Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!sun-barr!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!mintaka!geech.ai.mit.edu!rjc From: rjc@geech.ai.mit.edu (Ray Cromwell) Newsgroups: comp.graphics Subject: Re: IFF, 24-bit color, displays, Amiga Message-ID: <1991Mar12.014550.25284@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> Date: 12 Mar 91 01:45:50 GMT References: <15@goblin.ntg.uucp> <39983@cup.portal.com> <1991Mar11.223827.21988@ncsu.edu> Sender: daemon@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu (Lucifer Maleficius) Organization: The Internet Lines: 66 In article <1991Mar11.223827.21988@ncsu.edu> kdarling@hobbes.ncsu.edu (Kevin Darling) writes: >> [ list of Amiga addon video products ...] all let you work with >>256,000 and/or 16.7 million colors. You'd better research products that >>have been released in the last 8 months. The 24-bit wars on the Amiga >>started a long time ago. > >Most of those products have large palettes, yes. But few are true 24-bit >per pixel displays. A 24-bit palette doesn't = 24-bit display, any more >than an 18-bit palette on an IBM video card = 18-bits display. Wrong. Both Firecracker24 and Colorburst are TRUE 24bit display devices., They use 24bitplanes, ergo, they can display any color out of 16.7 million every pixel. Colorburst costs $499 and is a 48bit display device that works on ALL Amigas. It is the only true 24bit card that can do animation. in 48bit the Colorburst uses another 24bits for overlay information and special effects. Colorburst is to be released at the AmigaEXPO in New York this Friday. Colorburst contains 1.5 mb of onboard ram, a custom VLSI co-processor, and video modes ranging from 320x200 to 768x480 (1bit to 24bit color). BTW, I'm not affiliated with MAST, I'm just excited at the price and performance of this device. What is the price of a comparable product on the Mac/IBM. (Keep in mind, colorburst can Animate full 24bit). HAM-E is an 8bit display device. It has a palette of 16.7 million colors and can display 256 colors at once. It also (as the name implies) has an enhanced HAM mode. In this mode it can do 18bits (with error) by using the HAM trick of specifying delta's from the base color to be changed. This time, instead of a base of 16 colors with a single delta gun, HAM-E has a base of 240 colors, it then (like HAM) specifies which _2_ color guns to change from the last pixel displayed. This allows 262,000 simulaneous colors out of 16.7 million using only 8 bitplanes. Unlike normal HAM, fringing is almost NON-EXISTANT. You will agree, HAM is a nice video compression method to display more color information using the same amount of pixel data. DCTV is an NTSC composite device which allows 4million colors, with whatever amount normal Television allows simultaneously to be displayed. If you like Television, you'll like this. DCTV also comes with a digitizer. All of the above devices can animate in real time. All of them cost below $500 (with the exception of Firecracker) All of them work with all Amiga models including an Amiga 500. All of them(or most) contain code to render 24bit intuition/workbench windows and gadgets on the screen. HAM-E works will all normal Amiga software with no patches, including Amigavision. >>> The problem is: There is no standard for 24-bitplane-pics. >>Strike 3. It was defined about a year ago for the Amiga. > >But several companies had defined their own before CBM jumped in. >Those other formats still float around in use. Mostly all video software today will read and write most of those formats. Image professional is a free alternative to Art Department Professional, and PBM utilities convert from almost any format. >>Item #2. A previous poster mentioned that Amiga IFF standards were >>kept under wraps, available only to developers. NOT AT ALL. > >That's true, they are available. - kev