Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!mcnc!decvax.dec.com!bacchus.pa.dec.com!granite.pa.dec.com!mwm From: mwm@raven.pa.dec.com (Mike (My Watch Has Windows) Meyer) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: 24 Bit Video .. Message-ID: Date: 20 Sep 90 19:22:06 GMT References: <26f592d2-2c05comp.sys.amiga@tronsbox.xei.com> Sender: news@wrl.dec.com (News) Organization: Missionaria Phonibalonica Lines: 86 In-Reply-To: tron1@tronsbox.xei.com's message of 20 Sep 90 06:00:41 GMT In article <26f831b6-2c05.2comp.sys.amiga-1@tronsbox.xei.com> tron1@tronsbox.xei.com (HIM) writes: >None of them are trying to kill the Amiga in video. They're just tired >of MB's whining. He admits that he's been doing it for years. First, >he's screaming for video that can't be done. It's explained that it That doesn't mean tha the ISSUE is not valid. True. But the 10th time around, the only way to not waste bandwidth is to not answer him. Flaming him is so much more fun :-). >critical part of low-end Amigas, and that software compatability >across the line is critical to the Amiga. We also realize that giving >up either of those would be a _bad_ thing. Far worse than than not >having an 800x600x8 mode. Some other time I would debate that , you say that NTSC is needed for "video production" ... but how many stock A500's are used for that ??? I would rather see the low end have a 8x6x8 mode (price shouldnt be THAT much of a problem) so that the low end folks can compare favorably with the other folks they know. My point is I guess that low end and NTSC dont have to go together. No, I didn't say "video production", though that's true. The reason NTSC is critical for the low end is that it means you can sell the 500 as a high-powered video game. Much as we may disparage people calling the Amiga a game machine, that's part of the reason there are more 500s than any other type of Amiga. Ask most developers how they feel about having to develop for the 500 as a "different" machine than the rest of the Amiga line. >But jumping to it as a base to soon requires sacrificing either >software compatability, or raising the price on the "low-end" Amiga. >I can produce 24-bit deep images on the Amiga. I just can't display So then we should never push for a better entry mode ?? Yes, we should push for a better entry model. But at the right time, which isn't now. What makes NTSC important at the low end is that it keeps monitor cost down; possibly to nothing. The right time to upgrade the low end is when higher-resolution monitors start being cheap. SuperNTSC (roughly double the resolution of stock NTSC) is supposed to start showing up in about two years. That will drive the price of high-resolution monitors down, and would be the right time to introduce a new low-end Amiga to take advantage of that resolution. C'mon , this argument didn't work with other upgrades and it shouldn't here. Yes, but other upgrades didn't raise the base cost of getting started with a low-end system. To get Lotus et. al. to produce Amiga software, you need as many Amigas sold as you can get. Raising the price of the low-end machine is counterproductive. When A1000 users complained about not getting 2.0 folks said "hey man , that's life, the world moves on and you won't be compatible 100% forever" ... Ah, but there were only a couple of hundred thousand A1000 owners; there are a million A500 owners. If you introduced a new Amiga on which the software at the low end won't run, you'll achieve two things. 1) Many developers will ignore the new machine; 2) those that don't will charge more for their software than otherwise. We didn't let the MAC and IBM'ers off with that "It's good enough for what we do" stuff , tand I don't buy it now. Yes, but that answer doesn't include "and it's going to be solved in the future". There's a difference between not admitting that a problem exists, and being satisified with the current solution that's admitted to be inadequate because you know that an adequate solution is in the works. MB is no more realistic than the person who asked for an R3000 based Amiga with an i860 graphics accelerator. They both want the impossible, and neither seems to care whether they kill the Amiga in the process of getting it.