General Purpose 'Video Experiments' thread

[zenith2134]

Hi. I'd like to begin a thread which highlights the world of analog video experiments including loops, moire patters, test signals, etc....

Starting things off with my '83 Emerson in a camera/vtr video-loop, displaying what I like to call 'cartwheels' or spider legs.. I can achieve almost any effect by manipulating the exposure and focus levels of a strategically poisitioned cam pointed at the tv set with composite fed into the vtr.

[Geoff Bourquin]

That's a cool pattern. And lots of fun to make I bet. I have a couple recordings like that which I made back in the 80s. One of them was synchronized (sort of) to Dark Side of the Moon. Another was made with an old vidicon type security camera that had a burn on the target from loss of sweep. That burn served as the seed of some very interesting patterns. I just might fire up a camera and try it again.

[zenith2134]

Cool... the above pattern was achieved by tilting the camera about 60 degrees to the right with exposusre set very low and focus adjusted to perfect.
I bet the burned spot was a great starting point
One of my tv's has a 'jailbar' type greyscale line fault which was stellar as a focal point with the same cam and vtr

[Electronic M]

That is really cool!

I once tried the same thing and got a very different, but also very cool pattern that I could be talked into to posting.

[rpm1200]

Wow, I was about to put up a video with some of my feedback! I made a couple of tapes with my RCA 2-piece camera/VCR rig and my Sony KV-20EXR10 back on the late 90s. I'll post it here after capturing it...

[zenith2134]

I'd hate to see this thread die before its time
Thought I'd put up some more shots; same setup as mentioned above.
I'm not too old but can recall a time when people chose 'not to waste their expensive video equipment' with this sort of thing.
real good that older stuff is still available in reasonable amounts.
For instance, the Olympus vcr that i'm using as a baseband - RF modulator was a curb find given to me by a friend.

[old_coot88]

I used to do this stuff just for kicks with an old Hi-8 camcorder in camera mode, jacked directly into the AV of the TV set. Depending on how the camera was rotated relative to the screen, offset from screen center, and distance from the screen, it would create an infinitude of kaleidoscopic "mandalas", spirographic 'tunnels to infinity' etc. There was a time lag of a second or so, and the pattern would flow in lag with how you moved the camera.
This thread is the first i've ever heard of someone else doing this kinda stuff.

[zenith2134]

I haven't heard of anyone else who does this either...
And based on the response of this thread not many VKers are either.

I have an RCA male shorting plug in one side of the audio inputs of the Olympus to brake the white noise fed into the monitor. With this, I am left with the receiver's internal rf noise only and have connected a nearfield cassette recorder with external mic (shure SM57) to better observe the behavior of the spurious sound fields.
It is far from the end-all in sonic accuracy but has reproduced a multitude of unique Sfx.

[zenith2134]

GP-VET Revival:['76 Xam 13" color ss inline, same eqpt as above]

[old_tv_nut]

Well, just so you know it's not SO uncommon. Back in the 80's we played with it in the Zenith lab with a Videobeam projection TV. Standing in a dark room with that large display was a real motion-sickness test - but it could be very artistic too. We put together a long VHS tape of video feedback set to Christmas music one year.

The "Godfather" of this sort of stuff is Nam Jun Paik:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nam_June_Paik

[Electronic M]

Those are some cool effects! I'll have to post mine sooner or later.

[rpm1200]

Sorry, I really dropped the ball on this one. I did take one video via cell phone camera and badly transcoding it, that one is on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0kfw...3&feature=plcp

Now I need to make some high-quality captures and post them. Some of the effects are pretty cool.

[zenith2134]

...Still at it, with a new set-up and new video lab location. No more basement for me after what happened.
Now, i am enjoying experimentation with completing the feedback loop via amateur NTSC broadcasts.... Sometimes the interference I induce contributes to the effects.
Also have some film scanning equipment on the way which is capable of directly printing images off of a CRT display, for archival purposes.

[zenith2134]

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