How-To Articles and Videos: March 2009 Archives

Submitted Question:

What is necessary to send live feed of show out to the
school?  We have an RCA input to the school's channel 6, but I don't see how to
get just the video out of the computer.

Sounds like your school is all set, since you already have the RF modulator system that accepts an RCA video cable.

I also cover this in detail in chapter 8 of my Training DVD volume 1...

As long as your computer has a video card with a tv-out jack (s-video or composite yellow) you are all set.  In our case, we've got an ATI Radeon X1600 AGP model that has an s-video out.  I had to use an adaptor to convert the s-video out to a composite (RCA) so I can connect an RCA video cable between the video card and our RF moldulator that sends out our signal (on channel 6 as well).  This picture shows our video card:

Now that the cable is connected, you next tell Windows to use the TV-out jack as the "extended desktop mode".  Be sure not to confuse this with "clone mode" as that is NOT what you want to enable.  See this link for more on how to enable this.

Finally you'd launch Visual Communicator and go to the setup tab, then video.  Check the box that says fullscreen output.  And that's it!  Be sure to have the cable connected to the RF modulator or TV set, so that your computer can sense that a live video output is connected.

Again I cover this in my video training DVD on volume 1, chapter 8.  Hope that helps, let us know by leaving comments below! 

Submitted Question:

Do you have any research on the benefits of having a school TV news program? We started having a morning news show this year using Visual Communicator. Our program runs about 7 minutes each day, including the pledge and moment of silence. Our problem is that the principal wants it cut down. We had been announcing the sports scores and players with a little video clip of the game, pictures of the chess team winning a tournament, etc. Now we are down to the bare bones trying to keep everything under 5 minutes. There is no extra anything! I'm sure someone has done a study of the benefits of using the TV news to increase school spirit, public speaking..... Can you help me?

Official research--no, but practical first-person research--YES!  Each and every day I see my students light up with all the educational aspects that TV production offers.  Teamwork, responsibility, mentoring others, computer skills, math application for creating graphics and aspect ratios, you name it!

I'd suggest Google to see what you can find out there, and look at my collection of links too for articles and more.

Share your findings with us too in the comments area below!

For those wondering "what exactly is Visual Communicator" and how is it different from ANYTHING else out there, take a look at this 5 min demo video from 2003.  Even though it's old it's still good for explaining how VC is unique and simple for all:

When Serious Magic owned Visual Communicator back in 2004, they released a nice 5 min demo video showcasing the new features such as chapter markers and trigger links.  These capabilities still exist in the Adobe VC3 edition we know and love, but not many are aware of these hidden gems.

Watch the video below to see what I mean...

Submitted Question:

Let's say I have my show ready to record, we hit "record" and get half way through the recording - of course I have hit "pause" and "resume' on the teleprompter at least 3 or 4 times. Then one of the talents makes a big mistake and we have to re-record again.  However - this is the catch - all the slides are now off-set in the wrong place from the script.   Is there some way to set the slides to stay aligned with the script, if you have to stop and re-record, they aren't out of whack?
 
It's a killer, I'm sure you have gone through the same thing, when you have 7 mins until it is broadcast school wide and one of the talents makes a mistake, you have to re-record BUT, it will take forever to re-set the slides adn you run ot of time to re-record...

Been there, done that too!  Good news, this is an easy fix.  Choose Edit from the dropdown menu, and then UNDO (or hit Ctrl+Z).  The UNDO feature works great, as you can literally go back in time and perform multiple undos until you're back again where you desire.  This multiple undo capability came about in version 3, and is a true time saver, especially in last minute scenarios like you described.  If you see the dialog box popup and warn you that the trays will now be moved, simply hit OK and then do a Ctrl+Z to UNDO the moving of the trays.

Background info-- since the timeline is scrubbable after recording (blue area) the programmers needed to enable the trays to move downwards on the timeline for all to stay in sync.  The more you pause/resume the teleprompter, the more severe this misalignment of the trays will be.  But since you can UNDO that anyways, not a big deal as long as you are aware of the UNDO capability (hence AskMrZblog for VC users!).

If you or anyone else has shortcuts or workarounds to share, let us know in the comments below!