#Abekas/Exabyte More Info
14 messages in this thread
As I have mentioned before, our Abekas/Exabyte driver is compatible with our
platform independent image format translation system (called Image
Independence). This means that our Abekas/Exabyte driver can read and write any
image file format that you happen to have an II driver for.
We intended to include JPEG, TGA, and IFF in the basic Abekas/Exabyte driver
kit and sell other formats as part of the Image Independence For Windows
product.
We have decided to throw in a great many file format modules into the basic
Abekas/Exabyte driver since we don't have a schedule yet as to when we would
actually release Image Independence for Windows. So, in addition to the three
formats mentioned above, our Abekas/Exabyte driver will include the ability to
load and save several other formats such as BMP, SGI RGB, Alias, Wavefront,
QRT, and possibly several others.
Being able to read and write all these formats to/from Abekas tape means you
can set up a PC as a network tape manager (and be able to process images
to/from other machines).
There won't be any change in the cost of the product. We hope you don't mind.
ASDGTech
ASDG,
did you ever say what the cost was? If you don't want to say it, you could
e-mail it to me.
Martin:
I think they're mad at us, they haven't replied to either of our letters. I
did see that the price was $395 back in a previous message, that for the
Windows program.
Greg
Martin – PMJI I called them and they told me $495, I tried to get some fax info
but there were line problems. -JE
John,
If I remember correctly it was $495… but they have a special for 3D Studio
users for $395.
-Ralph
Ralph, John, and Greg,
thanks for the info.
Martin,
You are welcome.
This thread has been VERY interesting!
-Ralph
Ralph – I looked through the messages and couldn't find any reference to $395
but it would be better if true, Gary mentioned a price of $2500 for everthing,
and the ASDG guy mentioned $2300 for the Exabyte, ergo one would conclude it
was going for $200. Now all we need to know is what kind of interface it has,
as its not going to be running in windows at this time. Actually I prefer that
it didn't run under windows myself. And I wonder what resolution you need to
render to, I'm assuming it will be D1 at 720 x 486. Another question I have is
how long does it take to do the conversion and will you need to store your
images in both TGA format and D1 format. Maybe we can get this guy to come to
Siggraph and show off his wares. Have any thoughts on this, Mr. Miata -JE
>> couldn't find any reference to $395 >> what kind of interface it has, >>
going to be running in windows >> resolution you need to render to (720 x 486)
>> images in both TGA format and D1 format.
All of these questions were answered here and there, some in Whats New. I don't
have the info in front of me, I'll give the hard copy a look tonight and get
back with you.
-Ralph (Mr. Miata) Frantz
Pretty Cocky Ralph, but I think you'll find that these things aren't specified
as clearly as you seem to think! -JE P.S. The windows version for instance has
been postponed, the resolution for D1 is 720 x486 but does that mean you render
at this resolution… etc. etc. etc. The price Greg seemed to recall was $395
but he wasn't sure and was checking, as was Martin. But hey I understand you've
been hanging around with Allen, he's like that too.
Windows version delayed? That would be news to me.
We do apologize for not having been on CIS for a whole day. We'll try to better
in the future 🙂
Thanks for the info, I've called you office once and I'm sure I'll have more
questions but I'll save them for siggraph. About the price though… is it $395
for 3D Studio users or $495 as I was quoted on the phone? -JE
We will indeed be present at Siggraph. We will be showing our family of SGI
special effects products. Our Macintosh products will be on display at the same
time but on the other coast – Macworld overlaps Siggraph and forces us to do
two shows at once. Sigh.
You can render at any resolution – but the correct resolution for NTSC is (as
you said) 720 by 486. If you write a smaller image than that, the driver will
center it in a field of broadcast black. If you supply an image larger than
that, it will clip out the central 720 by 486 region.
Image scaling for non-D1 sized images was considered. But, image scaling will
necessarily destroy field relationships (since an original scanline will be
scaled to more or less than a resulting scanline). On the advice of our
professional contacts, we have not included image scaling.
One other piece of kit which is required by the Windows version is an Adaptec
or another ASPI compatible SCSI disk controller. This is needed to interface
the SCSI tape drive to your PC.
The Macintosh version does not require an additional SCSI controller since the
Mac arlready provides this capability.
Performance is quite good – actual tape transport time is always under 2
seconds. YUV/RGB conversion including our expanded encoding takes about 4
seconds on a Quadra 700. I haven't timed the Windows version but speeds on a
medium speed 486 should compare to the Quadra 700. The Amiga version has been
clocked at under 4 seconds for the entire process on one particularly souped up
machine but generally is about the same speed as the Quadra 700 for 040 based
Amigas and as much as 11 seconds for 020 based Amigas.