Sony SEG-2000AP, scan converter with genlock (or other options) needed!

[olivepixel]

Just picked up a Sony SEG-2000AP with the chroma key (CRK-2000P) and wipe pattern (WEX-2000P) extenders. I expected it to be fun, but had no idea how awesome the results would be – the wipe patterns are so versatile that it’s kind of like a video synth.



As predicted, the need for genlock is an issue. At the moment I’m looping everything round through a WJ-MX10 mixer. The MX10 has sync out (none in) but for some reason although it’s fine for luma, the colour is messed up – you get horizontal bars. This is a cool effect, but limiting.

I’d really like to be able to output from my computer to the SEG, anyone got any ideas? I’m thinking I either need a mixer or scan converter with sync in. Suggestions would be great, cheaper the solution the better!

Based in Shanghai which makes many things harder to find...

Update:
Ok – I’m dumb; didn’t realise that genlock in would accept any video signal and use that as the sync, thought it had to be a specific sync signal. Suddenly everything makes sense!
New question:
What’s the difference between all the sync terms – sync, black burst, genlock?

[devonmiles]

in a studio environment the seg2000 mostly was accompanied by another sony rackunit which you could equipp with several i/o cards according to your needs, e.g. genlock, tbc, composite, SDI i/o. the cards were doing the syncronising of up to 6 sources and the unit was as expensive as the mixer itself. they are hard to find nowadays and when sold from broadcast surplus they often dont contain the cards that you want. the last time I have had one in front of me was 15 years ago...
a quick search on ebay didnt deliver any suitable results, so alternatively you might look into something like a 4 channel time base corrector from kramer, which you can grab for for a couple of hundred bucks used. though it might take a couple of weeks to find one.
the wipe patterns are supernice, man! makes me want one for a full analogue rigg

[olivepixel]

Originally Posted by devonmiles

in a studio environment the seg2000 mostly was accompanied by another sony rackunit which you could equipp with several i/o cards according to your needs, e.g. genlock, tbc, composite, SDI i/o. the cards were doing the syncronising of up to 6 sources and the unit was as expensive as the mixer itself. they are hard to find nowadays and when sold from broadcast surplus they often dont contain the cards that you want. the last time I have had one in front of me was 15 years ago...
a quick search on ebay didnt deliver any suitable results, so alternatively you might look into something like a 4 channel time base corrector from kramer, which you can grab for for a couple of hundred bucks used. though it might take a couple of weeks to find one.
the wipe patterns are supernice, man! makes me want one for a full analogue rigg

Thanks for the info!

Do you have any model numbers? For the Sony rack unit or the Kramer time base corrector? I’m using the Chinese equivalent of eBay (Taobao) and so I can’t search in English, but model numbers are usually ok.

I’m really enjoying the mixture of analogue and digital at the moment – the soft feedback and flaws of analogue with the numerous advantages of digital. Portability suffers however!

[visualove]

Most of that equipment is made in China, so you might search alibaba.com. If you can find a Chinese broadcast engineer friend, maybe you can order some "evaluation units"

[bitSmasher]

Excellent, I love collecting old stuff... junk hoarding makes for a great hobby.

What analogue gear are you using?

[olivepixel]

Originally Posted by bitSmasher

Excellent, I love collecting old stuff... junk hoarding makes for a great hobby.

What analogue gear are you using?

Not actually that much at the moment, and I need to try to avoid the temptation to buy stuff for the sake of buying stuff (i.e. only get it when it can add something interesting).

Got some thermal video printers (designed for ultrasound and other medical uses) that are pretty fun:





And enjoying the effects the Sony chroma keyer can achieve.

[sleepytom]

to sync your inputs properly there are a number of options.

A single DATAVIDEO TBC4000 would sync 4 sources.

or you could use 1x SONY DSC-1024G for each source (it must be a G or and HD model - the standard 1024 has no genlock)

if your sources are computers then you could use any scanconverter with genlock (such as a VINEGEN PRO or a FOCUS TView Pro AV)

[devonmiles]

couldnt find any info on the kramer model anymore but this unit might help you with the color issues and you can leave out the mx10.
time base corrector
if you want to use your computer as an input source you need to downscale from vga to composite with a scanconverter. this unit is very good and goes together with the seg2000 well
sony scan converter
the thermal printers are nice but the prints are not so great for archiving. the images decay after a while and if you intend to use them in an exhibition or longterm art project, you need to transfer them to something more durable like Alu Dibond or FujiFilm Photo Fine Art Baryte.

the datavideo tbc4000 was the budget answer to kramers 4 channel unit, Tom, do you know the modell perchance?

[olivepixel]

Thanks for the info guys!

At the moment the sync issue is solved by splitting the feed from my (super crappy) scan converter and putting it into input two on the MX10 (only just realised you can do that to sync) as well as the genlock in on the Sony stuff. This of course only works with one source…

The Sony scan converter looks nice, but in China it’s around $400 (minimum) which isn’t as cheap as I’d like! The Scan Do Pro II seems to have genlock in, is smaller and cheaper – any experience with that? Is it worth trying?

Devonmiles, the time base corrector you link to looks handy, and I bet if I can find the right search term it won’t cost much here.

Not so fussed about the longevity of the thermal prints – more of a novelty than anything else. I can always scan the result if I want to hang on to it.

[sleepytom]

Scando Pro is OK too - you need GENLOCK on whatever processors you use (which makes the TBC linked to above unsuitable)

The basic theory is you send a common reference source to all the devices genlock inputs (this can be a composite video signal, ideally it is Blackburst which is basically a stable black signal - look out of a cheap blackburst generator) The sources then synchronise their outputs to be aligned with the reference signal.

The switcher can then combine these inputs and maintain stability as they are all correctly aligned.