CompuServe Messages

Douglas, I went back and read the rest of what has turned into a long string before coming back here. If you haven't read it yet, do, and you'll see what the video folks need. I did try to contact a lot of the peripheral and software firms before I order the 2000 by the way…with the thought that I would set the system up and find out how it work, then add the toys like the videotoaster or framegrabber when they came out (if it wasn't too long) and make it into a poor man's do-everything-graphics-machine. I wanted to find out what I needed in the basic system to make their stuff work and find out if it would do real stuff like real-time composite digitizing, 16-million colors and real (TV NTSC) resolution. They didn't want to talk about their products. I should just wait and see and it might, just might be out "sometime this spring". When I explained that I didn't want to drop five grand now on the possiblility that they'd come up with a professional product sometime in the future they said "sorry, we got a lot of complaints, so we aren't talking". I obviously decided to buy the machine and take the chance anyhow..but these are the folks you think would be receptive to videotype input. I have a three hundred dollar phone bill that says they aren't as receptive as you think. It's not all of them, of course, and I guess they have their own sources of industry input, but I got enough of that kind of answer to scare me. Please don't misunderstand. A lot of folks in the industry think a lot of the potential of the machine and the fact that it can do Chyron-level character generation now. And they all talk to each other. They are aware it's low level now and are waiting to see if it can do more. My point is that I don't want the casual observer to be fooled. I know a guy who did several of the "demonstrations" on some Amiga show tapes. They're nice.. but they were dumped onto one inch…went through a Grass Valley and a CMX editor and too him four months to do. That's the high priced spread and a lot of time…more time and money than Fred in Peoria has, so he shouldn't