Mainly Neat Stuff --> Vintage Macintosh --> Vintage Radius Documents
This is a reconstruction of original Radius support documentation. All links on this page are now defunct. For more information, refer to the document Vintage Radius Documents.
Q: Is Spigot II Tape compatible with QuickTime 2.0?
A: At the time of this update, there is no version of the Spigot II Tape software that is compatible with QuickTime 2.0. Until an update is released, we recommend the use of QuickTime 1.6.1 or 1.6.2.
Q: Is Spigot II Tape compatible with System 7.5?
A: No, since QuickTime 2.0 is installed during the System 7.5 installation process, SpigotIITape is, in turn, not compatible with System 7.5.
Q: What is the recommended hardware setup and operation for Spigot II Tape?
A: Spigot II Tape is compatible with the Mac II, IIx, IIcx, IIci, IIfx, IIvx, Centris/Quadra 650, Quadra 700, 800, 840av, 900, 950, and Power Macintosh 7100 and 8100. For the best possible playback performance, movies should be made in the Spigot II Rough codec at 320x240 size using normal compression, digitized to a hard drive which is capable of 2.6MB/sec sustained SCSI transfer in 32K blocks. Movies may then be edited in your preferred editing application and saved in the Spigot Rough format. You should then reopen the 320x240 movie with the ScreenPlay II application and use SpigotZoom for full screen (640x480) output to tape.
Q: Can I use the Spigot II Tape to capture from within Premiere?
A: Yes. Although Radius strongly recommends using the ScreenPlay II application for optimal digitizing, the presence of a built-in VDIG component in the Spigot II Tape software makes it possible to capture directly to the board without using ScreenPlay.
Q: Why does the screen image created by Spigot II Tape jitter so much when the Mac's desktop is being displayed?
A: What you're seeing is the normal NTSC jitter that occurs when convolution is not engaged. However, when outputting video information to tape, the flicker is not noticeable as long as 1 pixel wide horizontal lines are avoided in your material.
Q: Does Spigot II Tape fit in the limited 7-inch Nubus slot of some Macs like the Power Macintosh 6100 or LC-series?
A: No. Spigot II Tape is a full-size NuBus product only. As such, it cannot be used in Macs with a 7-inch NuBus form factor, such as the Power Macintosh 6100 and the Centris or Quadra 610 and 660av. Nor can it be used in Macs with LC style PDS slots, including the Quadra 605 and 630. Most Performas are also incompatible.
Q: Is Spigot II Tape compatible with Premiere 4.0?
A: Spigot II Tape works fine with Premiere 4.0, but Spigot II Tape is not compatible with QuickTime 2.0, which is installed by Premiere 4.0. If you must use Premiere 4.0, we recommend downgrading to QuickTime 1.6.1 or 1.6.2 and removing all other Premiere plug-ins and extensions that are associated with QuickTime 2.0.
Q: Is Spigot II Tape capable of capturing at 640x480 full-screen motion video?
A: Yes, but doing so is discouraged because at 640x480 the card is only capturing 1 of 2 fields. Also, the frame rate will suffer greatly because the board must handle twice the data without the benefit of hardware compression capabilities. This can result in dropped frames and a capture rate of below 9 frames per second on a Quadra 800 or Power Mac 8100. Instead, capture at the 320x240 size and output full-screen images to tape from ScreenPlay II using the SpigotZoom feature.
Q: Can the Spigot II Tape capture still frames at 640x480?
A: Yes. Spigot II Tape performs excellent two-field still frame captures. See your manual for the procedure for capturing still images.
Q: I am trying to capture stereo audio, but ScreenPlay Preferences only let me choose 8 bit mono. What is happening?
A: At present, Spigot II Tape only supports 8 bit mono sound when capturing.
Q: Is Spigot II Tape compatible with PAL video?
A: No. Spigot II Tape supports NTSC video only.