Picasso IV - what can it do that the other cards can not?

[Amithony]

I'm trying to work out why these suckers are so expensive on Ebay.

[bigmac]

Here we go again from a guy a who owns a 4000T and 060 in OZ you should know. Its simply because this is what people will pay. Is it to much? Then I would say it depends on how much you want one. I went the Mediator way, but surely this is an individual choice now quick hide th spoon and stop stirring my friend. :-D

[Amithony]

bigmac wrote:
Here we go again from a guy a who owns a 4000T and 060 in OZ you should know. Its simply because this is what people will pay. Is it to much? Then I would say it depends on how much you want one. I went the Mediator way, but surely this is an individual choice now quick hide th spoon and stop stirring my friend. :-D

I guess i didnt mention that it was a project in progress. I was tossing up between going the SAM path instead and tweaking my own. I was curious as to what made this a better card than a $100 one. After an opinion rather than a flame. Incidentally, how do you know i havent bid?

[weirdami]

Picasso IV - what can it do that the other cards can not?

it can fetch big bux

[Amithony]

weirdami wrote:

Picasso IV - what can it do that the other cards can not?

it can fetch big bux

LOL, at 1000 bucks, id have to say your right. I got most of my info from:

http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/search.pl?product=picasso&company=#picasso4

I am just trying to rationalise burning $1000 when the SAM440 is about.

[Crisisdog]

1.  It has a native pass-through video option.  The only other two cards that I am aware of that offer this on-board were the original Cybervision 64 (not the 64/3D, it needed an additional board), and GVP's Sprectrun 24.

2.  It has a built in Flicker Fixer.  Nice for that native pass-through video option stated above for today's VGA monitors.  The Cybervision 64 and Spectrum 24, although able to pass native video, did not "upgrade" the output signal for VGA compatibility.  The Cybervision 64/3D had an additional board / module for flickr fixing, but it only worked on the Amiga 4000 and was difficult to find.

3.  It has 4 MBs of memory and a high scan refresh rate, meaning it can drive bigger screens.  In comparison, the GVP Spectrum 24 has 2MBs of memory and can only display a clean 24-bit color picture at 800x600.  By pushing it to 1024x768, you're kinda forced to downgrade your color to 16-bit mode.  The Picasso IV, and other boards with 4MBs of memory, should be able to produce a 24-bit image at 1024x768 without any problem.

4.  The Picasso IV had add-on options, although very rare.  There was a very limited production of a 3D daughtercard with a 3DFX VooDoo chip for use with the very few games out that require 3D acceleration.  There was also supposed to be some AHI compatible sound card attachment and TV Tuner card.

 :-D

[MozzerFan]

IIRC the 3d addon for the PIV was never released. Only the soundcard (concierto) ,TV-tuner (paloma) and video-encoder (pablo) were released. The TV-tuner is PAL- only.

[QuikSanz]

Amithony wrote:
I'm trying to work out why these suckers are so expensive on Ebay.

For a desktop its the only real solution, No way for "Mediator".

 Many options were available including a TV card, Sound Card and I think one more I forget. All were plugged on to the PIV.
All of the add on cards are hard to find so you would have to "search and spend".

Happy to have one in my A2000.

Chris

[bigmac]

QuikSanz wrote:

Amithony wrote:
I'm trying to work out why these suckers are so expensive on Ebay.

For a desktop its the only real solution, No way for "Mediator".

 Many options were available including a TV card, Sound Card and I think one more I forget. All were plugged on to the PIV.
All of the add on cards are hard to find so you would have to "search and spend".

Happy to have one in my A2000.

Chris

Sorry Chris, cant, see the logic in what your saying granted and no argument it is probably the best option with regards to RTG graphics cards, but the key word you used was "spend"  were not talking small amounts here, when and if you can find the addon cards, can this cost be justified? I happen to have a mediator and you can correct me if I,m wrong it does an excellant job and has more and less expensive addon options than the PIV, as well as driver updates which are still ongoing. Anthony said he was trying to weigh up his options between upgrading his system or buying a Sam well in this instance and IMHO I would purchase the Sam which is the most expensive option of all but its new, with regards to all of the older options we have been discussing.  It's still a work in progress and much fun will be had tweaking and improving it. Just my two bobs worth g'day mate. :-D

[QuikSanz]

@bigmac,

You get me wrong, was only trying to explain the upped prices. I bought my PIV when new, Not too bad, No other add on cards.

@Amithony

If you only have an older machine save it for old games and buy a SAM. You Will be happy.

Chris

[Lorraine]

/

[bigmac]

QuikSanz wrote:
@bigmac,

You get me wrong, was only trying to explain the upped prices. I bought my PIV when new, Not too bad, No other add on cards.

@Amithony

If you only have an older machine save it for old games and buy a SAM. You Will be happy.

Chris

Hi! Chris my apologies,  your right I was under the impression you had bought all the cards (lucky you if you had) :lol: have a nice day.
cheers

[X-ray]

A configurable flicker fixer that is simply the mutt's nuts in the Amiga world.
The PIV pwns all other Zorro gfx cards.

[pVC]

Crisisdog wrote:
2.  It has a built in Flicker Fixer.  Nice for that native pass-through video option stated above for today's VGA monitors.  The Cybervision 64 and Spectrum 24, although able to pass native video, did not "upgrade" the output signal for VGA compatibility.  The Cybervision 64/3D had an additional board / module for flickr fixing, but it only worked on the Amiga 4000 and was difficult to find.

And PIV's sd/ff can also change refresh frequencies, which none of the other gfx card's scandoublers can do.

BTW. CV64/3D's module is only scan doubler, not flicker fixer. Also CV64/3D's picture quality isn't as good as PIV's.

PicassoIV also has four channel audio mixer. You don't need sound card for mixing CD-rom, Amiga etc audio sources.

4. The Picasso IV had add-on options, although very rare. There was a very limited production of a 3D daughtercard with a 3DFX VooDoo chip for use with the very few games out that require 3D acceleration. There was also supposed to be some AHI compatible sound card attachment and TV Tuner card.

There were video encoder, tv-card and sound card modules on sale. And they weren't _that_ rare. I've seen them on pretty many people.

[QuikSanz]

@pVC,

Those add on cards are rare in the states. They were sold out by the time I got a PIV to the west coast US.

Chris