CompuServe Thread

I think the Raptor solution may do for professionals with heavy animation use. But the others (event/wedding/legal/corp training/in-house on-line switching etc) would be unlikely to pay the toll on that highway. And, if you believe teh NewTek rhetoric, they are philosophically opposed to having a Raptor price level product be their "entry level" Toaster system. My guess at NewTeks order of prefernce for this situation are: 1) Hope someone comes along to continue Amiga production including new models. 2) Move to another off the shelf platform (PPC does fit the price range, but I think NewTek may have had a fall-back plan ready to implement before PPC technology was defined well enough to do preliminary desingning to.) 3) create their own machine based on homegrown technolgy that is not a GP computer with a video propensity, but a totally video box (i.e. you won't be able to run other apps on it, just the Toaster Aps and possible some edl and image catalog tools.) 4) move to a hight cost platform (i.e. use the brute force approach) 5) wait to see who ends up with the Amiga tech and try to interest them in a fat NewTek buyout. 6) Ride the old mare of existing Amiga supplies until it drops, then retire happily ever after. I think 4,5, and 6 are very, very remote possibilities, having followed NewTek since the days of digipaint. ANd if 1,2, or 3 come to pass, they will insure their is migration available for existing users. So I see your choice is really a 3 way deal: 1) Go cheap and get someones A2000 based 3.1 Toaster workstation (I have one for sale if you'd like it – I'm keeping a Toaster 4000/3.1 in my other A2000 and trying to generate capital to get an AGA Toaster set-up to replace teh one I sell so that I have that much longer until I HAVE to cross to another platform). 2) Bite the bullet, spend rougly another 50-80% and get a Toaster 4000 set-up with all the add-ons to get scsi and Y/C-Component transcoding and accept it as a 5 year investment. 3) Go traditional and get a SOny EFX 1000 switcher for about what you'd have paid for the Toaster but have no underlying general purpose computer. Well there is a 4rth option: rent time in an edit suite and put your stuff together there. Now let me explain why I am putting off moving to another platform as long as I can. Right now there is no other combination of products on any other platorm that can do what the Toaster does at its price and quality level. You have to spend minimum $10K to come close to the basic Toaster board/software/Amiga combination in the "other worlds". And then you are still dealing with JPEG or other lossy compression schemes. The FLyer NLE and VTAS compression looks to me like the best solution for the time being, and if you've used tape at all, you'll be lusting after NLE. I think the other platforms are 2 years away from just equalling the Toaster functionality and output quality, and then probably another year from 'eas of use" (and minimal bug frustration). And then probably another year before the prices hit Toaster/Flyer range. So, if you can do wonderful things for 3-4 years with a Toaster, and make some money with it, the investment today is still sound even IF, there is no further Toaster development. Would I advise getting an Amiga today for any other professional use? No. because, barring Toaster use, there has been a trend of developers going to greener pastures even before the CBM/CIL debacle. It can only accelerate if the rumors of a buyer and continuance of the Amiga line are not assured very soon, with new product in the pipeline before years end to shore up confindence and keep devlopers/buyers on Amigas. Would I advise getting and Amiga for home use? Depends on what you want it for. Hobby animator/graphics? Sure. Games? nope – very few good ones still run on the Amiga, fewer still being developed for it. DTP? Yes. I think Soft-logik is here for the long haul and possibly beyond. (I heard a rumor that there may have been work done or at least serious investigation of a WIndows version of PageStream starting over a year ago-but that is just a rumor, folks!) They are multiplatform and there is no reason they cannot repeat their migration from Atari to Amiga and go Amiga to Windows – whatever. If they kept Amiga level prices, many people who do not want to pay the Aldus and Adobe robber barrons would go to PageStream. There is very little it can't do now and with the next major release, it will be even more competative with the major "other platform" DTP entries. Home budget/accounting, or small business accounting? Sorry, I am restricted from talking about it :^} Data base work? That one I would say is a gamble. Oxxi is the only game in town on that score. And though I and a few others seem to be able to bring out the worst in them, they are at least making an effort to support their products. One does get the sense that they operate on the hairy edge of profitability, so I would not want to bet on them being able to survive as long as say Soft-Logik or NewTek in a dead-end market. Multi-Media? well, there is good stuff on the Amiga but it is tied to the Amiga for delivery as well. If there turns out to be no ongoing supply of Amigas, I suspect the MM progam houses to be among the fisrt to disappear. The reason is that they have not been as diligent at cross platform compatibility as DTPer have and that is becuase the problems are considerably mpore difficult. Now, that being said, if you feel you cannot take the chance and would be willing to kick in much more dough to play, based on my observations at NAB, you should contact Digital Creation (916-344-4825) regarding the very Toaster-like V Machine ($10K for boards and software- computer not included, maxed out 486 recommended): TouchVision Systems regarding DVision (turnkey system aprox $20K), Data Translation's Media 100 system (508-460-1600 x 100); Fast Electonics Video Machine Mac and MSDos/Woindows version available (508-655-FAST); iMix Video Cube, (916-272-9800) is strting to get into real money; And of course Matrox Studio (don't have a number). Then ther are the non-computer based systems…. but figure $10K to get a little less than what you get in a Toaster/Amiga for $5K (4000 New minimal system) or $4k (200 used, decked-out [acc, mem, big HD]). wmc – via Autopilot!

"First, there seems to be a lot of interested corporations wanting to aquire the Amiga Technology. Second, there seems to be a commitment that whoever gets that technology continue support of the "AMIGA" as a platform. Third, when the dust settles, the Amiga won't be burdened by a blood-sucking upper management. Fourth, with a installed base of 5 million Amigas worldwide…there will be aftermarket support. Fifth, as far as I can tell, no other platform can produce VIDEO as well or as cheaply as the Amiga. Sixth, Just because Commodore s in trouble doesn't mean the Amiga is automatically dead." Items 1, 2, 3, and 4 are all based on rumor, not fact. There is a *rumor* that some Japanese company has arranged to take over Commodore in Europe (with nothing being said about the possibility of fraud in connection with the liquidation of the Bahamian and US companies). It's a *rumor*, not a fact. Someone else is speculating that he will buy the rights to the Amiga technology and share it with all interested parties. It's a long way between claiming that you're going to do something of this nature and actually getting it done – and there are lots of hurdles along the way. So your first point isn't based on anything resembling facts. Your second point is totally contingent upon the first point being valid which it isn't. Your third point seems to ignore the fact that Gould controlled companies appear to be significant secured creditors and, in fact, could conceivably wind up being key players in the "Mysterious Japanese Purchaser" fable noted above. So a very key player in the "blood-sucking upper management" might remain in a controlling position. Point 4 is a conclusion. Those five million Amigas, I presume, represent a count of all the Amigas ever sold. That doesn't mean their owners are active consumers and those are the people who really count in maintaining "aftermarket support". Point 5 is arguable, but not totally, true. There are many alternatives available in the market, though I agree none might be as inexpensive as the Toaster/Amiga combination. Point 6 strikes me as an expression of hope, not a tangible fact. Purchasing a Toaster now without waiting for the Commodore dust to clear doesn't strike me as a particularly sensible idea. Better to wait several weeks and see what the real nature of Commodore's liquidation is and whether or not any of these promised resurrection schemes come to pass. Jerry

I agree. The Amiga is now too entrenched to easily die, and with so many interested corps wanting to take over and rebuild. -= Vance =- Image Master Flying high on Black Belt Systems' Imagemaster R/t!