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

[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

[alexh]

I paid £150 for one in Feb this year. I dont think that was too expensive.

I mean for what it is, a 4Mbyte PCI gfx card it is outrageous but it's for an Amiga and they didn't make millions of them.

[alexh]

Crisisdog wrote:
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.

Not true. The ParaGlide (the name for this addon) was never made. Another planned but never made addon was a hardware MPEG decoder (cant remember it's name, if it ever had one)

Crisisdog wrote:
There was also supposed to be some AHI compatible sound card attachment and TV Tuner card.

Concierto = AHI Sound card
Paloma = PAL TV Tuner
Pablo = Video Encoder

All were made in limited numbers.

http://sophisticated-development.de/software/index.php

[Damion]

The flicker-fixer looks excellent (better than the A3K built-in), but fire up a pinball game and watch the scrolling. ;-) I still can't get the frequencies dialed in for 100% perfection, which is a pretty serious detraction IMHO. Also, I'm not yet convinced that the image quality is superior to the CV3D.

[Amithony]

I have a Cv3d v2. I reckon it may be good enough for what i want it to do after all. I am not shelling out more than 1000 for it.

[pulppure]

It's simply the best rtg card for amiga classic but at 1000au$ even with all the modules it's way overpriced... in europe they generally go up to 250euro (wo modules) which is still a lot for outdated hardware.

One of the cool features noone mentioned was the PIP (Picture in Picture) for realtime video decoding and resizing of the window of the video player. It is used by Moovid and Riva if I remember well. It was cool when I saw it in 1999 but that was almost 10 years ago.

[Crisisdog]

alexh wrote:

Crisisdog wrote:
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.

Not true. The ParaGlide (the name for this addon) was never made. Another planned but never made addon was a hardware MPEG decoder (cant remember it's name, if it ever had one)

I won't argue, but I could have sworn I saw several posts many years ago somewhere from several happy individuals who finally got some sort of 3DFX VooDoo add-on for the Picasso-IV card.

 :-?

[redrumloa]

Darn!! I just sold 5 of them for about $360 each! I haven't saturated the market yet? I could have gotten $700+ each on auction :-?

I hate leaving that much money on the table, expecially when I already get the occasional "You rip off artist" email  :lol:

[alexh]

They were expensive at $360 USD. No-one would have paid $700+ USD as you could get a Mediator, a Voodoo 3 and an Indivision 1200 for less!

[alexh]

Crisisdog wrote:
I could have sworn I saw several posts many years ago somewhere from several happy individuals who finally got some sort of 3DFX VooDoo add-on for the Picasso-IV card.

I am 90% sure that nothing was ever made. The project was announced in July 99. They had not even started doing the design in June 2000 as it said on their website they were looking for a designer to start the PCB layout. Klaus Burkert, father of the Picasso family, died in April 2001 and with him went any chance of Village Tronic making anything Amiga ever again.

Also there is no sign of any Voodoo 1 drivers for the Amiga in any form (Mediator / Prometheus)

Only MastaTabs aka Tobias Seiler knows for sure.

[redrumloa]

alexh wrote:
They were expensive at $360 USD. No-one would have paid $700+ USD as you could get a Mediator, a Voodoo 3 and an Indivision 1200 for less!

Linky link

They are worth what people will pay for them. At ~$360 they were goggled up like crazy as soon as I would list them. I seriously under priced them for the market.

[LoadWB]

@red

I don't see how you're a rip-off artist if someone willingly pays whatever amount for an item on auction.  Blah.

@alexh

Klaus Burkert, father of the Picasso family, died in April 2001 and with him went any chance of Village Tronic making anything Amiga ever again.

How/why is that?  Is he the only one who knew the system that well?

I picked one up about four years ago for about $300.  Very pleased with that purchase, just hoping the thing never gives out on me.

[Damion]

@red

Around the time you sold your first round, there were a number of completed PIV listings from $300-$400. Yours were probably worth a bit more considering they were mint/boxed, but I think you priced them fairly considering the usual ebay market. I think one of the reasons people bought them up so quickly is the fact that you're a trusted, no BS seller.

IMHO the $700 PIV listing is one of those oddball things like the $900 scandoubler. (Notice, no scandoubler has ever sold for anywhere near that amount before or since.)

[Damion]

Interestingly, it seems another one of jimbo's auctions is heading towards 3 times what the item often sells for.

[T3000]

@red

Most of the PIV auctions that I have witnessed, end at around +-$400. Picked mine up for $365 boxed with all the software and manuals. Looks like it was never used. If I remember correctly, the PIV retailed for something like $1200 when released. Software Hut lists them at $389.95 and I assume they are new in box. Looked through my latest back issues of Amiga World and VideoToaster Magazine and couldn't find anything on the PIV.

laterz

[ArcticSon]

I don't remember when the PIV was introduced, but I was looking through some late 90's Amazing Computing mags for reviews and info and the July '98 issue has some ads/prices:

  CompuQuick $379 (US)
  Software Hut (in their 'centerfold' ad) $420
  Safe Harbor $439

The limited supply (although likely with a much smaller
potential market all these years later) is really keeping the 'resale value' way up there...

Also on the front cover of that issue, an Amiga Inc. announcement of Amiga OS 5.0!  :-?