[comp.ivideodisc] Video overlay for the Mac II

mesard@bbn.com (Wayne Mesard) (07/18/89)

I am interested in purchasing a board for the Mac II which will allow me
to project graphics on top of video images which would (of course) be
fed in from an external NTSC device such as a videodisc player, VCR,
video camera, etc.

The brochures I have from various video board companies are less than
clear [to me at least] about whether they can do what I want.  Any
pointers, references to products, or other information would be
appreciated.

* The overlayed image can be displayed on the Mac monitor or on an
external video monitor, but on-the-Mac would preferred (subject to the
concerns listed below).  (Some boards export Mac graphics while others
import video images (the so-called "frame grabbers").)

* Real-time (30 frames per second) or near-real-time image display is
not necessary, but would be preferred.  However, I must be able to grab
an image and display it in < 5 seconds.  (I gather that a number of the
less expensive frame grabber boards fail this test.)

* It's unclear how significantly the image degrades when going from
video to Mac.  (Here, I'm more concerned with the different pixel
density than the loss of color information (which is subject to the
pixel depth being used).)


-- 
unsigned *Wayne_Mesard();    "A thousand pounds?!  That's almost a ton!"
Mesard@BBN.COM               
BBN, Cambridge, MA                                                   -MS

thschulz@iraul1.ira.uka.de (Thomas Schulz) (07/20/89)

For PAL - video signals there is a brand-new card which digitizes
video in real-time and puts it into the 256-color-video card from
Apple. It is a NuBUS card, it works with the Mac II, IIx and IIcx (!).

Write to:

Fa. Hermstedt
Technologiezentrum
6800 Mannheim
West Germany

The card is available from this week on.

Tom Schulz.

Newsgroups: comp.ivideodisk
Subject: Re: Video overlay for the Mac Ii 
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for PAL - video signals there is a brand-new card which digitizes
video in real-time and puts it into the 256-color-video card from
Apple. It is a NuBUS card, it works with the Mac II, IIx and IIcx (!).

Write to:

Fa. Hermstedt
Technologiezentrum
6800 Mannheim
West Germany

The card is available from this week on.

Tom Schulz.

Newsgroups: comp.ivideodisc
Subject: Re: Video overlay for the Mac II
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Newsgroups: comp.idiveodisc
Subject: Re: Video overlay for the Mac II
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For PAL - video signals there is a brand-new card which digitizes
video in real-time and puts it into the 256-color-video card from
Apple. It is a NuBUS card, it works with the Mac II, IIx and IIcx (!).

Write to:

Fa. Hermstedt
Technologiezentrum
6800 Mannheim
West Germany

The card is available from this week on.

Tom Schulz.

Newsgroups: comp.ivideodisk
Subject: Re: Video overlay for the Mac Ii 
Expires: 
References: 
Sender: 
Reply-To: thschulz@iraul1.ira.uka.de (Thomas Schulz)
Followup-To: 
Distribution: world
Organization: Karlsruhe University, West-Germany
Keywords: 

for PAL - video signals there is a brand-new card which digitizes
video in real-time and puts it into the 256-color-video card from
Apple. It is a NuBUS card, it works with the Mac II, IIx and IIcx (!).

Write to:

Fa. Hermstedt
Technologiezentrum
6800 Mannheim
West Germany

The card is available from this week on.

tom Schulz.

jmt@apple.com (Michael Tindell) (07/25/89)

There are several options for video overlay with Mac II's.  It 
basically comes down to how much money you have to spend.

The bottom end is covered by the Mass Micro Colorspace II
card, which does an overlay of Mac graphics and video based
on a key color technique and displays the result in NTSC
30 Hz interlaced video on a standard monitor.  A problem
is the flicker of horizontal line caused by the interlaced scan.
The Colorspace II can digitize still frames in a couple (< 5) of
seconds.  I believe cost is around $1200; check with a dealer.

Another product worth looking at is the Orange Micro (formerly
AST) NuView card.  This card digitizes an RGB video signal in
real-time and writes it into the Mac II graphics frame buffer.
This is not an overlay perse, but it does provide video-in-a-window
on a standard Mac color display.  The problem is that the NuBus
in the Mac will run fast enough to allow display of only about 15 
frames/s.  Cost around $1300 plus an NTSC to RGB converter.

Truevision has the NuVista card.  This is a real-time frame grabber
with its own frame buffer that is Quickdraw compatible.  It also has
a TI 34010 graphics/DSP processor on-board and requires a multisync
monitor.  Cost is > $6500, I think.

Prices are VERY uncertain, and there is no implied endorsement or
criticism of any of these products.
products.

p.s. Apple has recently started shipping an overlay card for the
Apple IIGS that sells for less than $1000.

You can never tell...