korg seems to have made relatively small runs on their video gear, i wouldn't be surprised if there are fewer than 10,000 krossfours & kaptivators (i got my kaptivator when they were being discontinued, yet my serial number is around #300).. suspect very few of either were sold in the US since brick & mortar music stores didn't seems to want to carry them
edit: surprisingly there's a kaptivator on ebay right now for $800 or best offer, in case anyone's looking... if i could spare that kind of cash, id buy it as a backup for mine (its missing its power supply though)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/KORG-KAPTIVATOR … 2c700afb26

If I could get my hands on a krossfour I would totally consider ditching my v-1... but they seem to be totally impossible to find in the states now. Gonna keep my eyes peeled though, thanks for the reminder!

Thanks guys. I'm so glad I'm not a total moron. It just seems like a super easy/cheap build. It would be fun to just mess around and see what kind of results you could get.

Yeah, its a dirty mixer lacking a TBC (Time Base Corrector) which means that the feed you are trying to mix together won't remain stable or consistent in color. If you want to see / build a really simple one google "karl klomp, dirty video mixer". I built one and while it is fun, some of the projectors I tried to use it with would just bluescreen in the middle of the "fade"

thats a "dirty video mixer" ...see above

Off topic, and this may be the stupidest thing I've ever said, but would just making a little box with two rca video inputes that combine together through a potentiometer and output to one rca work at all? The idea being that you could crossfade through video the same way you would through audio and get crazy weird signals. Or would that just explode my tv?

Another video mixer I wasn't aware of! Thanks!

And a bit lighter and smaller than the V-1!

Tried the korg krossfour very very basic 4 input TBC mixer?

maybe, but thats essentially a dirty video mixer... without the TBC, you get hold issues, as the video feeds don't sync properly.. interesting in its own right, but limited

You *could* just use a regular audio mixer right? Or would you lose to much detail?

of course the edirols are the right choice ... you have some panasonics already, which are nice in their own right.. i have dreams of eventually hoarding video mixers for their different feedback characteristics, but nowhere near enough space for that right now
edit: seriously, v1's are around $200 used? i could maybe spare space for one of those especially since they have MIDI

I wasn't aware of the V-1, thanks! It's a bit lighter and slightly smaller and way cheaper.

But yeah I got my fears confirmed that the Edirols are in fact the smallest proper video mixers

Thanks guys!

If by "keying" you mean the superimpose feature with a key adjust knob, it has that, but it doesn't have very robust ability to select the color value.

What it really lacks is a separate monitor output.

oh, forgot about the v1 (always off my list of possiblities, since i love keying, and it doesn't have it from what i remember)

I've been using an Edirol V-1 - the footprint is a bit smaller, but they're discontinued so you have to nab them on eBay or whatevz. Got mine for around $200. Has 4 inputs, with a superimpose function on input 4. pip and wipes also.

That being said, I packed it just wrong in a suitcase on a recent plane flight and it took a lot of damage. I had to replace all the knobs and the rotary switch and I'm waiting on a special order crossfader board from Japan. Having opened it up, I don't know how much smaller they could have gotten the thing, really, not without making it way more expensive.