Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!oliveb!amiga!jimm
From: jimm@amiga.UUCP (Jim Mackraz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Enhanced Chip Set and Genlocking?
Keywords: ECS
Message-ID: <4759@amiga.UUCP>
Date: 29 Oct 89 00:26:29 GMT
References: <725@orange9.qtp.ufl.edu>
Reply-To: jimm@batgirl.UUCP (Jim Mackraz)
Distribution: na
Organization: Commodore-Amiga Inc, Los Gatos CA
Lines: 108

In article <725@orange9.qtp.ufl.edu> sutherla@qtp.ufl.edu (scott sutherland) writes:
)
)	I have been contemplating purchasing a Genlock for my Amy and
)the most cost effective vs. performance seems to be the SuperGen or
)ProGEN. However, I have recently come across an article which has
)made me wonder if I shouldn't wait for the 1.4 version of the OS and
)the ECS. Why? Because of the following:
)
)	In Amazing Computing Vol. 4, No. 8, August 1989, there is an
)article entitled, "V1.4: A Pre-preview" by Mike Morrison. In this 
)article he discusses the ECS. He states, "The new DENISE chip will
)provide SuperHires mode, Productivity mode, and
)FOUR GENLOCK CAPABILITIES!!
)^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
)
)These are described as follows:
)	The new Denise chip allows four genlock modes
)		ChromaKey allows any color register to control the
)		video overlay.
)
)		BitplaneKey allows any bitplane to enable video overlay.
)
)		BorderBlank creates a transparent "frame" surrounding
)		the active area of the screen.
)
)		BorderNotTransparent makes an opaque "frame" surrounding
)		the active area of the screen.
)
)
)
)First question: IS THIS CONFIRMED??

I believe all of these capabilities of the ECS Denise are described
in developers documents which were distributed to DevCon attendees.


)Second question: Will these modes be incompatible with all the existing
)		 Amiga genlocks, from the lowly Amigen to the mega
)		 expensive Magni 4004? If so, I think that many Amiga
)		 DTV people out there will be extremely upset.

No.  They are compatible with all Genlocks that use the Amiga "key"
signal to determine where transarency is to be.  SuperGen, for one,
uses a different technique to determine transparency, so the issue
is moot.

)Third question: If there is a compatibility problem, can it be fixed in
)		upgrades to these genlocks? If not, will there be a new
)		generation of genlocks for the Amiga?

Everything discussed here so far has been about the "video transparency"
aspects of a genlock device.

Another operation is converting the Amiga RGB signal to video.  One
of the new ECS modes supports pixels which are twice the resolution
(35 nanoseconds) as the existing high resolution (70ns).  The use
for this mode in video is more to create real smooth fonts (better
precision on beginning and end of character raster lines) than to
think about artwork with 1280 dots of resolution, since TV doesn't
support lots of little dots, all different, at this resolution.

I think that existing genlock/encoder devices will all do just fine
with this new mode, because of the nature of TV applications of very
high resolution.

)Final question: Can someone out there please explain in non-DVE-technical
)		terms (since I am not an electronics wizard nor a video
)		hardware guru) how these new modes affect what can and
)		cannot be done with Amiga video? 

If you have used Amiga genlocking before, you've noticed that the border
is always transparent (which is why you need overscan for many
applications).  Also, if you genlock the WB screen, the text is always
opaque and the background transparent (at least with standard genlock,
The SuperGen is different).

Some examples of things you can do with the new keying capability:
- make your text transparent and your background opaque.
- make the background transparent like before, but only within the
  normal screen dimensions.
- make your sprite transparent on an opaque screen.
- make your cursor transparent in an opaque console.
- make a single window transparent in an otherwise opaque screen,
  only in its exposed portions.  Coupled with a "zoom gadget" (coming
  standard), such a window would allow you to monitor a section of
  a television program while you work, and snap to full screen video
  when it starts to get interesting.  Maybe with a video toaster or
  something, you could even arrange to watch a scaled-down TV
  picture in a window, and snap to full-size, full-scale when you want.
- color cycling of video transparency (will require some new software
  techniques).
- in any "standard" color requester where you specify the RG&B values,
  provide as a selection, for each individual color, a "transparency"
  option.
- expose video piece by piece instantaneously (by changing color register
  tables rather than by blitting pixels of color 0).

As another example, drawing a picture in DPaint of people watching real TV
will be easier.  Before, you always had video out around the border,
and had to make sure the TV screen was painted with color 0.

	jimm

-- 
--------------------------------------------------	- opinions by me
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