From: mdicker@nyx.cs.du.edu (Mike Dickerson)
Subject: Buying a multimedia system
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 92 15:11:13 GMT

Hello,

I currently have a 386 clone with a Soundblaster and SVGA.  I wish to
get into "hobbiest" multimedia - however, I am not so happy with the
multimedia capability of my 386.  I know I can upgrade the sound, but
SVGA can't seem to do fast full-screen animation, and also, I want to
go out to video tape, which I can't do right now, nor a few other
things I mention later on. 

So I am looking to replace my 386 with antoher system.  However, I am
on a strictly limited budget.  I don't need the highest quality, but I
am limited to $3200 total, for the whole shebang.

I have in mind two systems.  One is Mac based, one is Amiga based.
However, the dealers from these two places tell me contradictory
things and I don't know which to believe (or maybe neither! :^)

First of all, my minimum requirements are: 15 bit color, video
resolution, the ability to easily get multimedia presentations out to
video tape, good (24 FPS?) frame rate.  I don't need 1024x768 graphics
because I think video resolution is only about 350 to 400 scan lines
anyway for SuperVHS.  Also the $3200 hardware budget is *fixed*.  I
have some more to budget for software but that's another day's
problem. 

Now, the Macintosh dealer is recommending a Mac system running
Quicktime.  The Amiga dealer is recommending an Amiga 3000 with some
device called "DCTV" which he claims gives 18 bit color in video res
animations.

The Mac dealer says that the Macintosh has much more multimedia
software graphics, animation, and sound available than the Amiga,
which makes sense since it has a larger customer base.  A good
software base is an important factor in buying a system.  So this
would have me leaning more towards a Macintosh.  However, the only
thing that bothers me about the Macintosh is that the Quicktime movies
I see all look jumpy and slow, and do not use the entire screen (just
a several-inch window), whereas the Amiga animation with the DCTV
seems much faster and uses the whole screen in video res.  I ask the
Mac dealer about this and he says that there are hardware devices to
speed up the QT movies: - however, they all would push my price up to
over $3200 which I simply *can't* do. 

So one question is: is it possible for me to get 18 bit full-screen 24
FPS video from a Mac with Quicktime and keep my purchase price for
hardware under $3200 total?  This must include a way to move the QT
movies to video tape on my VCR.  What device do I need for the Mac to
do this, and how much does that device cost?  What sort of Mac system
is best for this?  Do I need a Quadra, or can a Mac II do this level
of animation with QT?  The Amiga has only a 68030 so I doubt a Quadra
(68040) is needed for 24 FPS fullscreen animation.  Maybe a 40 Mhz
68030?  Is there a Mac II with that, and how much $$ is it?

Second, I want to have the ability to animate directly off of the
harddisk in order to play animations larger than memory.  Can
Quicktime do this?  There was some software the Amiga dealer had
demoed which did an acceptable job at animating in DCTV mode from hard
disk, but the demo only used about half the screen to move and the
other half was just "static", sort of (ie, all one picture covered the
whole screen, but only half of the picture contained any moving
elements).  Can QT animate double buffered from HD and if so, can it
do it in full screen instead of the half screen like the Amiga program
was doing (also while playing sounds)?  (It was half, not quarter,
since it was updating the bottom of the screen while the top was
showing still sky).  What I think this involves is to have two tasks,
one which reads from HD and fills buffer, and the other plays the
animation from that buffer.  (It is abilities like this that I can't
get on my 386, nor can I get acceptable frame rate animation from it
unless the whole screen is not updated).

Third: since the Mac dealer says that they have a much larger software
base for graphics and video work than the Amiga has, how much should I
expect to spend for good multimedia software?  My software budget is
about $500 total, right now, to get up and running, but I can add more
software in a few months (maybe $250 more software in 3 months).
Ideally I'd like: the quicktime program, a sound sample editor, a
paint program, a ray trace or scan-line renderer for generating
animations.  What else do I need?  Also the Ami dealer demoed a
program called "Scenery Animator 2.0" which looked to be really cool
and useful for some multimedia applications - this sw was only about
$65.  What are the comperable packages on the Macintosh, and how much
do they cost? 

Also, should I give the Amiga any more consideration than I am giving
it now?  I have to admit that the DCTV animation *did* look much
higher quality than the QT animations, but I am just worried about the
lack of software and the small user base of that machine, since my
friends all say it is a toy and not worth getting.  (Although it
didn't look like a toy to me, but I haven't used it much in order to
really know - all I know is that it has a multitasking OS, but Mac
System 7 has that too.  I definately want multitasking in order to
render while I do things like dial into BBSs, use word processor, or
whatever, which is another reason I'm giving up my 386, because it
doesn't permit me to do that very well even under Windows or OS2.  I
know the Amiga can do this well, because the dealer gave me a demo of
running a ray tracer, running that Scenery Animator, downingloading at
9600 from a BBS all at the same time, and then using a WP in the
foreground and everything worked very well - no dropped chars in the
download, and two number-cruncher programs made good progress even
while the WP responded quickly.  I gather the Macintosh under System 7
can do this same sort of thing, but the dealer there didn't have a
modem connected in order to demo that - my 386 cannot do this at all.
Maybe a 486 could under OS/2, but I want to explore a new computer
since I've had the 386 for so long.

Oh, also, can the Mac play soundtracker modules?  I like these, and
have a good collection already for my 386.  Can I use the exact same
files to play on the Mac as I have now for my 386?

I guess that's about all.  Thanks for any info on this topic.  I have
a slight leaning towards the Mac right now, but I need more
information and I don't trust the dealers very much.  I suspect the
net is much more knowledgable than the dealers are :-)

Mark "no .sig" Dickerson.