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Quadra 840AV Video Software?
- Thread starter wins411
- Start date
To just watch video, and to do some capturing, there's the Apple Video Player software, which was included I believe with system 7.5 and later, it's definitely on a few 8.1 CDs I've got.
If you can track down a copy, Adobe Premiere 3 is also a fantastic piece of software to own, both to look at the history of desktop digital nonlinear editing, and because it's just about perfect for a stock or near-stock 840av, in terms of functionality, 1990s price level, and age.
Avid software does exist, however much of it would have required that you cram thousands worth of add-on cards into the machine, so avid setups were mainly maintained by studios at that time, at least intil Avid Cinema came along, I don't know if that was strictly a PowerPC thing, however.
If you can track down a copy, Adobe Premiere 3 is also a fantastic piece of software to own, both to look at the history of desktop digital nonlinear editing, and because it's just about perfect for a stock or near-stock 840av, in terms of functionality, 1990s price level, and age.
Avid software does exist, however much of it would have required that you cram thousands worth of add-on cards into the machine, so avid setups were mainly maintained by studios at that time, at least intil Avid Cinema came along, I don't know if that was strictly a PowerPC thing, however.
I spent a long time looking for good AV software for my PowerMac 7600 and i found BTV Pro to be the best thing out there. If you're running OS 8 on your Quadra, you can run it. http://www.bensoftware.com/btv/index.html
You need more than software.
The 840av — without one of a handful of special AV Mac nubus cards that also connect to the video in slot on the logic board — is pretty useless for true video recording and editing, being better suited to capturing stills, or at best low quality (in resolution/ frame-rate) video rather than real-world video work. A stock machine can record the sort of ultra-low quality video that circulated on CD-ROMS of the 1993-95 era, but not much more.
But with one of those special Nubus cards installed, it can record video at 30 fps (640x480 frames using standard Quicktime compression) in millions of colours (assuming max. vram). The quality is not stellar, as the video is compressed (you can choose between a number of settings, depending on the software used), but it wowed people at the time, as this capability was exceptional in a consumer machine.
The stock machine is frankly far better suited to audio work than video. On the other hand, if all you want is to watch TV using the jacks on the back, Apple Video Player is what you need, and no requirement then for an unobtanium nubus card, either. The machine does an excellent job of it, too.
The more impressive thing about these machines is something else altogether. E.g., an 840av will let you watch TV while running other jobs on the 68040, with very little performance hit, as the 840av is a genuine multiprocessing machine and the MacOS on an 840av is multiprocessor aware. Similarly, it will answer the phone using a GeoPort Telecom adapter and the supplied telephony apps. of the time by using the DSP, while doing other things via the 68040, and so will not cough at being asked to do two things at once, even when these are (like telephony) processor-intensive tasks. (Ask it to do three things, mind you, and you may have a problem.... I don't know if the OS-within-the-MacOS that runs the DSP is multi-threaded etc. or not.)
I gather too that there are some interesting video tricks that they can accomplish, but this is not something I have tried. I have recorded video on an 840av, though — but then I have one of those aforementioned nubus cards manufactured specifically for the AV Quadras.
The 840av — without one of a handful of special AV Mac nubus cards that also connect to the video in slot on the logic board — is pretty useless for true video recording and editing, being better suited to capturing stills, or at best low quality (in resolution/ frame-rate) video rather than real-world video work. A stock machine can record the sort of ultra-low quality video that circulated on CD-ROMS of the 1993-95 era, but not much more.
But with one of those special Nubus cards installed, it can record video at 30 fps (640x480 frames using standard Quicktime compression) in millions of colours (assuming max. vram). The quality is not stellar, as the video is compressed (you can choose between a number of settings, depending on the software used), but it wowed people at the time, as this capability was exceptional in a consumer machine.
The stock machine is frankly far better suited to audio work than video. On the other hand, if all you want is to watch TV using the jacks on the back, Apple Video Player is what you need, and no requirement then for an unobtanium nubus card, either. The machine does an excellent job of it, too.
The more impressive thing about these machines is something else altogether. E.g., an 840av will let you watch TV while running other jobs on the 68040, with very little performance hit, as the 840av is a genuine multiprocessing machine and the MacOS on an 840av is multiprocessor aware. Similarly, it will answer the phone using a GeoPort Telecom adapter and the supplied telephony apps. of the time by using the DSP, while doing other things via the 68040, and so will not cough at being asked to do two things at once, even when these are (like telephony) processor-intensive tasks. (Ask it to do three things, mind you, and you may have a problem.... I don't know if the OS-within-the-MacOS that runs the DSP is multi-threaded etc. or not.)
I gather too that there are some interesting video tricks that they can accomplish, but this is not something I have tried. I have recorded video on an 840av, though — but then I have one of those aforementioned nubus cards manufactured specifically for the AV Quadras.
That would be the Radius SpigotPro AV aka SpigotPower AV then - it has a connector which allows it to access the Quadra's onboard video hardware and DSP, and add its own DSP grunt to the mix. Interestingly, I found a note that it will also work in AV Nubus PowerMacs. The thread where I found that may be of use to you.
IIRC, there are other Nubus cards which don't depend on the Quadra's special hardware and thus can be used in any Mac. I don't recall their names alas. However, if you already have a Q840, then the SpigotPro/Power is probably the one to look for.
NB try using the existing AV system first and see how you like the results. They may be enough for you. You can always look for a Spigot afterwards.
