If you're a fan of classic films, the
Yoostar Entertainment System gives you an opportunity to see how your acting skills compare with the likes of Tom Hanks, Audrey Hepburn, or Marlon Brando -- just to name a few.
The system can insert you into some of Hollywood's best-known movie scenes. All you need is a Windows PC (a Mac version of the software is supposedly in the works.) The rest is supplied by Yoostar, including a USB camera with built-in microphone, tabletop mini-tripod, remote control, collapsible 6 x 6 green background (complete with nylon tote bag), assorted brackets, and the Yoostar application on CD-ROM.
Yoostar employs the same technology that layers TV meteorologists over computer-generated maps. It's called chroma-key, or "green screen," but the Yoostar version works with ordinary room lighting. The unit comes with preloaded scenes, including several classic films, such as "Rocky," and additional clips can be purchased from Yoostar.com.
Your road to stardom starts by positioning yourself in front of the camera, using a guide displayed on your computer screen. The goal is to match the size and position of the original actor or actress. You can also adjust the camera's sensitivity to match the original scene's lighting.
Once the device has all the foreground information, you must step completely out of frame, so it can analyze the background and create the matte effect. When you step back into the frame, you see yourself inserted into the starting frame. Cool!
When you're all set, the system produces a five-second countdown and cues you to start, just like on a Hollywood set. The settings, however, aren't saved, so you have to go through the ritual of stepping in and out of frame for every performance, which quickly becomes tedious.
Teleprompter is provided, but on my PC, it lagged behind the action. There's no apparent way to speed it up, but the software provides a button to send a copy of the script to your printer. The scenes are usually less than thirty seconds, so memorizing lines isn't difficult. Delivering them in sync with recorded dialog is another story.
The teleprompter isn't the only annoyance, however. The application itself has some bugs. It aborted several times in the middle of the five-second countdown without explanation. My laptop is several years old, but it has 4 GB of RAM and a dual-core processor, which exceeds Yoostar's minimum requirements. Nevertheless, the program seemed sluggish at times and had to be relaunched frequently.
After saving two renditions of Marlon Brando's famous "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse" promise to Johnny Fontaine (Al Martino) from "The Godfather," I discovered you have to upload your performances to Yoostar.com to share them. After doing so, however, my second take,
Godfather #2, was listed on the site as "disabled," pending review. The clips were almost identical, so this made little or no sense.
An email from Yoostar eventually explained that the chroma-key in
Godfather #2 didn't have clean edges, which resulted from my moving the background slightly stepping in and out of frame. Although the offending clip was marked for "private" viewing only, sharing a clip publicly is always an option. Yoostar reserves the right to control the quality of what appears on their website, but they only review the clips once a day, so
Godfather #2 remained unavailable for over 12 hours. It was, however, eventually cleared.
Sources say the company's licensing deal with Hollywood dictates that performances can only be viewed on the Web, subject to restrictions, or on the PC running the Yoostar software. In the latter case, the clips are stored in a hidden database on your local hard disk and can't be exported as standalone video files. You can forget about burning them to DVD, but you can post clips on Yoostar.com, MySpace, Facebook, and personal blogs, but not on YouTube (or other sites with restrictions on posting licensed material).
Sharing the videos via Yoostar's website, however, is no picnic. First, you have to share your performance. Next, each invitee must logon to Yoostar, create an account, confirm a validating email, log back on and request to view the clip. Then, you have to approve each viewing request. What an ordeal!
The alternative is to make a performance "public," but you might not want to share your academy award-winning performance with the entire world. Being able to send friends a link to view the video, without the need for them to create a Yoostar account, would encourage sharing the video with more recipients, but alas, that's not the way Yoostar works.
In summary, the Yoostar Entertainment System is enjoyable but not devoid of shortcomings. First, it's not cheap. The system retails for $170. The box says it includes twelve scenes and two bonus scenes, but the scenes are not of your own choosing. If they really wanted to give you fourteen scenes, they would bundle three or four, just to get you started, and let you to download the rest without having to use plastic.
Speaking of plastic, when I visited Yoostar.com to purchase additional scenes, my browser indicated that the credit card section was
not protected by the secure HTTP protocol, even though a graphic on the page said it was. I stopped short of submitting my info, and tech support confirmed that SSL was turned off for some reason. The problem was corrected the next day, but it was a good illustration how if you don't see that "
https://" prefix, you should never assume it's safe to use your credit card!
But don't get me wrong. The Yoostar system is loads of fun. If you're looking for a way to liven up a holiday gathering, this is it. The novelty might fade due to the software's quirkiness and company's fiddle-dee-dee policies, rules, and restrictions, but the concept is a winner.
Nevertheles, before you part with
$170 (plus
$1 -
$4 for each additional clip), make sure you understand exactly what you're getting into and make your purchase decision accordingly. For more information, visit
Yoostar.com.
