Which systems is best?
18 messages in this thread
I am just getting involved in the Amiga and am getting ready to drop about $5k
on a system for DTV. Could anyone please give me their thought about:
DCTV vs. Opal vs. Toaster
As well I am leaning toward the Toaster package, but need to know if I am
better off with an A2000 or an A3000?
Thank you very much in advance, Dave Gould
We need to know more. Which system you buy depends on what your needs and
priorities are. E.g., are you going to edit video? Do 3-D animations for
video? Character generation? Special effects? How high-end will your work
be? Amateur, prosumer or professional? Each unit you mentioned has its
merits and drawbacks.
If you buy a Toaster, an A2000 is cheaper at the outset because you don't
need a Toaster Cozzy or a nasty hack-out modification to the 3000's case
(which otherwise is just a bit too narrow to accomodate the Toaster card).
But you will want to accelerate an ordinary A2000 and that will add some
bucks. The Toaster Cozzy avoids the tight-fit problem in a 3000 by letting
the Toaster reside in a small separate case. A3000s are rock cheap now and
offer certain advantages like an '030 (faster) processor, sizeable hard
drive and more memory out of the box, and built-in anti-flicker software.
So the cost of the needed Cozzy might be worth it. On the other hand, they
have fewer open slots than an A2000. You must think ahead and consider
your expansion plans. Music card? RAM card? Extra serial or parallel
ports? Bridgeboard or Macintosh emulator? Etc.
Thanks for the reply,
I plan to do performance video, I am a musician and have a professional
background in photography. I plan to use all aspects of the Toaster that you
described. I realize that the 2000 needs to accelerated to run the Toaster, but
you have brought up a point about planning ahead which is important.
I also require the following peripherals, Bridgeboard modem, printer, and
scanner something that can read or generate SMPTE(is that in the Toaster) and I
would like to leave the option open to MIDI (if that's seperate, I had thoughad
thought that was internal).
The main purpose is to run Toaster.
Dave
Get an external (vs. internal) modem; you'll be happier. There are cards
with extra serial ports/parallel ports if you end up needing them as you
may with the Toaster.
Bridgeboards are rock cheap now! A 286 is 99 bucks, a 386 is 200 bucks.
That includes MS-DOS, memory, drive, manuals, Janus software (to allow
intercommunication with the Amiga OS and peripherals). But I think the
prices will be going up again soon. 486 boards are still expensive, but
you can upgrade a 386 later.
Amigas come standard with 8-bit sound (soon to be upgraded) but don't come
with MIDI interfaces; adding a good one, however, is cheap. There are
numerous quality audio digitzers, too. Anything by Blue Ribbon Soundworks
— hardware or software — will set you on your ear musically. They have a
great sound engine card based on the Proteus chip for about $600 that
includes over a hundred digitized sound samples. Their Bars 'N Pipes Pro
and Superjam are excellent music composition tools, handling SMPTE, MIDI,
you name it. The Bars 'N Pipes package includes hooks to integrate your
music into multimedia productions, complete with time code. The absolutely
best sound cards for the Amiga are by Sunrize, which offers 12-bit and
16-bit models with all sorts of bells and whistles — even on-screen VU
meters! Not cheap, though.
I think all this stuff works well with the Toaster, but I haven't used
much of it myself. Get yourself a subscription to Video Toaster User
magazine for the big lowdown. No, the Toaster doesn't handle audio; the
Amiga handles it. But since the Amiga can easily multitask, anything else
running on the system should be able to talk to the Toaster and work with
it, if it's written correctly. Lots of third-party Toaster add-ons of this
sort.
The A4000 series computers (and maybe 3000s) shortly are to offer a
plug-in digital signal processor (probably a high-end AT&T model) that
could serve to do a lot of audio manipulation, among other duties. The DSP
will be the basis for the upgraded Amiga internal sound routines and
should be accessible by third-party software, too.
There are mouseable and flat-bed B&W and color scanners for the Amiga with
OCR options; not as many choices as on PCs, but the quality is tops. The
image enhancement software is top notch; Art Department Pro. Image
Professional and ImageFX are the three leading products in that category.
Also, you can opt for slow-scan and real-time video digitizers or
framegrabbers. Scanners are better for 2-D stuff, generally.
Amigas will work with most any IBM-compatible printer such as the HP
Deskjet and Laserjet series, Postscript lasers, etc. The Epson Action
Laser and Oki 400 are two fine laser printers that come cheap; the Deskjet
and Canon Bubblejet are widely used inkjets. All Amigas take a standard
parallel or serial interface. The OS comes with printer drivers for your
particular printer, which all software can write to. There are enhanced
third-party printer drivers, too, including Postscript interpreters.
Finally, big news! The Toaster 3.0 and Toaster 4000 were announced last
week. They're identical, except the latter works in the new AGA-based
Amigas (built-in 16.7-million RGB analog palette). Many new features and
special effects. No reason now not to buy an A4000 if you're just getting
into the Toaster; it's the best platform going.
For SMPTE reader/Generator look to Horita. They make inexpensive
Standalone units for approx $500 that will also allow you to do a "Window
Dub"
Sunrize has a software SMPTE reader/generator for about $240.
It reads/writes in most formats including the elusive 29.97
… sends LTC out the Amiga audio out jack.
Dave,
You're best off with an A4000, and the brand new Toaster 4.0 that's coming out
next month….. Sounds like it's gonna leave the rest of 'em in the dust!!!
Jerry
Uh, call NewTek at 1-800-368-5441, and ask about the NEW Toaster for the
A4000 that was JUST announced THIS WEEK!
I think this might be what you're looking for.
Keep On Toastin'
Erik Flom
From ALL Reports from NAB the NEW Toaster for the A4000 is the one to get,
it allows 24 FPS and or 30 FPS playback of HAM8 Psuedo 24 bit Anims as
well as Lotsa other Niceties like a new version of Lightwave 3D.
$5000 is about right for the new Toaster and a A4000 too.
Good Luck in thy Endeavors from Midgard Graphics
<Prosciutto and Mozzarella Sandwich inside>
>From ALL Reports from NAB the NEW Toaster for the A4000 is the one to
>get, it allows 24 FPS and or 30 FPS playback of HAM8 Psuedo 24 bit Anims
>as well as Lotsa other Niceties like a new version of Lightwave 3D.
Where did you hear that it played back the anims as HAM8?
Mark Thopmson has said that they playback FULL 24-bit files thru the use
of compression. He isn't sure which method but does know that they aren't
using MPEG or JPEG, he did mention IFS but he isn't sure yet.
<<< Tony D. Tracer >>>
If they're using IFS, I'D be surprised . . .
I have confirmed with NewTek sales over the phone that it IS INDEED HAM8
animation.
The Toaster alone cannot play back full 24-bit animations in real-time.
(Too bad, too. I was hoping to have finally found the 'holy grail' of
animation, but I guess I'll still have to buy more hardware for true
broadcast quality animation. Waaah. :^(
Keep On Toastin'
Erik Flom
Toaster 4000 plays back Lightwave anims in a HAM8 configuration. It does
this through the switcher. It takes the switcher 1.8 seconds to show a
single 24 bit frame.
–Paul < Motorola Inside >
>Toaster 4000 plays back Lightwave anims in a HAM8 configuration.
I now know that this is true. I was basing my comment on what Mark
Thompsom had posted and he had mentioned some type of compression as
oppssed to HAM8. He must have been wrong.
<<< Tony D. Tracer >>>
I may well have Imagined or ASSUMED it used Ham8. My Brain doesn't
function as well as it used to hehehehehe. Just read a msg By Erik Flom,
saying he called NewTek and they Confirmed that it was HAM8 ythat allows
the Playback. For the life of me I can't recall where I read that it used
Ham8, I may have been told that when I called Newtek to be added to the
Mailing List. BTW Newtek is going to be here in Long Island next Week
showing the New Toaster. They will have a show at the Sheraton in NYC for
2 days, when I called the Folks at Amigo essentially Said "OH NO ANOTHER
TOASTER CALLER" and they were Sorry that all tickets for the Sheraton
Showing were gone but Newtek Graciously offered to do Demo's the day AFTER
the Show (Friday May 7) at Amigo Business Machines Store in Long Island.
This is by Reservation ONLY as far as I know.
I recieved 2 Postcards from Amigo about this.
I saw the toaster4000 doing its anim thing at NAB. I stood there thinking I
may never single frame to betaSP again. It looked great to me. Sure, there
may be some purist 24 bit single framing needed for some applications – and
those I would continue to transcode from RGB to component anyway and not use
the toaster for output. But if NTSC out of the toaster is ok for an
application, then I don't think that any artifacts in HAM8 are going to show.
Thanks for the input!
The more I think about the new 4000, the more I come to agree with your
opinion. I still haven't seen HAM8 in operation, but MY high end customers
are trying to get away from composite NTSC, and I begin to realize that my
'composite NTSC' clients would probably be very happy with HAM8
animations.
(Gosh, I could even DELIVER animations in HAM8 ANIM format . . .:^)
Thanks for re-affirming my assumptions.
Keep On Toastin'
Erik Flom
Thanx for the info Chris, I appreciate it.
>I may well have Imagined or ASSUMED it used Ham8.
If you did assumed then you would have been right.
>Newtek Graciously offered to do Demo's the day AFTER the Show (Friday May
>7) at Amigo Business Machines Store in Long Island.
If you are able to go then you are a lucky person, I just got to see a
tape of a local Toaster dealer who when to NAB and `shook' his camcorder
all around the place.
<<< Tony D. Tracer >>>