murphy@gibbs.physics.purdue.edu (William J. Murphy) (05/17/91)
The other night, I was reading the latest Amiga Whirled while waiting for my
wife to purchase some prescription drugs. There is a review in this issue
of 24 bit color for the Amiga. In light of the discussions recently about
the availability of 24-bit color for sub $500, I am wondering 2 things:
1) Given the number of 24 bit boards, (DCTV, HAM-E, Firecracker...) how
many of them are able to be used with the entire line of Amiga
software. A sub question would be how many are useable with the entire
line of Amiga graphics production software? e.g. Turbo Silver, SA 3D,
DPaint III, Prodraw 2.0 ....
2) There was some discussion in the AW review of the quality of the various
boards, how does the quality of the output correlate with the price?
I would have to assume that those who own such beasties are going to
desire to produce video or some form of hardcopy image to share with
the rest of the world.
A side light: There was some mention of needing an RGB Encoder for some of
the boards which produced composite-only? What do these cost?
Bill Murphy
murphy@physics.purdue.edu
West Lafayette, IN: Where progress takes a back seat to tradition.al158305@mtecv2.mty.itesm.mx (Gustavo Cordova Avila) (05/18/91)
murphy@gibbs.physics.purdue.edu (William J. Murphy) writes: >[...some stuff deleted...] >1) Given the number of 24 bit boards, (DCTV, HAM-E, Firecracker...) how > many of them are able to be used with the entire line of Amiga > software. A sub question would be how many are useable with the entire > line of Amiga graphics production software? e.g. Turbo Silver, SA 3D, > DPaint III, Prodraw 2.0 .... Well, all of the boards have their own prpopietary format if you want them to work at full speed, but for interchanging data (which is the question you're posing) all of them can use the IFF-24 standard, it's a normal IFF file only that it has 24 bitplanes. That efectively solves the data exchange problem (Thank God for IFF). Well, that's for 24 bit images, which would be the ones produced by renderers and such. For other normal IFF files (ham, 32 color, etc) and not so normal files (sham, dham, dyna hires) they can read them, I'm not 100% sure about the not so normal files, but normal IFF can't be a problem. >2) There was some discussion in the AW review of the quality of the various > boards, how does the quality of the output correlate with the price? > I would have to assume that those who own such beasties are going to > desire to produce video or some form of hardcopy image to share with > the rest of the world. I read in Amazing a review of DCTV, and the author says that it's one of the best things that he's used, true NTSC color (well...) and that it displays "billyuns and billyuns of colors", tv quality images, in hi-res equivalent resolution (640x400, or something, interlaced), it digitizes, has a *very* nice paint program, etc etc. And, curiously, those same comments have been sent to the net by other people who have used and/or own a DCTV box. It doesn't have RGB out, only composite out. The makers say that they'll make an RGB adaptor of some kind, can't wait for it. It works by interpreting the colors of a hires screen in a way other than normal hires, I think that it's compressed NTSC video, or something. Note that it isn't TRUE 24 bit graphics, but nontheless it's a great gadget (not my opinion). The HAM-E device works in a similar fashion, only that it doesn't have ntsc out, but rgb out. It works by interpreting a 640x400x4 screen like a 320x400x8 screen, and it has some interesting video modes. It has a sorta-HAM mode, only that with tons of colors (I think this one is true 24 bit color). It doesn't have a true 24 bit mode (where can you squeeze that kind of data in 4 bit planes?) but using the HAM-E mode, you should be able to produce some striking results. It also has direct mapped register modes, so you can display your favorite GIFs without a hitch :) An interesting thing is that since this device has a pallete for each video field, you can have difrent pallets for odd and even scan lines. The ad in AmigaWhorld sez that it also has an 18 bit register mode, I don't know anything about that. It also includes a paint prog, and graphics conversion software. It doesn't have a digitizer module, so I think that's what makes it lower cost than the DCTV device. And now, the colorburst board. This one has it's own memory, it's own video coprocessor, and some very interesting abilities. It's true 24 bit, and can paint in real time. It only uses the video port to communicate with the machine, it can change video modes and resolutions, and by changing modes you can have up to 48 bit planes. It has a mask where you can tell the board whether a certain pixel is from the board or from the Amiga, so you can mix and match. etc etc, I don't have much info about this one, but I'm waiting 'till it comes out to save my pennies and get one someday. >A side light: There was some mention of needing an RGB Encoder for some of >the boards which produced composite-only? What do these cost? The DCTV board needs this, but I don't think it's available yet. >Bill Murphy >murphy@physics.purdue.edu >West Lafayette, IN: Where progress takes a back seat to tradition. Gustavo Cordova -- | Gustavo Cordova Avila | al158305@mtecv2.mty.itesm.mx | | Electronic Systems Engineering | PL158305@tecmtyvm.bitnet | +--------------------------------+------------------------------------+
mccube@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Michael P Callahan) (05/22/91)
While we are on the subject of 24bit color for the Amiga, I too have
some serious questions on who and which
1. Who will be supporting these 24bit boards for output to film and or
high quality video- not everyone wants to own everything and I for one
would like to know which service bureaus support Amiga 24bit (or are
planning to ). These new boards aren't much good to someone who can
only output to 1/2" Ntsc through a supergen.
2. Are there any print service boards that will support high quality
color hardcopy from Amiga 24bit iff?
These are questions I wonder about, the only reason people point to
(dare I say the word?)Macs, is that it is relatively easy to find
service bureau support. I do truly believe in the Amiga(obligatory
admission of guilt) and think that if there are any service bureaus
who also support this great machine, they deserve to have their offices
flooded with jobs, only problem is I can't find any at all.
Speak up this is a real problem. If every time you want output you must
emulate another "inferior platform" then before we brag about what we
can do on our Amigas(that no one without one can see)we should pause to
reflect on the rest of the world.
ok I know its a little heavy handed but I realy want to use my Amiga
to make prints and films and thought a tirade would get some attention
WHO KNOWS OF ANY SERVICE BUREAUS WHICH SUPPORT AMIGA?????rcj2@cbnewsd.att.com (ray.c.jender) (05/22/91)
In article <12330@uwm.edu> mccube@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Michael P Callahan) writes: > >WHO KNOWS OF ANY SERVICE BUREAUS WHICH SUPPORT AMIGA????? Well, I know of 1 in Aurora, Illinois. It's called Print Perfect. They originally supported the Mac only, but a persistent Amiga dealer talked them into getting an Amiga 2500. They have it switched with the Mac to an AGFA Comp. 9600 Imagesetter. If you need anymore info let me know.
sdfusc@mac.cc.macalstr.edu (05/23/91)
In article <12330@uwm.edu>, mccube@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Michael P Callahan) writes: > > While we are on the subject of 24bit color for the Amiga, I too have > some serious questions on who and which > > > 1. Who will be supporting these 24bit boards for output to film and or > high quality video- not everyone wants to own everything and I for one > would like to know which service bureaus support Amiga 24bit (or are > planning to ). These new boards aren't much good to someone who can > only output to 1/2" Ntsc through a supergen. > > 2. Are there any print service boards that will support high quality > color hardcopy from Amiga 24bit iff? > > These are questions I wonder about, the only reason people point to > (dare I say the word?)Macs, is that it is relatively easy to find > service bureau support. I do truly believe in the Amiga(obligatory > admission of guilt) and think that if there are any service bureaus > who also support this great machine, they deserve to have their offices > flooded with jobs, only problem is I can't find any at all. > > Speak up this is a real problem. If every time you want output you must > emulate another "inferior platform" then before we brag about what we > can do on our Amigas(that no one without one can see)we should pause to > reflect on the rest of the world. > > ok I know its a little heavy handed but I realy want to use my Amiga > to make prints and films and thought a tirade would get some attention > > WHO KNOWS OF ANY SERVICE BUREAUS WHICH SUPPORT AMIGA????? PostScript is PostScript, as far as I know. I could be wrong, but I know all sorts of local print services that will support Amiga if you just call and ask. I work for a local dealer, and we have users who send Pagestream and ProPage output to service's all the time-- as long as something is printed to a PostScript file, and can be converted, It'll dump almost anywhere as long as one can get access to something that will do PostScript. Here at college, I even got in the habit of dumping Amiga files to our '40 NeXT's. Finding places that support Amiga is a breeze. Color seps, too...its not that big of a deal. Most places will let you Download the file, too, though virtually every typesetter you can find will read files off of PC disks. Use CrossDOS. Doug SDFUSC@MACALSTR.EDU