milo@ndmath.UUCP (Greg Corson) (05/27/89)
I would like to hear from anyone who has used and/or programmed on a Mac II
with a NewVista graphics card (from the same people that make TARGA cards).
Mainly I'm interested in hearing how well the thing has worked out for you,
if it is compatable with most Mac software...etc. I'm thinking about getting
a new Mac II and buying a NewVista instead of an Apple video card, since
the NewVista will be my only screen, it will have to work pretty good!
Some specific questions....
1. Is it a big deal to switch from various screen resolutions (assuming you
have a multisync monitor). Can you go from 512x480 NTSC to 1024 x 1024
B&W with the click of a CDEV?
2. When used with normal apple software, is a NewVista at least as fast as
the standard Apple cards?
3. Can you do 1-bit B&W video on a NewVista?
4. What resolutions does the video digitizer operate in?
5. Can the card be programmed to output video compatable with HDTV?
6. What kind of software comes with the card (CDEVs for resolution control
digitization...etc)
7. Any recomendations on monitors? Particularly large screen color or B&W
multisync.
8. If you want to digitize or record composite video on a VCR or TV set, do
you need an external encoder to convert RGB to composite?
9. Do they have software development tools that work with MPW, are the tools
any good?
Thanks for your time....
Greg Corson
19141 Summers Drive
South Bend, IN 46637
(219) 277-5306
{pur-ee,rutgers,uunet}!iuvax!ndmath!milo
glc@frame.UUCP (Greg Cockroft) (05/30/89)
>I would like to hear from anyone who has used and/or programmed on a Mac II >with a NewVista graphics card (from the same people that make TARGA cards). I have recently done some consulting work with a new startup called Avid Technology. The product is an offline video editing system, it uses the NuVista in a Mac to digitize video to disk at 30 fps, and also to play back edited video sequences from disk at 30 fps. The goal is not broadcast quality video, but the best quality you can get at 30 fps to disk using the current available hardware. The NuVista has performed quite nicely. It has alot of registers, so programming the thing directly is very difficult. But, you can run the thing as a regular memory mapped Mac framebuffer, and never have to worry about programming the thing directly, unless you are doing custom software. It feels a tad bit slower than the standard Mac color board in memory mapped mode. But that is one users impression. >6. What kind of software comes with the card (CDEVs for resolution control > digitization...etc) A setup program comes with the board for downloading drivers to handle different resolutions. >7. Any recomendations on monitors? Particularly large screen color or B&W > multisync. I am using the NEC mutisync monitor, and have been very happy. >8. If you want to digitize or record composite video on a VCR or TV set, do > you need an external encoder to convert RGB to composite? TrueVision sells a Vid/IO box which converts both ways between NTSC & RGB. I have only been interested in input from NTSC, so I haven't tried recording. Personally I wouldn't buy the board as my only video card. I currently have the board wedged playing around with 32 bit quickdraw, and a 32 bit driver. In fact my Mac II won't boot with the card installed. -greg.