kim@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (Kim DeVaughn) (05/01/88)
[ There ain't no such thing as a free line. ] Recently, there's been considerable discussion/debate/flamage about MicroWay's flickerFixer product in the .tech group. I've been thinking about getting one of these puppies, and got a little confused in all of the somewhat theoretical discussion. So I sent a note off to ulowell, where a flickerFixer has been under beta test. Rich Miner was kind enough to answer my questions, and I think they're worth sharing. Bottom line is (isn't it always), take a good look at one down at your dealer's running the type of applications that are most important to you, and also take a good look at various animations and decide if you can live with what you see. /kim > Date: Sun, 17 Apr 88 20:19:14 EDT > From: miner@dino.ulowell.edu (Rich Miner) > To: uts.amdahl.com!kim > Subject: Re: A few facts, please (FlickerFixer) > > > Bob passed this note over to me as I am the one who has had FlickerFixer > for the past few months. I helped Peter Selverstone (the developer) > with a few details early on and he returned the favor by setting me up > as a beta tester. > > I'll attempt to objectively answer your questions: > > > >Good product? > > Yes! It is a useful tool if you do lots of textual based work (development, > editing, text processing), detailed graphics (CAD, CAE, painting/drawing) > or other work that involves images and text on the screen in LACE mode. It > turns the Amiga display into one equivalent to a true professional > workstation! It makes the workbench environment, and intuition windows etc, > look more functional and professional then even the Apollos I work with. > > How is that for objective? Well, it's the way I feel about the product. > Additionally, it plugs directly in and required absolutely no software > hacks to work. > > > >Is there a fundamental design flaw as some on the net are > >saying? Is this "image splitting" real or theoretical? If real, is it > >noticeable, or in the noise? Etc? > > I think Headly gave an accurate answer to this feature, there is no design > flaw. As Peter Selverstone explains it: > > With video a fame is a complete set of 525 lines composed of two > fields, made up of the even and odd scan lines. FlickerFixer displays > the current field data and the previous field data in one higher > frequency scan. FlickerFixer is alway displaying the two most > current fields. The splitting effect is visible when moving objects, > mostly sprites, vertically at rates around 60 or 120 lines per second. > This effect should also be visible with a standard interlaced > display! We are not sure why it is not perceived. Perhaps the phosphors > are much shorter on the MultiScans or there is some interaction > between the interlacing effects and perceived images that helps > us integrate the motion? > > The splitting effect does not bother me. From my point of view, the > only visual change is when I move the mouse it sometimes loses odd or even > scan lines. I noticed it at first and now it does not attract my attention. > If I did lots of animations it might cause a problem. If your work > involves lots of animations you may want to experiment before you purchase. > The Amiga Video port is still free, in the event an interlaced video out > is required. > > > >Any info appreciated (and won't be quoted/reposted, if you prefer). > > Feel free to quote or repost if you think it might help clear up the > confusion. > > Rich miner@dino.ulowell.edu 617/452-5000x2693 UL-CPE Imaging Research Lab -- UUCP: kim@amdahl.amdahl.com or: {sun,decwrl,hplabs,pyramid,ihnp4,uunet,oliveb,cbosgd,ames}!amdahl!kim DDD: 408-746-8462 USPS: Amdahl Corp. M/S 249, 1250 E. Arques Av, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 CIS: 76535,25