Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!linac!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!cunixf.cc.columbia.edu!cunixb.cc.columbia.edu!es1 From: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: 24 bit color boards Keywords: 24bit, color Message-ID: <1990Nov29.091646.30595@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> Date: 29 Nov 90 09:16:46 GMT References: <10634@ur-cc.UUCP> <1990Nov28.230731.29008@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> Sender: news@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (The Daily News) Organization: Columbia University Lines: 62 In article <1990Nov28.230731.29008@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) writes: >gest_ss@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Gavin Stark) writes: > >> Ok... In the newest Amiga World (Dec 1990, which is a very nice >> issue,, almost makes me want to resubscribe) there are two relatively >> low priced 24bit color boards advertised: DCTV by Digital Creations >> which can be found at an incredible price of $399 from Creative >> Computers, and the apperantly unreleased Colorburst board from >> M.A.S.T. advertised by them for $495. > >> Has anyone had any experience with either of these boards? A 24 bit >> board for $399 is quite a temptation, and sounds a bit too good to be >> true. > >Sigh. As indeed it is. These manufacturers are abusing standard >terminology to lure in the gullible. I have no personal experience with >either, but from previous postings about these products, they are not >giving you three byte deep pixels, but merely three byte wide color >output, from a color look up table driven by one byte deep pixels; >roughly the same as the IBM-PC VGA display technology -- sixteen >million-odd color _choices_, but only 256 colors at once. No big deal; >save your money for the real thing. > I know nothing about the MAST product (I have strong fears of anything that company puts out) but you are absolutely wrong about DCTV. It doesn't use a standard bitmap method of display. I have seen its results and it has more than enough colors that I can't tell there is a limit. I have no reason to doubt the 16.7M color number listed. They are attempting to convert the NTSC signal into digital. I don't contend to understand how or what it does. However I've seen the result at trade shows (way back in April to be exact). They say the vertical resolution is 300 lines. The result is really hard to tell from NTSC TV images, although they have that characteristic NTSC flicker. >My personal feeling is that "24bit color" is sufficiently standard >technology for a 24 bit deep frame buffer that a successful suit could >be brought against these folks for false advertising and mail fraud, if >anyone making a true 24 bit deep frame buffer wanted to bother. > Or maybe someone else could be sued for libeling a product! 8-) >Then again, check them out, I could have misunderstood what I read; but >check out anything that seems too good to be true; it usually is. Count >the folks here who have been burned dealing with Montgomery Grant. > > > /// It's Amiga > /// for me: why >Kent, the man from xanth. \\\/// settle for > \XX/ anything less? >-- >Convener, ongoing comp.sys.amiga grand reorganization. -- Ethan Woody Allen on Los Angeles: "I mean, who would want to live in a place where the only cultural advantage is that you can turn right on a red light?"