cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) (09/28/89)
Attached is a copy of an article from EET that describes how Apple
if off and running, out to establish a standard (or try to at least)
for Desktop Video just like they did with PostScript for Desktop
Publishing. Long time Amiga owners will "puke" at their ability to
put into product "innovations" that everyone who have ever voiced an opinion
about the Amiga and desktop video has already invented.
The key things to note here are :
a) *APPLE* is doing the development work, they aren't waiting for
some underpaid and undermotivated third party developer to beat
the odds and create something that takes the Mac market by storm,
and creates a defacto standard. Rather they are taking a
leadership position and saying "Here, this is how it will be done."
Commodore did that with IFF at first and it spawned a wide
variety of paint programs that could and did interact with
each other as well as a host of tools to make use of
everything. By not being proactive in the development of
IFF ANIM, SOUND, and TEXT standards, projects doing things
like Animation floundered and produced dissimilar and
incompatible data files and output.
b) When someone asks "Who invented Desktop Media" Mssr. Louis-Gasse
is going to say "Apple of course." And while he will be dead
wrong when it comes to accuracy, he will in fact be correct
if he modified it to "Who invented usable Desktop Media."
This is not a flame so much as it is a warning. I know a lot of people at
Commodore both professionally and personally and I realize that they have
varying degrees of experience in marketing/strategy and that they have
even more wildly varying degrees of authority to do anything about problems.
This is an example of something you have to go out and say "This is the
way it is." and screw the developers who bitch and moan about how they
favor their XYZ architecture. Some will complain, more will respect you,
and when the developers figure out that they can make products that are
useful because they adhere to a Commodore dictated standard then you
will see progress.
Accept the fact that you will make mistakes and that sometimes you will
do more harm than good. However, you will also learn and make progress.
Being indecisive and "cooperative" often leads to developers that like
you and stagnation all around.
>from the August 14th Electronic Engineering Times:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Essentially the Media Control Architecture synchronizes the flow
of compressed video, audio graphics and data streaming through a
Mac's I/O ports, disk drives and CPU.
Synchronize is the key word here. A sound bite takes up a
discrete amount of time, but the period that a video or graphics
image lasts may run shorter or longer. The control architecture
makes it possible to cut and paste images, sound, text and
graphics making sure that they overlap smoothly.
"To the Macintosh, these media will just be new data types,
flowing through a host computer in lockstep," said Apple
products president Jean-Louis Gassee.
Apple third-party developers began trying to meld Hypercard
applications with real-time control almost as soon as the
software appeared two years ago. But without a standardized
central architecture, users of many of the fledgeling multimedia
products typically ended wit audio and video out of sync or
stopped dead in their tracks.
Apple chief executive officer John Sculley demonstrated a
BBC package for assembling audiovisual programes. It uses a
method called time-flagging to tightly match sound and video.
"If a CEO can do it, anybody can," joked observers as Scully put
together a mixed-media presentation in front of the packed
house. Despite such assurances, though, the soundtrack failed
to play on cue.
Also demonstrated was Big Time TV, a package from HyperPress Inc
of Santa Clara that lets the Mac capture sound and video in real
time and treat them as if they were binary files.
Video digitizers from a number of companies were previewed, as
were Hypercard tools that control external video and CD sources
from Voyager Press (Los Angeles) and Optical Data Corp. (Warren
NJ).
It's known that an ANSI/ISO document now being drafted will
address industry concerns with many of the issues covered by the
Apple architecture, particularly time-coding video, graphics and
audio files and image compression and decompression. An early
version of the specification is expecte to be announced with
weeks.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.
"If I were driving a Macintosh, I'd have to stop before I could turn the wheel."karl@sugar.hackercorp.com (Karl Lehenbauer) (09/30/89)
In article <125384@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) writes: >The key things to note here are : > a) *APPLE* is doing the development work, they aren't waiting for > some underpaid and undermotivated third party developer to beat > the odds ... > Commodore did that with IFF at first and it spawned a wide > variety of paint programs that could and did interact ... >This is not a flame so much as it is a warning. ... I agree 100% with your sentiments. And ironically, the Amiga is a far better platform for doing this stuff. Trying to do multimedia with a single tasking (or polled task-switching) machine means they'll be having to jump through all sorts of gross technical hoops that Amiga DTV developers wouldn't have to do. Plus we've got the blitter and we're NTSC (which makes it a natural), I mean, Jesus, just look at some of the anims people have done. Oh yeah, cost is a factor, too. An Apple DTV platform is going to based on a Mac IIcx or somesuch. We're talking $6000+ here guys, while the NewTek demo runs in a meg on a 500. The answer for doing the syncrhonization, I'm almost sure, is to use a SMPTE- based cue sheet-type thing. The Amiga would have no problem generating SMPTE internally when it wasn't necessary to sync to external equipment (just use video blank interrupts or synchronize one of the programmable timers to the VBI (with software) for higher timing resolution) I've already written code that can read MIDI time code (a MIDI translation of SMPTE time) from an Opcode Timecode Machine (An under-$200 SMPTE to MIDI converter) and display the time, run forwards or backwards, fast or slow, etc, etc. I also can play and record MIDI files from MIDI file formats of all three types, plus play sounds to the speaker as well as note commands to the MIDI port. With the additional abilities to create cues for ILBM flipping and ANIM playing, and way better user interfaces, etc, a viable, even in some ways state-of-the-art, tool for DTV could be created. But like Chuck said, they'd better not wait for me or anybody else, I'm just one guy, and it's a daunting task, I have a day job, etc, etc. I just really hate to see this opportunity slip through our collective fingers, while a better-capitalized, less capable machine takes it. You know Intel bought all GE's DVI stuff, right? Another opportunity lost, sigh... -- -- uunet!sugar!karl "There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that -- flags do not wave in a vacuum." -- Arthur C. Clarke -- Usenet access: (713) 438-5018