Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!hellgate.utah.edu!caen!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!rutgers!sun-barr!newstop!male!texsun!apple!netcom!barry From: barry@netcom.COM (Kenn Barry) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics Subject: Re: DCTV Message-ID: <27019@netcom.COM> Date: 5 Mar 91 21:47:38 GMT References: Organization: QQQCLC Lines: 76 In article hyy94@campus.swarthmore.edu writes: >Does anybody out there have DCTV for their Amiga? I was just wondering... Yep. Bought it a little over a week ago. >How does the output look on NTSC? Fuzzy? Clear? Sharp? I'd say it looks excellent. Of course, it is a composite image, not RGB, but within the constraints imposed by NTSC, yes, it looks very fine. >How good are the results from its digitizing feature? It seems to work superbly. I've been surprised how easy it is to digitize. I would have anticipated that lighting and such would be much more critical than they appear to be. I even get very good results digitizing from my (cheap) VCR using freeze-frame, if the tape is a clean tape, and if I advance frames until I get one that looks steady on the display. The digitizing module also gives you some image processing functions, to modify things like color balance, brightness, contrast, etc. The main limitation of DCTV's digitizing feature is that it takes 6-10 seconds to capture a frame. You can't simply take a "snapshot" of a video signal that's in motion. >What about conversion of DCTV file to HAM? This is, in my opinion, the weakest module in the DCTV package. Overall, I've preferred the results I've gotten by using The Art Department to perform this conversion. DCTV can save out a 24-bit IFF file that TAD can read and convert. >Can a normal Amiga screen bet output through DCTV? Would you want to do >this? I'm unclear what you're asking. DCTV will read most any IFF graphics file and convert it to a DCTV image. However, you wouldn't want to run all your Amiga's output to a composite monitor, given a choice, since composite lacks the sharpness of an RGB image. This is not a problem, however, because you don't lose your normal output when you attach DCTV. I use my 1080 monitor to display both normal output and DCTV output. Switching over is simply a matter of flipping the monitor's switch between RGB and composite display. For pictures, though, esp. digitized photos, it can be advantageous to convert and view them through DCTV. Most images I've done this with, esp. HAM images, look better as DCTV images than they do as HAMs. >Is it really worth $399? I hope so - I paid more than that :-). So far I'm quite happy with it. I want to also mention the 'paint' program that's included in the package. As some others have indicated, this is the nicest paint program I've seen on the Amiga, really loaded with useful features, and generally easy to use. This is, for example, the first program I've found that makes colorizing of images reasonably easy, and gives satisfactory results. Partly that's due to its not having to deal with the color complexities of HAM mode, but it's also that the operation is easier to do than with HAM paint programs I've used (Photon Paint, DigiPaint). Summary: Plusses: high-quality color digitizing, excellent paint program, pictures displayable on normal Amiga monitor (switched to composite mode) using any standard 'show' utility, attaches to any Amiga (I have an A1000), easy to use, affordable. Minuses: composite output, slow digitizing, takes away the parallel port. - From the Crow's Nest - Kenn Barry ---------------------------------------------------------------- ELECTRIC AVENUE: barry@netcom.com OR apple!netcom!barry