Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!cunyvm!byuvm!byuvax!taylorj
From: taylorj@yvax.byu.edu
Newsgroups: comp.ivideodisc
Subject: Re: Video in windows (Was Re: Multimedia at Comdex 1990)
Message-ID: <1853taylorj@yvax.byu.edu>
Date: 30 Nov 90 07:26:48 GMT
Lines: 35

In <40244@ut-emx.uucp>, clouds@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Kathy Strong) writes:

>Heh... when video multimedia solutions were first appearing on the Mac
>platform, Apple endorsed a "two-screen" solution--your control stuff,
>graphic overlays and so on showed up on one screen (typically the little
>one :-) and your video went on another. A kludgey solution but I guess it
>saved the trouble of making a true overlay card or something. Trouble is,
>it became obvious that the two-screen solution was a flop with users--
>something about having to swivel back and forth, no cues that "now it's
>time to look at the OTHER screen," and so on...

I disagree (ok, so I'm not always so agreeable ;-).  In many cases having video
and computer graphics in the same window is very nice.  It lets you use the
computer graphics to emphasize or manipulate the video image, it lets the user
interact directly with the video (i.e. pointing to things), and it looks
terribly snazzy.  But there are a number of arguments for the "low tech"
solution of a separate video monitor.  I have conducted informal studies that
indicate students often prefer 2 separate monitors.  It let's them distinguish
between the computer and the video (which can be important when teaching about
a video, such as in a cinematography program using Citizen Kane as an example).
It also give you twice the screen real estate so you can use the computer
screen for a videodisc controller, a transcript of the audio track, a
synchronized explanation, etc.  And perhaps most importantly, a $200 television
monitor is a lot cheaper than a $1500 full-screen overlay card (not to mention
that you tie yourself to complex hardware that may go bad from a vendor that
may not be around forever.)

I admit that video overlay is a lot funner, and is indispensable in many
situations, but you'd be surprised at the number of projects I've worked on
where we've decided to use two monitors instead of one, even when cost was not
an object.

Jim Taylor
Microcomputer Support for Curriculum  |
Brigham Young University              |  Bitnet: taylorj@byuvax.bitnet
101 HRCB, Provo, UT  84602            |  Internet: taylorj@yvax.byu.edu