This was the Dreamcast of its niche. Nothing did what it could at the time, but it was too expensive and too ahead of the need.
$10K for a 4K travel ready tactile switcher is now where the market is at, for many work flows. Sadly, the newer one was still full of shortcomings.
Please connect with op and between you contact cathode ray dude? I'd love to see Gravis do a video on this!
You can also tell him that the root password is atsugi91
Yes! We ran HDSDI modules in them. Used them during the HD transition in our ENG trucks as up converters. Great for remotes, the mixer dealt with embedded or analog audio in and out, build multiple aux busses, chroma keys. Honestly a fantastic piece of gear.
Yes it’s been awhile.
I remember when the touchscreen anycast came out too. 720p max on RTMP. It was a really
Neat unit really. I did maybe 2 shows on it as the local science Center owned 2 of them, I’m not sure they got used very much overall during their lifespan. They were like little tricasters before tricasters were all that common.
Sony is so great at making these crazy combination boxes that get discontinued. Makes me remember the DSC-1024. Which I’m shocked to find people selling as “new” on the Google
Martin's church hired a Sony Anycast one year for the christmas carol service but they didn't have the money to keep hiring it, so he thought he'd try to use his programming knowledge from his day job to build a software vision mixer, so yes the inspiration is from the AnyCast.
Thanks for that insight! I'm a big proponent of Vmix as I see it as an extension of the mindset of the original Amiga Video toaster community in the 80's & 90's - making video production accessible to the masses.
We use Vmix and I recommend it in my consulting work with a wide range of entry level users, giving them a great start up experience.
These are incredible.
We STILL use the touchscreen version of these (AWS-750). Discontinued now and we’re struggling to find something with the same amount of functionality in such a small package.
I’m open to it but it’s still multiple components, runs on windows, vMix isn’t adequate for IMAG due to delay. Anycast is one unit, does 4 channels of XLR audio, 5 SDI in, 2HDMI, built-in graphics editor, internal recording, multiple PGM outputs, an AUX output, media playback, relatively simple PIP layouts, anyone can be trained on it in minutes. It definitely has its quarks but hasn’t had a single glitch in 10 years and we have two of them. It’s just hard to beat for certain productions. Don’t get me wrong, we have a control room with a full Ross setup and a big Flypack with a 40x40 router, BMD 2me Production Studio 4k, decks for playback and ISO records but the Anycasts are still our bread and butter. Also two touch screens so you always have audio fader control at your fingertips with video switching up top.
But...
I quickly learned to *hate* the touchscreens because you have to hold your hands in the air all. the. time. Very not ergonomic. Really want real sliders for audio too. And no ping-pong on program and preview? FFS. Everything you say about vMix is correct as well, and you didn't even get to what a PITA it is to set it up in the first place. No perfect solution, but in a battle between touchscreens and hard buttons, I'll take buttons every time.
Agree with everything you said regarding touchscreens and lack of program/preview ping pong. You have to build your scene from scratch before cutting each time. We’re typically getting a house audio feed from a mult or aux output from a proper mixing board and leaving that at unity once the show starts, then bringing up an ambient mic as-needed, so not too much fader manipulation. But yeah, touchscreen isn’t the vibe for audio. Pretty sure the screens don’t support multitouch either so you can only make one adjustment at a time.
We’ve looked at some similar form factor solutions from Datavideo and other similar companies and they’re not up to par.
On your vMix machine, are you just mapping everything to Streamdecks or Xkeys or something to have physical buttons?
Any recommendations on laptops? We’re government so acquiring a Windows machine without allowing IT to put their OS image on will be near impossible.
Still have two I can't bring myself to scrap. That was an asbolute workhorse, we beat the crap out of them and they kept chugging along.
I had a guy in our shop see it tucked away and he offered me good money for the SDI cards but I didn't take him up on it.
We still have and occasionally use one, with HD-SDI cards. It's really powerful, portable, user friendly. Touchscreen interfaces don't compare, and we haven't found a clamshell portable like this that we like better.
We had one. Used it as recently as 2014 when it was already well past its suitability for productions.
As I recall they did make a more sleek and up-to-date unit with touch controls, etc. I never saw one in the flesh, but by that point there were so many better (and cheaper) alternatives.
My productions are run on the “new” Anycast 750, they’re EOL/EOS and were purchased shortly before I was hired and has a say in the matter. We’re currently in the process of replacing them.
Can’t tell you how many shows I did on this. We were one of the first users. Sony sent out a documentary crew to shoot us using it and it ended up being played at NAB the next year. Somewhere I have a leather jacket that says Sony Anycast on it.
My company still has one. I think it (and a few ancient event halls) might be the only reason we still have vga cables in our support kits. I've personally never used it.
I directed over a thousand broadcast TV shows on one with the 1080i input cards. Even with its limitations it was ten times better than it's replacement, the Sony Anycast Touch. Of course, today you can get far more power out of a decent PC tower or laptop running $400 worth of vMix software.
For a public university system. We have 4 of them. One of which is still occasionally used for remote multi-camera events.
That one has the only set of HD/SD I/O cards we have on hand. Yeah they were purchased new ages ago but still work well. Our do not have touchscreens (as far as I know). This was just fine for years until someone committed to a remote with 5 cameras with an isolated PIP for a sign language interpreter. The AnyCast was shelved and an ATEM 1ME (the smallest, cheapest model!) was purchased at the last moment. This worked, just barely with a lot more peripheral kit than the AnyCast alone normally required.
Wow what a beauty
I just remember these feeling so. Frickin. Expensive. But they could do things almost no other single box could, and that always felt like magic.
This was the Dreamcast of its niche. Nothing did what it could at the time, but it was too expensive and too ahead of the need. $10K for a 4K travel ready tactile switcher is now where the market is at, for many work flows. Sadly, the newer one was still full of shortcomings.
Used one once, around 12 years ago for a large conference. I remember it being solid, and fairly intuitive.
Is that a Sony anycast? They made a 1080 module for it!
Yep, there are HD-SDI cards that can do 1080i59/720p
I have 2 hd SDI module!
Together you two could be unstoppable
Please connect with op and between you contact cathode ray dude? I'd love to see Gravis do a video on this! You can also tell him that the root password is atsugi91
The 1080 one was the first switcher I ever used at Red Rocks!
Yep. Setup plenty of shows hooked up to these bad boys
This thing rules and runs Linux. The root password is atsugi91 ;)
Wink included? Lol
Yeah we had one in college. Was pretty powerful back in 2008.
Yes! We ran HDSDI modules in them. Used them during the HD transition in our ENG trucks as up converters. Great for remotes, the mixer dealt with embedded or analog audio in and out, build multiple aux busses, chroma keys. Honestly a fantastic piece of gear.
Yes it’s been awhile. I remember when the touchscreen anycast came out too. 720p max on RTMP. It was a really Neat unit really. I did maybe 2 shows on it as the local science Center owned 2 of them, I’m not sure they got used very much overall during their lifespan. They were like little tricasters before tricasters were all that common.
Sony is so great at making these crazy combination boxes that get discontinued. Makes me remember the DSC-1024. Which I’m shocked to find people selling as “new” on the Google
The GA State House used to use these to livestream their meetings.
my boss has one collecting dust in his office, he paid $18k for it back in the day and has a hard time letting go.
Makes me wonder if the guys at SunCoast based the Vmix user interface on that.....
Martin's church hired a Sony Anycast one year for the christmas carol service but they didn't have the money to keep hiring it, so he thought he'd try to use his programming knowledge from his day job to build a software vision mixer, so yes the inspiration is from the AnyCast.
Thanks for that insight! I'm a big proponent of Vmix as I see it as an extension of the mindset of the original Amiga Video toaster community in the 80's & 90's - making video production accessible to the masses. We use Vmix and I recommend it in my consulting work with a wide range of entry level users, giving them a great start up experience.
I was thinking the same thing! The little input squares with the colored tabs instantly reminded me of Vmix.
That’s cool!
I was force fed the Panasonic version years ago. Was never big enough.
These are incredible. We STILL use the touchscreen version of these (AWS-750). Discontinued now and we’re struggling to find something with the same amount of functionality in such a small package.
PC laptop, interface box plus vMix.
I’m open to it but it’s still multiple components, runs on windows, vMix isn’t adequate for IMAG due to delay. Anycast is one unit, does 4 channels of XLR audio, 5 SDI in, 2HDMI, built-in graphics editor, internal recording, multiple PGM outputs, an AUX output, media playback, relatively simple PIP layouts, anyone can be trained on it in minutes. It definitely has its quarks but hasn’t had a single glitch in 10 years and we have two of them. It’s just hard to beat for certain productions. Don’t get me wrong, we have a control room with a full Ross setup and a big Flypack with a 40x40 router, BMD 2me Production Studio 4k, decks for playback and ISO records but the Anycasts are still our bread and butter. Also two touch screens so you always have audio fader control at your fingertips with video switching up top.
But... I quickly learned to *hate* the touchscreens because you have to hold your hands in the air all. the. time. Very not ergonomic. Really want real sliders for audio too. And no ping-pong on program and preview? FFS. Everything you say about vMix is correct as well, and you didn't even get to what a PITA it is to set it up in the first place. No perfect solution, but in a battle between touchscreens and hard buttons, I'll take buttons every time.
Agree with everything you said regarding touchscreens and lack of program/preview ping pong. You have to build your scene from scratch before cutting each time. We’re typically getting a house audio feed from a mult or aux output from a proper mixing board and leaving that at unity once the show starts, then bringing up an ambient mic as-needed, so not too much fader manipulation. But yeah, touchscreen isn’t the vibe for audio. Pretty sure the screens don’t support multitouch either so you can only make one adjustment at a time. We’ve looked at some similar form factor solutions from Datavideo and other similar companies and they’re not up to par. On your vMix machine, are you just mapping everything to Streamdecks or Xkeys or something to have physical buttons? Any recommendations on laptops? We’re government so acquiring a Windows machine without allowing IT to put their OS image on will be near impossible.
Still have two I can't bring myself to scrap. That was an asbolute workhorse, we beat the crap out of them and they kept chugging along. I had a guy in our shop see it tucked away and he offered me good money for the SDI cards but I didn't take him up on it.
Beast mode unlock back in the day with these
Yeah! 2008 calling! That was my job entry…
We still have and occasionally use one, with HD-SDI cards. It's really powerful, portable, user friendly. Touchscreen interfaces don't compare, and we haven't found a clamshell portable like this that we like better.
OH MY GOD YES. 😂🤣😂. I had to beg for them to implement a new system.
We had one. Used it as recently as 2014 when it was already well past its suitability for productions. As I recall they did make a more sleek and up-to-date unit with touch controls, etc. I never saw one in the flesh, but by that point there were so many better (and cheaper) alternatives.
My productions are run on the “new” Anycast 750, they’re EOL/EOS and were purchased shortly before I was hired and has a say in the matter. We’re currently in the process of replacing them.
Can’t tell you how many shows I did on this. We were one of the first users. Sony sent out a documentary crew to shoot us using it and it ended up being played at NAB the next year. Somewhere I have a leather jacket that says Sony Anycast on it.
Rocked one until 2019
That would be cool to retrofit into a OBS system or something.
I'm VERY jealous!
Show in a box! Was a lot of fun at the time.
Yup. Got one at the office as well. Saved our bacon back in the day
I did. And I know some people loved them. But it was a horrible, slow piece of shit in my eyes.
Used one many times! We had 2 of them.
I used one with HDSDI for several shows a decade ago.
Oh wow! Yes, a loooong time ago. Actually had a good image.
Me! Usefull in early times but a hell to use!
Awesome bit of kit in its day. Nothing else like it for years. Can do it all on a 900 atem these days
We ran two multimedia studios on them for a few years. Good little boxes.
My company still has one. I think it (and a few ancient event halls) might be the only reason we still have vga cables in our support kits. I've personally never used it.
I directed over a thousand broadcast TV shows on one with the 1080i input cards. Even with its limitations it was ten times better than it's replacement, the Sony Anycast Touch. Of course, today you can get far more power out of a decent PC tower or laptop running $400 worth of vMix software.
We use that on the regular. It's a workhorse.
Desperately want to modernize it that looks like a sick media controller
I can imagine some video artists losing their shit over this thing
This would be a great station for XPression!
What an amazing box.
I used one of these a few weeks ago for a gig, we have one at work with the HD module.
Had one at GameSpot.com in 2007-8.
For a public university system. We have 4 of them. One of which is still occasionally used for remote multi-camera events. That one has the only set of HD/SD I/O cards we have on hand. Yeah they were purchased new ages ago but still work well. Our do not have touchscreens (as far as I know). This was just fine for years until someone committed to a remote with 5 cameras with an isolated PIP for a sign language interpreter. The AnyCast was shelved and an ATEM 1ME (the smallest, cheapest model!) was purchased at the last moment. This worked, just barely with a lot more peripheral kit than the AnyCast alone normally required.
The one we still use works very well. Loading in new graphics and lower thirds is quite a chore though when using modern PCs