"Email-me" ware: drop me a short note to let me know if you find this application useful. The application is free and is not to be sold. There are no guarantees nor warranties regarding this software.

What it does

Requirements

How do I set up my Mac?

Setup Example

Color Picker Problems

Where can I get PAL equipment in the US?

How is it different than Apple's Video Player?

What's with the white box around the display window when the background is blacked out?

I don't have AV in/out ports!

What if I have a PC?

What it does:
Matt's Hack TV allows you to take advantage of your Power Macintosh AV input and output ports to convert, in real time, NTSC to PAL, NTSC to SECAM, PAL to SECAM, or whatever combination. What you need is two video devices (two VCRs, for example) which understand the appropriate video standard and your Macintosh will do the rest. I've only been able to test the PAL<-->NTSC aspect, but I don't expect there to be any problems with SECAM functionality.

I can't speak as to the quality of the digital to analog converters (DAC) used in the Power Macintosh, though I suspect that it does not match the quality found in professional or dedicated systems. But hey, if you already own a Power Macintosh, it's practically free (excepting the cost of the PAL VCR or camcorder).

Related Info:
How do I setup my Power Macintosh for video standard conversions? The first step is to make sure that you have RCA or S-VHS plugs connected to the ports at the back of your machine. Then, you must restart so that the Macintosh goes into a dual-screen mode. You might notice that your main screen doesn't have as many colors available to it since part of the video RAM is being used to drive the virtual monitor for the video-out port. If you either connect the input video to the output port or have a VCR plugged in and turned on, you should be able to see what's displayed on the virtual monitor (and goes to the video-out port). You should at least see your desktop pattern. Launch Matt's Hack TV and set the input type to PAL, even though your virtual monitor is likely set to NTSC. Move all windows out of sight and open the Monitors & Sound Control Panel. Move the main window out of the way (window-shade it even) and you'll be able to see a second window that sets the characteristics of the virtual monitor, including bit depth and resolution. To access the monitor, you'll have to move your mouse off your main screen and onto the virtual screen. For PAL output, choose one of the PAL settings. For NTSC or SECAM, choose the appropriate setting.

So, what makes this different than Apple's Video Player? Apple's product can indeed take input from PAL, NTSC, or SECAM, digitize it, and display it in a window on your monitor. That is, the Macintosh changes the video standard to a digital format for display on your monitor. Before I wrote this application, I played with Apple's Video Player for over a week in an attempt to get it to work as a standards converter. It didn't work (as I'll explain below), so I had no other option than to write my own.

The problem is that if you want to take an NTSC tape and output it to a SECAM tape (for example), you have to output that digitized video input signal to your video output port. With Apple's included Video Player, this means moving the output window to the virtual monitor that the system software creates as the output to the video port. Unfortunately, I don't own a PAL-system television, so it becomes impossible to center the Video Player's screen on the output screen, and there's an ugly window border which ends up on your output as well. Worse still, when you change video input standards, the window moves around, effectively destroying any alignment you might be able to accomplish. This little application solves those problems by auto-locating the output window (which has no border) and optionally blacking out the background.

What's that white box around the display window? It's caused by the output window not being selected. At this time, the workaround is to either select the output window by clicking on it, or by closing the auxilliary windows.

What are the requirements to do conversions with this software? You must have: a Macintosh (MacOS 8.1 works fine); video in and out ports; enough video RAM to drive it all (4MB seems to be the minimum); video devices that understand the video standards in question. This list may not be all inclusive. I run a stock 8500 with 4MB VRAM onboard, a Sony camcorder, and JVC VCR.

Where to buy PAL equipment: I bought a PAL-system VCR through the mail from B&H; Photo and Video in New York (even though I'm on the west coast). Their web site is http://www.bhphoto.com. They also sell professional equipment and had reasonable prices, so I felt pretty comfortable buying from them. And no, I am in no way affiliated with them (wouldn't that be nice!).

Hey! My color picker stopped working! Actually, it's a problem with the color picker itself. The color picker automatically chooses the deepest-pixel-depth monitor, which (if you have the problem) is the virtual monitor. Unplugging the video-out jack and rebooting will restore expected behavior.

What about those without video in and out?

Being an Engineer I suffer from an overdose of practicality. If you don't already have the necessary AV ports on your Mac, I'm not sure that it makes sense to run out and buy a bunch of hardware when you consider that dedicated converter boxes run anywhere from US$300 on up. That is, in complete opposition to what so many MIS people would have you believe, diversification often times makes more sense than consolidation.

Makers. If you know of other information that should be on this list, contact matt@warnertechnology.com
TenLab (No, I have not used them so I can't vouch for them)

Resellers
Mind Logic sells them, among others.

What about a PC version?

First off, let me preface this section that I don't believe that anyone's choice of computing platform gives others license to make derrogatory remarks about their intelligence or abilities. I personally have been ridiculed by PC users for choosing to own a Macintosh. In every case, the persons in question are violating the old rule: "better to be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt." I use Windows NT at work every day; I even do all the system and network administratin in our office, but I'd rather have an SGI workstation or a Macintosh. However, my preferences should not be forced on other people. We're all different and the computer world is technologically advanced enough that we can survive in a multi-platform environment. Nobody should have a computer forced on them without any say in the matter.

Matt's Hack TV takes advantage of the integration between the MacOS and the AV ports (or addin cards) installed in the Macintosh. In other words, I'm not making any direct hardware calls: the computer is doing all the work. While it may be possible to perform the same functions (taking in one video standard and outputting another) on a Wintel machine, I don't believe that this level of integration exists, meaning that it would take a programmer far more talented than I to pull it off. It would also undoubtedly require additional hardware (refer also to the previous section about people without AV ports). The bottom line is that the Macintosh is renowned for its video capabilities and this is one reason why it has its reputation.

Anyhow, the short version is no, I don't plan to develop a PC version. If you'd like to do video conversions, probably the easiest solution is to refer to the list of dedicated converter boxes above.

NTSC to PAL example:
In Matt's Hack TV, make sure the video setting is for NTSC and the appropriate port (S-VHS or RCA). Make sure your virtual monitor is set to one of the PAL settings (50Hz, in the Monitors & Sound control panel). Have Matt's Hack TV display its window on the virtual monitor.

Background:
I wrote this software to use in conjunction with a PAL-system VCR to which I transfer home video in originally shot in NTSC. This way I can send video to friends overseas. I looked around for an application which performed a similar task, but couldn't find one. So I wrote my own, based on sample code found at Apple's QuickTime site, written by Gary Woodcock and called Hack TV.

Someday, when systems that play NTSC on PAL televisions (and can take NTSC video input signals) are more common in Europe, this program will likely be obsolete. Until then, I hope it serves your purposes.

Still To Do:
The preferences file needs to be greatly expanded so that it remembers: the location of all windows; the user settings for video and audio input (haven't quite figured it out); and better error checking with a corrupted preference file, maybe add a "reset prefs" option. All these and other improvements will depend on what, if any, feedback I get from people out there. If nobody finds this application useful, why continue to develop it?