Thanks Brian The DME Monitor Output is a handy feature that I wasn't aware of. Mapping this source to a crosspoint and being able to delegate which DME appears on it in menu 1115.1 is great. But when I'm in Processed Key mode, it seems to operate differently - the combined output of the active DMEs is shown on the monitor output when DME1 is monitered in menu 1115.1 - when other DMEs are monitered, nothing is shown on the monitor output. Regarding your question: I've been using the 8000 for six months with v5.4 the whole time so I'm not sure about previous software but it's definitely possible to assign 4 DMEs to one keyer in this configuration. Playing the logo from the EVS would be great but we're waiting for the engineers to configure the switcher to control the EVS. Using DME SDI I/O would also solve it but I don't think we can justify sacrificing inputs & outputs for a relatively minor dilemma such as this. I'm achieving my effect without being able to reposition the shot in the right box which is OK but it would be great to have my cake and eat it too!! Paul

Hi Paul, Interesting knot you're tying yourself into here, but what you're doing would probably have been what I would have tried first! I can think of a couple of ways to try getting around this. SOLUTION 1: Try using the DME MONITOR OUTPUT, you'll find it in the Xpt assign table. I can't remember exactly how you assign what goes to the MON OUTPUT but I'm thinking that if you assigned DME 3 (right box) to the MON OUTPUT and used it as the background. (layer 1)BKGD A = DME MON OUTPUT (set to output DME 3) (layer 2)KEY 1 = VCG (animated boxes) (layer 3)KEY 2 = DME PROC KEY with DME 1&2 combined. DME 1 - logo, DME 2 - Left box This leaves you with a spare DME to use elsewhere! P.S. There could be an improvement on the software since I used it but I thought you could only combine a maximum of 3 DME's on a keyer? SOLUTION 2: Put the logo on the EVS as a chroma key and remote the EVS to the switcher. This frees up your external key input so you can use it on the VCG layer. SOUTION 3: Go with Ricks idea of getting the DME wired off the I/O card. I don't even know if the I/O card is on that DME, I would suggest not, but you would also obviously have to find some spare AUX busses aswell. Good luck! Brian Forshaw

Thanks very much Rick - that really clears things up. Thanks also for your workaround - it works nicely. This might be pushing it but there is something else I'm trying to achieve with this setup that I didn't go into on my first post: My left box pushes back from full frame revealing the right box already in position underneath. Then the logo from an external still store spins on, slightly covering the left and right boxes. The catch is that I want my right box to be layered underneath the boxes graphic generated from a VCG. I can then set the XYZ paths for the right box to OFF and position the shot in the box according the way the it's framed (and not limit the camera operator on location to a centered MCU). This is where I'm at: Processed Key mode with all four DMEs Top Layer - DME1, logo that spins on (Uses the STILL STORE KEY) 2nd Layer - DME2, Left box that pushes back from full frame (FRONT KEY - INTERNAL) 3rd Layer - DME3, Animating boxes graphic from a VCG, has a hole cut on the right side only so the right box can be layered underneath. But the VCG KEY is obviously not useable so I've set this layer to FRONT KEY - INTERNAL and need to somehow cut a retangular hole in it. I thought it might be possible to invert a crop but this doesn't seem to work (even though there are buttons on the crop page that mention 'invert' but don't seem to do anything. This element doesn't really need to go through a DME but it seems to be the only way to layer it underneath my left box but above my right box. Bottom Layer - DME4, Right Box (FRONT KEY - INTERNAL) size and location paths turned OFF to allow the box to be framed as required and left alone when the timeline is run. So the 3rd layer is where I'm stuck. I can't use the KEY from the VCG so I just need to cut retangular hole somehow - any ideas on how to do this? Any other way I could achive my desired setup?? Paul

[quote="sbs"]I am using three DME channels using Processed Key Mode on an MVS8000. I want to use a different key signal for one of the DMEs but when I change the key signal via the Aux panel, it uses that key for all DMEs. It looks like all the DMEs must have the same key when operating in Processed Key Mode. Is this a limitation associated with Processed Key Mode, or is there a way to assign different key signals to each DME? If I don't use Processed Key Mode, I can't assign DMEs to more than two separate keyers on the same M/E so I'm achieving my desired setup by spreading it accross two M/Es. This is obviously not the most efficient way of operating so I'd appreciate your feedback. I'm trying to make boxes with a logo that animates on using a DME move. DME1 - Left Box - Key: WHT DME2 - Right Box - Key: WHT DME3 - Logo - Key: STILL STORE KEY Thanks! Paul[/quote] Paul, Like it or not.... this is the way that the 8000 series was designed. The 8000 switcher has a (well, in my opionion) a big advantage over the Kalypso..... the DMEs, while able to be attached to keyers and are touted as "internal" are really external. The big advantage is they maintain their own memory system, their own control, etc ..... just like real external DVEs. Why is this important? Becuase if you have all the DVE's data as part of the M/E, you lose a LOT of flexibility. If you want to use the same effect over and over with different backgrounds (or other switcher stuff where the DVE stays the same) you don't have to either rebuild everything every time or spend time copying it. You can just keep using DME effect #71 over and over with anything else on the switcher, regardless of which keyer or which M/E. This is becuase each channel of DME is completely independant of the switcher or the other DME channels, for that matter. The reason I went through all that is back in 2001 I asked the same question of Sony that you're asking. The answer I got was that there are two Video/Key Paths on each M/E to interface the DME to the M/E bank. You've discovered that you can't have more than 2 keyers each with their own DME channel on it. That's becuase of how many paths. If you have a highway with 2 lanes of traffic you can't put 4 rows of cars on it. The other VERY cool thing that the Sony has is the DMEs have full-featured combiners. Almost unique to Sony switchers/DMEs. When the combiner is turned on (by attaching more than one DME to the same keyer) it uses BOTH video/Key paths to accomplish this. Since both "lanes of the highway" have now been used, there are no more. This is why once you use the combiner you can't attach any more channels to another keyer. Finally, the reason you can't have a different key signal should now make sense..... There are no more V/K lines to send the info. Also..... The key signal comes from the ONLY keyer that's acutally being used in a combiner. Remember that the subsequent channels are acutlaly coming from several utility buses. There's no key signals with those. This is why Sony also offers its DMEs as true EXTERNAL units, with a differnt I/O card. If your DME was configured with SDI I/O instead of the data cable to make them internal then you have no more restrictions and each channel has its own Video and Key. You can split them any way you want without any restrictions. You can even continue to attach them to keyers and use them as DME Wipes, just like internals. What's the catch? Externals take Inputs and Outputs. That's it. But in this day and age, people don't want to use inputs and aux buses to feed the DMES. Basically its your choice though. The MVS-8000G should sooth a little bit of this with the keyer resizers, but not if you need to do anything other than X-Y and Size/Aspect. The scenerio you desribe above can easily be done on an internal DME on a single keyer. You just have to move things around a bit. The FIRST channel in a combiner sequence always gets the key signal from the keyer. So, just move your Still Store to the First channel. Then go to menu 4162, select the second channel in sequence on the trackball (the trackball is where ALL selection of channels are made for menu adjustment) and set the FRONT KEY to INTERNAL, which is just a white box. By default they are all on external. Do this with the thrid channel and your set. If you need the boxes on top of the still store, just change the combiner priority on menu page 4211. Hope this helps. RE