CompuServe Thread

John; I am not one of the video types but…. *Yes the amiga will run dos applications. There are at least three ways that I know of… BridgeBoard (an full blown PC/AT on a card), ATonce (a PC type board that shares part of the machine), and IBeM (an emulator). *Not certain about the toaster but believe that it will work with all mentioned. *Many folks on the forum use the Amiga for professional video production. *Probably about $7K (could vary alot). Hopefully you will get responses from far more knowledgeable people. An Amiga message processed by Whap!, bill

John: Here are two sources of information on the Video Taoster: 1) Newtek (the manufacturer of the Video Toaster) has a section here in the AMigaForums in AmigVendor… they'll be delighted to send you literarture describing all of the capabilities of their product, and they also sell two video tapes that show off the toaster. 2) Send an Email note to Frank Vanella (76527,723) of Spot Productions. Frank runs a Ca company that does video and radio advertising spots and uses the toaster extensively for video production. He can guide you opn what type of equipment he has found to work best, and what ancillary products/software you might also need to accomplish what you want to do. BTW, it's hard for us to answer your requests anymore specifically, because you have NOT told us exactly what it is you want to do! An A2000 will run you about $1200. Serious rendersing will require a 68030 board running at around 28Mhz… figure around $1500 + another $300 for some memory… then the toaster itself will cost around $1400. Hard drive pricing is easy to check out… just look in computer shopper for the size scsi drive you want. So, you can get a good strong system (sans video equip like VTR, TBC, etc) for around $5000. – Whapping from the North Coast Michael

Lets go through these one at a time: 1) IBM compatibility. Sortof. It depends on the type of IBM application you want, which machine you buy, and how much you're willing to spend for IBM compatibility. If you get an Amiga 500, your only real choice for IBM compatibility is a unit called ATOnce, which basically allows you to boot your computer as a 286 based IBM AT. CGA or monochrome graphics. No hardware capability. With anything but an A500, you can get a Bridgeboard. This is basically either an 8088 based PC or an 80286 based AT on a board. You can add IBM hardware into slots on the machine (And thus get VGA or super VGA output or added sound capability) or it can run CGA or monochrome mode on your Amiga screen in a window. With a 68020 or 68030 based Amiga, you can get IBeM, which is a software emulator. Fairly slow, and again not good graphics. So basically, IMHO, if you're using software which you can stand running on a monochrome or CGA screen, you can probably get it running on the Amiga given the right hardware or software. But otherwise, I wouldn't depend on IBM compatibility. 2) The Video Toaster is an add on board which does all kinds of video effects. 24 bit framebuffer. 24 bit framegrabber. Genlock, Character Generator, Special Effects Generator (with all kinds of wipes, fades, zooms, etc.), Luminance Key, 3D rendering and paint software. To very quickly cover it. <grin> It uses Composite NTSC input and outputs, NOT S-Video. Also, you might need a Time Base corrector for inputs from video tape recorders and the like. (Companies make board level TBCs which plug into the Amiga, BTW.) The Toaster only currently works in Amiga 2000 and 2500 machines. [continued]

[continued from prior message [continued from prior message] 3) The Amiga has been and is used in a number of places for editing and video effects, especially now that the Video Toaster is available. It's built in support for NTSC makes it good for all kinds of video work. 4) A really good Amiga system (lets assume you are going for a Toaster and work from there, so: Amiga 2000, GVP 50 Mhz 68030 board with 16 Megs ram, Multisync monitor, 300 MB Hard drive) woul run you in the rough neighborhood of $6000-$7000, most likely. The Video Toaster costs about $1600. Add in a dual Time Base Corrector card for another $1000, leaving you with one really neat video studio setup for about 10K. It might help us to know what information you need if you could better define your absolute requirements, goals, and optional frills you might want. –>Steve Bennett