HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bbs.peter@tsoft.sf-bay.org (Peter Blum)
Subject: Re: SoundBlaster Multimedia Upgrade: Kudos and Complaint
Organization: The TSoft BBS and Public Access Unix, +1 415 969 8238
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 03:04:20 GMT

aflan@acpub.duke.edu (Alan M. Gallatin) writes:

> I recently picked up the Creative Labs upgrade kit (SoundBlaster Pro,
> Matsushita CD-ROM, a few discs of goodies, etc.) and am VERY HAPPY
> with my purchase.  (Also with my price... $549 from Insight Software,
> $561.50 delivered to my door overnight!)  Anyway, I could go on and on
> about the good stuff (as have other people) but you've heard it already.
> 
> HOWEVER, there is one ANNYOING problem which I haven't figured out yet.
> Occasionally, and seemingly at random times, the SoundBlaster starts
> spitting out very loud static or other random noise to the attached
> speakers.  This sometimes happens even when the machine is idle and
> seemingly doing nothing.  When it occurs, I can still use my computer
> (although disconnecting the speakers makes usage more pleasent) and
> even play CD's or synthesized sound through the same speakers (although
> the sound is somewhat faint behind the massive static burst).  The
> only way I've found to clear up the static is in some cases to exit
> and restart Windows but more reliably to hit the reset button on
> my machine.  I've discovered NO patterns as to when this ocurs,
> except that it has only happened while in Win 3.1.
> 
> If it will aid anyone in helping me, the SoundBlaster is set up
> at 240h/IRQ10/DMA1 - I'm using IRQ10 since I have a printer on 7 and
> COM3 on 5.
> 
> While this problem has completely stumped me, I'm still hanging on to
> my gut feeling that it is software related in Windows and this won't
> stop me from recommending the product to anyone who asks.
> 
> Post replies or (preferred) e-mail to alan@acpub.duke.edu.
       Alan,
     I hade that same problem but it went away when I changed up to a 486 
from a 386. I think it is just interferance from the computer you may 
want to cover the card with somthing(thin led?) or move the card away 
from any other cards you have and away from the processor.
                
                                Peter Blum

--
Peter Blum (bbs.peter@tsoft.sf-bay.org)
From: simonofb@wmavm7.VNET.IBM.COM
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 15:42:04 EDT
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
Subject: Quality MEasurements
Reply-To: simonofb@wmavm7.VNET.IBM.COM
Organization: IBM
News-Software: Usenet 3.0

I am interested in getting some ideas of how you would measure
the quality of a multimedia presentation?  What kinds of measurements
would you gather and how would you gather them?

Thanks
Robert Simonoff
simonofb@wmavm7.vnet.ibm.com or simonofb@wmavm7.iinus1.ibm.com
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
From: leo@zelator.in-berlin.de (Stefan Hartmann)
Subject: Re: MPEG
Organization: Puplic-Access-Xenix-System
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 92 04:08:18 GMT

In <716069457snx@nexnix.demon.co.uk> gary@nexnix.demon.co.uk (Gary Howland) writes:

>Can anybody tell me of a relatively cheap way of generating MPEG
>data from a standard video source?  Can the NeXT machine do this?

>Thanks in advance - Gary
Hi,
just buy our Xing technology MPEG encoder for 499 DM and use your
favourite frame grabber to store TGA pics or use our PC Huuricane for
additional 999 DM to grab 25 frames/sec to extended memory at 320x240
screen size. If you have 64 MB memory there will fit many frames
inside the RAM and then you can store them in TGA format.

Then the MPEG encoder "renders" them in about 1.5 seconds/frame to a
MPEG file.

If you have any additional questions, please email me.

BTW, there is a free player called MPEGXING.LZH which works on the PC
under win3.x

It is on:
ftp 130.231.240.17  in pub/mpeg

Best regards Stefan Hartmann.
email to: leo@zelator.in-berlin.de


-- 
 
*************************************************************
*  Stefan Hartmann       This is how to contact me:         *
*  EMAIL: leo@zelator.in-berlin.de                          *
*  Phone : ++ 49 30 344 23 66      FAX : ++ 49 30 344 92 79 *
*************************************************************
From: dudley@cebaf4.cebaf.gov (John Dudley)
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
Subject: Re: Buying a multimedia system
Date: 9 Sep 92 18:25:00 GMT
Reply-To: dudley@cebaf4.cebaf.gov (John Dudley)
Organization: CEBAF


In article <BuA31v.Gss.2@cs.cmu.edu>, cain@silverblue.fac.cs.cmu.edu
(Sebastian Nightingale Cain) writes:
> > Newtek raised the price of the Video Toaster 2.0 to $1895... it can be
> > had for around $1500.  A standalone system (Amiga with toaster) costs
> > around $4000.00....
> > 
> > > 
> > > --Pete Tevonian
> > >   tevonian@sumter.cso.uiuc.edu
> > 
> > John Dudley
> > Vertex Laboratories
> 
> Whoa- hold on a minute. I have not seen advertised, nor have I heard
> from the local dealers that I have talked to, a price of less than 
> $2000 for a new in the box Toaster.  I've seen adds for reconditioned
> Toasters for $1799. I think the list for a new Toaster is $2500 - That's
> the number I heard on NewTek's Toaster Demo Tape.

Hmmm.. my local dealer said he could get me one, a new one with 2.0
Toaster, for $1895.00... I don't recall a price being mentioned  in the
Toaster Tape (Revolution).
From: aflan@acpub.duke.edu (Alan M. Gallatin)
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
Subject: SoundBlaster Multimedia Upgrade: Kudos and Complaint
Date: 7 Sep 92 20:51:17 GMT
Organization: Duke University; Durham, N.C.
Originator: alan@teer7.acpub.duke.edu

I recently picked up the Creative Labs upgrade kit (SoundBlaster Pro,
Matsushita CD-ROM, a few discs of goodies, etc.) and am VERY HAPPY
with my purchase.  (Also with my price... $549 from Insight Software,
$561.50 delivered to my door overnight!)  Anyway, I could go on and on
about the good stuff (as have other people) but you've heard it already.

HOWEVER, there is one ANNYOING problem which I haven't figured out yet.
Occasionally, and seemingly at random times, the SoundBlaster starts
spitting out very loud static or other random noise to the attached
speakers.  This sometimes happens even when the machine is idle and
seemingly doing nothing.  When it occurs, I can still use my computer
(although disconnecting the speakers makes usage more pleasent) and
even play CD's or synthesized sound through the same speakers (although
the sound is somewhat faint behind the massive static burst).  The
only way I've found to clear up the static is in some cases to exit
and restart Windows but more reliably to hit the reset button on
my machine.  I've discovered NO patterns as to when this ocurs,
except that it has only happened while in Win 3.1.

If it will aid anyone in helping me, the SoundBlaster is set up
at 240h/IRQ10/DMA1 - I'm using IRQ10 since I have a printer on 7 and
COM3 on 5.

While this problem has completely stumped me, I'm still hanging on to
my gut feeling that it is software related in Windows and this won't
stop me from recommending the product to anyone who asks.

Post replies or (preferred) e-mail to alan@acpub.duke.edu.

Thanks!!
-- 
Alan M. Gallatin <alan@acpub.duke.edu>
Duke University School of Law; Durham NC
From: Rick_McCormack@mindlink.bc.ca (Rick McCormack)
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
Subject: Now that's interesting!
Date: 5 Sep 92 17:37:37 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Distribution: world

Finally! Interesting submissions on the pros and cons of a computer platform
for multi-media that is mostly light, and NOT heat! My thanks to <John Dudley>
at <dudley@cebaf4.cebaf.gov> and <Pete Tevonian> at
<tevonian@sumter.cso.uiuc.edu> for their pertinent comments on the Amiga.

I hope that this level can be maintained this time.  Thanks, guys, for showing
the way.
--

 _________________________________________________________
| IMAGISTICS Business Theatre Technology | Rick McCormack |
|  Interactive   Effective   Compelling  | Vancouver,  BC |
|________________________________________|________________|
|  UseNet: Rick_McCormack@mindlink.bc.ca |  A O-L: Rique  |
|_________________________________________________________|
From: kpm8447@tesla.njit.edu
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
Subject: Media Blitz by Asymetrix
Date: 14 Sep 92 12:53:28 GMT
Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology

I just purchased Asymetrix "Media Blitz" program for Windows 3.1
This program is very good for making multimedia presentations really fast
(I did one in less than 5 minutes, it was short but a good test)
The files can be incorporated into Multimedia Toolbook and other programs.
I am very impressed with this program, it's not an authoring system,
just a way to script .fli, .flc, .wav, .mid, .bmp, etc all together.
It could use some improvements though (but it's only on version 1.0)
I don't know if anyone else uses this product but I have a few questions

1) Does anyone have trouble with the CD audio part, mine won't work at all,
   I have other windows cd-audio players that do work fine, the Media Blitz
   program gets errors and I can't figure it out.  Any suggestions?

2) Does anyone know the email address of Asymetrix (if one exists)
   (It's faster to just email someone there instead of trying to call
    between classes at school)

3) How good are the extra disks of clips (disks #5-#8)?
   (although I will get them since they are free to registered users)

 - Thanks in advance
 - Kirk Membry
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
From: dudley@cebaf4.cebaf.gov (John Dudley)
Subject: Re: Buying a multimedia system
Reply-To: dudley@cebaf4.cebaf.gov (John Dudley)
Organization: CEBAF
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 17:54:12 GMT


 Does anyone else find it so strange that people say Mac/Multimedia
GREAT! Lot's of software!  YET, the only thing that I have ever seen
mentioned is QuickTime..??? (AmigaVision's direct competitor)
From: ag129@cus.cam.ac.uk (Alasdair Grant)
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
Subject: Multimedia PC specs - what are the levels?
Date: 14 Sep 92 11:53:16 GMT
Organization: U of Cambridge, England


I know the base Multimedia PC spec is 386SX, 2Mb RAM, 30Mb HD + cards;
but I have seen references to MPC-1, MPC-2 etc. implying there are higher
levels. Could someone possibly post them? (Or tell me where to find them,
in which case I'd be happy to look them up and post them.)

Many thanks,
Alasdair Grant, Systems Development, Cambridge University
From: bouillet@jungfrau.cica.fr (Eric Bouillet)
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
Subject: Looking for multimedia database softwares
Keywords: help
Date: 9 Sep 92 14:39:02 GMT
Organization: Telecom Paris, France

Question :

We are looking for information about available multimedia database softwares.
Our purpose is to manage a database including pictures, documents and text
(Optionaly sound and video). Any information about existing softwares,
prototypes, projects and research will be greatly welcome. If available on the
market, purchasing is planned.

Please sent your suggestions, answers, etc... to
   bouillet@eurecom.fr 


 
------------------------------------------------ Have fun... -----------------
   From Dartcoy the mouse of sun
               _________
               |       |
            ---I_/____.I---
              /'''''''''\
             /  '``/`/// \
            / #>  /    <# \ 
           | ## ^     ^ ## |
           | #  0     0  # | 
            \#     L     #/
              \  \___/  /
         _ _ _ \  \_/  / _ _ _ 
________/ | | \ _______ / | | \_______________________________________________
        |_|_|_|         |_|_|_|
From: mdicker@nyx.cs.du.edu (Mike Dickerson)
Subject: Re: Buying a multimedia system
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 92 04:36:26 GMT


Here's another brief update on things I have learned since my last posting.

* The DCTV can *not* run all software on the Amiga.  However, it is
supported by most graphics software, just not things like word
processors where it is of questionable use to process words in 18 bit
anyway.   Still though, this point bothers me a little - that it isn't
that transparent that anything can be run on it.  I think the point
here goes to the Mac, with more transparent support for graphics.

* In the current state, a Mac/68030 can *not* do full screen quicktime
animations at any reasonable speed or smoothiness.  To get this, you
have to add hardware which is far, far outside of my price range.
This point goes to the Amiga.

* Although MPEG players exist for the Mac/PC, they aren't very good
yet.  MPEG needs hardware, they say, or at least much faster CPUs.
People who emailed me about this say that it is a neat idea but not
yet practical for useful work, and needs to be given more time to get
"mature".  Neither machine wins here.

* The Amiga has special CPUs for things like sound, disk I/O, etc,
which give it a higher throughput, which is wht it was able to do
animations from HD (didn't use the CPU) whereas my 386 system of about
the same speed can't, and the Mac has trouble too.  Point here goes to
the Amiga.

* QT is scheduled for an upgrade which improves speed of animation by
2 to 3X.  Alas, this isn't enough to get full screen at high frame
rates yet.

Well, I have almost made up my mind now, and mostly because of point #2
above.  If I had infinite amount of money to spend, or at least more
than I have now, I would go with the Mac.  But since my budget is
somewhat limited, I will end up with the Amiga system, as the Mac in
that price range cannot do full screen animation in video resolution,
which is a *must* for what I want to do.

Again thanks to everyone for the help in choosing this system.  I
learned a lot about them both in the last few days, and I found the
choice was harder than I thought, because they both had strenghts and
weaknesses which made it a "fuzzy" choice.  But since full screen
animation is what I want to do, I think Quicktime isn't quite there
yet.  Maybe if I was going to buy a system in 2 or 3 years I would
make a different choice based on the improvements to QT.  But right
now, it would be too expensive to get a QT system to meet my needs.
I plan to get an Amiga 3000 with 16 Mb RAM, 120 Mb HD, and DCTV for
hardware.  Maybe I'll expand the memory later, and add a removable
hard disk, but right now I can't afford those things yet.

   /M
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
From: hart@dicktracey (James A. Hart)
Subject: Re: MPEG
Organization: TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, CA
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 92 20:50:15 GMT

exubrst@exu.ericsson.se (Brad Steele,xt-dkb,x1209) writes:
: In article 13693@cl.cam.ac.uk, ag129@cl.cam.ac.uk (Alasdair Grant) writes:
: >In article <XNX60YF@zelator.in-berlin.de> leo@zelator.in-berlin.de (Stefan Hartmann) writes:
: >>BTW, there is a free player called MPEGXING.LZH which works on the PC
: >>under win3.x
: >
: >.... but not with some popular graphics cards, in my experience.
: >
: >>email to: leo@zelator.in-berlin.de
: >
: >I did! I'm sure it's excellent software, but it doesn't work on my machine.
: 
: Works like a charm with mine.  Incredibly smooth, not one problem.
: ---
: Brad

--
Try it with an S3 accelerator card.  NOT!

NAME:        Jim Hart  
INTERNET:    hart@donald.etdesg.TRW.COM 
                         I'd rather be LANDSAILING!
From: gess@knex.Gwinnett.COM (Gess Shankar)
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
Subject: Bento File Format
Date: 11 Sep 92 19:47:07 GMT
Organization: Knowledge Exchange, GA, US of A

I came across references to the Bento File Format standard, which is
supposed to describe how data is laid down on a storage medium for
interchangeable access among various platforms.

I read this in reference to developments at Kaleida of multimedia standard
and support for Bento in Script X.

My question is: What is this Bento file format, which body has formulated
the standard and where can I get more information on this?

GeSS
--
Gess Shankar      |<><>|Internet: gess@knex.Gwinnett.COM                |<><>|
Knowledge Exchange|<><>|{rutgers,ogicse,gatech}!emory!gwinnett!knex!gess|<><>|
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
From: leo@zelator.in-berlin.de (Stefan Hartmann)
Subject: Re: JPEG and MPEG info request
Organization: Puplic-Access-Xenix-System
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 92 04:16:44 GMT

In <jechawke.716172095@unix2.tcd.ie> jechawke@unix2.tcd.ie (Lone Rider) writes:





>  

>Hi there.
>Apologies if these topics have already been discussed - I have been away for a  few months.
>If anybody could give me information about JPEG and MPEG formats and standards
>(if any exist ) I'd be very grateful. I'm writing a piece of software (animation) and would like to try and incorporate these formats into my code, using 
>either C, C++ or Assembly Language on the PC.

>Thanks in advance for your help,
>jonathan.


>--
>        When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger have handled this?"


Hi,
there is now a MPEG player from Xing with WAV-sound-support !

You have the same filename for the WAV-file like the MPEG-Video
filename.

So if I load Mickey.mpg  and there is also a Mickey.wav, then it loads
both and it will be played through the installed soundcard via the MCI
interface of win3.1 !

It is so great! I just it for a Multimedia presentation in Paris
Euro_disney-World at a distributor meeting !

The people over there liked it a lot !

I hope that Xing is getting this out soon as shareware. Then I'll post
it here on the net and make it available via FTP !

Best regards Stefan Hartmann.
email to: leo@zelator.in-berlin.de


-- 
 
*************************************************************
*  Stefan Hartmann       This is how to contact me:         *
*  EMAIL: leo@zelator.in-berlin.de                          *
*  Phone : ++ 49 30 344 23 66      FAX : ++ 49 30 344 92 79 *
*************************************************************
From: frank@tubkom.prz.tu-berlin.de (Frank Ruge)
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
Subject: anyone experiences with IMS-100x products ?
Keywords: video, framegrabber, compression, JPEG, X11R5
Date: 14 Sep 92 10:52:43 GMT
Organization: TU-Berlin TUBKOM, Germany

Dear netters,

currently we're looking for framegrabbers with compression for use
within Sun workstations (either VME or SBus). We've already gained
experience with PARALLAX XV-VIO-S boards, which show up with a quite
good performance but till today the only windowing system supported 
is OpenWindows. Another disadvantage is, that there is no low level
programming interface and some of the libs are buggy.

Has anyone gained experiences with the IMS-100x product line ?
How good is the performance of the JPEG compressor ? Has anyone
used these boards in a SPARCStation 10 ? Is there planning for 
other compression schemes to be implemented on daughter boards ?
How good is the performance of the 24-bit X-Server ? Does it effect
working, when two or more video windows are open on the screen ?
Is it possible to view two video windows from two different video
inputs on the screen ?

Any hints welcome,

	Frank Ruge
-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Frank Ruge. Technical University Berlin, Sekr. MA073, Strasse des 17. Juni 136
D-W 1000 Berlin 12,        Fax: +49 30 31421114,        Voice: +49 30 31425985
ruge@prz.tu-berlin.dbp.de           s=ruge;ou=prz;prmd=tu-berlin;admd=dbp;c=de
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
From: bbs.peter@tsoft.sf-bay.org (Peter Blum)
Subject: Re: multi-platform authoring system
Organization: The TSoft BBS and Public Access Unix, +1 415 969 8238
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 04:56:36 GMT

jguruswa@rucs.faculty.cs.runet.edu (Jay Guruswamy) writes:

> Hi Folks,
> 	I am looking for a multimedia authoring system that works in the
> Windows environment and the MAC.  I am aware of Authorware and
> Spinnaker.  Are there any other systems?
> 
> 	I would appreciate any comments from people who have used
> these authoring systems.
> 
> 	Thanks.
> 			      Jay Guruswamy
> 
> 

       I have not used this but I have heard that Macromind Action is 
good. There are versions for Windows ( On CD-ROM or Disks) and for the 
macintosh. With the up and coming Windows NT there should be a lot more 
MM aps for the PC that are on the mac now such as Macromind Director, 
Macromind Macromedia and others.

                                Peter Blum

--
Peter Blum (bbs.peter@tsoft.sf-bay.org)
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
From: pai-lin chen <chenp@silver.ucs.indiana.edu>
Subject: Help: JPEG images in MicroMind Dir.
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 15:30:56 GMT

Dear netters,
	I have a project which requires heavy use of still video in MicroMind
Director.  To save the memory space that the color images may take, I took
the folowing steps:
	First, I reduced the image size, resolution, so that each image will
take about 450 K. Then I used QuickTime utility to compress the image, so that
the size of each image is about 45K.  So far so good.  However, when I imported
the image into MicroMind Dir. 3.1, the size of image turned back to 450K.
	It seemed that Director 3.1 decompressed the image; however, this is
somewhat strange.  If MMD is QuickTime ready, it should be able to read the 
file in JPEG format with original size.  Could someone out there give me a
clue?  Thanks in advance.

Pai-lin Chen
chenp@ucs.indiana.edu
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
From: kdarling@garfield.catt.ncsu.edu (Kevin Darling)
Subject: Re: Buying a multimedia system
Organization: North Carolina State University
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 00:54:00 GMT

dudley@cebaf4.cebaf.gov (John Dudley) writes:
> The Amiga on the other hand, has proprietary custom chips [...]
> The Agnus [chip] controls ALL Amiga animation.

This is a too popular misconception.  Compressed animation file playback
on the Amiga is done by the 680x0, of course, since only a cpu has the
capability of running data decompress/placement code.

The main reason why animations look good on the Amiga is because they
are double-buffered, which hides the limited cpu->display access bandwidth
and planar-layout update artifacts of the current chipset.  For similar
reasons, double-buffering is usually a desirable trait for any system.

> Lastly, I do warn you that on September 11th-13th there is a World
> of Commodore show in Pasadena California.  There, Commodore is expected

This is good advice (wait until this weekend, then check the Amiga groups).

Also, robertk@taoami.lerctr.org (Robert Kesterson) writes:
> [...] I can say that given a fast enough hard drive, you should be able
> to do full-screen DCTV animations even if *every* pixel changes between
> frames.  (The DCTV was demoed at one trade show by running several minutes
> of digitized video from the the movie "Back to the Future".  

Such demos are meaningless, especially since the normal AmigaDOS file system
was bypassed for that one.  I wish I had a dime for every person who was
told about that demo but who later found that realtime true fullscreen/motion
(especially in the highest DCTV color res) is impossible with stock setups.

Nevertheless, an Amiga/DCTV combo is inexpensive and there are ways around
any limitations.  What a lot of people do is use a single-frame-record VCR
and output their large-delta DCTV frames one at a time... this method is
often used/required on other systems as well.  An alternative I've heard of
is to use a good genlock and overlay smaller-delta frames in multiple passes.

kevin <kdarling@catt.ncsu.edu> <76703.4227@compuserve.com>
Newsgroups: comp.multimedia
From: edm@oakhill.sps.mot.com (Ed Martinez)
Subject: MPEG Audio Files
Organization: Motorola Inc., Austin, Tx
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 12:36:35 GMT

Does anybody know of an ftp site where I could find some MPEG encoded audio files? Please reply by e-mail since our news feed is not very reliable


Thanks


Ed Martinez
edm@kalman.sps.mot.com