info-mac@uw-beaver (info-mac) (09/21/84)
From: roy@nlm-vax (Roy Standing)
I have been investigating video digitizers and offer the following
mix of fact and impressions on the six systems I have found:
1) Micron Technology, Inc.
Vision Systems Group
2805 E. Columbia Road
Boise, ID 83706
(208) 383-4000
TWX: 910-970-5973
Product Name: MicronEye
Price: $395.00
Availability: immediate
Description: This is a complete system as delivered and connects
to the Macintosh via the modem port. It uses an OpticRAM which is
exposed by the light coming through the lens and then the contents
of the OpticRAM are read into the Mac. The physical layout of the
light sensitive elements is:
1 1 0 0 1 1
0 0 1 1 0 0
1 1 0 0 1 1
0 0 1 1 0 0
The 1s indicate the location of the sensors and the 0s indicate
locations where there are no sensors. The Camera software provided
offers a variety of ways of filling in these empty sensor locations;
which works best is dependent on the picture and the desired image.
Impression: I obtained the system to get some exposure (no pun
intended) with video digitizing. In fairness, I did not expect this
product to meet my requirements. I does not meet my requirements
but was valuable as a training ground.
On the plus side, the software is easy to use and I have digitized
a variety of images, including handwritten labels on a magtape.
Being a complete novice I had a lot of difficulty focusing on anything
more than a foot from the camera, but on frontlit materials placed
about six inches from the lens I obtained reasonable results. High
contrast materials produce the best results. The enhancement features
are very easy to use and give some impressive results. I found the
greatest success when I used the Gray Scale capture mode which takes
four pictures at different exposures (based on your initial exposure
setting), fills in the empty sensor locations using linear interpolation
and creates a dithered image on the Mac.
On the minus side, I couldn't place material more than a foot away
from the lens although the instruction manual says the lens is
designed for viewing at a distance of AT LEAST 18 inches. This
could be my fault, but points up a difficulty in using the product.
The biggest frustration was in using the enhancement features, simply
because they seemed so useful. The enhancement features are:
Fill> 2 for each empty sensor location, count the on
sensors immediately above, below and adjacent;
if all three are on turn the empty sensor
location pixel on
Fill> 1 for each empty...; if at least two are on turn
the empty sensor location pixel on
Fill Horizontal for each empty sensor location, look to the
nearest data sensor in the same row and set the
empty sensor location to the same value
Invert reverse on and off
Smooth Edges turns off a pixel if less than 4 of its nearest
8 neighbors are on
Clear Interior turns off a pixel if the pixel above, below, to
the right and to the left are on
Set Interior changes off pixels to on if at least seven of
its nearest neighbors are on
The problem is that you can not use any option multiple times on an image.
In addition, you can not save an image to a MacPaint file, edit it in
MacPaint and reload it into the Camera system for further processing.
In summary, it is a rather limited system based on a novel technology.
While I would not recommend it to anyone wanting to capture high
quality pictures, it was a good training system.
2) New Image Technologies
P.O. Box 277
Severn, MD 21144
(301) 621-9336
Product Name: MAGIC
Price: $695.00 (with camera, $595.00 without camera)
Availability: immediate
Description: This is a complete system as delivered and connects to
the modem port (I think). You can connect a video monitor (not
included) to the camera output to help focus the camera. When you
are satisfied you capture the image and have several processing
options. The options include filling portions of the image with
defined textures (like pouring, floodfilling, a texture in MacPaint).
Impressions: I was frankly impressed when I saw this system. Since
this was at a computer show it was not possible to get the developers
to stop taking pictures of attendees and printing the images off on
an imagewritter long enough to really learn about the image manipulation
capabilities provided. I think this system may meet my requirements and
the price seems reasonable, especially compared to MicronEye.
3) Discrete-Time Systems, Inc.
6649 e Roswell Road
Suite 240
Atlanta, GA 30328
(404) 255-3629
Product Name: unnamed at this time. DTS developed this system for
a company named Servodyne which thus owns it and will
do the marketing.
Price: not established but definately under $1,000.00 and probably
a lot under $1,000.00.
Availability: January, from my conversations with DTS and Servodyne
they are about to get their first test run of printed
circuit boards back.
Description: This system does not include the camera. Any camera
with an NTSC output can be used. A color camera can be used but for
best results a black and white camera is advised. At the top end they
have used a Ikegama camera with an 800 lines per ?scan? resolution.
They expect people to use vcr cameras and have thus been developing
the product using a Panasonic PK557 camera (300 lines per ?scan?
resolution). The system requires approximately 30 seconds to scan
and capture the image.
Impression: This system may meet my requirements, but the 30 second
scan time is a drag (I think). I will know more when I receive a disk
of images produced by the system. They are having brochures printed
now which include some reproductions. Since I have written and called
several times they are sending me a disk of images. I'm sure they
can't afford to give out too many disks but I have made it clear that
I am VERY interested, I have inquired about being a beta test site.
4) Koala Technologies
Santa Clara, CA
(408) 986-8866
Product Name: MacVision
Price: under $300.00 (not much under)
Availability: November 15th (orders being accepted now)
Description: This systems takes an RS 170 signal. This means that
you can capture an image directly off a video camera, videodisc player,
VCR etc. The video frame is digitized into a 512X342 matrix and placed
in the clipboard. There is some ability to manipulate the image but
that was all the man told me. You can save the clipboard to a file
without leaving MacVision.
Impression: The ability to capture images from a videodisc is
important to me. I have to check if videodiscs have an NTSC
output (probably a dumb question but this is not my area of
expertise), if they do then this system is much like the
previous two except for forcing the image into a 512X342 matrix.
I would rather be ability to capture a larger matrix since
MacPaint can handle this.
5) Thunderware, Inc.
Orinda, CA
(415) 254-6581
Product Name: ?ThunderScan?
Price: $229.00
Availability: early October (not accepting orders until released)
Description: This system is complete as delivered. A sensor is
provided which is attached to the printhead of a Imagewriter
printer (you take the ribbon cartridge out). Anything you can
feed through the printer will be scanned with a resolution of
200 pixels per inch in 256 levels of gray.
Impression: I asked if the following senario would work: print
a MacPaint file on the Imagewriter and then scan it to create a
new MacPaint file from the printed copy. The person I spoke to
said "Yes, we have done that" (paraphrase). Since the Imagewriter
horizontal increment is different than its vertical increment I
suspect that there would be some dissimilarity. In any case this
product sounds exciting since there are no cameras, lights or other
apparatus to require space, special conditions or operator expertise.
6) Oberon International
5525 MacArthur Boulevard
Irvine, Texas 75062
(214) 257-0097
Product Name: unknown
Price: $300.00
Availability: unknown
Description: This system is different from the previously listed
products because it captures files in MacWrite format rather than
MacPaint format. The information I have is sketchy since I have
not been able to contact the company yet. I was told that their
systems scans text documents and captures the text in a MacWrite
file. I got the phone number from long distance and get strange
results when I dial it; I intend to keep trying.
Impression: If this system can really scan and extract text for
$300.00 it will be the deal of the century (depending on its
success rate of course). If it simply provides a legible image
that MacWrite can't manipulate it might be good for capturing
letterheads. Hopefully, I will get through and learn about an
exciting and valuable product (then again...)