tv9director, Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated, We already have some full page backgrounds assigned to keys. Since Mountaineer recently changed their logo I'm going to have to modify a lot of the graphic pages we use for our live racing production. All of the tab fields are already set up and if I hit the home key and chose "delete character" the back ground disappears. I just have to get the backgrounds that I have modified in Photoshop and saved in Targa format back into the background. I also would like to know how to build up the layers. One of the previous posting someone said that you just have to shift the lines created onto the top (see posting #7). Whenever I try to do this the entire page shifts along with the line. The manuals are not a bit of help and I have not had the Chryon training. Do you know of some resources for step by step instructions? Can you give me some tips? If you get some free time you can call the Mountaineer and ask for the TV Room. We have operators on duty from 11:30am-2:00am seven days per week. Thanks Greg

greg, I am located near you and can help you out if you still need it... let me know banks@jbjtd.com

[quote="Mike Cumbo"]The original iNFiNiT!'s were labeled "Scribe iNFiNiT!" Not sure how many were shipped labeled that way. Let's not forget the Super Scribe either.[/quote] We actully replaced our SuperScribe about 4 years ago...with an absolutely stripped down Max. How stripped down? Turned out that the SuperScribe was actually a better machine. Max gave us the ability to import higher end graphics, but its so low end that we actually ended up with fewer options. [quote="chadrm"]Love the blast from the past in this thread. I've always been a TD, but I've prided myself on being able to walk over to an Infinit! / Max! / Maxine! and now Duet and do something useful, though not a pro. Coming up next: Bernoulli Drive Talk[/quote] ...and on that note, I recently was going through my desk and found some bernoulli discs.

Love the blast from the past in this thread. I've always been a TD, but I've prided myself on being able to walk over to an Infinit! / Max! / Maxine! and now Duet and do something useful, though not a pro. Coming up next: Bernoulli Drive Talk

The original iNFiNiT!'s were labeled "Scribe iNFiNiT!" Not sure how many were shipped labeled that way. Let's not forget the Super Scribe either.

Don't forget the Scribe Jr. -- essentially a stripped-down iNFiNiT!, complete with GUI and similar keyboard. The Scribe had the old RGU / 4200-style keyboard

[quote="Steve Meyer"]...I know that most of the industry has moved on from the iNFiNiT! / Max! / Maxine! platforms, but they are still very powerful, stable platforms, and had a lot of potential in automation and database-accessing that was never fully utilized. There were limitations, to be sure, and you had to know the ins-and-outs of the operations intimately, but still -- great machines.[/quote] Not bad for a machine developed in 1989. I was looking at the schematics on our Infinit once and saw the date, and they were labeled "Dual User Scribe". The Scribe was a similar machine that used vector fonts, but lacked the GUI user interface. CNN made the switch to Scribe when they moved into the "CNN Center" back in the 1980's. Yeah, Turbo Type... :) I was never a Chyron operator, but I had to troubleshoot from time to time.

Mike and Sean are correct. "TurboType" basically turns off re-rendering the output until you hit the "build" key. So, the end result is that you can type text very fast, but the output won't be rendered correctly until you "build". With TurboType turned off, the output is rendered after every keystroke. If you have a lot of graphic elements on the screen, this results in your being able to type approximately one letter every couple of seconds. TurboType is toggled on/off with Control-U. And, to the question of multiple frame buffers: the Maxine only supports one frame buffer. So, there is no layering. The only exceptions could be a) if this Maxine has an extended frame buffer, then you can read something into the background, and something else into the foreground (can't remember if the Maxine even supported extended frame buffers), or b) if you happened to do the Transform upgrade, and have a Transform board installed, then you can read one page into the frame buffer, and some other things into the Transform buffer. Neither of these two alternatives are very likely. Again, good luck! I know that most of the industry has moved on from the iNFiNiT! / Max! / Maxine! platforms, but they are still very powerful, stable platforms, and had a lot of potential in automation and database-accessing that was never fully utilized. There were limitations, to be sure, and you had to know the ins-and-outs of the operations intimately, but still -- great machines.

If it is "turbo type" then its CONTROL U, I believe. CONTROL M is lock/unlock mode.

Was it "Turbo Type"?

[quote="greg6568"]This may be a stupid question but what is the "build" key on the keyboard for?[/quote] There is a faster mode of laying out items on the screen... It has a name I can't remember right now. When it's in that mode, not everything on the frame buffer is updated all the time. You press "Build" to force the software to completely render the buffer. I want to say that toggles the Fast mode or whatever. Also, pressing should bring up a help menu. There's actually some good info there. If only the VizRT was as helpful.

[quote="greg"]This is how we do our graphic pages with the Infinit. If I remember it is pretty similar. Put your graphic image in the back channel. On the B channel set to 100 percent or If I remember correctly you can set your bkg select to on.(you can get to this menu using mix key) transfer back to channel A that is where you can build your text with tabs. When you record the message record as text and graffic. hope this helps greg[/quote] With a Max or Infinit, I know you can have multiple channels with multiple frame buffers, but with a Maxine, I know it's a single channel. Can it (Does it) have more than one frame buffer? Yeah, In talking to our resident Chyron expert, we have used "Text & Graphic" mode to make some pages. It's just slower in calling up an RGBA from the hard drive. With Key Caps, the recall is much faster, but it takes more RAM memory to keep the element buffered at all times. We've got VizRT now. Whole other kettle of fish with that one!

This is how we do our graphic pages with the Infinit. If I remember it is pretty similar. Put your graphic image in the back channel. On the B channel set to 100 percent or If I remember correctly you can set your bkg select to on.(you can get to this menu using mix key) transfer back to channel A that is where you can build your text with tabs. When you record the message record as text and graffic. hope this helps greg

Has any one had any experience with the Converge Tech Overdrive XP software? It is kind of pricey at $1500 or so but it looks like it would sure simplify things. Just wanted someone elses thoughts.

This may be a stupid question but what is the "build" key on the keyboard for? I have been searching for tips on the Maxine but since Chyron does not support them anymore and it has been very difficult. I cannot tell you guys how much I appreciate the advice. I operate the TV department at a thoroughbred horse race track so we just use the same pages over and over again. I have not had much need to make new pages since we purchased these systems in 2000. We use one Maxine as the background and place live video in a P-I-P format. The second Maxine is used for changes is the racing program that are displayed over top of the live video via DSK. Charlson Broadcast Technologies developed the graphics package that interfaces with the wagering computer, timing system and we input an manipulate data via the intelligent interface. Here is the website for the company we purchased the system from. If you look at the second page of the PDF there are some screen shot of what type of layout I am dealing with. The Live TV services section is what I do.

Scott's right. You can't build tab fields (or type any text, for that matter) on top of RGBAs. -Create a machine font and convert your RGBAs to keycaps (using RGB tools) -Type the key to get your element on the screen -On the next row, type your text -Move your row of text so it's positioned where you want it -Create your tab fields Good luck!

[quote="greg6568"]I am just not clear on building up the layers, tabs on top of RGBA files.[/quote] I don't think you can build a page on top of an RGBA. If you had multiple channels, you could mix the page with the tab-fields on top of the RGBA, but it's a Maxine... The best way I know how is to convert the full screen RGBA into a "Key Cap" in a Machine font. Make that character the background and then you can place Tab Fields on top of that. When I've made Key Cap fonts, I start with making a very small machine font as every character you use takes up font memory and it's a limited resource. Another trick to conserve memory is to "section up" you backgrounds elements. If you have 10 different backgrounds, but only a part of the screen changes, Make Key Caps that are only of the changed part. Each full screen takes up a little over a Megabyte of memory!!! The less memory you use, the more stable your system will be. Our old Chyron Infinit was actually more stable than our fancy new Windows based graphics system.

Everything is loaded on the Directories we use, we aren't planning on starting brand new. I have imported files from Photoshop into the maxines. The maxines are networked, we have a Dell that runs the intelligent interface software/program. The only thing I need help on is putting the tab fields on top of the backgrounds. I can make the tab fields and set up all of the parameters, e.g. Update data, font, color, justify, and what data is going to be placed in the field. I am just not clear on building up the layers, tabs on top of RGBA files.

Do you plan on using any of the elements that you already have or do you want to start brand new? Do you or anyone you work with have Photoshop experience? (to create backgrounds or other elements.) Are the Maxines networked? Do you have a computer that is networked to the Maxines? To send Photoshop stuff from. My suggestion is to seek out an Infinit op, the Maxine's bigger brother, and see if they can assist you. Does Chyron even support the Maxine anymore?

I am located in Chester, WV. It is the northern most county in WV, between PA and OH.

What city are you in?