mann@intacc.uucp (Jeff Mann) (04/16/91)
In article <1991Apr10.022005.9615@oakhill.sps.mot.com> matt@ace4.sps.mot.com (matthew noell) writes: >Dear Netters, > >I am looking for a way to animate large bitmaps and record this to video tape. > >So far I have been looking at the NeXTdimension because it has the >necessary VCR connector and a data compression/decompression chip along with >the Intel i860 chip on the graphics board. NeXT says they can display >30 frames/sec. I have seen the NeXT display live video from a camcorder >but not anything using bitmaps stored on disk and displayed in rapid >succession. However, the problem with the NeXT is that I am not sure about >where NeXT will be in the future. I would like to be able to get >the same capabilities I am looking for in something other than a NeXT >with maybe a third party add-in board. I'm in just about the same boat - can anyone confirm/deny that the Next wil do full resolution, 30fps arbitrary video from the hard disk? A friend tells me that the C-Cube JPEG chip simply doesn't work, at least not at full speed/bandwidth video as they claimed. I would also much prefer an add-in board. I've seen a demo of a system running on a Mac II playing "Star Wars" off the disk, 24 bits, 30fps, using a jpeg system (but not the C-cube chip). It was very glitchy. I think the company was Super Mac Technologies or something like that. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- | Jeff Mann Inter/Access Artists' Computer Centre, Toronto [416] 535-8601 | | intacc!mann@cs.toronto.edu Matrix Artists' BBS: [416] 535-7598 2400 8N1 | | ...uunet!mnetor!intacc!mann mann@intacc.uucp [416] 535-1443 Telebit 8N1 | =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
mark@calvin..westford.ccur.com (Mark Thompson) (04/16/91)
In article <1991Apr15.234158.25619@intacc.uucp> mann@intacc.uucp (Jeff Mann) writes: >In article <1991Apr10.022005.9615@oakhill.sps.mot.com> matt@ace4.sps.mot.com (matthew noell) writes: >>I am looking for a way to animate large bitmaps and record this to video >>tape. I would like to be able to get >>the same capabilities I am looking for in something other than a NeXT >>with maybe a third party add-in board. >I would also much prefer an add-in board. I've seen a demo of a system >running on a Mac II playing "Star Wars" off the disk, 24 bits, 30fps, >using a jpeg system (but not the C-cube chip). It was very glitchy. There is a small "black box" made for the Amiga which converts the standard display output to full NTSC color composite video and takes full advantage of the Amigas animation speed capabilities. The box is called DCTV and is sold by Digital Creations (a very reputable manufacturer of Amiga video products). I saw a demo of it hooked up to an Amiga with a relatively fast hard drive. It played back from the hard drive real-time full size video from Back To The Future III along with 16bit stereo sound. The drive was capable of over 1M/s but less than 2M/s. The image quality was quite good and looked as though it were being played from a commercial VCR. DCTV does not use JPEG but a proprietary video compression scheme. I might note that while it does a wonderful job with real video, synthetic images (3D computer generated) tend to exhibit some contouring (banding) in large areas of slow color transition. The demo was done by IVS (the company that makes the hard drive controller used in the demo). If you would like any more info, give me a buzz. I use the device as a previewer before I record single frame to a video disk recorder. %~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~% % ` ' Mark Thompson CONCURRENT COMPUTER % % --==* RADIANT *==-- mark@westford.ccur.com Principal Graphics % % ' Image ` ...!uunet!masscomp!mark Hardware Architect % % Productions (508)392-2480 (603)424-1829 & General Nuisance % % % ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
jwhitnell@cup.portal.com (Jerry D Whitnell) (04/19/91)
Jeff Mann writes... |I'm in just about the same boat - can anyone confirm/deny that the Next wil |do full resolution, 30fps arbitrary video from the hard disk? A friend |tells me that the C-Cube JPEG chip simply doesn't work, at least not at |full speed/bandwidth video as they claimed. | |I would also much prefer an add-in board. I've seen a demo of a system |running on a Mac II playing "Star Wars" off the disk, 24 bits, 30fps, |using a jpeg system (but not the C-cube chip). It was very glitchy. I |think the company was Super Mac Technologies or something like that. It is SuperMac Technology and we are using the CCube chip. The demo you saw is quite old and we got some neat stuff under development. I can't comment on unannouced products, but will post something here when more information is available. If you want to receive information on our video products after they been annouced, send me your smail address and I'll pass it on to the appropiate people at SuperMac. Jerry Whitnell SuperMac Technology
burger@oldcolo.UUCP (Keith Hamburger) (05/18/91)
Some other comments on the Amiga system. There are available transport control programs that allow frame by frame control of an appropriate VCR. This can be used in VHS, S-VHS or any other standard. This will allow you to animate at the speed of the VCR and not be limited by the processing speed of the computer. It will also allow longer animations that can be stored on hard disk, WORM or MagnetoOptical disks, all of which are available for the Amiga. If you are more interested in doing everything in real time on the you an get an Amiga 3000 which comes standard with 2MB ram and a 3MHz 68030 w/ 68881 coproc, and 50 or 100MB hd. This should allow you to do anything short of, and possibly including, 24 bit rendering. If you need just a little more speed there are several options. One is more memory to allow you to buffer drives. Another is to add a 68040 board to an Amiga 3000. Still another is to get a set of transputer boards with a transputer graphics board and port the applications necessary from there. I own an Amiga and used to sell them. If you are interested in more info I would be happy to correspond with you on the subject. Keith L. Hamburger Partner, AI Consultants Search and Recruiting of SW Proffessionals 627 Skyline Acve 220 Chamberlin Ave Colorado Springs, CO 80905 Colorado Springs, CO 80906 (719)471-8880 (719)579-8080 internet: burger@oldcolo (...csn!oldcolo!burger) fidonet: Keith L. Hamburger (1:76/128)
s8922967@ipc09.tmc.edu (Murray John GILBERT) (05/18/91)
3MHz 68030 - don't you mean 25MHz (or maybe 16MHz if you get the low end Amiga3000). - Murray