Posted by blackburst@aol.com on 10/30/05 02:26

Rôgêr wrote:
> blackburst@aol.com wrote:
> > Rôgêr wrote:
> >
> >>Okay, sorry for reposting, but I waited over a day. Surely some pro out
> >>there has an idea for a good text crawler, but one that's flexible. This
> >>isn't for an CBS sized operation, but a pretty good sized cable
> >>operation for local/regional use. Any suggestions appreciated.
> >
> >
> > Are you talking about a production CG (keyed over video) or a
> > bulletin-board CG?
>
> Keyed over video

OK, now I'm clear on that.

>
> > For production CGs, other posters mentioned Inscriber or Compix,
> > currently made.
>
> They're already using some cheapie, which since it probably cost several
> hundred dollars they think it's high-end, just a little limited. It's a
> Display Systems International or DSI.

There aren't cheapies. They're both PC-based, but very versatile and
slick. Compix will set you back about 4k stem to stern, Inscriber about
6k. Given your situation, I'd check these out.

>
> > You can get lots of older cheapies: Quanta Microgen,
> > Quanta Q-5 and others. Or some rinky-dink Amiga-Commodore setup. Or
> > even the super cheap Videonics units.
>
> They're wanting to upgrade. We've got a Videonics somewhere in a box in
> a closet.

Now THAT'S a piece of crap. I had to use one when my Alphagen Magic Box
died. Limited pages, volatile memory. Kee-ripes. Ended up with Scala.

>
> > For bulletin boards, Scala was mentioned. There are also old
> > TexScan/CompuVids that can do "regions", including crawls.
>
> We use Powerpoint for our bulletin boards, they're using something awful
> that came with their Soloist MPEG Video Server. When I say we, we is a
> company that has a leased channel on their cable system.

You should consider Scala for a bulletin board. All kinds of
versatility, very stable. You can easily scan and import local JPGs,
GIFs, animations, etc. Unlimited pages. Killer fonts.

>
> > If you're interested, we have an old Chyron that will do a bug and
> > crawl, but we want 20k for it.
>
> 20k? Thanks, we'll mull it over.

See above. A great CG, but too much for your purposes.

>
> Actually I do appreciate the input, we've been running another leased
> station on another cable system for several years that is still 50-75%
> analog and have gotten pretty good at it. This cable system is trying to
> be all digital, but they may not understand all the implications
> sometimes. I know I don't, and they come to me to ask questions.

A cable system trying to be digital? That's a first. Comcast prides
themselves on digital, but I asked about feeding them digitally and
they laughed and pointed to their antique analog mono RF (AM) Cadco.

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