frazier@iris.usc.edu (James Frazier) (04/21/91)
I need some advice about using the RasterOps Video Expander with the Apple Macintosh II Video Card, and about the new RasterOps 24STV video card. I recently purchased a RasterOps Video Expander to generate color NTSC video from my Apple Macintosh II Video Card (a 1987 model/version 820-0198-A7), but have been unable to get the combination to work. I'm using the Macintosh II Video Card Utility to get interlaced video at NTSC rates from the Apple card (which produces a perfect black-and-white picture if I connect the video card's green output directly into an NTSC monitor). When connected to my video card, the Video Expander's output picture tears, rolls, and is unusable. I've tried this with and without the Mac II Video Card Utility, with the video cable supplied by RasterOps, and instead with the video cable supplied with the Apple video card, have tried all switch settings of the Video Expander, have tested both composite and s-video outputs, and have tried two different NTSC monitors. I suspect that the NTSC signal from the Mac II Video Card is not sufficiently accurate for the Video Expander. Has anyone else tried to use a RasterOps Video Expander to get color NTSC video from an Apple Macintosh II Video Card? Are the two in any way compatible? I bought the Video Expander based on assurances from MacConnection that it would work with my video card. I was unable to get confirmation or denial of compatibility from RasterOps. In fact, I've left two messages for RasterOps tech support over the last three working-days and they have not returned my calls. Have other people had particularly good or bad experiences with RasterOps tech support? If the two are not compatible, I would consider buying the new RasterOps 24STV video card to use with the Video Expander. I need to know how well the 24STV works. Does anyone have experience with it? Are there any bugs or annoying aspects of the card, or any features that work particularly well? What changes, if any, would you like to see made to it? When used with the RasterOps Video Expander, what is the quality of the resulting color NTSC video (both composite and s-video)? Also, I've noticed that some other NTSC encoders produce disagreeable noise bars in the video whenever the computer makes changes to the displayed image. Does this occur with the 24STV/Video Expander combination? I'm aware of a January MacWeek article providing a brief description of the 24STV. Does anyone know of any reviews of the the card? Thanks in advance for your help. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Jim Frazier, Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-0273 Phone: (Lab) 213-740-6425