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From: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita)
Subject: Re: CDTV- Let's clear the air...
Message-ID: <1991Apr8.191453.13243@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
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Reply-To: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita)
Organization: Columbia University
References: <23238@know.pws.bull.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Apr 1991 19:14:53 GMT

In article <23238@know.pws.bull.com> ai065@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Thomas Hill) writes:
>
>
>2. I hear that CDTV currently provides for (in the OS, I guess) 1/4 screen
>full motion video. What graphic mode is this in and how good does it look?
>Weren't people like GVP doing full motion video by simply reading the stuff
>off of hard disk, and weren't people saying that the quality of such was at
>"laserdisc" level?
> 
	CDTV can do 1/4 screen HAM animation at 12fps or so. That
isn't anything special, that is simply a factor of how fast the
CD plays. Without compression you can't do much better. As to
GVP, etc., they are showing DCTV which is almost as good as TV
(the differences are very minimal), but that requires speed. It
takes up more bus bandwidth than HAM so even in 1/4 screen it
won't be as good as HAM. However, it is still useful for stills
or pre-loaded short animations.

>3. Isn't a TV incapable of displaying detail much beyond that of the Amiga's
>graphic ability? If so, what advantage will the higher resolution of CD-I
>have over CDTV? In other words, will people be able to notice a better image
>produced by CD-I?
> 
	The difference is in colors, not pixel resolution.

>4. What features does CDTV have that CD-I doesn't? IE: The video ports,
>expansion ports, ability to hitch up drives, better sound, etc?
> 
	Good question.

>7. What is the projected cost of CD-I and is it as "cleanly constructed" OS-
>wise as the Amiga? I heard that CD-I is has a poorly constructed WINDOWS OS
>with all kinds of extensions hanging off it. Being that WINDOWS is a memory
>and CPU hog, shouldn't it cut down on what CD-I can do in comparison to CDTV?
> 
	This is also a good question. I can't believe that this
can be produced at as good a price as CDTV. And if it comes down
to a quality/price issue, we all remember Sony/Beta.

>8. I heard that CD-I was still at least two years away? When will a unit aimed
>at the home market and costing under $1000 be shipping?
> 
	Two years is unrealistic. Kevin is claiming September or
so, but I don't know about that. I'll believe it when I see it. I
HAVE seen CDTV and it is shipping.

>9. I thought I heard that CDTV supports that "electronic component language"
>that allows one device to control another device? (IE: The receiver controls
>the tape deck, etc?)
> 
	If the CD has MIDI imprints on it you can control MIDI
devices. You can put a genlock in it as well.

> I'm really looking forward to reading some good hard facts on this subject.
>Like I said before, I had the feeling that CDTV was going to storm the market
>like Nintendo did in the game market. Now I have a few doubts about it's
>multimedia ability versus CD-I. But then again, a Sega Genesis makes a
>Nintendo look like a blackboard. The big reason why Nintendo is the better
>seller- timing. It was out just at the right time and the others came after
>it did. CD-I can't have that big of a feature ability over CDTV as does the
>Genesis over the Nintendo. A very interesting concept...
> 
	If CD-I ships doing everything that Kevin says without
any catches or negatives and it sells for $1,000, then maybe it
will dominate CDTV. Of course, the feeling I'm getting from
Kevin's post (mainly because I've never heard anyone else say
these things about CD-I) is that you are getting a dream system
for a ridiculously cheap price. Reminds me of the NeXT, except I
know that Panasonic, etc., are in this for the money.

>   Tom
>
>--
>       Why purchase a MAC when an Amiga with the same CPU will run 99% of all
>    __ MAC software..and FASTER at that?! The same can be said of the IBM and
> __/// Atari computers, and I can run those in a window. IBM's greatest sales 
> \XX/  tool is ignorance on the consumer's part. Only the Amiga! DEVO Anyone?


	-- Ethan

Q: How many Comp Sci majors does it take to change a lightbulb
A: None. It's a hardware problem.
