graphic card

[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

[Karlos]

Hyperspeed wrote:
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 defy anybody to tell the differnece between a high resolution dithered 16-bit display and 24-bit one in the same resolution on a CRT. For speed, most people set their picture.datatype to only use dithering on 8-bit screens. If you have OS3.9 and a PPC, of course it can do the dithering using WarpOS on the PPC and a 16-bit dithered image takes imperceptably longer to render than an undithered 24-bit one.

As for HAM8, sure it's great for images encoded in that format but is next to useless as a display format for general purpose work ;-)

[PMC]

BoingBoss wrote:

According to AmigaWorld magazine, it is better to have a 2-meg video board then a 4-meg video board.  When I find the article, I will post it.   :-D

Please do, I'd be interested in why.

I cannot see one reason why someone would choose this card over a Voodoo.

[PMC]

BoingBoss wrote:
Hi Brian,

Keep in mind that the video standards for the Classic Amiga computer are the following:

GVP EGS Spectrum
Picasso
CyberVision

Standard?  Which standard?

So, as long as a person has one of these video boards in their Classic Amiga, they are doing great.  If a person wants PCI slots then get a PC computer.  A "true" Amiga computer does NOT have PCI slots.   :roll:

Well, I certainly haven't sufferred any great calamity for having PCI in my system.  On the contrary, it's provided me with access to reasonably priced sound cards, graphics cards and network cards with the option of TV if I so wish.

Why would an Amiga possibly be disadvantaged by having PCI?

[Karlos]

Whatever you decide, it might be worth waiting to see what Redrumloa is cooking up presently.

Looks like he's found a new set of teeth for the old dog ;-)

[BoingBoss]

Hi Karlos,

Whatever you decide, it might be worth waiting to see what Redrumloa is cooking up presently.

Do you get "kick-backs" or something?!   :lol:

[GadgetMaster]

BoingBoss wrote:

Do you get "kick-backs" or something?!   :lol:

The penguin deserved it ...Muwahahahahaha! erm cough!

/hides

[Hyperspeed]

Hey irishmike!

Yes, I think the Picasso-IV is the daddy of them all! As has been
mentioned it needs to be `snapped in half' for some older Amigas. I
believe VillageTronic perforated the board to make it easy to break
into 2x seperate modules.

... much like some A1200/A600 clockport/scandoublers have dual-module
solutions and funny triangular shapes!

;-)

Here are the Picasso-IV's external (seperately sold) extras:
Pablo     IV - Video out
Paloma    IV - Video in/capture
Concierto IV - Soundcard

Also a VillageTronic NIC (ethernet card) called `Ariadne' is highly
rated too.

Whilst a CyberVision 64 wouldn't be my first choice, the generally
lower prices means you can enjoy the highest speed for the lowest
prices (there's one on Amibench right now for £40/$70 USD).

With regards to the CyberVision 64's passthru, Eyetech sell a range of
monitor switcher modules that can be switched from 15Khz OCS/ECS/AGA
to 31KHz SVGA or higher modes with the press of the F10 key. I think a
lot of BVision users have them. And there is the standard
printer-sharer style external box too I think.

Carlos: What you say about dithered 16-Bit is interesting. By
dithering at a high resolution it gives you the impression of full
colours. However I can definately notice the difference between HAM8
and 24-Bit and that uses 256,000 colours as opposed to 65,536 that
16-Bit uses.

I know HAM8 has that funny colour-bleeding effect but it's a darn good
screenmode if you wish to use pictures via the viewer ViSAGE. That
program even has a tooltype called `SCALE' which super-speedily
compresses a 1600x1200 image to fit entirely on a 640x480 screen
without needing the associated screen scrolling or extra memory.

I urge classic chipset users to give ViSAGE a try!

:-) :-)

I know I don't have a graphics card and am in no position to argue
with anyone (I would certainly rather a GVP Spectrum than AGA!) but I
do feel BoingBoss is right.

PCI is not the way to go for classic Amiga in my opinion, not unless
we see a huge increase in the inertia of driver writing. Maybe my view
is a little too jaded towards the Picasso-IV after reading that 96%
Gold award review that Amiga Format gave it.

Calling all PCI-bus owners! Tell us about your drivers and options!

:-D :-D :-D

[TjLaZer]

I found the speed hit from 16bit to 24bit was not worth the very minute color depth increase.  I could hardly tell the difference and speed is more important to me.  I even use 16bit on iBrowse on a seperate window!  I use Picasso96, I think it is faster and better RTG system.

[Karlos]

BoingBoss wrote:
Hi Karlos,

Whatever you decide, it might be worth waiting to see what Redrumloa is cooking up presently.

Do you get "kick-backs" or something?!   :lol:

:lol:

I was merely reflecting on the recent posts he's made about getting higher performance out of the machine via some tweaks he's working on.

Hey Red, any chance of a free Prometheus? And an A4K to go with it. Aw, go on, you know you want to :-D

[B00tDisk]

Hmm, I seem to recall Red posting something regarding "would you buy an A2000 PCI solution" - maybe THAT'S what he's talkin' about?

[Karlos]

@Hyperspeed

You can't love the Picasso-IV and dislike PCI at the same time. How do you think all the add-ons for this card are connected?

AFAIK, it's a PCI bus. It might not have the PCI slot's physical form (just like my BVision), but its still PCI bus logic.

[Brian]

@Hyperspeed

I currently have FastEthernet, Voodoo3, SB128 & TVCard on my PCI buss with a HighspeedUSB2 card on it's way aswell (and with that in place my PCI slots are all gone :roll:, good I have Z3 slots also but they are dissaperaing fast too).

PCI is very well worth it... sure the bussboards cost some but you get it back + on savings and speed of the PCI cards.

PCI do belong on the Amiga, it was planned for the next gen Amiga even in the Commodore days... drivers are still an issue that's worked on so it's comming.

About Red's cooking I can just say if the information I've been given is correct it's going to be great for some and not an option for others... and I sitt neatly in between and can't decide. No I promized I wouldn't tell and I'm not going to break it... we will all know soon enough. :-D

On my old CV card I used 16bit modes... they where ok for me and the speed gained from 24bit made it worth it. With Voodoo3 cards there's not a significant speedgain between 16bit and 24bit modes so you need to go as low as 8bit before it realy shows. I still belive 32bit modes are over the top (what 16.7mil colors aren't enough when the human eye can't even distinguish that many apart?) so I'm keeping it at 24bit (even if 32bit gives bragging rights when friends come over). ;-)

[Karlos]

Brian wrote:

PCI do belong on the Amiga, it was planned for the next gen Amiga even in the Commodore days...

Indeed. The erstwhile Mr. Haynie was rather excited at the prospect in the day as I recall. And there is no way BoingBoss can argue with Big Dave when it comes to classic amiga hardware ;-)

[Brian]

I belive it's hard for BoingBoss to argue ratinaly about Amiga hardware with most anyone to be honest.

[Hyperspeed]

Damnit!

Tell me what differentiates an Amiga from your average PC!

Is it not the video capability out of the box? What does a Mediator
do? It flushes your video capability down the toilet.

If you want to use classic chipset software, video genlock and toaster
etc. how do you manage with all these generic PC cards in your machine
with their generic drivers.

This isn't the evolution Dave Haynie would have wanted, this is going
down the slippery slope of the Ateo Bus (albeit in PCI as opposed to
ISA). And look what happened to that lump of cr@p!

My advice to all who want to enjoy the most out of their Amiga is to
get a Picasso-IV. There aren't many around so if you are serious then
make someone a serious offer.