeRayDude

    Жыл бұрын

    Yep, that's exactly what I figured happened to these. And why not? Newtek's fault for not labeling them!

  • @DarrenDignam
    @DarrenDignam Жыл бұрын

    I like to think your description of their choice to use a GND pin for 10v is pretty solid, and I think you're right that they designed the power circuitry in such a way that shorting the rail does not destroy the circuitry. This is clearly a premium product so details like this make sense and only cost a few more cents in parts. As for the FPGA, I believe a lot of them are a like RAM, when the power is off they lose their contents, and have to be 'programmed' on each power on. So you can't really brick them. There is often a secondary microcontroller and flash chip with a VHDL ROM. The microcontroller loads the ROM onto the FPGA during system boot up. And changing the core just means updating the ROM chip. There was an FPGA handheld games system that had multiple game system cores on flash for better than emulation performance. Its Saturday night, and I am writing this from pieced together memories so, you know, find a pinch of salt, fitting for a messy GoPro phone cam kinda video!

  • @uquarosh
    @uquarosh Жыл бұрын

    Great video. Love the unrehearsed content. Lots of useful and interesting information. Your unique ability for unscripted fluent speech unequalled. Thanks.

  • @toastedeggplant9091
    @toastedeggplant9091 Жыл бұрын

    I love the AJJ shirt!!!! That was not something I expected to see watching this today!

  • @ajroach42
    @ajroach42 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for this! I didn't know about this product at all, but I'm all about it.

  • @Slurkz
    @Slurkz Жыл бұрын

    Your videos are mesmerizing…. 💜

  • @pauledwards2817
    @pauledwards2817 Жыл бұрын

    Fabulous video. Thanks for sharing your experience. Amazing kit too does so much! Not my field so can't put the product in to context of competition but seems like a superb product.

  • @AJComputerServicesUK
    @AJComputerServicesUK4 ай бұрын

    Glad to hear you managed to get it working in the end! 🇬🇧

  • @EagleHudson
    @EagleHudson Жыл бұрын

    love your Picard impression with the talking and talking! think I'll watch that episode tonight now. Cool video as well (Back in the 90's I was an Amiga fanboy and drooled over the Toaster in mags)

  • @IceLom
    @IceLom Жыл бұрын

    super good video, really enjoyed the adventure.

  • @chrisw443
    @chrisw443 Жыл бұрын

    Holy hell that is awesome information, I could talk video production and tricasters for days!

  • @beltofbelt
    @beltofbelt Жыл бұрын

    that was an absolute emotional rollercoaster bud im glad i waited in line for it

  • @draketigerclaw
    @draketigerclaw Жыл бұрын

    I actually used an Amiga Video Toaster a little bit. When I was in middle school I was one of the AV club nerds and our AV lab had a video toaster, we used it for school closed circuit stuff. It remains the only Commodore I've ever actually used.

  • @DBExplorer
    @DBExplorer Жыл бұрын

    the cat needs its own channel

  • @projectz975
    @projectz975 Жыл бұрын

    i love the videos where i have no clue what he's talking about cause it makes it easier to fall asleep too. this channel runs double duty as tech geek content and makeshift ASMR

  • @CathodeRayDude

    @CathodeRayDude

    Жыл бұрын

    it's so weird that this is a compliment. we live in strange times, yet i know exactly what you mean.

  • @azmax623
    @azmax623 Жыл бұрын

    (mid 1990's) We had an issue with PCI bus voltage for a NIC. System we took out had an ISA 3c509. New system had a PCI 3c905. Customer complained of drops in connectivity and sometimes unable to log in. We had to borrow some high-tech gear and found the cat3 network cable was over 300ft. Apparently the 5v ISA bus had enough current to push the bits, but the 3.3v bus with it's circuits to pull it up to 5v didn't have the current capacity. The customer ended up putting a hub along the run to make up for the length. I ended up with 10 new 3C905s from the 3Com rep for testing.

  • @xPaulRulesTheWorldx
    @xPaulRulesTheWorldx Жыл бұрын

    Loved this video, I have a lot of fond memories of using a TriCaster in high school

  • @robmusial
    @robmusial Жыл бұрын

    You are the promise of the old Internet in human form.

  • @RedRamzor
    @RedRamzor Жыл бұрын

    Hey there again! I swear you're making video on all the stuff I've worked with! I used to use the tricaster back when I worked in local government television. The Tricaster was a great machine. I had a lot of great "aha" moments working with that thing updating the graphics for the station, specifically learning how to do graphic transitions using motion png sequences (I think?) and timing it to a cut or fade (I couldn't get an alpha channel png sequence to work). I remember when I first had to boot into the backend windows UI to do a software update, I was mindblown that it was basically just a PC. It kind of made me think that building my own switcher was possible. I pushed that thing to it's limits, running livestreaming to 2 different destinations, running graphics on the tv's in the studio, doing custom graphic transtions, video playback, multiple levels of overlays, while switching between cameras, and doing picture in picture.

  • @RedRamzor

    @RedRamzor

    Жыл бұрын

    You can see it in action with this cringe stream we did for the county parade, it hung in the transition right at the beginning but once the stuff is fresh in memory it runs great. (I think we were doing point to point streaming from the wifi from the bank there so the field cam is pretty choppy) kzread.infoRVLuNsdBxs8?feature=share

  • @CathodeRayDude

    @CathodeRayDude

    Жыл бұрын

    It's so delightful that Newtek made this whole series of devices because, although I've been told they often crashed or just got "confused" and had to be reloaded or reset, just as often I've been told that they did a remarkably good job despite just being a program on a PC!

  • @RedRamzor

    @RedRamzor

    Жыл бұрын

    @@CathodeRayDude It only really crashed when I was screwing around, making changes, or leaving it on for too long. I don't think these things could manage their memory very well. Generally the rule was to put all your graphics and video in and get it set up, reboot, then play everything once and you would have no problems when you're live. I still can't believe they did all that for a fraction of the price of similar grass valley devices. Now blackmagic is like the saving grace for indie and low budget production. I do wish I got a little more involved in the virtual sets and some of those more advanced features on it though.

  • @RedRamzor

    @RedRamzor

    Жыл бұрын

    @@CathodeRayDude would you have any interest in borrowing my Blackmagic Production Studio 4k for a few months? It's been sitting on my shelf for a year now.

  • @CathodeRayDude

    @CathodeRayDude

    Жыл бұрын

    @@RedRamzor That could be rad! Does it have a physical control surface or is it just software controlled? Might wanna email me to discuss further - cathoderaydude at gmail

  • @CyclingSteve
    @CyclingSteve Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for making a very interesting video. Also your impassioned voice blasting out of my speakers seems to have overwhelmed and shut-up my noisy neighbour. You are my new weapon of choice.

  • @glennbojones777
    @glennbojones777 Жыл бұрын

    Now we need a modern Amiga Video Toaster breakdown using the switcher without a Flyer card (near impossible to get). Thanks for this great content

  • @CodeProfessor
    @CodeProfessor Жыл бұрын

    I have never used one of these and likely never will. I do use NDI all the time though. Thanks for bringing us along, much appreciated! ❤

  • @logicaldojo1901
    @logicaldojo1901 Жыл бұрын

    Shit, the beginning stuff about getting obsessed with information and digging for it and attempting to share it - hits so close to home. Like exactly. Anyhoo - thanks for all the content, it's endlessly endearing!

  • @GratefulRob
    @GratefulRob Жыл бұрын

    I need these videos. Thank you sir.

  • @MakersEase
    @MakersEase Жыл бұрын

    Awesome work. Good work - love this content. Never used one but kept me watching. :)

  • @calebcourteau
    @calebcourteau Жыл бұрын

    Love this format. Your scripted videos are perfection but this casual chat format is great also. You have such a deep knowledge and passion not just for the technology, but the cultural and economic conditions at the time a gadget was made. You have the heart of a historian, story teller, and anthropologist.

  • @whtiequillBj
    @whtiequillBj Жыл бұрын

    I'd love to see a long form video series on this. I watched from start to finish.

  • @HoldandModify
    @HoldandModify Жыл бұрын

    Dude you could rock the classic goatee! Give it a whirl! Also VERY HAPPY Toaster PC is finally getting some love.

  • @orinokonx01
    @orinokonx01 Жыл бұрын

    Before I continue watching, I just wanted to say I started reciting 'one incredibly unbroken sentence...' with you. Obscure fascinations with tech or photography or whatever is why we are all here watching your videos. You do you, we will watch and interact, because we understand :) Love your work, you are truly talented!

  • @TBL_stevennelson
    @TBL_stevennelson Жыл бұрын

    That's a beautiful circuit board. I wish I had this in my early 20's

  • @diboc741
    @diboc741 Жыл бұрын

    This video feels extremely personable.. like I'm sitting across the table from you. I dig it.

  • @DEMENTO01
    @DEMENTO01 Жыл бұрын

    tbh theres not a single thing you talk about that i find boring at any moment tbh, this was super interesting and relatable, stuff not being what u expect it to be and all messy with no info online and having to question the most basics of things is my daily life lmao, glad u got it all working tbh it looks so cool and feature packed, wish i had money for one of these rip

  • @jonathancook4022
    @jonathancook4022 Жыл бұрын

    Please do a full demo of this system with multiple cameras, the breakout box wired up with as many devices as you can muster and try and edit a live show together for us!

  • @leoerickson980
    @leoerickson980 Жыл бұрын

    I've never watched a video this soon after release feels good

  • @shellymorgan8856
    @shellymorgan8856 Жыл бұрын

    This seems soooo good for YTP and weirdo amv shit I make. Thank you for this ripe node of information!

  • @azmax623
    @azmax623 Жыл бұрын

    In the house I grew up in, Storer Cable (and Dimension and COX after buyouts) used an Amiga with toaster for their cable guide channel. Once in a while, when the power failed, you would see an Amiga Kickstart animation on the screen.

  • @DrewskisBrews
    @DrewskisBrews Жыл бұрын

    Those coax ribbon cables are a trip!

  • @bigstupidgrin
    @bigstupidgrin Жыл бұрын

    The best of KZread is people sharing their passions, and they are such good storytellers that they get you to watch regardless of your interest/background in the subject. I know this was more of an off-the-cuff video but I keep having that thought while watching your videos, and this is the most recent one so I'll comment on this. Cameras/retro tech is cool, don't get me wrong. I just don't have an urge to go collect them (outside of buying the old Aptiva I grew up with (with the silly sliding CD cover on its case, and I want a PS2 someday). Your videos are the some of the easiest 30-90 minute watches on the site.

  • @themaritimegirl
    @themaritimegirl Жыл бұрын

    This was cool to watch, and will undoubtedly be a great resource to anyone else who wants to get a VT system running! I'll add, just because it might surprise you, that the TriCaster actually came out in 2005! The original TriCaster had just composite (in the form of RCA jacks) and S-Video, and NewTek actually never intended it to be used by TV stations or video production houses - the original marketing stuff painted the TriCaster as a "presentation system" for HR departments to make internal videos for shareholders, and other dumb shit like that. It was evident in the GUI too, which was incredibly dumbed down compared to later TriCasters, using language like "Live" and "Next" rather than Program and Preview. But it caught on so quickly in the TV market, probably to NewTek's surprise, that they very quickly updated the I/O and GUI to be more appropriate to the broadcast crowd. Your TriCaster Pro was the second model, introduced in 2006.

  • @CathodeRayDude

    @CathodeRayDude

    Жыл бұрын

    Huh! I've been going off of archived copies of their website, and I wonder if this first version was even mentioned on there. What you're describing sounds exactly like the Duo - but that seemed to appear along with the studio, pro, and so on. I wonder if IA has gaps, or if I just missed it. Thank you for the info, I'm now VERY curious to see this first-gen device, haha.

  • @themaritimegirl

    @themaritimegirl

    Жыл бұрын

    @@CathodeRayDude I have links for you, but looks like I can't post them here. I'll DM you on Twitter.

  • @thisiscentralcontrol

    @thisiscentralcontrol

    Жыл бұрын

    @@CathodeRayDude what became known as the TC100 was the first version. Duo came out in 2008 as an even more stripped down version for education. I think the name was DUO because it could not do the projector about (TriCaster originally meaning recording, streaming and projector output - like themaritime girl says, it was all about being a presentation system).

  • @CathodeRayDude

    @CathodeRayDude

    Жыл бұрын

    @@thisiscentralcontrol Oh wow, is that where the name came from? That's wild. Anyway, I'd actually been investigating since her original comment and had come to the conclusion that the TC100 was the first model, then bought the only one on ebay since I wanted to see exactly what they changed in the software, haha. I'm sure I'm going to have to recap the thing even more aggressively than the Pro!

  • @AndyDo
    @AndyDo Жыл бұрын

    I used VT for a public access TV show in Spokane. At school we had Video Spigot on Mac (it sucked...it was just an intake device, really, so mostly we just used it to rip anime LDs). Video Toaster was really cool. And yes, I was a sucker for the cheesy 90s effects.

  • @StayStrappedOrGetClapped
    @StayStrappedOrGetClapped Жыл бұрын

    I do believe that to be the LTT screwdriver, a friend of fine tastes

  • @cjadams7434
    @cjadams7434 Жыл бұрын

    It really was a powerhouse at the time! - fun video.. My friend and i both have fully functional VT5’s and they just don’t die! once they are settled in machines. I think it is in its 4th machine from over the years starting with Frame-factory all the way till final VT-5. Was a great time. Lightwave3d was worth the price of the VT by itself. IT was used not only on B5 but also most of ST:TNG and voyager etc. back in the day. Fun memories! Thanks for showing this.. Fun note.. that Speededit also used the top and bottom tabs for letting you have at the same time a storyboard interface to quickly re-arrange clips as well as a timeline view at the same time. they were totally linked so that changes to one were synced with the other view. This let you do face global changes to your project while then also precision edits at the same time. Even this basically combines for example Davinci Resolves CUT and EDIT pages into one streamlined interface! I wish BMD would actually follow speededit’s example! - There was also a SpeedEdit version 2. which i also have the box and disks for. Aura and the other OLDER editor (Razer edit” came with Frame-factory board originally before the VT-2 update.

  • @Hafk
    @Hafk Жыл бұрын

    Your shirt game is always on point, AJJ rules

  • @DannyBeans
    @DannyBeans Жыл бұрын

    +10 internets for the Captain Picard impression. It was quite hypnotic.

  • @ignatgrz
    @ignatgrz Жыл бұрын

    Personally I haven't use anything that transmitted analog video over BNCs, but it's always nice to see you explore that stuff. I'm active in a student internet TV station and we transitioned mostly from an ATEM switcher connected to an encoding PC and sometimes a second PC running CasparCG with each of these devices requiring a seperate person to operate, to a single PC with a Decklink Quad 2 card and running vMix. The new setup can be operated by one person for smaller events and in most cases new setup enables more complex scenes to be produced.

  • @junkyardmagic
    @junkyardmagic Жыл бұрын

    Still have a VT5 and SX8 etc sitting in my workshop - it was such an amazing bit of kit I really can't bear to part with it

  • @CathodeRayDude

    @CathodeRayDude

    Жыл бұрын

    That seems to be how everyone who personally owned one feels, and I don't blame you at all! I wasn't even "there" for it, and I STILL couldn't let any of mine go. (But if you ever need to reclaim the space, I'll be happy to get it to a good home!)

  • @JessHull
    @JessHull Жыл бұрын

    I enjoyed watching whatever this was.

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