graphic card

[miles]

I have a Cybervision64 in my A3000 is is a really good card and very fast.  The passthru for the native screens is transparent in use.  It is alot faster than the Picasso 2 I had.  A Buster 11 is recommended for full speed-dma.  It is faster than the CV64/3d, about the same speed as the Picasso 4.  It is supproted by CGX and P96.  I run it in 1152x864 @ 16bit.  It is also Zorro 3 and along with my Cyberstorm 060, even Quake 1 runs impressively!

[TjLaZer]

Whats the Cybevision 64 card going for these days?  I paid $150 for mine 3 years ago on eBay...

[QuikSanz]

@ BoingBoss,

You are wrong. I have both a Spectrum AND a Picasso IV card in my B2000 monster, with 2 identical monitors. The best the Spectrum can manage in 24 bit is 800 x 600, the PicIV can do 1280 x 1024 easy, and its faster.

Chris

[BoingBoss]

Hi QuikSanz,

You are wrong. I have both a Spectrum AND a Picasso IV card in my B2000 monster, with 2 identical monitors. The best the Spectrum can manage in 24 bit is 800 x 600, the PicIV can do 1280 x 1024 easy, and its faster.

So, what am I wrong about?  I never said anything about the GVP EGS Spectrum board being better or faster then a Picasso IV card.  QuikSanz, think before you speak!   :-x

I will be buying both a Picasso IV and a CyberVision board when the prices go down a little more.  I should be able to pick both up for less then $50.00 each in about another year or two.  Afterall, all of you guys want an AmigaOne, right?  So, you will be selling your old boards on eBay.  Nobody will want them and the market will be flooded with them.  At that time I will be able to buy them real cheap.  I plan to keep my vintage Amiga and Atari ST computers for at least another 30 years.  I am already stocking up on spare parts and DS/DD disks.    :-D

[QuikSanz]

@ BoingBoss,

"Since most normal people have their Amiga 2000 and 3000 computer screen resolution set at 640 X 480 or ..."

Amiga people are not exactly normal. My monitors are a little bigger than most. 800 x 600 is a MINIMUM res. Karlos is right.

Chris

[Hyperspeed]

I'm currently running AGA in NTSC 724×482 maximum overscan and it's a
very bizarre and yet comfortable environment.

I use a Scandoubler/Flicker-Fixer and get 60Hz vertical refresh and
I'm somewhere between 640×480 and a Widescreen ratio.

NTSC is worth trying for AGA owners, PAL is very flickery in
comparison.

With regards to GFX cards, I remember reading all the reviews in Amiga
Format and I'd have to say I would never choose a CyberVision64 or
CyberVision64-3D over a Picasso IV.

Amiga Format really didn't like the Phase5 graphics cards because they
ignored the custom chips, basically making you get 2x monitors or a
switcher. The CyberVision's scandoubler module got slated in Amiga
Format for some reason.

In my opinion the Picasso-IV is the best graphics card on Amiga,
including the PCI Voodoo cards. I really don't like these poorly
supported PCI boards that no software utilises other than the
occasional PD enhancement.

Far better to enjoy Workbench on a P-IV with TV through,
flicker-fixing of your classic software, video in, video out,
integrated soundcard and all in one little package.

I bet everyone is suggesting the CV64 because they want to pick up a
Picasso 4 bargain.

;-) ;-) ;-)

BoingBoss: You'll never see Picasso-IV flooding the market as everyone
loves them and once people install them they don't seem to want to
sell them. When your average boxed one goes on eBay you're looking at
$400.

One thing I did wonder though, if the Picasso-IV uses the video slot
then how does it work with a Video Toaster?

:-o

[kzin]

I had a GVP spectrum it was just fine, made me realize how slow AGA is, all of its modes are faster than 256 col AGA, used to run it at 1024x768 no problems. if you see one cheaper than any thing else dont pass it by. if its bang for your dosh you want.

[jeffimix]

@Hyperspeed

IIRC the card uses a zorro 2 slot, the flicker fixer uses the video slot. In all Zorro 3 mobos, they have an inline Z3/Vid slot combo.

[TjLaZer]

I run my Cybervision 64/3D at 1152X864 on my A4000 and 1024X768 on my A3000 w/Cybervision 64.  Both at 16Bit.

[Hyperspeed]

16-Bit isn't my idea of the best colour mode. HAM8 can display 4x that
and it still looks uneven in gradients.

Good for a Workbench desktop, but do you really use 65,000 colour
icons? If you view pictures on your Workbench screen then you are
degrading the 24-bit ones.

I think either 8-Bit or 24-Bit would be my favourite.

I think most AGA users have to stick to 4-bit or 5-bit in a Hi-Res
Laced screenmode. 3-Bit would be ideal for MagicWB colour scheme
though.

I wish we had a small GFX card for desktop/console Amigas, fair enough
the Blizzard Vision PPC might be able to cram into a desktop case but
that's mighty risky and doesn't have the same integrated flicker-fixer
and scandoubling as a Picasso-IV.

Companies these days in the Amiga market forget about the 6 million
desktop users and prefer to make products for the big box or towered
A1200s that a very small percentage of people have.

How many A4000t's were made, 1,000!?

Towering isn't the answer to everything, I like my integrated keyboard
and motherboard A1200. Every conceivable add-on and hack was made for
it bar a GFX card!

:-(

[irishmike]

Ok:

Since I am looking for a good graphics card too for an A2500 that I am buying soon... where can one get a Picasso 4 used or otherwise?  Will it hook to a standard SVGA monitor, this is going to be my personal challenge :-)

I have been following the thread and I know that I don't have a lot of scratch to throw at a video card, but still need one to do what I want which is give me 1024 x 768 at 24 bit color depth.

So is the Picasso 4 the card for me?

Thanks,

[BoingBoss]

Hi irishmike,

So is the Picasso 4 the card for me?

If you can afford it then get it.  The Picasso 4 is actually a very nice board.  You will need Kickstart 3.1 in order to set the Workbench to 256 colors.  I had discovered this while working with my Amiga 2500 and 2000HD.  My Amiga 2500 has Kickstart 3.1, so I could set the Workbench to 256 colors.  But, my Amiga 2000HD has Kickstart 2.04, so  I could NOT set the Workbench 2.1 to 256 colors.  If anybody knows why this is, or how to correct it, please let me know.

Irishmike, the 256 color limit is only for Workbench (AGA Amigas have the same limit).  You can still load up true color pictures, play mpegs, and use 24-bit paint programs.   :-D

[jj]

Hi

I bought I a cv64/32 phase 5 version bout 3 years ago, and I paid £100 for it.

Gr8 card, not a touch on my bvison though.

But as already mentioned no native pass through which does get annoying

[Karlos]

kzin wrote:
I had a GVP spectrum it was just fine, made me realize how slow AGA is, all of its modes are faster than 256 col AGA, used to run it at 1024x768 no problems. if you see one cheaper than any thing else dont pass it by. if its bang for your dosh you want.

Not that it's relevent to this discussion, but I use 1600x1200x16-bit on my BVision at flicker free 75Hz refresh and its faster than AGA in PAL hires 16 colours :-D

[stefcep]

if u can find one, to use it with your 2500 u will have to break it in two. something to do with video slot positioning on the 2500. kinda scary...maybe u should go for the picasso II instead.  as u have zorro 2 slots u won't get the best speed from the picasso 4 anyway.

[stefcep]

I have both a CV64 and a Cv64/3D with flicker-fixer on a Cyberstorm 68060 A4000.  The CV64 is much quicker and even though I have to use a 1084 monitor as well as my 17"samtron I prefer the Cv64 over the Cv64/3d.

 I have never seen a Picasso 4 in action but I have heard that speed-wise it is on par with the CV64.  Does the Picasso 4 really have video in and out, as in video capture and output?

Oh the other thing is the software: i use CGX 4 because i think it is faster than P96, for the Phase 5 cards anyway.  I also hate the way icons are redrawn and flicker if you drag them with the pointer with P96.  I also think CGX mode is more flexible in setting up screen-modes than P96 Mode