es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) (10/17/90)
I just spoke with a tech at Digital Creations to ask about the DCTV and get a few details straight. It opens a high-res interlace ... screen which requires 198K RAM. It stores images on that screen as 'waveforms' and then converts the image via the hardware (which plugs into the RGB port for display, parallel for digitizing) to the full-color screen you see. The vertical resolution is only 300, but TVs are only 330, at least with our terribly NTSC standard they are. The main advantage is the color resolution. It can take input from video cameras, VCR, etc. The person claimed that they do some sort of Time Base Correction software scheme to improve VCR digitizing quality. I don't know enough about the subject to know whether that is really important. It comes with programs to convert between Amiga formats,including 24 bit images, and DCTV format. It also comes with a paint program, although it will obviously not be easy for other programmers to utilize as its format is totally foreign. It also comes with the digitizing software and takes about 10 secs to take the image. The rep claimed that it is possible to shrink the memory requirements for the image down to 46K (?) by cutting down to 65,000 colors. You can play animations using DCTV imagery, possibly converted from a 3-d program, using a standard animation program (it is after all just a standard amiga screen from the amiga's perspective), although one will be provided with the box. The list price is $500 and the guesstimated shipping time is mid November. -- Ethan Ethan Solomita: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu GorbachevAwards++; free (SovietUnion); IndependentRepublics += 15;