Well, I just received my VHS copy of "NewTek at NAB 2000" from Kevin Hanley (Creative Video Works, Inc., Norman, Oklahoma). Although I had made reservations to attend NAB this year, I was unable to attend at the last minute due to the death of a close friend here at home. So for me, the video was then next best thing to actually being there.

The tape begins with a music-video type introduction (including the obligatory Krispy Kreme donut shot), which dissolves into a live shot from the floor of the NewTek booth at NAB, with all the edited action now appearing on a big-screen on the wall behind the main presentation area. Another large screen was provided for the on-screen VTNT computer display.

NewTek put a lot of thought into this year's event. The booth and presentation area looked very high tech. Furthermore, the organizers came up with a neat idea to stream the event over the internet using (naturally) the VTNT to do the chore. The event area was covered by two cameras. Pat Horton handled one camera and Tim Jenison was the "sometimes" camera two operator.

NewTek's East Cost Sales Rep Ralph Messana was the main presenter and had no problem vamping his way through the presentation, aided by NewTek's West Coast

Sales Rep. Don Ballance who manned the VTNT switcher. As Ralph explained the various functions and features of the new VTNT, Don followed along by selecting between camera inputs and the VTNT computer graphics. During the presentation, both large screens were filled with camera shots, workscreens, chromakey screens, and other video displays. A straight audio feed was taken from the sound board, and both presenters wore headset mics. The overall sound quality was very good for this type of event. Sometimes the prerecorded audio clips drowned out the mic levels, but it didn't happen very often and was only a minor annoyance.

Even though I KNOW those guys really know their product and are capable of making it look sooooo easy to operate, the new Toaster STILL looks reasonably simple to use, ESPECIALLY with the new crouton-based mode available in VER.2. It is apparent that NewTek has been very busy in the past couple of years developing this "next generation" Toaster.

I particularly liked the inclusion of a software-based waveform/vectorscope and was impressed with the breakout component switcher box (Read my lips: NO TBC'S!). The added advantages of real-time chroma-keying is a definite plus! However, I found the "omission" of describing the audio capabilities of VTNT somewhat suspicious. I'm not knowledgeable about Speed Razor so I can't actually comment on whether it's a valuable asset to the system. It is apparent to me that the way VTNT deals with audio is NOT like the Amiga version. Therefore, I must assume that the VTNT will depend on audio support from other developer sources. Just how seamlessly the application works within the Toaster interface remains to be seen. So the audio capabilities of VTNT are at the top of my "to do" list. Perhaps NewTek is stepping back and waiting to see what develops in the audio end of the operation. I'm sure it won't be long before Aussie totally revamps the entire process anyway !!

The NAB presentation part of the video runs 45 minutes and covers most of the basic feature set and functions of all that goes into the VTNT, including excellent beginner's tutorials of Aura and LightWave VT. Following the presentation, a 10-minute LightWave demo reel shows examples of projects and interviews from several major LightWave users in Hollywood. Finally, the video returns to the NAB floor for Don's "Character Animation and Modeling on LightWave 6.0" tutorial, which runs about 30 minutes. Watching how to keyframe and create facial expressions was quite impressive. Although Don made it look simple, his demo was way over this hillbilly's head. I think for a while I will stick to spaceships buzzing around the universe. Character modeling will have to wait for my son to grow into. Not that you can't teach "an old dog new tricks"................

All in all, the VTNT VER.2 looks VERY impressive and when I think that for less than $10,000 I could set myself up with the latest in A/V NLE post production and two hours worth of uncompressed video, well ................ It's a no-brainer that if NewTek keeps moving in this direction I will eventually have to "make the switch" from Amiga-based to PC-based video production..

Thanks, Kevin, for taking the time to put that video together for those of us interested. Good job! At press time I was just informed that PAL versions are now available for $20 from Creative Video Works, Inc. They can be reached at 405-360-6456, or on the Internet at http://www.creativevideoworks.com/

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