Archive for the ‘ equipment ’ Category
Exactly the same as the VP 265, except that this came in its proper box, with all the leads, and crucially, a Madonna-style microphone headset so you can talk over your mix! I enjoyed this experience, placing me in the role of live commentator.
As with the VP-265, this kit enhances the colour to a garish glow and the grain to a sea of pixels. A must for any amateur film-maker.
bought on ebay for £5, plus £7.60 postage
Bought on Ebay for 99p
Another ‘enhancer’. Boasting simplicity, it is the ipod of the vhs generation, it has as slide for fade, and a slide for… enhance. That’s it. In this case, ‘enhance’ means sharpness. Bear in mind that this is the MKII model (what did the MKI do?).
That said, it is a handy little 3 channel. audio mixer at the same time, so not all bad. Out of frustration I plugged my video feed through the audio inputs and got some interesting results. Must explore further…
bought for £5.99 (plus £7.50 postage from ebay)
Basic AV processor – provides some control over GAIN, ENHANCE (sharpness) and COLOUR and a FADER. changes can be viewed in split-screen mode. Also provides basic 3-channel audio mixing.
The controls over the image quality are basic, but maybe just enhance the ‘video’ feel – the bleeding colours when saturation is pushed right up and the sharpness is pushed to the point where it reveals colour grain and edge highlights. What may be just as useful is the 3 channel audio mixing.
Functions
• Combine voiceovers from an external microphone with rich stereo sound from any music source.
• Control video gain and/or detail to produce sharper images and better looking copies.
• Fade in and/or out of scenes for professional-looking transitions.
• Control the brightness of the entire video image to make pictures crystal clear.
• Supports: VHS, VHS-C, SVHS, SVHS-C, Video8, Hi8.
• Features DNRTM noise reduction system.Features
• Deluxe 3-channel mixer with master control creates rich stereo soundtrack.
• DNRTM noise reduction designed to reduce background hiss and other audio noise.
• Earphone jack and audio preview switch built in to monitor complete mix or individual channels one at a time.
• LEDs indicate sound recording levels.
• Fader with dual controls lets audio and video fade separately or together.
• Deluxe video enhancer provides complete control over luminance, detail and colour.
• Split screen feature allows before/after image comparison.
bought 2 on ebay for £21 and £7.50
The are great little cameras. They work well, they take cute VHS compact tapes, the lens is good with macro and zoom, the colours are ok, and I love the 4:3 format for some reason. But the best thing about them is probably the case they came in. I’m no luggage fetishist, but these hard-shall cases make me feel like a hitman. And I have 2 of them! Double whammy! Read more
Bought on ebay for £70
This is the only bit of ‘professional’ kit I’ve bought, but it seems to do the job. Takes BNC inputs which means adaptors are required to link it up with some of my other lo-tech solutions. Basic mixes or a variety of wipe options can be used, along with some digital effects (mosaic) and even keying effect to give videos that real trance feel. To be honest this will be most useful simply as a reliable and clean mixing tool for events. Read more
Bought on ebay for £9.99
A real tough nut to crack. Proud winner of 1993-94 Camcorder User award for Best Post-production Accessory, this video editor prides itself on its LCD interface and lack of buttons. I did manage to get a feed into it and out to a monitor, but after that it was a journey they layers of menus and submenus to explore the other functions of this machine.
Also comes with a variety of functions that can be seen during its demonstration mode. I like this one a lot. 
