wilcox@hydra.unm.edu (Sherman Wilcox) (11/30/90)
I am developing a multimedia project (an interactive videodisk-based American Sign Language dictionary). We have known all along that the project will have to have a database underlying it, but our first impulse was to develop the application in an authoring language (Director, Author- Ware, etc). We are starting to rethink this decision and wonder whether the entire project could be developed in a powerful database such as 4D or Omnis. This is the basis of my question. Does anyone know of any projects which have tied together databases and interactive videodisks? If you are familiar with either Omnis or 4D, does it sound feasible to do what I am suggesting? Some specific questions: for the multimedia part, all we really have to do is control the laserdisk (Pioneer LD-V4200), which means sending commands out the serial port. Possible in 4D/Omnis? Second, we are displaying the video on the RBG monitor by using a RasterOps 364 card. Control of the card is accomplished via an XCMD -- possible to do this with 4D/Omnis? Any suggestions, opinions, leads, etc will be most appreciated. Thanks in advance! Sherman Wilcox Dept. of Linguistics University of New Mexico
clouds@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Kathy Strong) (12/01/90)
In article <1990Nov30.154544.28317@ariel.unm.edu> wilcox@hydra.unm.edu (Sherman Wilcox) writes: >I am developing a multimedia project (an interactive videodisk-based >American Sign Language dictionary). We have known all along that the >project will have to have a database underlying it, but our first impulse >was to develop the application in an authoring language (Director, Author- >Ware, etc). > >We are starting to rethink this decision and wonder whether the entire >project could be developed in a powerful database such as 4D or Omnis. >This is the basis of my question. > >Does anyone know of any projects which have tied together databases and >interactive videodisks? If you are familiar with either Omnis or 4D, does >it sound feasible to do what I am suggesting? > >Some specific questions: for the multimedia part, all we really have to >do is control the laserdisk (Pioneer LD-V4200), which means sending commands >out the serial port. Possible in 4D/Omnis? Second, we are displaying the >video on the RBG monitor by using a RasterOps 364 card. Control of the card >is accomplished via an XCMD -- possible to do this with 4D/Omnis? Hmm, a good question. I believe that controlling the videodisc player through the serial port should be trivial--most database packages with any heft to them have an RS-232 command to control things like cash drawers and bar-code readers. I'm not so sure about the overlay card, though... Also, do you plan to do any animations (that is, using graphics from the computer rather than video from the disc player)? The reason we continue to do our interactive projects with authoring packages rather than with a database or a programming language is that the authoring package typically packages all the ingredients: program flow (logic, branching, etc.), calculations, videodisc control, overlays, display of graphics, and animations. One of the DOS-based packages we're using right now, in fact, has rudimentary database functions built in--reads dBase IV files (whoopee!!). You may be interested in a product I've seen mentioned recently. It's called Lynx, by a company named Warren-Forthought (sic) in Angleton, TX. From their handout: "Lynx is a multimedia object database with powerful presentation tools... raw power and capacity: Lynx can handle handle the largest project and never slow down, even gigabytes of data with millions of links. The multimedia objects in the database are created with your favorite and familiar applications... The link is merged with its image and stored together in the original file. You create no cards, stack, master file or control program of any kind.... Lynx uses the Macintosh HFS and the Finder you already know. All multimedia objects are standard files and are stored in folders..." etc. Anyway, their material I'm reading from is pretty verbose, but the idea is that you don't have a control program... all the links or "interactivity" is somehow saved into the document itself. I wonder how this would work with a database program? Oh, by the way, the Lynx package does include videodisc and digital audio control. If you're interested, drop me a line and I'll give you their full info. --Kathy P.S. I've added comp.ivideodisc to the distribution. P.P.S. The usual disclaimer. Not only do I not work for these guys, I've not even seen their product. Someone picked up this material at SALT. -- ........................................................................... : Kathy Strong : "Try our Hubble-Rita: just one shot, : : (Clouds moving slowly) : and everything's blurry" : : clouds@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu : --El Arroyo : :..........................................................................:
sac@Apple.COM (Steve Cisler) (12/08/90)
Re: videodiscs and databases. The Library of Congress American Memory project is currently using HyperCard with HyperKRS for some of it's databases for vd images. One stack has about 30,000 cards, and the boolean search is reasonably fast. Steve Cisler Apple Library
mpierce@ewu.UUCP (Mathew W. Pierce) (12/14/90)
In requards to the database question and multimedia application, have you looked at the Commodore Amiga and AmigaVision? Amigavision has several videodisk drivers, one of which is the Pioneer 4200, has its own built in database system, and is compatible with DBaseIII+ files. There are drivers for touch screens too. Applications are designed via flowcharts and a scripting language. I have created a few simple presentations for class projects and have had great success. Hope this helps, Matt Pierce
jbasara@ssdc (jim basara) (04/09/91)
Has anyone heard of a project (product) named Federated Distributed Database System??? Supposedly, it was a commercial product being developed by Honeywell and/or Unisys. I need the information for a research project so any info at all would be helpful. thanks in advance, jim basara uunet!ssdc!jbasara