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From: efo@pixar.uucp (efo)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics,comp.misc,rec.video,sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Workstations that can record/play realtime video
Keywords: video, graphics, workstations, quantel, harry
Message-ID: <7709@pixar.UUCP>
Date: 14 Nov 89 03:04:20 GMT
References: <1593@ndmath.UUCP> <805@megatek.UUCP> <4897@cn.sei.cmu.edu>
Sender: news@pixar.UUCP
Reply-To: efo@pixar.uucp (efo)
Organization: Pixar -- Marin County, California
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Currently, one of the few machines that can handle digital video-like
information at these rates is the Abekas A60 family ($60K). The Abekas,
as some posters have noted, can sit on the the ethernet, and you can
send stuff to it that way.  Note the spelling of "Abekas".
Note that most workstations (as such: Suns, Irises, etc.) either
in themselves or as hosts to accelerators or framebuffers (TAACs,
Pixar Image Computers) cannot do accurate real-time playback.  In those
few cases where they have enough bandwidth to handle, on average,
30 fps,  they cannot deliver a consistant 30 fps (due, usually,
to the scheduling of jobs under Unix.) For us this is a serious problem
and precludes their use for playback - for you this may not be the case.
Oftentimes, disk or framebuffer
bandwidth is a bottleneck, too, of course.

A cheap way to get low-grade single-frame NTSC with realtime playback,
as described, is with a Panasonic or similar write-once video disk.
These machines are in the $10K range, and can be controlled via an RS232
port. Even that's not so cheap.

The other option is a professional video setup (>$100K).

As you might imagine, this has been a serious issue for the animation group
at Pixar.  If there are new alternatives, we'd love to know more.
Eben Ostby