gerry@dialogic.com (Gerry Lachac) (03/18/91)
In article <14058@life.ai.mit.edu> rjc@geech.ai.mit.edu (Ray Cromwell) writes: > > Also, for those of you who went to AmigaWorld EXPO, why not type up >a summary of what was shown and your impressions and post them to >c.s.a.reviews? It would be a big benefit to those of us unfortunate >enough not to be there. :-) Well, I didn't talk to anyone long enough to give any "real" reviews, but I can give you some impressions I had after visiting each booth. WARNING - these are my impressions of the companies and their devotion to their products by their appearance at the show. This is what caught my eye, which I feel is the most important, since we are talking about graphicsproducts that will be used for multi-media presentations. Eye-catching is very key to this. This show had a very professional "feel" to it - more like a UNIXExpo than a consumer-oriented show. DCTV Very impressive! By far the most impressive of the three because of the marketing. Seriously. The booth was huge, they were very well organized, and it looks like they spent a lot of time and money. They give the impression that they are extremely serious about their product. The had a nice dual-company demo with ISV (? - I don't remember the acronym). It was a 4 minute full-motion/full-stereo sound video of the last part of Back to the Future III, using a 16-bit audio card by ISV and DCTV. All straight from hard disk. I was left speechless. HAM-E Not as impressive a booth. The literature gave a nice side-by-side comparison of HAM-E vs. DCTV. They seemed serious, but either didn't have the money to invest in a flashy booth, or the marketing expertise or both. They however seemed to have a well-staffed booth with people who knew what they were talking about. This impressed me. Colorburst I was not impressed. Ugly white box that looked like a prototype with a bunch of people trying to get the thing to work. If I went to the show to make a decision about which to buy, I would have definitely steered clear of MAST because it gave the impression of a garage operation. I apologize if I offended anyone by getting company names wrong or by judging a product completely on hype, but as Microsoft proved with Window 3, marketing is almost everything. Technical superiority won't necessarily make it in today's marketplace. -- uunet!dialogic!gerry | "Even a dead plant turns | Dialogic Corporation OR | over a new leaf | 300 Littleton Rd gerry@dialogic.UUCP | when the wind blows." | Parsippany, NJ 07054 | | (201)334-8450
jason@cbmami.UUCP (Jason Goldberg) (03/19/91)
In article <1991Mar18.154731.4785@dialogic.com>, Gerry Lachac writes: [ Stuff deleted ] > WARNING - these are my impressions of the companies and their devotion > to their products by their appearance at the show. This is > what caught my eye, which I feel is the most important, > since we are talking about graphicsproducts that will be > used for multi-media presentations. > Eye-catching is very key to this. This show had a very > professional "feel" to it - more like a UNIXExpo than a > consumer-oriented show. > > > DCTV Very impressive! By far the most impressive of the three > because of the marketing. Seriously. The booth was huge, > they were very well organized, and it looks like they spent a > lot of time and money. They give the impression that they are > extremely serious about their product. The had a nice > dual-company demo with ISV (? - I don't remember the acronym). > It was a 4 minute full-motion/full-stereo sound video of the > last part of Back to the Future III, using a 16-bit audio card > by ISV and DCTV. All straight from hard disk. I was left > speechless. I agree about DCTV, the company that they were doing the demos with is IVS (Interactive Video Systems), makers of the Trumpcard, Trumpcard Pro, and Printerface. > > HAM-E Not as impressive a booth. The literature gave a nice > side-by-side comparison of HAM-E vs. DCTV. They seemed > serious, but either didn't have the money to invest in a > flashy booth, or the marketing expertise or both. They > however seemed to have a well-staffed booth with people who > knew what they were talking about. This impressed me. > [ stuff deleted ] I have to agree about HAM-E not knowing how to market. I recently got to see a demo of HAM-E and they only showed there pre-made images, when I asked to see the paint program, the guy told me that hw wasn't much of an artist so he couldn't. Well, a few days latter I got to put one through its paces and I am very disappointed (I really wanted it to be better than DCTV so I could use it with my genlock). When I loaded images made from the Toaster or DCTV they looked awfull, there was HAM-like fringing on all the edges of the picture (the pre-made HAM-E picutres conviently all have dark borders...). The paint program seemed to have enough features but was not too intuitive and paled in comparision to DCTV Paint. The manual (which fell apart in my hand) did not mention how to use th "hi-res" switch on the box, and I was not able to make the switch do anything. When I showed scaneed images on both DCTV and HAM-E side by side every customer I had picked the DCTV output. I can't imagine why any dealer would want to sell it since in each package they include an add for HAM-E advertizing a price direct from Black Belt of $299 which is below what they sell to dealers for! On a more positive note, I just recieved a $400 Chroma-Keyer for the Amiga which will work with any External Genlock and it looks pretty good. I will post a review when I get to test it out better. -Jason- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jason Goldberg UUCP: ucsd!serene!cbmami!jason Del Mar, CA
es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) (03/21/91)
In article <18d90924.ARN0f35@cbmami.UUCP> jason@cbmami.UUCP writes: >I have to agree about HAM-E not knowing how to market. I recently got to >see a demo of HAM-E and they only showed there pre-made images, when I >asked to see the paint program, the guy told me that hw wasn't much of an >artist so he couldn't. Well, a few days latter I got to put one through >its paces and I am very disappointed (I really wanted it to be better than >DCTV so I could use it with my genlock). When I loaded images made from >the Toaster or DCTV they looked awfull, there was HAM-like fringing on all >the edges of the picture (the pre-made HAM-E picutres conviently all have >dark borders...). The paint program seemed to have enough features but was >not too intuitive and paled in comparision to DCTV Paint. The manual (which >fell apart in my hand) did not mention how to use th "hi-res" switch on the >box, and I was not able to make the switch do anything. When I showed >scaneed images on both DCTV and HAM-E side by side every customer I had >picked the DCTV output. I can't imagine why any dealer would want to sell >it since in each package they include an add for HAM-E advertizing a price >direct from Black Belt of $299 which is below what they sell to dealers >for! > I've seen pictures generated from 24-bit images by my local dealer and some quickies that I made and there was NO fringing so I have to assume you did something wrong or you had unusual images. How did you create the files? Also, re dealers, BBS position is that they're production is currently only enough to handle their orders so once production ramps up they will sell better to dealers. As I understand it, the price is the same to dealers and customers. Admittedly, though, they don't know how to market. > > >-Jason- > >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Jason Goldberg UUCP: ucsd!serene!cbmami!jason >Del Mar, CA -- Ethan A tourist in New York City was overheard asking a New Yorker, "Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to the statue of liberty, or should I go f*ck myself?"
kholland@hydra.unm.edu (Kiernan Holland) (03/21/91)
Has Byte by Byte Inc. gone out of business? One of my friends claimed that (I know they have their hands on two platforms, he may have misinterpreted it as they no longer sell or do not seel to the amiga) Is it true?
cmw1725@tamsun.tamu.edu (Christopher Walton) (03/23/91)
I dissagree on the original posters feelings about MAST. YES, they had a very plain booth. YES, they have a plain box. YES, they seemed like a garage operation. BUT this means NOTHING.... All you should be worried about is the performance, and the price... They have a supperior product, at a supperior price. They have generous support programs. (Source in asm and C is available FREE, to anyone who wants it, via US bbs) (Every registered Colorburst owner is registered into their video club, sorry I forgot the name, in which you get freely distributable pictures from other colorburst owners, newsletters, and other benefits) They also knew what they were talking about, if you pushed your way through and actually sat down to really talk business with them. And contrary to popular belief, they ARE shipping. (Just not in US yet.) Their hardware runs in 48bits, NOT 24, so that you can have a 24 bit pic, with a 24 bit overlay. You can over AND underlay AMIGA graphics with 24bit RGB, WITHOUT a genlock, or any other device. The hardware has RAM. The hardware doesn't use the system much. (Leaves the blitter to your system, where it belongs) (You can intersperce Amiga graphics, and colorburst graphics in real time, to make a great game) WORKS ON ALL AMIGAS. Outputs, in RAW, IFF24, and some others I have forgotten. Fully compatible with all the rest of the paint programs, and graphics enhancers since it can use the IFF24 format. As you can see this is a GREAT device. Just because it is from a company that didn't seem impressive, is NO reason to bypass them alltogether. Christopher Walton cmw1725@tamsun.tamu.edu
es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) (03/23/91)
In article <13637@helios.TAMU.EDU> cmw1725@tamsun.tamu.edu (Christopher Walton) writes: >I dissagree on the original posters feelings about MAST. >YES, they had a very plain booth. >YES, they have a plain box. >YES, they seemed like a garage operation. >BUT this means NOTHING.... > >All you should be worried about is the performance, and the price... > And company reputation, of which MAST has a terrible one. Do the words INFINITY MACHINE mean anything to you? They also advertised this flicker-fixer device for way too long. None of which ever shipped. MAST from what I can tell doesn't actually make any products themselves but finds other outside people who already have products and then buy the rights. >As you can see this is a GREAT device. Just because it is from a company >that didn't seem impressive, is NO reason to bypass them alltogether. > It may very well be a great device. Since it is MAST making it, I would like to have that proven to me. From people I know who went to AmiExpo (I've gotten three reports) nothing was running on the ColorBurst stuff but color cycling circles and squares. Absolutely nothing eye-catching, not even a good still image. >Christopher Walton >cmw1725@tamsun.tamu.edu -- Ethan Q: How many Comp Sci majors does it take to change a lightbulb A: None. It's a hardware problem.
drtiller@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Donald Richard Tillery Jr) (03/24/91)
In a message From: cmw1725@tamsun.tamu.edu (Christopher Walton) >I dissagree on the original posters feelings about MAST. Me too! >YES, they had a very plain booth. Because, I understand from a reliable source, their luggage was lost on the trip to the expo. >YES, they have a plain box. Lest ye judge not a book by its cover. >YES, they seemed like a garage operation. The ColorBurst WAS there, but the software was in the lost luggage. Attempts to download the software by borrowing a modem from Supra were foiled by the hardwired phone lines in their hotel room. To quote a Styx song: "Nothing ever goes as planned...." >BUT this means NOTHING.... Well, it COULD mean something in some cases, but I think not in this one. > >All you should be worried about is the performance, and the price... > >They have a supperior product, at a supperior price. They have generous >support programs. (Source in asm and C is available FREE, to anyone who >wants it, via US bbs) Also they tell me that the registration card will have a block to be checked and this will enable technical details to be sent to anyone interested in them. >(Every registered Colorburst owner is registered >into their video club, sorry I forgot the name, in which you get freely >distributable pictures from other colorburst owners, newsletters, and >other benefits) Wow! I didn't know about this. I have several 24 bit pics ready to be traded! :-) > They also knew what they were talking about, if you >pushed your way through and actually sat down to really talk business with >them. I get this impression from talking to them on the phone too. > And contrary to popular belief, they ARE shipping. (Just not in >US yet.) That is true. PAL shipping began March 20th and I get mine when the first NTSC versions ship the 29th. I hope to have it in my hot little hands by our local users' group meeting on the 2nd of April. After that, look for a review in comp.sys.amiga.reviews as soon as I can tear myself away from it... :-) > Their hardware runs in 48bits, NOT 24, so that you can have >a 24 bit pic, with a 24 bit overlay. You can over AND underlay AMIGA >graphics with 24bit RGB, WITHOUT a genlock, or any other device. The >hardware has RAM. The hardware doesn't use the system much. (Leaves >the blitter to your system, where it belongs) (You can intersperce Amiga >graphics, and colorburst graphics in real time, to make a great game) >WORKS ON ALL AMIGAS. Outputs, in RAW, IFF24, and some others I have >forgotten. Fully compatible with all the rest of the paint programs, and >graphics enhancers since it can use the IFF24 format. > >As you can see this is a GREAT device. Just because it is from a company >that didn't seem impressive, is NO reason to bypass them alltogether. Well, I wouldn't go that far (understand I'm the first on the American list- literally), but I don't blame you for waiting until you see it. I'd just suggest that you not trounce it before you actually see it. Rick Tillery (drtiller@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu)
gerry@dialogic.com (Gerry Lachac) (03/25/91)
In article <1991Mar22.195518.12829@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) writes: >In article <13637@helios.TAMU.EDU> cmw1725@tamsun.tamu.edu (Christopher Walton) writes: >>I dissagree on the original posters feelings about MAST. >>YES, they had a very plain booth. >>YES, they have a plain box. >>YES, they seemed like a garage operation. >>BUT this means NOTHING.... >> >>All you should be worried about is the performance, and the price... I would have to disagree, Chris, for the reason that Etan makes so clear below. > And company reputation, of which MAST has a terrible one. >Do the words INFINITY MACHINE mean anything to you? They also >advertised this flicker-fixer device for way too long. None of >which ever shipped. Exactly. And the fact that the booth they had at the Expo was so horrible, I would wonder if Colorburst would ever ship. If I had the vaporware reputation of MAST, I would make sure that my public appearances instilled faith in people. >squares. Absolutely nothing eye-catching, not even a good still >image. That's what I saw. Nothing. Zip. Nada. A white box that color-cycled really well. I'm not even sure if the thing works. You can quote source code availability, transfer to laser disk service, and everything else from the MAST literature, but I'm not even sure if they can support the product when it seems they can't even support themselves in selling it. And without consumer confidence, MAST will lose sales. -gerry -- uunet!dialogic!gerry | "Even a dead plant turns | Dialogic Corporation OR | over a new leaf | 300 Littleton Rd gerry@dialogic.UUCP | when the wind blows." | Parsippany, NJ 07054 | | (201)334-8450
lcc727@unhd.unh.edu (Layton C Cote) (03/29/91)
In article <13637@helios.TAMU.EDU> cmw1725@tamsun.tamu.edu (Christopher Walton) writes: >YES, they had a very plain booth. >YES, they have a plain box. >YES, they seemed like a garage operation. >BUT this means NOTHING.... - exactamungo man. You can put on an advertising blitz like apple or ibm, but the product superiority is what counts! DCTV had quite the add blitz. > >All you should be worried about is the performance, and the price... >graphics enhancers since it can use the IFF24 format. > >As you can see this is a GREAT device. Just because it is from a company >that didn't seem impressive, is NO reason to bypass them alltogether. I was more impressed with colorburst than all the other color "devices" put together. I "pushed" my way through the crowd and talked to the australians at the booth for over an hour about this incredible product. They do know what they are doing, and are doing it the right way! The system they were showing pictures on was in PAL, but i could barely see any flicker on the amazing true 24 bit pictures. Wonder how it would look in NTSC? The REAL-TIME 24 bit color screen beating to incoming audio sources was pretty cool, but the idea of having a 24 bit mouse pointer the size of a bob, etc. allows for some ultra-cool effects. Can't wait to see all the other programs they said they are going to bundle with Colorburst. I wanted to buy it there, when are they going to ship in U.S.???? > >Christopher Walton >cmw1725@tamsun.tamu.edu