BoinxTV, a Mac and other components together form your BoinxTV studio. This leads to literally thousands of possible configurations. The following example configurations should give you an idea about what you need to create great videos with BoinxTV.
Home Use – 1 Camera
An iMac is a very affordable and powerful solution for working with BoinxTV at home or in schools. It is a good choice for a single camera setup using a Firewire camera as in this example.
Home Use — iMac 21.5-inch
This sample setup should be sufficient for one camera:
- 3.20GHz Intel Core i3
- 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
- 1TB Serial ATA Drive
- ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB GDDR3 SDRAM
Order at the US Apple Store.
Camera 1
Use the following two items for a simple 1 camera setup:
- A Firewire DV camera. There is a huge number of brands and models available. We work successfully with Canon HV-40 cameras.
- A IEEE-1394 Firewire Cable 4-9 M/M. All newer iMac computers feature a Firewire 800 (9 pin) port while DV cameras use small 4 pin connectors.
Alternatives / Options
Video Input
- USB webcams: Common webcams work as input for BoinxTV. Video quality is usually inferior to a DV camera.
- S-video / composite input: Connect a Grass Valley ADVC110 via FireWire.
Video Ouput
- SDI output: Matrox MXO connected via a Mini DisplayPort to DVI adaptor can provide you with SDI output of the BoinxTV signal.
See our Equipment page for more information.
Mobile — MacBook Pro 17-inch
The Core i7 processor combined with 8GB of RAM should provide enough power to even stream a BoinxTV show:
- 2.66GHz Intel Core i7
- 8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
- 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
Order at the US Apple Store.
Camera 1
- A Firewire DV camera. There is a huge number of brands and models available. We work successfully with Canon HV-40 cameras.
- A IEEE-1394 Firewire Cable 4-9 M/M. All newer MacBook Pro computers feature a Firewire 800 (9 pin) port while DV cameras use small 4 pin connectors.
Camera 2
A second camera can be connected via the ExpressCard slot of the MacBook Pro 17".
- FireWire ExpressCard/34, e.g. Sonnet’s FireWire/USB ExpressCard/34. This gives you an additional FireWire 400 bus (with 2 connectors).
- A Firewire DV camera. Ideally use the same brand and model for all cameras connected.
- A IEEE-1394 Firewire Cable 4-6 M/M. The Sonnet card spots a Firewire 400 (6 pin) port while DV cameras use small 4 pin connectors.
Alternatives / Options
Video Input
- SDI / HDMI input: Connect more professional hardware like the Matrox MXO II series via the ExpressCard slot of the MacBook Pro 17".
- S-video / composite input: Connect a Grass Valley ADVC110 via FireWire.
Video Ouput
- A Matrox MXO connected via a Mini DisplayPort to DVI adaptor can provide you with SDI output of the BoinxTV signal.
See our Equipment page for more information.
Studio — Mac Pro 8-Core
You don't need faster processors and hardly more RAM to work with BoinxTV. The RAID card and more than one hard drives are essential to get enough bandwidth for recording HD content.
- Two 2.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere”
- 8GB DDR3 ECC SDRAM
- Mac Pro RAID Card
- 3 x 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive
- ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB
Order at the US Apple Store.
Camera 1
- A Firewire DV camera. There is a huge number of brands and models available. We work successfully with Canon HV-40 cameras.
- A IEEE-1394 Firewire Cable 4-9 M/M. All newer Mac Pro computers feature Firewire 800 (9 pin) ports while DV cameras use small 4 pin connectors.
Camera 2, Camera 3
Each additional camera should be connected via a dedicated FireWire bus. PCI Express cards provide an affordable way to increase the number of FireWire buses on Mac Pro computers.
- PCI Express IEEE-1394 FireWire Adapter Card. Many different brands and models are available, see our Equipment page for examples.
- A Firewire DV camera. Ideally use the same brand and model for all cameras connected.
- A IEEE-1394 Firewire Cable. Depending on the card chose you need either a Firewire 400 (6 pin) to 4 pin connectors cable or a FireWire 800 (9 pin) to 4 pin cable.
Alternatives / Options
Video Input
- SDI input: More professional hardware like the Matrox MXO II series can be connected via a PCI Express card.
- HDMI input: Hardware like the Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro or Matrox MXO II series can be connected via a PCI Express card.
- S-video, composite input: Connect a Grass Valley ADVC110 via FireWire.
Video Ouput
- A Matrox MXO connected via a Mini DisplayPort to DVI adaptor can provide you with SDI output of the BoinxTV signal.
See our Equipment page for more information.
| Home Use | Mobile | Studio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | |||
| Pros |
|
|
|
| Cons |
|
|
|
| Home Use | Mobile | Studio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Features | |||
| Computer Graphics | |||
| Character Generation | |||
| Chroma Keying | One Camera | One Camera | Three Cameras |
| Video/Audio Sources | |||
| Playing Video | SD movies | SD movies | SD and HD movies |
| Video Scaling | |||
| Picture-in-Picture | |||
| Presenter Screen | |||
| Two/Three/Four Up | |||
| Photos and Documents | |||
| Multiple Cameras1 | 2 SD cameras2 | ||
| Network Cameras3 | |||
| Audio Sources | |||
| 3D Video | |||
| Audience Interaction | |||
| Skype In | |||
1 BoinxTV Home only allows the use of one camera.
2 Requires additional hardware, e.g., ExpressCard/34 input card.
3 Network cameras are not available in BoinxTV Home.
Studio Equipment
Find in- and output devices, audio components, lights and other equipment to complete your BoinxTV system.
ScottJoing 75 videos in 3.5 days at #SAEM12 thanks @boinxtv [link]
Tue 15th of May 2012 22:02:02riseofthecursed Boinx TV is cool!
Sun 06th of May 2012 17:13:29kieren_sleight Acutely loving BoinxTV atm! :)
Mon 30th of Apr 2012 08:41:25boinxtv Nordic Light Photo Festival live with BoinxTV and FotoMagico: [link] ^ol
Tue 24th of Apr 2012 11:14:28MattJamesThomas Created my first iPad app preview yesterday, using BoinxTV, iMovie and a MacPro with BlackMagic Intensity Card. [link]
Fri 13th of Apr 2012 12:23:39mikelroy @sageaaron Cool (and affordable) live video switching app called @BoinxTV. We use it for #BCNDP webcasts as well
Tue 07th of Feb 2012 14:57:06MichaelThwaite Got to love @BoinxTV All this from a Macbook PRO [link] with no post editing!
Thu 19th of Jan 2012 09:17:35boinxtv Congrats! “@lionelgruenberg: @boinxtv @schacademy @TeamSCHift awesome production today, killer broadcast, great job team!”
Sat 17th of Dec 2011 02:36:26Making the Grade at CUE 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012Happy spring everyone! It’s been a busy month for us Boinx folks. I just returned from a trip to Palm Springs for the annual CUE conference (that’s Computer-Using Educators) – what a success! The conference, which is one of the biggest tech conferences in California, was packed with teachers, tech coordinates, students (though just on Saturday, of course!) and more, seeking out the latest in technology for education. It was the perfect opportunity for us to showcase BoinxTV, iStopMotion 2, and iStopMotion for iPad, and all of their educational benefits for tech savvy teachers and students. Not only did we get a lot of positive feedback from attendees (some may or may not have purchased the iStopMotion for iPad app while at our booth…), but it was so encouraging to see just how big of a role technology plays in the classroom, and how students and teachers alike are embracing it. There was even an exhibit dedicated to showcasing projects that students have created using technology like...
moreElementary Students Step Into the Role of Broadcasters
Thursday, February 23, 2012At West Tisbury School in Massachusetts, a group of students meets every week to shoot their own television show, which is put on display for their classmates and teachers to see each week. How do they do it, you ask? With BoinxTV, of course! Using the “studio-in-a-box,” teacher Valerie Becker and her “news crew” are able to create WTS-TV, without the need for a studio or expensive editing gear. “This is not a TV production class – it’s a group of dedicated students who are enthusiastic about learning the art of broadcast. But because it's not a class, we’re always on the lookout for vacant classrooms to use for creating the show,” says Becker. “That’s what makes this so impressive, that we're able to do that, because the entire 'studio' is on the computer.” WTS-TV episodes, which air in the entryway of the school Monday through Friday all week long, cover all West Tisbury School activities, from sporting events to spelling bees and talent shows to school trips. They even list all of...
moreStudents Use BoinxTV to Create, Learn and Tell Stories
Tuesday, January 24, 2012Fryeburg Academy, a day and boarding school in Maine, is an independent preparatory school that prides itself on providing a supportive yet challenging environment for their students. The Academy believes its strong school community fosters learning and growth in all of their students, and its comprehensive co-curriculum cultivates generations of students who graduate well prepared for the future. A recent addition to the school’s curriculum to help further the Academy’s mission is Filmmaking and Broadcast – a course that requires its students to create content for, report, shoot and edit their own news show. After weeks of hard work and behind-the-scenes efforts – made easier through the class’s use of BoinxTV – FATV is broadcast online to the news team’s fellow classmates and faculty. “We could not be doing the news show at all without BoinxTV,” said Mike Dana, a former motion picture cinematographer and creator/teacher of Filmmaking and Broadcast at Fryeburg. “We use one of our editing...
more