CompuServe Thread

In a quick scan of the February 89 preview of the Toaster, unless I understand correctly they've made a decision or two that personally I disagree with, unless of course I misunderstood what was said or the finished product is different from what is described. The article describes a single board in the 2000's video slot that includes a broadcast quality RS-170A output that can be used with the built in genlock, the ability to take an incoming NTSC video (composite video?) signal, allow its manipulation in a number of different ways, but will not, I repeat not, allow the use of a VCR as the input unless one uses a Time Base Corrector they may choose someday to sell at an unspecified date or price. This is what I consider the main problem. I wish to use a vcr, probably S-VHS thru either YC or composite video outputs as the input to such a board for some work. Sure, some work will be done using the board simply as a digitizer, with a 450 horizontal resolution line color camera as the input, which I would hope would provice good results with minimum hassle, but other work would have been tape based for input. There is also an issue with the way you display graphics while working on them – Toaster and Amiga graphics cannot be on the same piece of screen at the same time. I don't know how much of a problem this will create – after all, you can now do things that currently weren't doable at all on the Amiga, and this limitation may not be considered a problem. To sum up what I read and what I think about it, if it comes out as scheduled for a decent price, if the TBC comes out very quickly and very cheaply allowing VCR input, and if the software provided plus extra software to do more is as good as it sounds in the article, this should be a very good product. Note that according to the article CBM had not yet made any definitive announcement re the PVA, so that for someone doing semipro work using the Amiga this may well be the best choice. Ron