Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!swbatl!texbell!sugar!karl From: karl@sugar.hackercorp.com (Karl Lehenbauer) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Apple eating our lunch Keywords: MultiMedia/Desktop Media you know that thing that Macs do. Message-ID: <4251@sugar.hackercorp.com> Date: 30 Sep 89 06:35:23 GMT References: <125384@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> Reply-To: karl@sugar.hackercorp.com (Karl Lehenbauer) Organization: Sugar Land Unix - Houston Lines: 52 In article <125384@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) writes: >The key things to note here are : > a) *APPLE* is doing the development work, they aren't waiting for > some underpaid and undermotivated third party developer to beat > the odds ... > Commodore did that with IFF at first and it spawned a wide > variety of paint programs that could and did interact ... >This is not a flame so much as it is a warning. ... I agree 100% with your sentiments. And ironically, the Amiga is a far better platform for doing this stuff. Trying to do multimedia with a single tasking (or polled task-switching) machine means they'll be having to jump through all sorts of gross technical hoops that Amiga DTV developers wouldn't have to do. Plus we've got the blitter and we're NTSC (which makes it a natural), I mean, Jesus, just look at some of the anims people have done. Oh yeah, cost is a factor, too. An Apple DTV platform is going to based on a Mac IIcx or somesuch. We're talking $6000+ here guys, while the NewTek demo runs in a meg on a 500. The answer for doing the syncrhonization, I'm almost sure, is to use a SMPTE- based cue sheet-type thing. The Amiga would have no problem generating SMPTE internally when it wasn't necessary to sync to external equipment (just use video blank interrupts or synchronize one of the programmable timers to the VBI (with software) for higher timing resolution) I've already written code that can read MIDI time code (a MIDI translation of SMPTE time) from an Opcode Timecode Machine (An under-$200 SMPTE to MIDI converter) and display the time, run forwards or backwards, fast or slow, etc, etc. I also can play and record MIDI files from MIDI file formats of all three types, plus play sounds to the speaker as well as note commands to the MIDI port. With the additional abilities to create cues for ILBM flipping and ANIM playing, and way better user interfaces, etc, a viable, even in some ways state-of-the-art, tool for DTV could be created. But like Chuck said, they'd better not wait for me or anybody else, I'm just one guy, and it's a daunting task, I have a day job, etc, etc. I just really hate to see this opportunity slip through our collective fingers, while a better-capitalized, less capable machine takes it. You know Intel bought all GE's DVI stuff, right? Another opportunity lost, sigh... -- -- uunet!sugar!karl "There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that -- flags do not wave in a vacuum." -- Arthur C. Clarke -- Usenet access: (713) 438-5018