Mixing dvd's by hardware

[DJJonesy]

Hi,

I am completely new to mixing video and wondered if anyone could help me. I want to mix dvd pop videos as you would with just audio,e.g. crossfading between videos at the end of each song like you would if you were using cd's. Is this possible and what hardware would I need e.g. 2 dvd players, mixer??,or is there another way of doing it?? maybe usind a computer with 2 dvd drives?? If so what software would be best? The thing is I want the audio to be continuous just as if you were djing.Also I would like to run some random visuals when I am only using audio, what would be the best way of doing this? I would be very grateful for any help anyone can give me

Cheers

DJ Jonesy

[sleepytom]

in short there is currently no way to beat mix dvds in hardware or software.

nobody makes a pitch control harware dvd player

DJ power will play mpeg video quite badly i belive it also has some nasty visualization stuff

you could use 2 copys of VJamm pro 2 which would give you the kind of pitch control and instant start theat you need but thats quite expensive way to go and it will only play avi not dvd or mpegs

[vjrei]

You could with Arkaos, just need to capture the videos with the soundtrack, place them in a key and punch them. Now, you won't be able to monitor the incoming video, you will need to practice. You can add a fade at the end of each video so you will get a cross fade effect including audio.

You are gonna need some hard drive space depending of the video compresion.

You could get a video mixer and do that thing by it self and 2 dvd players and have monitoring.

Now, forget about sync, amy be with Arkaos but forget about doing something like that for a life show, may be for a quiet club or something.

[holly]

I want to mix dvd pop videos as you would with just audio,e.g. crossfading between videos at the end of each song like you would if you were using cd's. Is this possible and what hardware would I need e.g. 2 dvd players, mixer??

Yes, two DVD players and a mixer is the easiest, highest quality audio+video, and cheapest solution. No beat mixing as SleepyTom says, but I wouldn't bother with a computer at all because you will not get beatsync there either. For random visuals just buy (or burn) a DVD of random visuals to play when there is no video content.

[DJJonesy]

Thanks for the advice everyone, the 2 dvd players and hardware mixer sound like the solution I need, especially as I don't want to beatmatch stuff, just crossfade at the end of the song. Just one other thing which mixer might anyone suggest and does the audio crossfade with the picture or would I have to crossfade the audio and vidio seperately using different mixers? Is there anyone who is actually working this way succesfully at the moment, as I intend to do it in a busy bar with a mixture of pop videos and normal audio songs in betweenand just play some visuals when there's no pop video playing.


Thanks DJ Jonesy;)

[sleepytom]

if you want a simple reliable mixer that will do audio follow crossfades get a panasonic av 55 (or mx20 there the same)- you can get them new for about £700
it has four inputs so you could have 2 dvd players for your pop videos (make sure you get ones that you can turn the onscreen display off) and you'd have 2 spare inputs that you could run visuals into for when you play an audio track

don't buy one of the new roland video mixers - they don't mix audio at all
don't buy a videonics mixer - theres a huge delay on the crossfader

you will also want a small lcd monitior so you can preview dvds and cue things up

[LEVLHED]

Originally posted by sleepytom
don't buy a videonics mixer - theres a huge delay on the crossfader


oohh, c'mon...its not a "huge" delay! Certainly not enough of a delay to make it impossible to fade from one DVD to another at the end of a song. Fast repetitive cuts? no. Simple crossfade? yes.
I say buy a used Videonics MX1, they are nice and small and will do what you need. Very plentiful on Ebay, many are like new.

[AddictiveTV]

Tom's right. but belive it or not - I know a "VJ" in France who does beat match promos on his own 'VJ mixed' music video TV show, but it's not DVDs, he plays stuff in MPEG2 off massive hard drives that are full of promos, scrolling them back and forth like vinyl till they match... :nod:

[WordVirus23]

I'll have to say, that for an industry that deals in milli- and nanoseconds... the MX1 has a huge delay... for a 1st mixer, I'd now suggest the SIMA SFX-M... they can be found for 300 bux on ebay and do nearly as much as an MX1... not sure about their delay tho

Originally posted by LEVLHED


oohh, c'mon...its not a "huge" delay! Certainly not enough of a delay to make it impossible to fade from one DVD to another at the end of a song. Fast repetitive cuts? no. Simple crossfade? yes.
I say buy a used Videonics MX1, they are nice and small and will do what you need. Very plentiful on Ebay, many are like new.

[sleepytom]

more than a second is massive - it is impossable to be precise in your cuts with an mx1 - even the auto take button has a huge delay

PAL mx1s are a bit more rare than NTSC ones - i've seen them go for over ?500 on ebay.co.uk - hardley a bargin

the sima doesn't have audio follow (unless they just didn't bother to metion it in the specs) also i've never seen a pal one.

for a dead cheap option try and find a Hama DVM1000 - you should be able to pick one up for less than 100 euros - but there quite hard to find and no longer in production.

for the easyest option get a new panasonic AV55 or MX20 you can walk into a shop and pick one up - no waiting around on ebay waiting for the perfect mixer to be brought by somebody else with a bigger budget than you.

[LEVLHED]

oh, true the PAL MX1s are harder to come by.
I still think that the T-Bar lag is acceptable for DJJonsey's application, but I suppose he should actually try one to decide for himself....
I can certainly see the value in bypassing the whole ebay thing and just buying a new mixer...

[selfabuse]

Someone a couple comments up mentioned the SFX-M. I picked one up off ebay for well under $300 about a month and a half ago, and I'm already looking for something to replace it with. The price is certianly good, but you get what you pay for. The 2 channels bleed into each other *BAD*. I can't believe they put out a unit that bleeds so horribly. If I had bought this thing for real video editing, I'd have flipped my lid. I've had some heat problems with it too (I think) but I'm fixing that by cutting a hole in the plastic case and mounting an old socket 7 CPU fan in it. (it's only got to last till I scrape the $900 together for a V4)

Anyway, I'd only pick it up, if you're *REAL* broke, and *REAL* desperate for a mixer.

[RobMonty]

Hi,
This is my first post (so be kind :) )


I'm hoping to get into VJing doing exactly the same thing DJJonesy is looking to do. I've been reading up on these two programs (it also means buying the hardware) Does anyone know or used any of these:

DJ Power (http://www.djpower.com)



VJ Live (http://www.vjlive.com/main.htm)

Cheers
Rob Montgomery

[sleepytom]

dj power is apparentlly rubish - i haven't seen it myself but it gets very poorly spoken of...

the VJlive solution looks intresting but is expensive and somewhat over spec'd - if you have that kind of money to spend i would get 2 of the new pioneer dvd decks (dvj-x1) which are the best solution for video djing by a long way.

[RobMonty]

Cheers Tom,
I've read about the pioneer decks and read that numark have a dual dvd deck are these out for sale yet. How do the two videos mrege is there built in transition visuals? (sorry I'm a complete novice, so far I've only been reading up and don't want to start off with the wrong product)

Cheers
Rob

P.S I liked the idea of being able to use cameras (VJ Live) and having them as I'm primarily a wedding DJ and this could work with first dances etc.

[LEVLHED]

the numark unit has just a switcher to "mix" so there's no transitions...just a clunk over to the other deck. the pioneer is just a player (though its quite a player)..
I'm sure its been sugested earlier in this thread, but what you will likely want is a two regular DVD players and a video mixer/moniter. If you get a video mixer with 4 inp[uts, you'd have room for two cameras too.

[DirtyHabit]

pioneer do a very nice deck. i havent personaly used the dvd ones but i have a set of the dj ones as i mainly dj. you cant beat them there ace. theres only one draw back with the dvd players there 2500 uk pounds

http://www.decks.co.uk/products/video_jockey/pioneer/dvj_x1

dhabit

(wish i could afford some)

[sleepytom]

they are not actually out yet - i suspect the price will drop pretty rapidly once they are actually released.

they are very very good though :)

[DirtyHabit]

ah yeah says available soon on that link i gave for them above. must be taking orders already though

[sleepytom]

i dare say they will be happy to take orders - doesn't mean the product will actually come out soon (september is the latest roumor i've heard - or was that for the numark ones? i can't remember)

[paradoxewan]

Originally posted by sleepytom
in short there is currently no way to beat mix dvds in hardware or software.

nobody makes a pitch control harware dvd player

DJ power will play mpeg video quite badly i belive it also has some nasty visualization stuff

you could use 2 copys of VJamm pro 2 which would give you the kind of pitch control and instant start theat you need but thats quite expensive way to go and it will only play avi not dvd or mpegs


Not true,

there is a company in australia that sells a system. This is Two DVD players and a database program on a pc, the dj picks the tracks, and then can auto mix o manual mix.

The same company provides pionner cdj 500's cd players, modified to play VCD. Saw this in several bar installations two years ago when i was over there.

Software, you can convert to mpeg and use mixmiester PRO 5, this will allow you to pictch/stretch/loop and mix videos. At the moment the compression in this software is a bit pants, but its a step in the right direction, for being a lazy bastard and mixing mp3s its great too, although im not sure how much trust id put in it live.

[sleepytom]

link?
or vaporware?

the vcd mods i have heard about tbut anything that actually allows beat mixing of dvd is news to me (there are a few diffrent dvd juke box solutions that will crossfade between tracks but none of these has the pitch control and cuing facilitys to beat match)

any details of systems that allow this would be very good news

[LEVLHED]

actually I'd just like to know more about the denon/vcd mod....seems like we never get passed the "I know there's this dude that mods them" phase...