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Provides: Live video production using multiple cameras and high quality effects.
Format: Download
Developer: Boinx
Minimum Requirements: Intel-based Mac with discrete graphics or a dual-processor PowerMac G5 with a ATI graphics and a minimum of 2GB of RAM, Mac OS X v10.5.5, QuickTime v7.5.5, iLife ‘05 or one of the Apple Pro software packages
Price: $499 for retail version, $199 for sponsored version
Availability: Now
Version Reviewed: 1.0

Boinx, the makers of iStopMotion, FotoMagico and Mouseposé have partnered with TheCodingMonkeys to release BoinxTV, a live production application that turns any mac into a full production studio. It includes a full suite of tools for recording a live show.

When you first launch the application, you will be presented with a splash screen allowing you to choose from a list of five templates. The templates include Single Video, iClickTV, BXSN - Sports, news:room and Astro Show.

Once you’ve created a new project, it will load the media and then display the main interface. The interface is composed of three main columns. On the left is the settings area, which allows you to configure the currently selected layer. In the middle, all your layers are displayed. And on the right is a live preview.

BoinxTV heavily focuses on layers. If you’re familiar with Photoshop, then you will very easily understand the interface. A layer in BoinxTV can be anything; a Camera, an image or a lower third for example. It comes with some preset layers, including a clock, RSS ticker, countdown, as well as some useful backgrounds for when you’re recording (such as a Weather Map, World News Background, Video Switcher and a side by side view useful for interviews).

BoinxTV also allows you to set a keyboard shortcut for almost any command, such as switching effects on and off or enabling or disabling layers.

I tested the chroma key (also referred to as green screen) effect in BoinxTV, and I was able to get fairly good results with my mock news setup that consisted of a camcorder on a tripod, green backdrop and a chair. I am confident that with a better lighting setup the results would have been better.

I was a beta tester of BoinxTV and have been using it for a while now, helping to iron out some of the bugs. One feature I would have liked to see in BoinxTV, though, is actions. This would allow you to set a multistage event, such as your show ending, where you might go to an overview camera and roll the credits. If I tried to do this now with BoinxTV, it would require two steps. This feature would allow you to more easily have complicated sequences and would allow for quicker changes when recording live.

Personally, I’m not sure what I would use BoinxTV for. It would be great if recording presentations from multiple angles to later broadcast over the internet, but I think the concept of cutting the event live would take some adjusting.

Boinx offers two versions of BoinxTV. The first is the standard version, which includes all features and has no limitations, and s available for $499. The second is the sponsored version, which also includes all features, but requires that you include a 5 second credit in every video you create with BoinxTV. That version is available at $199.

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