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From: jbn@glacier.STANFORD.EDU (John B. Nagle)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.graphics
Subject: "LIVE!" report
Message-ID: <17201@glacier.STANFORD.EDU>
Date: Thu, 29-Oct-87 18:33:04 EST
Article-I.D.: glacier.17201
Posted: Thu Oct 29 18:33:04 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 4-Nov-87 02:25:12 EST
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 31
Keywords: Amiga, framegrabber, LIVE!
Xref: mnetor comp.sys.amiga:10150 comp.graphics:1299


      It's finally out.  I have one.  It works.  It makes pretty pictures.
It's a great toy, with rock video and nightclub applications.  Some 
interesting special effects are possible.  But the images are heavily
distorted by the digitizing process in a number of ways, and the output
is not suitable for serious work on moving images.

      What LIVE actually does is digitize a color composite video signal
in real time with a 4-bit A-to-D.  But the Amiga doesn't have enough
bandwidth to take all 4 bits at once at the TV scan rate, so only one
bit of the four is transferred during each frame.  In four frame times,
one can obtain a monochrome image; in twelve, a color.  Note, though,
that the different bits come from DIFFERENT FRAMES, so moving objects
look very strange.  Some people think it looks cool.

       If the input image is static, the results are quite good, given
the limitations of a 4-bit A/D converter.  It is two orders of magnitude
faster than Digi-View.  As a way of getting stills into a computer,
it is very cost-effective.  The software supports this application well.
One can grab a sequence of images (about 25 per megabyte of available
memory) and write them to a file, to be played back with another
program.  This is less useful.

       As an input device for robotic vision, my interest, it has some
severe problems.  But there is hope, and I'm working on finding out
what one can do given the limitations of the device.

       $295, from A-Squared Distributions, Oakland, CA.
Amiga 1000 only.  Plugs into bus expansion connector.

					John Nagle