ECZ5ACK@OAC.UCLA.EDU (Andy Kohler) (12/07/90)
The Los Angeles Times today (Thursday, Dec.6) featured the Video Toaster in a weekly computer column by Richard O'Reilly (Business section, p. D3). The review is informative and generally favorable, commenting on ease of use and quality of images generated. "Even if you don't own an Amiga or a camcorder or even a VCR, the Video Toaster will enable you, for $10,000 to $15,000 starting ftom scratch, to have virtually the same functions as a television production studio. It is tempting to say the toaster could create desktop video the way Apple Computer and Aldus Corp. created desktop publishing with the Macintosh, Laser Writer and PageMaker. But that analogy isn't precise. Desktop publishing on 300-dot- per-inch resolution laser printers is not as good as in print shops with 2,000-dot-per-inch typesetters that cost $40,000 and up. On the other hand, the quality of video produced by the toaster is equivalent to network television standards, according to Mark Randall, NewTek's director of marketing. It meets Electronics Industry Assn. and Federal Communications Commission video specifications." The article goes on to comment on how the Amiga was designed from the beginning to be compatible with video signals, as opposed to the Mac and IBM. It also mentions that NewTek is hoping to pick up many of the "millions of home camcorder and VCR owners who would like to produce their own high-quality videos." Always nice to see the Amiga commented on in the general press. Andy Kohler ecz5ack@oac.ucla.edu or ecz5ack@UCLAMVS