Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    I purchased this in Manchester, UK on Sunday for �114.95. As a 'show
    offer' I got the VIDI-CHROME add on free.
    
    I haven't used it yet as my Amiga is moving!! But when I do I'll post a
    report in here.
    
    Impressions from the demo I saw were very good, HENCE I bought it!!
    
    I haven't got a camera, so I'll be frame grabbing from my VCR. I
    _think_ that you can't grab colour frames straight from a VCR, but I
    may be wrong.
    
    It is also available for IBM PC's and Atari's.
    
    Greg

    Hey Gregg, could you give us a review on the Vidi thing?
    
    How does it compare to Digiview or the Framegrabber?
    
    Jean
    

    Jean,
    
    Well I've only used it a little from my VCR.
    
    
    Grabs in black and white only, a RGB splitter to be released soon at �49.95.
    
    Its very fast and a good clean image, although only 320 x 256, if I
    remember correctly. You grab in real time, and it stores the sequence of
    15 frames, which you can then play back, or save the whole sequence onto
    disk in standard IFF format. You can CUT and PUT windows all over the
    place and then grab inside or outside the windows, or both. If you grab
    outside then it replays your stored sequence as it grabs. You have a 
    palette of 16 grays, which you can add colour into, to produce strange
    affects. You can specify the time interval inbetween grabs.
    
    That's all I can remember off the top of my head. If you use it with a
    camera you can grab in colour by holding R, G + B filters over the
    camera.
    
    I don't know how it compares to Digiview or Framegrabber. I'm pleased with
    it, it's easy to use and best of all is cheap!!
    
    If you want to know anything specific then ask!!!
    
    Greg
    
    
    

    How long between takes?  Will it takes successive frames in real time
    (� la LIVE) to make an animation?
    
    I have a framegrabber, and with the supplied software, it takes about 8
    seconds to grab, transfer (parallel port) and display a lo rez picture
    (320 x 200 x 16 shades of gray), color can take up to 50 seconds for a
    320 x 400 ham picture.  The resulting pics are real good, but taking
    soooo long to transfer, animations are out.  There is a C program that
    came on the disquette that can (could??) transfer pics faster (guess
    only) but being a hardware grunt....
    
    I have seen LIVE's output, the animation is quite good, but the color
    is terrible.
    
    Digiview's pictures are stunning (especially dynamic hi rez) but take a
    looooong time to do.
    
    Jean
    

    It's faaaast, you can have it instantly so it's just liking watching the vi
    video, you set the 'gap' between grabs.
    
    
    Greg  

    Does anybody know any information on the "Video Toaster"?  I was told
    it would be out on the market in August.  
    
    Ray

    The May and June issues of Amazing Computing have article about
    the Video Toaster.  In May, Newtek had it at the National Association
    of Broadcasters (NAB) and it stirred up megainterest.  The June article
    deals with it at the World of Amiga where it was said to be ready
    to go, awaiting final FCC approval, so they expected July deliveries.
    Newtek claims that even with the intense interest at NAB, they will
    still be able to supply normal Amiga outlets so that home video
    enthusiasts as well can have one.  Price was quoted as still being
    about $1595.
    

    Could someone post the price of the RGB splitter made by Rombo for
    their Vidi package + supplier phone. I think it will a lot cheaper in
    the states, including p+p to the UK. Is their any difference in the UK 
    and the US version?
    
    Cheers,
    
    Greg

     A friend of mine recentley picked up this unit Vidi-Amiga.
     He tried it out on my computer (we used a BW camera).
     The problem is, it would grab a picture, then repeat it for 10 or so
    frames, before grabbing another.
     Also after using the "New" selection from the menu, and then grabbing 
     the picture, it would reproduce the old one (the one that we
    supposedly cleared from memory with the new command).
     The software supplied was version 1.23 I believe.
     The signal from the camera was seen as a non-interlaced signal by the 
     software.
    
    							Any suggestions?
    			
    								Ed
     

Ed,

How do you mean 'repeat it for 10 or so
    frames, before grabbing another.'

I use mine off of video, it does realtimew grabs, with the 'gap'
between grabs being user controlled.


Greg

     Well, It'll grab a frame and just hold (filling subsequent frames with
    the same picture ), then grab another and repeat the process.
      In the meantime , we've tried this unit on other a500s and it worked
    like a charm.
      I'm not shure, but I believe it may have to do with the parrallel and
    joystick extension cables (perhaps there is a power drop duer to the
    length of the extension cables, causing the unit to malfunction.
    								Ed

Ed,

Sounds like a h/w thing to me, especially as it works on other 500's.
Are you sure it's not just doing repeated grabs? I seem to remember you
can tell it how many frames to use, perhaps you can just set this to 1????


Greg

    This is off a live camera source, it's a cheapy but it works with
    digiview... 
     The hardware recognizes the signal as a non-interlaced signal.
     However when it does grab, it repeats the same exact picture for an
     odd number of frames and then changes and grabs a new frame.
     This happens at random times (repeated frame grab for 10 frames 1
    time then perhaps 30 next).
    
    								Ed