#New stuff 4 Amiga!
8 messages in this thread
Well, again the biggest Amiga fair worldwide is currently in Cologn.
I got there today (boy, totaly crowded 5minutes for 10 feet).
o MacroSystem demonstrated the upcoming "Retina BLT Z3" graphic
board. The graphic board now features NCR 77C32BLT graphic chip and
is Zorro III only. The graphic chip features a powerfull blitter.
The board supports burst mode access to the unsegmented 4MB video
ram. All the software of the current Retina board will run with the
new board. The board frequency is now programable in every aspect,
allowing you to adjust the graphic board to your Monitor in every
aspect. The board features a pixel frequency of up to 110MHz,
allowing you to view 1280*1024 with 65Hz. The board also features a
Flash-ROM instead of an EPROM for the autoconfig logic. This allows
users to update the board by software, wich is specialy usefull once
an RTG standard is released by Commodore. The board also features an
additional S-Video and CVBS output, allowing you to output to record
animations to your vcr. Users of the current Retina board can
upgrade to the new Retina. According to Jrg Sprave, CEA of
MacroSystem, the board should meet the dealer shelfs before
christmas. I allready ordered mine.
o For users of the current Retina board an additional Y/C and FBAS
board is now available. The board can be bought in an external
version or as doughterboard for Retina.
o "VLab Motion" is a realtime video digitizer- and graphic-board.
Thanks to an additional JPEG chip, you can digitize video to hardware
in realtime. Also, you can output to video in realtime. The board
features a PAL input resolution of 768*567 with 4:2:2 and an output
resolution of 768*576. It runs with PAL/NTSC/SECAM. Input and output
is supported with FBAS and Y/C (S-VHS) and features a genlock input.
The board surely offers an incredible price performance. It's the
first video in/out board wich can do realtime animation for just 722.
The board is also able to control the Toccata board. Shiping should
start during the next weeks.
o "Toccata" is a new 16 Bit audio I/O board with up to 48 KHz
sampling frequency. Combined with VLab Motion, this board allows you
to play, edit and record video from harddisk on your computer. Price
of this board is 220 and is allready shiped.
o Retina users are surely glad to hear that VDPaint V3 was allready
demonstarted in a beta version. The program now supports a 8 bit
alpha channel, multiple windows and a built in ray-tracer. And you
can expect more…
o After a long time of abstinence, Ralph Babel got himself back into
business with a new english version of his "Guru Book". Ralph is
surely one of the best Amiga experts I know of. His book has been a
must have to all serious german programmers in the past. The book was
now rewritten from ground up and because of the huge demand from
non-german programmers, it was done in english. The book is
published by Ralph himself, so you won't be able to order it from
your book store. The Amiga Guru Book contains many concise examples,
ready-to-use listings, and comprehensive tables, it presents
fundamental knowledge of the system that all Amiga programmers –
regardless of the programming language used – MUST have at their
disposal and be able to apply if they wish to create reliable and
compatible software. All the questions you find unanswered in
Commodore Rom Kernel Manuals are answered here. Truly a bibel! Users
who can't find a source may order from germany through
"Hirsch and Wolf OHG"
Mittelstr. 33
56564 Neuwied
Germany
Tel: 0049-2631-8399-0
Fax: 0049-2631-8399-1
The price is DM 79 (30) plus shiping. Because JAM got a copy, I'm
sure we will see review in JAM soon.
o After buying myself a CD-ROM, I searched for a good PhotoCD
software for the Amiga and finaly found a solution written by Olaf
Barthel, the author of the well known "Term" program. The program
named "PhotoworX" is distributed by Corporate Media. The basic
functions of the program are based on the freeware "hpcdtoppm" V0.5
program wich allows you to read PhotoCD images on the Amiga.
"hpcdtoppm" can be found on various ftp sites and CompuServe. While
"hpcdtoppm" is pretty cryptic to use, "PhotoworX" features a well
done bug free user interface, allowing you to preview and edit
several images simultaniously. The software supports the Retina and
PicassoII graphic board for viewing images. The program itself is
not worth the requested 62, as it can be programmed in several weeks
and the included sample PhotoCD is of no real use. The high price is
caused by the license payed to Kodak for the use of their file
format. Corporate Media is actually the first Amiga based company
licensing the rights for the use of Kodaks file format. While it's
totaly legal to ask money from companies for the use of their file
format, the price of the license ($15000) is surely not cheap, as PC
developers can get a license for $500 including software for reading
the PhotoCD. Anyway, this software seems to be the best and the first
legal software for reading PhotoCD's on the Amiga. t — Wolf
Faust, Am Dorfgarten 10, 60435 Frankfurt, Germany —
Thanks for the report!
Steve
Wolf,
Thanks _a million_ for the report! Keep us posted.
I was there on Sunday. It was crowded. Apparently they had to lock
the doors on Saturday as the hall was so full! Yet I hear that the
Amiga is not doing so well in Germany? Somebody's wrong.
The VLab Motion sounds fascinating – could one use it to output
animations, say, from Imagine? Is there an IFF24<->JPEG converter? I
assume that the board can use standard SCSI hard drives, right? Any
idea on what the data transfer rates need to be? One last
question…what currency where you quoting prices in?
The curreny was in pound… CIS simply deleted the L sign…
To give you the exact prices in DM ( DM1.7 = US$1):
VLAB Motion DM1950 (US$ 1147).
And yes, sure you can output animations. They showed the board playing
a 6 minute Raytrace animation in superb quality. I think the board
offers great possibilities as it can input and output in realtime.
Also, you can edit/cut your videos with the Amiga and store them on
streamers. You don't need any expensive single frame stuff anymore.
The price is simply a revolution for that piece of hardware. Software
is included, though, I'm sure Carl Sassenrath (Carl was the guy that
gave us exec.library back in the old days 😉 will port his
non-linear Bay editing software some days ("Bay" allready works with
VLAB and Retina…). Bay can allready play 736*256 in 30
frames/second with DCTV… guess what it'll do with VLAB motion 😉
Just calculate yourself…
Beside: the Motion JPEG chip can uncompress ~27MB/second…
Oh yes, they sold Amiga 3000 with HD for US$882 on the fair! That's what I
call a nice price 😉
— Wolf Faust, Am Dorfgarten 10, 60435 Frankfurt, Germany —
Wolf,
Thanks for the info! Seems that the DPS animation board is going to have
some stiff competition, which is a really good thing. Who wants to buy a
dedicated, stink IDE drive anyway? Just hope that new SCSI host adapters
appear to take advantage of this kind of hardware, and new faster drives.
Imagine this being driven by a Seagate Barracuda? Hmmm…
Now, for a follow up question…what is Bay? Is this something that has
not yet made it to America? Sounds interesting…
Thanks..
//Jonathan,
\\//via AutoPilot
Does the VLAB Motion board use a garden variety SCSI harddrive? Can the
user pick the level of compression/loss? Can it live in a Zorro II slot?
Are you having fun yet? How are my German friends and the 24bit graphics
boards wars doing?
–Paul < Motorola Inside >