Great for multi-camera productions and Video Jockey use.
Written: Mar 07 '08
Product Rating:
Pros: Awesome effects and features, digital, preview monitor and two video projectors or monitors output.
Cons: Cost, no fire wire (i-link), limited to 4 video inputs.
The Bottom Line: If your a high energy musician you'll love it. Perfect for VJ's & DJ's., video and stage productions. It is the most creative self-contained video mixer on the market.
dj_white_rice's Full Review: Edirol V 4 4 Channel Video Mixer
The V-4 Edirol 4 Channel Video Mixer is perfect for church and small video production up to four cameras. It is also excellent for DJ's who utilize video in their performances and would work great for night clubs.
Essentially this piece of equipment is a Video Production mixer made by the Edirol division of the Roland Music Corporation so you can count on it being high quality.
I purchased my Edirol V-4 to use for video production within a church. One of the things that make it ideal for this is that it has S-video inputs and outputs as well as the ability to punch or switch via a lever different video sources that you preview and set-up right before switching. The video output can also be sent to a preview monitor and two other monitor devices such as overhead projection units which are ideal for a modernized church.
However, where this fully digital video mixer shines is in its multiple effects generation unit allowing for various wipes and fades. It also has some awesome features like the ability to tap in the BPM (beat per minute) with your finger so that the mixer automatically switches the video sources and effects to the beat which would be awesome for a disco, party, VJ production or concert.
If youre a musician or using another form of midi controller, you can set the video mixer to respond to the midi system exclusive messages being sent from the midi controller or musical instrument for some awesome and crazy performances.
You can input computer video graphics into it, camcorder or other video footage, etc.
Personally, I spent about 5 months reading reviews and manuals on various video mixers both new and used before I decided to invest the money for this unit. Price wise, this unit cost about the same as a decent computer.
As a video producer and musician, the main drawback I found with this unit is that though it is a digital mixer, the inputs are only RCA connections or S-Video. I would have liked to have had some fire wire (i-link) inputs and outputs available to I could keep the video true digital from the digital cameras, into the mixer and then out putting true digital video to the video recording deck and video computer.
On the positive side, I didn't want to be limited to purely having a video mixer for video production like almost all of the other video mixers currently on the market. I also wanted to be able to create some crazy music video stage productions using live video, computers, overhead projectors and pre-recorded DVD video effects. The Edirol is one of the only video mixers that is created for both purposes and specifically created with Video Jockeys in mind and DJ's.
I have also been impressed with the size of this video mixer. It is relatively small at about 6 to 8 inches wide and about 10 to 12 inches long with a height/depth of 3 to 4 inches. This means it takes up a relatively small amount of space and can be sitting next to my audio mixer and digital audio recorder.
Last, as a musician I have some to trust and have a very high regard for products released by the Roland Corporation which Edirol is part of.
If you are in the market for a video mixer as a musician then this is probably the unit you will want to investigate.
If you are in the market for a video mixer for video production then you need to look at this unit and also the many other video production specific units available on the market to determine if this will meet your needs.
If you are looking for a video mixer for your church service, youth or college productions, school performances or stage use, then this may be exactly what youre looking for.
It is an easy to use high performance video mixer.
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