Re: IIgs Video

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

tim@buffnet.net (Tim) wrote:

>Okay... IIgs speaker problem behind me.  Next question (tougher, but I
>need to find out about this).
>
>I want to hook up a video camera and/or a VCR to my IIgs and be able to
>put text captions on a VHS tape.  
>
>I'm sure it can be done...Evidence: on page 152 of my ROM 03's "Apple IIgs
>Owner's Reference" book (that came with the computer) there is a picture. 
>It shows a guy and his daughter sitting in front of their IIgs with a VCR
>on the desk.  He's got a picture of his daughter's birthday on the screen
>and seems to be adding a caption--"Happy Birthday Mimi."  The picture and
>the caption are shown on the television above his computer desk as well as
>on the GS monitor.  Unfortunately, the book does not give any explanation
>of the picture and I have no idea from the picture how this is set up. 
>Basically, (as dumb as it sounds) I need to do what the guy on page 152 of
>the 1989 version of the IIgs owner's manual is doing.
>
>What hardware is he using?  What software?  Where can I begin?

He is using a Video Overlay Card, a genlock card that can combine
computer graphics with an existing video image.  The Amiga and the
IIGS were two of the computers that could do this back in the latter
half of the '80s.  Their competitor, the Atari ST, could not.

Even today, similar hardware on PCs are considered novelty items.

With a Video Overlay Card, you can watch TV on the IIGS (once
you connected your VCR to the card).

How it is set up.  The VCR goes into the video in of the Video Overlay
Card.  The VOC picks up the IIGS video from the slots.  The two
are combined internally.  The VOC then outputs the combined video
to 1) the IIGS RGB monitor and 2) another RCA output so that you
can use a second VCR to record the combined video.

As others have mentioned, this card is so rare that it can still fetch
$400.  However, look around.  I've heard of stories of people
selling these cards for $50 because they did not know how much
they were worth (which means two things, 1) you can get them for
much less than $400 if you are lucky and 2) you may be able to
actually make a profit if you are then willing to part with it, but who
would!).

Note: the software used for the computer text in the picture can
be any IIGS program, most likely a paint program.