RasterOps unveils ImagePro RISC-based adaptor for displays on Mac II and Quadra
Santa Clara, California-based RasterOps Corp, the graphics board manufacturer, has announced the RasterOps ImagePro, which the company says is the first RISC-based expansion adaptor for RasterOps display systems on Apple Computer Inc’s Macintosh II and Quadra series computers. The high-performance, programmable accelerator board enables compute-intensive tasks, previously performed by the host CPU, to be downloaded to the 40 MIPS RISC processor and then executed at high speed. The board can be used to accelerate applications such as Adobe Systems Inc PhotoShop or speed up the pre-press process of Red Green Blue to Cyan Magenta Yellow Black data conversion, appropriate for users with applications involving the manipulation or translation of large 8-bit and 24-bit images. The new adaptor also enables accelerated compression and decompression conforming to the JPEG – Joint Photographic Experts Group – standard, or to Apple Computer’s QuickTime format. ImagePro connects to the RasterOps 24XLTV, 24STV, MediaTime and ProColor 32 display adaptors. When used with ProColor 32 display adaptors, the board can compress static images. The adaptor, which features a programmable RISC processor, can also be used by application developers for enhancing the performance of compute-intensive programs: the product comes with a library of commands for downloading routines to the unidentified ImagePro RISC processor. Supporting JPEG, the new accelerator board offers both lossy and lossless data compression: lossy compression has higher compression ratios, up to 100:1, appropriate for transmitting colour images via local networks, while lossless compression ratios are much lower, varying from 2:1 to 3:1, but retain the original image data integrity for applications such as medical imaging. For Apple’s QuickTime sofware system, which manages time-based media, such as video, sound and animation, RasterOps has developed a component driver, which accelerates QuickTime film compression using ImagePro’s processing power. By attaching the ImagePro daughter-card to the RasterOps 24XLTV, 24STV and MediaTime, users can create and project QuickTime films at near real-time rates. ImagePro accelerates QuickTime communication of large video, audio and animation files between the hard disk and the monitor. It includes RasterOps’ ImagePak 2.0 software application, offering advanced options for controlling the compression and decompression of image data. The options include control of variable compression rates and horizontal and vertical sub-sampling. ImagePak 2.0 features a picture preview thumbnail mode, a plug-in module for Adobe PhotoShop and supports TIFF, PICT and JPEG 8-bit and 24-bit file formats. The new ImagePro extension adaptor for the Macintosh II and Quadra computer systems will be available next month, but no price was given.
RasterOps’ VideoTime video card displays live video in a window on Apple systems
And RasterOps Corp has launched VideoTime, a single-slot video card which displays live video in a window on Apple Computer Inc Macintosh and Quadra series computers. VideoTime can co-exist with bundled or add-on graphics boards to view live video. For use with Macintosh video boards, the card provides an upgrade to live video capabilities. It can be used with display adaptors of various bit depths, while retaining a 16-bit-per-pixel colour display. The video card captures and stores live video signals into its own frame buffer, for use in any application. The installion of more than one VideoTime card in a single Macintosh enables multiple windows to concurrently display multiple live-video feeds. In addition to general business use, VideoTime is targeted at applications in the banking industry, where the display could be used as an interactive terminal for customer service, at the same time enabling a live picture of the customer to be viewed on-screen. And results generated by medical imaging scanners, sonograms and electron microscopes could be transmi
tted simultaneously via a desktop teleconferencing system to several doctors for joint consultation. The intelligence community could also use the product in data acquisition and surveillance. When more than one VideoTime card is in use, each live video window can be controlled independently. The windows can be sized and placed anywhere on the screen. The VideoTime card can also be used as a frame capture board to save images to memory or disk. Each card has its own 16-bit frame buffer, so that frame grabbing can be achieved on one window without affecting the live video in the other windows. VideoTime supports NTSC, PAL and SECAM formats. Live video can be sourced from cable television, video recorders, camcorders, still video and medical scanners. A single composite signal and a single S-video signal can be attached to the card at one time. The card supports RasterOps’ 16, 19 and 21 monitors and Macintosh colour monitors. The new display adaptor costs $2,000 and is avail-able now at authorised dealers.
MediaTime digital audio-video adaptor, CorrectPrint 300 printer also shipping
Also available are MediaTime, RasterOps’ integrated adaptor which combines compact disk-quality digital audio with 24-bit real-time video and graphics, and the CorrectPrint 300 four-colour dye-sublimation printer with photo-realistic output. MediaTime enables live video manipulation and editing of audio recordings for playback in 16-bit fidelity from the Macintosh. It is compatible with Apple QuickTime and enables the creation of dynamic documents with stereo sound and realtime video, is targeted at business presentations, interactive training program and scientific simulation applications. It supports 13 AppleColor High Resystem RGB monitors to the 37 Mitsubishi XC-3715C. It provides interlaced output in NTSC and PAL format for recording direct to a video cassette recorder or viewing on a monitor with a RasterOps Video Expander. The CorrectPrint 300, a dye-sublimation photorealistic printer, is part of RasterOps’ CorrectColor family. It combines desktop proofing printer technology with RISC processing power but, the company says, at an affordable price. The CorrectPrint 300 features a 300 dot-per-inch resolution and a cyan magenta yellow black – CMYB – four-colour process to produce photo-realistic output. RasterOps claims the printer provides dye-sublimation quality for the rough price of wax thermal transfer prints. The dye-sublimation process enables high-quality colour output on the desktop from a proofing printer, using continuous tone in every pixel. The printer uses a 33MHz MIPS RISC Raster Image Processor on the controller board. It has 35 resident fonts and PostScript-compatible software. It supports various paper formats and is available now. MediaTime costs $2,800; CorrectPrint 300, $11,000.
