CompuServe Thread

#Brainstorming

4 messages in this thread
#11167From: Larry EdingtonAug 15, 1991 3:59 PM
I need some help on a video configuration. I need to capture 4 video images and put them up on the screen ( NTSC ) at the same time. 1/4 screen per image. So, 4 NTSC ins and 1 NTSC out of the 4 seperate pictures. I also then need to save this as a file and allow 4 other networked systems to retrieve the file and display it on an NTSC screen. I can take the 4 c captures 1 at a time and save them to memory or hard drive. Any great ideas on what to buy to do this? I thought DCTV's with A500's or maybe Toasters with A2000's. The Toasters seem like overkill to me though. The bottom line is I need 24 bit quality. And I need as much speed on the captures as I can get. One more nice thing to have would be press a key macros so dippy users could cope with it. Any help would be much appreciated.
#11246From: cjAug 19, 1991 5:48 PM
I am looking for a way to capture 30 secs. of black & white video (NTSC) and store it in RAM (or some other type of storage that has no mechanical parts). I guess 64 shades of gray would be adequate (maybe even 32 or 16). Does anyone know of such a device. It doesn't have to be for the Amiga. The end device will be a stand-alone system that won't be used for anything else. Also, does anyone know about how much ram this would consume? (It's not the cost I'm worried about … it's the real-estate consumed by it) Compression of the digitized video may also be considered. All help is appreciated Charlie McCready
#11277From: Jonathan HirschmanAug 20, 1991 11:54 PM
Charlie: Hmm – mind telling us what you need to do this capture for? At any rate, this is how I would do it on an Amiga: First, I would get a suitable framegrabber – the upcoming PVA from GVP looks like it would do the trick nicely. I am *assuming* something that could be controlled by AREXX. I would then hook the thing up to a video disc, which could be controlled by the RS-232 port. Under AREXX control, I would: 1. Advance the frame 2. Grab it 3. Pass it to ADPro, and make the necessary resolution adjustments 4. Pack it into an anim (assuming an AREXX aware animation program). The resulting animation would be 900 frames, but it would fit into the ram capacities either offered by a fully stocked 3000, or by a fully stocked accelerator (CSA's upcoming '040 offers up to 64megs of ram, I believe – GVP has boards that hold either 16 or 32 megs). You could have the unit load the resulting anim into ram, and play it will with a simple control program. Anyone have any better ideas? Jonathan Jonathan – from Albany, NY, via whap!
#11312From: Rick CrossAug 23, 1991 2:24 PM
CM>> I am looking for a way to capture 30 secs. of black & white video CM>> (NTSC) and store it in RAM (or some other type of storage that has no CM>> mechanical parts). CM>> (It's not the cost I'm worried about … it's the real-estate consumed Well, since you say it doesn't have to be for the Amiga, and you're not worried about price… I saw a board at Comdex last fall that did exactly what you're referring to (I think). The only part I'm not sure of is does it hold in ram, or on disks. It captures video as Fractal images. Holds something like 30 minutes on one 720K floppy. The demo they were showing was Casablanca in B&W (of course), full motion, using about a 5" rectangle in the middle of the screen. Sort of like watching an LCD screen. I wasn't impressed at first until I realized it wsan't a 20 second loop. It also does full screen stuff. However, it's PC only, and the board runs about $50,000. If you're really interested, I'll dig out my Comdex handbook from last year and look it up for you.