lanham@b.ils.nwu.edu (Ryan Lanham) (08/18/90)
We're trying to build some interactive applications using the Voyager 2 video stack and the Pioneer 6000. The problem we are having is that we are use to the 4200 and the 6000 actually seems to have less program control than the 4200. Specifically, there is no ability on the 6000 to say "get ready to play" so that it seeks to a selected clip ahead of time. In our application, you see a set of networked spoke and hub index cards and double clicking the one in the center of the hub opens up a video window and control panel. The 4200 at that point seeks out the clip represented by the card and gets ready to play it. If the user hits play after reading a brief preview of the short, the clip displays immediately. If they hit cancel, the window closes and then they can click on an attached card which moves to the center at which point we would tell the player to get ready to play that clip. In other words, we want to seek the play point independent of the play control. It seems the 4200 can do this, but the 6000 cannot. Is there something obvious we are overlooking? Does anyone have any 4200s they want to sell? We can't get a dealer who has any here in Chicagoland. It seems someone has bought a huge part of the current production from Pioneer (rumor has it that it was IBM). At twice the cost, it seems the 6000 doesn't work out as well as the 4200 for several classes of applications. Has anyone else had these frustrations? Is this the reason the 4200 was used in the 72 disk jukebox from Pioneer? Any Pioneer tech support on the net? Help? Ryan Lanham Northwestern University