Subject: MINI-REVIEW: AsimVTR animation playback software
From: [email-masked] (Steve J. Lombardi)
Date: 16 Aug 1993 15:55:05 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

OVERVIEW

	AsimVTR is a software program to play back a sequence of images
directly from a custom partition on your hard drive. Since the images are
stored on the partition uncompressed, playback speed is constant. The current
version does not support AGA nor interlaced images. An update due out in 4
weeks will support AGA, interlaced images and add sound support.  The lack
of support for interlaced screens really needs to be addressed. DCTV is well
supported, right down to the VCR style control panel in DCTV format that can
co-exist on the same screen as your animation without the need to keep
hitting the Composite switch!

PRICE

	This program sells for about 55$ mailorder. A true bargain for the
non-professional user (i.e., home use, non broadcast stuff). Don't expect a
DPS PAR for 50 bucks.  With that out of the way...

USE

	Tell AsimVTR what drive or partition you want to use, and it will
format it.  Tell it where your source frames are, and it will copy them to
the custom partition. Select PLAY from the menu, and watch. There's a bunch
of other features for sequencing frames, setting rates etc....  But I'm
trying to be brief. Installation is easy, and the manual is good.

SPEED OF PLAYBACK

	My system is an A3000 with a Quantum 240MB SCSI drive. The animation
I needed to get to tape was 1500 frames long in 736x482x3 DCTV format. The
system informed me that I would get a maximum speed of 33 frames per second
(fps) with this configuration. If you choose to play at the maximum speed, you
may see an occasional hiccup in your animation. I only needed 20fps for this
animation, and that ran quite smoothly. The Asim folks claim to be able to
get 60fps with 3-bitplane DCTV images on an A3000 with the superfast Maxtor
drives that are out now. I'd be happy to get 30 fps with INTERLACED 3-bit
DCTV.  This will be God head! I look forward to the upgrade.

GLITCHES

	Here is an annoying glitch. Are you sitting at your computer? Sit
back and don't touch it for a moment. Watch your hard drive LED (if you have
a SCSI drive). In a few moments you'll see it flash on, even if you have no
programs running in the background. This is normal for SCSI.  The name for
this fails me right now. This will cause a noticeable glitch in your
animation. Solution: wait for this activity before starting your playback.
The expensive hardware cards that are out now get around this by taking over
the drive and performing this function before starting the animation.

SUMMARY

	Again, AsimVTR is not for the professional who wants to lay out
hi-res 24-bit pictures at 30fps. Stick with your single frame recorder. If
you have a reasonably fast drive and controller and want to play back
animations larger than your RAM permits, AsimVTR provides a really low-cost
solution, even if it's not perfect. And if you've got a DCTV you should
really take a look, as even at non-interlaced 3-bit my 1500 frame animation
looked pretty amazing.  I've spoken with the Asim folks on the phone and
they seem very dedicated to supporting this package. After my update arrives
with AGA and interlaced support, I'll follow up.

CONTACT INFORMATION

  AsimWare Innovations
  101 Country Club Dr.
  Hamilton, Ontario  CANADA
  L8K 5W4
  (416)578-4916 (voice)

						steve lombardi
						[email-masked]
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