hippotizer 2 (nearly) released

[monty]

I really want one for me!
I forgot other media servers and still want to know how $


I'm basically Visual jockey user.. and doing every show with it..

what I want : quality audio (is there rca or cannon plug?
I saw miniPin in express. also afraid of NOISE)
audiocard upgrade will be good.

program ability like visual jockey
(for example double screen - very useful for
different shapes of LED mounting, particle effect..)
node structure - it's like my LEGO kit 25 years ago

what I like : High resolution media stream (4 DV is ok^^)

built in DMX in

visualjockey engine

hoping 'market standard option' is getting more usable

[Nema]

Originally posted by MoRpH
Good to see someone doing something interesting and stirring up that field even if I haven't agreed with everything they have done in the past.

it seems you are talking about "green hippo" here, the manufacturer of hippotizer (v1 and v2). (?)

green hippo did - from beginning on - do nothing else than creating systems for interactive live-visuals, be it for theatre, musicals, clubs, concerts, or whatsoever. they did no strategic change recently, they just improved the quality and abilities of their product. their very first version (version 0) was some kind of "simple media-server", they could just play highend mpeg streams on several screens but without much interaction (except play/pause/select clip/font overlay). the next version (version 1) - which was based on the visualJockey-engine - was still the same thing: playing videos (in average resolutions) smoothly, but with the possibility to add some live-effects and filters in various ways, and some automated sync-to-the-beat behavior. the current version (version 2) now is STILL doing the same thing, but build on a completely recoded kernel, allowing you to do everything on a much higher level in high resolutions and with multiple simultaneous streams, and also with a much advanced (and loved!) GUI.

green hippo has never really had the intention to built systems designed for the needs of VJs, because they always had their own customers and own target-markets outside the VJ-scene, long before i got in touch with them and confronted them with visualJockey and the whole VJ-scene. now that their systems allow more and more interaction and remote-control even at highest resolutions, the new hippotizer would of course also be a nice toy for serious VJs. however, due to the customers of the targeted marketfields, hippotizers are shipped together with professional hardware and with hundrets of prebuilt highquality videoclips especially designed for the needs of the customer, which - as you can easily imagine - results in an advanced pricing system far above the pricing of normal VJ-software. there is currently no intention to release light-versions especially for VJs, because the quality-level reached the way hippotizers are currently sold is not matter of discussion. this is not meant to be "against" VJs (who would prefer cheaper light-versions, which is very understandable) at all. green hippo does a solid business outside the VJ-scene which is needed to continue doing a good and serious job, and you VJs are on the best way to get involved into such projects where hippotizers are taking place too.

so, i hope that VJs and VJ-software developers will more and more accept the hippotizer beeing a "interactive visual system" allowing you to do cool things similar to what good VJ software does, but without wanting to attack VJs (as it strangely seemed to happen with version1). after all it is no surprise that hippotizer comes with some neat new features, as its development engages several people from different countries, working all day and night on its development. (it would be a real shame if it wasn't like that, because so much work and money is beeing put into it!). i am full of respect towards all the makers of VJ software and their results - i know that they are all great talents and passionated, and i still remember my times as visualJockey developer too..!

i hope that hippos and VJs can stay friends in future and respect the work of each other!

[sleepytom]

yet again there are no real specs on the website

you claim 1920i "output resolution" but do not talk of internal processing resolution at all - is it processing at full resolution internally or using VJo style quarter resolution processing scaled up on output?

1920i - the i stands for interlaced - are you processing interlaced internally or have you just got a graphics card that says it supports 1920i output?

SDI output options - are these scanconverted from DVI / VGA output (don't see how else you can be doing it coz there aren't any pixleshader cards that output via sdi)?

come on guys you can do better than this - your current site is a pretty good marketing site but it is really lacking in technical information - if you are attempting to compete with products and solutions from the likes of folsom and extron you really need to sort out a decent tech spec page with actual information about frame sizes, compression, output methods, input>output latency etc etc.

also listing venues that have got installed hippotizers would be a very good start - at least then i would know where to go to see one in action (this is of course assuming that its a real product that has actually been sold to venues - something which is difficult o believe without a list of clients or venues to go and see it in action)

[Nema]

1) the resolutions are not cheated! it is the resolution of the clips (i probably means interlaced clips, but all other processing is NOT interlaced!), all filters and the final output. however, i prefer multiple channels at lower (=PAL) resolutions than single or double-channel at high-resoltions.

2) SDI output: yes as long as ATI and NVIDIA don't directly support it, there is no other way.

3) the current homepage is a real shame and i hope it will be improved soon by the webmaster! big sorry for that!

[MoRpH]

Originally posted by Nema
it seems you are talking about "green hippo" here, the manufacturer of hippotizer (v1 and v2). (?)

Actually I was talking about the involvement of the VJo crew... but its nice to see you could take a simple comment and make it a huge long marketing rant.... well done

[sleepytom]

yeah thats what i thought

i would be very careful about claiming 1920i output from progressive processing - it is not really a true 1920i system if processing is progressive.

other than that its a very interesting system - i'd very much like to see it in action "in the field" - are there any installed systems in the UK?

[MoRpH]

*disclaimer - does not apply to the hippo 2, VJo crew sold out ages ago*

Strange how a software started with the best intentions (a simple little demo builder), when dropped in the hands of a "corp" can multiply its selling price X10+ by bundling off the shelf hardware and slapping a sticker on it.

Honestly I don't care about the usual VJ "It might cost me gigs" angle... I'm talking simply about the sad deliniation of the theatre/auto-club "got money so we will rip them off" and "we can actually use this to create something cutting edge" VJ market.

Call me a commie but I believe in putting the tools in the hands of the ppl that will do the most with them. Not charging the most to the highest bidder and telling everyone else to get fucked.

[Nema]

we live in times of "hyper-competition"; if you don't treat your customers fair enough or if you don't supply highest quality, you won't find any customers at all (or you will spend more money for the marketing than you canfinally earn). ripping off (obviously) never even worked at all in this marketfield, the prices were already dumped to the max from beginning on. the longer the more there are more than enough competitors with much bigger budgets (highend with catalyst, martin with maxedia, just to mention the "global players"). so, the customers themselves have all power to decide if a product and its services are worth the price or not. and frankly speaking, i am more than happy that things are as simple as this, because those who really work hard and play fair in all categories over a long time will be awarded, and the big players are too inertial to keep up with the real innovations by the little enthousiastic teams (so, let's hope we stay small and innovative! :-)).

[MoRpH]

I agree catalyst and martin can eat me ass. Small and creative is good. I still think a lot of "solutions" (gawd I hate marketing speak) are WELL over priced.

Anyways as I said I'm not interested in providing more material to be made into a base for marketing bullshit, so I'll end it here, except to say HARWARE = NOTHING special, software = NOTHING SPECIAL (within the context of whats being done in various more good willed communities).... marketing budget and getting in the ears of the sad little man with the money and no creativity= GREAT JOB... KEEP IT UP

[MoRpH]

Originally posted by Nema
ripping off (obviously) never even worked at all in this marketfield

BWAHAHAHAHAHA seriously please, bambozaling twits with numbers and swirly shit has WORKED well for others. And you guys are jsut the next in line.... enjoy it while it lasts...