RogGen Plus User`s Manual - OCR Version
Contents
1. harmful interference to radio communications However there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception which can be deter mined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encourage to try to cor rect the interference by one or more of the following measures Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected Consult the dealer or an experienced radio TV technician for help Shielded interconnect cables Shielded power cords J must be employed with this equipment to insure compliance with the pertinent RF emission limits gov erning this device Changes or modifications not expressly approved by Roctec Electronics Inc could void the user s authority to operate the equipment P 3 WHAT DOES GENLOCKING DO As previously mentioned your RocGen Plus is a sophisticated multi purpose genlock RocGen Plus is responsible for three major video graphic functions 1 RocGen Plus is an encoder It processes the Amiga s standard RGB colour signal which is incompatible with standard video into a NTSC PAL video signal This allows the Amiga s sophisticated graphics and animations to be displayed on standard video monitors and recorded on stan2. To remove the instructions press the right button of the mouse and only the script would be displayed Turning both VIDEO and AMIGA to MAX at this moment the script will appear at the bottom of the video and the whole screen will be replaced by the video source To adjust the vertical position of the script move the mouse to the top of the screen drag the screen by pressing the left button of the mouse and moving the mouse downward simultaneously Now the script is located in the lower part of the screen Note the workbench screen may appear when you drag the script screen downward To hide the workbench screen just drag it down and place it behind the script screen P 9 Script requires fonts downloaded from your workbench disk or any disk where the directory FONTS located In order to increase the speed of access however by adding buffers to the drive where the directory FONTS located would reduce accessing time a lot Key in Addbuffers dfx 25 x 0 internal floppy drive x 1 external floppy drive at CLI to add buffers Few keys for your convenience lt ESC gt to clear script line lt BACKSPACE gt lt to erase one character back ward lt ENTER gt or Return to make choice effective immediately III CROSSHAIRS This is a shooting effect demonstration programme When you start the programme in the INVERSE mode of RocGen Plus a crosshair will appear on the screen The crossha
3. the Amiga is powered up Failure to heed this warning can result in serious damage to the Amiga and or RocGen Plus Connecting RocGen Plus is really quite simple VIDEO VIDEO VIDEO KEY 080 RGB_THRU OUT THRU IN 12VDC 0 Figure 1 The back panel of RocGen Plus 1 RGB PORT Plug the D sub 23 pin female connector at the end of the cable that connects to the rear of RocGen Plus to the 23 pin male RGB VIDEO port on the Amiga If you are facing the computer the RGB VIDEO port is at the rear on the leftmost side of the Amiga 500 3000 and at the rear on the rightmost side of the Amiga 2000 Be careful to gently align the connector with the port This connection is easily made when properly done If you find yourself forcing the connection then STOP because you are doing something wrong 2 VIDEO OUT JACK Connect one end of a standard RCA type video cable into the jack on the back side of RocGen Plus labeled Video Out The other end of this cable should be connected to the composite Video In on your monitor NOTE Amiga 1080 and 1084 monitors can be used as composite monitors by hitting a switch button on the front control panel of the monitor Don t use RCA type AUDIO cables even though they look the same as the one produced for video use They are not designed to carry the higher frequencies that are found in the NTSC PAL video signal Some video monitors especially those designed for industria
4. IE Nee i S RER ns Br Le ane Der ET PLA 3 f Aes a 3 ER AX ar USER S MANUAL NTENT 1 SPECIAL FEATURES P 1 2 WHY AMIGA P 2 3 WHAT IS A GENLOCK P 3 4 WHAT DOES GENLOCKING DO P 4 5 CONNECTING THE ROCGEN PLUS P 6 6 OPERATION OF DEMO DISK P 9 7 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS P 11 8 SPECIFICATIONS P 12 IN NO EVENT WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT OR TORT INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE SHALL ROCTEC ELECTRONICS LTD BE LIABLE FOR INCIDENTAL CONSEQUENTIAL INDIRECT SPECIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES OF ANY KIND OR FOR LOSS OF REVENUE LOSS OF BUSINESS OR OTHER FINANCIAL LOSS ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SALE INSTALLATION USE PERFORMANCE FAILURE OR INTERRUPTION OF THIS PRODUCT All brand names are registered trademarks of their owners SPECIAL FEATURES Fully compatible with the complete line of Amiga Personal Computers Series A500 A1000 A2000 A3000 and Commodore s CDTV Fully accessible user friendly panel design and easy installation Auto Video Pass Thru This allows the signal from the Amiga or external video source to pass through the RocGen Plus to the monitor or recorder even if either the Amiga or the external video signal is off AMIGA VIDEO control This feature provides for User control of the varying degrees of fade and dissolve between the Amiga graphics and extern
5. PERATING THE DEMO DISK Load your Amiga with your Workbench disk and insert the demonstration disk use the mouse to activate the RocGen Plus Demo Disk icon and the following programmes I Colour Bars Vertical amp Horizontal This is a self running demonstration programme When you start the programme eight colour bars will appear on the screen Colour of the bars from left to right top to bottom are grey background colour white yellow green pink red blue and black respectively When both VIDEO and AMIGA are turned to MAX the background grey colour of the Amiga will be replaced by the input video source of RocGen Plus The colour bars could be scrolled by moving the mouse to the right side of the screen The nearer of the mouse to the right the faster the scrolling effect Exit the programme by moving the mouse to the left top corner of the screen and click the left mouse button II Script This is a programme to write script for video display when you turn both VIDEO and AMIGA to MAX A self explanatory instruction is shown on the screen You could choose colour style and size for your script by moving the mouse to the desired item and press the left button of the mouse When you press lt Enter gt or lt Return gt the chosen colour style and size of the script would be shown All alphabets numbers or nearly all characters on the keyboard can be used for your script
6. al video source simultaneously The RocGen Plus is the most affordable Amiga genlock offering this feature Extra Video Thru Port Provides separate line monitoring of the video signal only Extra RGB Thru Port Enables separate line of RGB signals for real time editing of your Amiga graphics Extra Key In Port Allows the RocGen Plus to engage external keying devices for the production of special video keying effects Internal Sync Generator The RocGen Plus generates its own internal timing signals if it does not sense synchronization from an external video source P 1 WHY AMIGA Any discussion of the functionality of Amiga genlock must begin with the Amiga itself With custom processors that support up to 4096 colours and smooth quick screen updating the Amiga is an ideal tool for sophisticated graphic and animation projects Another attractive function is its ability to output a full overscan screen a screen whose images display all the way to the edge of the monitor leaving no visible border as a standard feature something no other personal computer does without elaborate and expensive add ons The build in colour NTSC PAL compatible output is another powerful video related feature of the Amiga This combination of features made for compelling reasons to use the Amiga in a video production environment But the most important Amiga video advantage stems from the very foundation of the Amiga s architecture the Ami
7. dard video types via video recorders Unfortunately the encoding of these distinct pure signals into one composite signal usually results in a visible degradation in the quality of the resulting NTSC PAL compatible signal This is not a flaw in the genlock but rather an inherent deficiency in the NTSC PAL video signal High quality genlocks like RocGen Plus employ sophisticated signal processing algorithms to minimize the loss of signal integrity Some Amiga genlocks will not operate exclusively as an encoder without a second video signal being applied to provide necessary synchronization signals Your RocGen Plus however was designed to sidestep this limitation by generating its own internal synchronization signals if no external sync is detected The second important function of your RocGen Plus is the previously mentioned signal synchronization This feature allows the genlock to monitor two separate video signals and adjust the timing of these two signals until they are perfectly matched This synchronization is of critical importance and allows the two video signals to be processed and displayed together without the vertical and horizontal disturbances that mark unsynchronized signals Of the two synchronized video signals one of them always belongs to the Amiga This is of course after the RGB signal has been transformed encoded into a standard video signal The second of these two signals can come from a vari
8. e RGB signals that are not genlocked KEY IN JACK The key in jack is used to engage an external keying device for the production of special keying effects The RocGen Plus will switch to use external Key in signal while an external keying device is connected and in the active mode P 7 Display monitor Display monitor RGB monitor for displaying the mixed output for displaying the Amiga graphics for displaying the video VCR or TV receiver wees y hats AANE 9 z LIDIA J Hef TE sE Figure 2 Connecting RocGen Plus with the Amiga EI ON CJ VIDEO IN Max Min Figure 3 The front panel of RocGen Plus 7 DISSOLVE KNOBS The dissolve knobs allows you to control the range of dissolve and overlay of the signals For instance Turn VIDEO to MAX and AMIGA to MAX the output displays Amiga graphics which is overlay onto video source Turn VIDEO to MIN and AMIGA to MIN the output displays Amiga graphics outline and fills with video source inverse effect Turn VIDEO to MAX and AMIGA to MIN the output displays video source only Turn VIDEO to MIN and AMIGA to MAX the output displays Amiga graphics only Hands on experience is the best way to explore all of the special effects possible with the wide spectrum of knob combinations P 8 O
9. ety of video sources including video cameras VCRs camcorders and laser disk players The precise electronic synchronization of the Amiga s encoded signal with a second video signal paves the way for the most important of RocGen Plus s features Overlaying Amiga graphics on top of video is perhaps the primary reason that P 4 desktop videographers use genlocks RocGen Plus provides this overlay capability Graphic overlay begins by combining the Amiga s graphic screen with a video picture Once this has occurred RocGen Plus electronically removes the Amiga s background colour exposing the video picture and leaving the Amiga s foreground graphic overlaid on top of the now uncovered video If you were to picture the two synchronized video signals as two separate sheets of paper lying flat on a table one on top of the other the bottom piece of paper would represent the video signal and the top piece of paper would represent the encoded Amiga signal If part of the top sheet background colour of the Amiga signal was removed portions of the bottom piece the video signal would suddenly be exposed and become visible The electronically removed background colour is known as colour zero because it occupies the zero position in the Amiga s colour palette On the default Amiga Workbench screen the background colour colour zero is blue and the foreground colour is white On the default Deluxe Paint III screen the backgro
10. f yes then it may be the root of the problems since your Amiga s power supply can t support so many add on devices This could be solved easily by plugging an 12VDC adaptor into the RocGen Plus Computer Compatibility Video Input Output Compatibility Encoder Luminance Bandwidth Interface Input Output Video Signal Keying Signal Power Supply Display Control Panel Indication Dimensions Depends on model SPECIFICATIONS Amiga computer series and Commodore CDTV PAL or NTSC composite video signal NTSC RG310CN PAL RG310CP 3dB 5MHz D sub 23 pin Amiga Video Port Connector RCA jack for composite video input RCA jack for external keying input RCA jack for composite video output RCA jack for video thru output DB 23 Amiga RGB thru output 1 Vp p TTL compatible Optional 12VDC 800mA external power supply Overlay and fading effects are adjustable via the dual dissolve dials Red LED for Amiga on Green LED for video active 220mm x 141mm x 38 mm
11. ga s processors were designed to easily match the timing of the industry standard NTSC PAL video signal This single factor more than any other is the reason that powerful video peripherals like RocGen Plus can be offered for the Amiga at a fraction of the price of comparable products on other PC platforms WHAT IS A GENLOCK The word genlock is somewhat misused by the Amiga community In strict video terminology genlock is used to describe the electronic synchronization of two separate video signals a critical video function that must occur before any multi signal processing can begin An engineer in a TV studio might say let s genlock synchronize these two signals together Two video signals are GENerated and then LOCKed hence the term genlock Amiga desktop videographers on the other hand use the term genlock to describe a device an external device in the case of RocGen Plus that actually performs many different video functions the synchronization of two video signals being just one of its many capabilities 02 This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for Class B digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules These limits are designed to provide responsible protection against harmful interference in a residential in stallation This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio freguency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions may cause
12. ir is controlled by the mouse Click the left mouse button to trigger the shooting effect Exit the programme by moving the mouse to the left top corner of the screen and click the left mouse button or by pressing ESC key P 10 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS What s the difference between a Genlock and a Digitizer I thought they were the same thing A Genlock unit enable you to synchronize the Amiga with a video source a digitizer is a unit that enables you to produce a computer version of a video image I am using RocGen Plus and getting a bad picture from the video output what can I do to enhance it The most common causes of bad video output are i the use of audio cable as video cable you are using are designed to be used with video equipment ii the genlock unit being placed near strong electrical current i e Amiga power supply video power supply I want to use my S VHS camera with RocGen Plus how can I do this RocGen Plus accepts CVBS composite video inputs S VHS is a different signal type You would need to use the CVBS output of your camera if available I have setup RocGen Plus as the manual instructed and I can t get it to work what can I do Your dealer should be able to help you with any problems you may experience However before contacting your dealer it is advisable to check whether you have installed many devices e g external drive memory expansion etc on the Amiga system I
13. l and professional use have connectors that are quite different from the RCA type usually found on consumer equipment The BNC connector is the most commonly found alternative RCA to BNC cable are readily available as well as RCA to BNC P 6 adapters to assist in making the proper connections This setup will allow RocGen Plus to act as an encoder and you should see the encoded Amiga signal on your composite monitor At this point the RocGen Plus is generating its own synchronization signal You may want to connect the cable to the Video In on a VCR and then pass the signal thru to the composite monitor This will allow you to both record and monitor the Amiga s encoded signal VIDEO IN JACK The next step is to connect a second video source to RocGen Plus You can do this by using another video cable and connecting it from the Video Out of your video source VCR camcorder laser disk player etc to the Video In on the back of RocGen Plus With this connection made RocGen Plus will take its sync from the incoming video source VIDEO THRU AND RGB THRU PORTS To further enhance the effectiveness of the RocGen Plus in your production process there is anVideo Thru port and a RGB Thru port each providing a separate connection to your video and RGB monitor respectively This will enable you to monitor signals from the two separate sources and is most useful when there is a need to view the video signals or th
14. und colour is black Because the Amiga s palette is modifiable colour zero can be any one of the Amiga s 4096 possible colours It makes no difference to RocGen Plus whatever colour occupies the colour zero position becomes transparent when the overlay mode is activated The fader knobs give you the added capability of controlling the degree of transparency in either the background or the foreground graphic This feature can be used to create many sophisticated effects NOTE The stability of the overlaid graphic image is highly dependent on the quality of the synchronization signal of the underlying video picture Many consumer quality video recorders that were never intended to be used in sync situations produce a very poor sync signal This can result in a visibly unstable overlay characterised by shakiness vibrations and other undesirable effects This is not a flaw in the genlock but simply the result of the genlock matching its timing with the sub par incoming video signal Using industrial or professional quality video equipment will minimize the impact of this condition A high quality sync output is one of the major differences between consumer and higher end equipment Always use the highest quality video signal you can afford P 5 CONNECTING THE ROCGEN PLUS WARNING Before attempting the connection of RocGen Plus you must turn off our Amiga Never attempt to connect any peripheral device when
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