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From: huebner@aerospace.aero.org (Robert E. Huebner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Cheesy Amiga Video
Message-ID: <83056@aerospace.AERO.ORG>
Date: 5 Sep 90 15:19:31 GMT
References: <9714@scorn.sco.COM> <1990Sep4.224321.3797@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>
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Reply-To: huebner@sunpoison.UUCP (Robert E. Huebner)
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Organization: The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA
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In article <1990Sep4.224321.3797@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> leblanc@eecg.toronto.edu (Marcel LeBlanc) writes:
>allanh@sco.COM (Boy Howdy) writes:
>>   "The new higher-resolution ECS modes actually have fewer colors than
>>   standard modes.  Because only a limited amount of display information
>>   can be sent out the video port, a noninterlaced screen can be
>>   achieved only by dropping the maximum number of colors to four from a
>>   palette of 64.  Even at four colors, these modes put such a large
>>   burden on system resources that they may cause problems for some
>>   programs.  For everyday use, you will probably want to run the
>>   640x480 noninterlaced mode on a black-and-white screen."
>I think you've missed several important points.  The most important one may
(good information about the difference between Amiga and PC video deleted)
>
>Don't let the clone dweebs confuse video issues with misleading facts.
>Amigas make use of the advantages of having the video system tightly coupled
>with the CPU.  Clones make use of the advantages of *NOT* having the video
>system tightly coupled with the CPU.  Both approaches have advantages and
>disadvantages.
>
That's true.  Although you are correct in your explanation of the differences
between IBM and Amiga video systems, your reply doesn't address the root of
the concern--that IBMs currently have a better method of displaying still
images in VGA or SVGA.  And I agree with Marcel in that this does limit
the sale of Amigas to people who don't necessarily want to transfer everything
they do to NTSC video.  People look at the number when buying a graphic
system, and SVGA simply has nicer-looking number (resolution/palette) then
the Denise.  This topic has come up before on the 'net, but no
good solution has been found.  People have talked about interfacing a VGA
card to the Amiga, but it would probably work more like a frame buffer than
a "live" video source (from what I gathered).  Perhaps the best hope comes
from Commodore.  An article (about 2-3 months ago) stated, regarding the
video resolution/palette issue: "Commodore is working on both short-term and
long-term solutions."  I know Commodore is extremely tight-lipped as of late,
but perhaps someone in the ivory tower can throw us a bone?  :)

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Robert Huebner		huebner@aerospace.aero.org   The Aerospace Corporation
			huebner@en.ecn.purdue.edu    Purdue University
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