| |
Xclaim™ VR is the 'must have' 5-in-1
graphics and multimedia solution for PCI-based Mac® OS
computers. Targeted at the player market, Xclaim™ VR's
3D, 2D, QuickTime™ capture, QuickTime™ acceleration, and
Mac2TV video out allow users to experience 3D and multimedia
like never before. Xclaim™ 3D is ATI's 3D solution for
the creator market, providing awesome 3D acceleration,
blazing 2D performance, and accelerated QuickTime™ playback.
Content developers, designers and Webmasters who want
to add 3D elements to their designs will chose Xclaim™
3D to experience real-time preview of rendered 3D models
and to support high-performance, high-resolution true
color graphics.
|
| |
Hardware |
| Q1. |
What is the difference between
Xclaim™ 3D and Xclaim™ VR?
|
| Q2. |
Do Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™
3D work in the Performa or the Power Macintosh® 6400 or
6500 systems?
|
| Q3. |
What is SGRAM memory?
|
| Q4. |
Are all versions of the
Xclaim™ VR upgradeable to 8MB of SGRAM memory?
|
| Q5. |
What ports are included
on Xclaim™ VR?
|
| Q6. |
What ports are included
on Xclaim™ 3D?
|
| Q7. |
Are there NuBUS versions
of the card?
|
|
2D Graphics Support |
| Q8. |
What is the maximum resolution
of each card?
|
| Q9. |
What is the maximum true
color resolution?
|
| Q10. |
How does the graphics compare
to my onboard graphics?
|
|
Software |
| Q11. |
What software/utilities
are bundled with Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D?
|
|
QuickTime™ Acceleration |
| Q12. |
What version of QuickTime™
is required to take advantage of the QuickTime™ features?
|
| Q13. |
What types of QuickTime™
movies are accelerated? Will the Xclaim™ VR or Xclaim™
3D accelerate QuickTime™ Animation or QuickTime™ VR?
|
| Q14. |
What type of MPEG acceleration
does Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D provide?
|
| Q15. |
Why does a Cinepak or MPEG
movie scaled with Xclaim™ VR or Xclaim™ 3D look smoother
than a movie scaled in software?
|
|
QuickDraw 3D |
| Q16. |
How is the 3D acceleration
accomplished?
|
| Q17. |
What is the performance
of the QuickDraw® 3D acceleration?
|
| Q18. |
Why do some models or applications
look faster then others when running on Xclaim™ VR or
Xclaim™ 3D?
|
| Q19. |
What is texture mapping?
Why is it important?
|
| Q20. |
What are texture filters/modes?
Why are they important?
|
| Q21. |
What are MipMaps?
|
| Q22. |
What is Z-buffering?
|
| Q23. |
What is alpha blending
or alpha texturing?
|
| Q24. |
How do I get more information
on QuickDraw® 3D and the applications that support QuickDraw®
3D?
|
|
XCLAIM™ VR Only
QuickTime™ Capture |
| Q25. |
What type of hardware do
I need to do video capture?
|
| Q26. |
What is the maximum size
of still capture? What about video capture?
|
| Q27. |
Does Xclaim™ VR support
video compression?
|
| Q28. |
What color depths are available
for still and streaming video capture?
|
| Q29. |
Can Xclaim™ VR provide
live video input, i.e. without capturing to disk?
|
| Q30. |
Does Xclaim™ VR have an
audio input?
|
| Q31. |
Does Xclaim™ VR accept
PAL format of video as an input? What about SECAM?
|
| Q32. |
Can Video Capture be performed
with any other application or only with Xclaim™ Video
Player?
|
|
Mac2TV |
| Q33. |
What is Mac2TV? ImpacTV2?
|
| Q34. |
What modes are supported
on a TV?
|
| Q35. |
Does Xclaim™ VR support
PAL video out for use in a country where PAL is the standard
for video?
|
| Q36. |
How does Xclaim™ VR's Mac2TV
compare to the video out offered by Apple® on the Power
Macintosh® 8500?
|
| |
|
| Q1: |
What is the difference between Xclaim™
3D and Xclaim™ VR? |
| A1: |
Xclaim™ VR is the ultimate multimedia
upgrade ideal for consumer and entry-level PCI users that
want to add 3D and multimedia to their Mac® OS computers.
Xclaim™ 3D combines high-resolution true color 2D with
comprehensive QuickDraw 3D support ideal for designers,
content developers and Web masters who want to add 3D
content to their work. |
| |
|
| Q2: |
Do Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D work
in the Performa or the Power Macintosh® 6400 or 6500 systems? |
| A2: |
Yes. Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D have
been designed to fit into any PCI-based computer running
Mac® OS, even those limited to 7" cards such as the Performa
systems or the Power Macintosh® 6400 or 6500. |
| |
|
| Q3: |
What is SGRAM memory? |
| A3: |
ATI uses the latest memory technologies
to achieve the perfect balance between performance and
cost. Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D use SGRAM...otherwise known
as Synchronous Graphics RAM. SGRAM is a single-ported
RAM design dedicated to graphics applications. The chip
synchronizes data transfer with a clock, enabling high
transfer rates, and it uses a Block Write feature, which
is particularly useful for handling video. SGRAM is the
memory type of choice for most of the graphics applications
because it is cost-effective on a per-bit cost basis,
and its wide availability from multiple vendors. SGRAM
offers a faster throughput at a lower cost than VRAM.
|
| |
|
| Q4: |
Are all versions of the Xclaim™ VR
upgradeable to 8MB of SGRAM memory? |
| A4: |
Not all Xclaim™ VRs can be upgraded
to 8MB of SGRAM. Please check the following table to find
out if additional memory can be added to your card.
| Board |
Part Number |
Available Upgrade |
| XCLAIM™ VR 2MB (Upgradeable) |
100-407047 |
2MB (100-401021) |
| XCLAIM™ VR 4MB |
100-407046 |
not upgradeable |
| XCLAIM™ VR 4MB (Upgradeable) |
100-409075 |
4MB (100-401012) |
Please note: Because a 4MB Xclaim™ VR provides
32 bit colour at all available 2D resolutions, additional
memory will not provide additional resolutions or colour
depths. However, adding 4MB of RAM will allow you to open
additional 3D windows and store additional 3D textures.
|
| |
|
| Q5: |
What ports are included on Xclaim™
VR? |
| A5: |
Xclaim™ VR includes Composite Video
In, S-Video In, Video Out, S-Video Out, and Apple® DB15
monitor connector. Composite Video Out and S-Video Out
are enabled using an adapter (included). |
| |
|
| Q6: |
What ports are included on Xclaim™
3D? |
| A6: |
Xclaim™ 3D includes both the Apple®
15-pin connector and the VGA 15-pin connector for support
of all Apple® and VGA monitors without the need for an
adapter. Only one monitor connector may be used at a time.
|
| |
|
| Q7: |
Are there NuBUS versions of the card?
|
| A7: |
No, Xclaim™ products are for PCI-based
computers running Mac® OS from Apple® Computer, Inc..
2D Graphics Support |
| |
|
| Q8: |
What is the maximum resolution of
each card? |
| A8: |
| Product |
Resolution |
| XCLAIM™ VR |
1152x870 |
| XCLAIM™ 3D |
1600x1200 |
|
| |
|
| Q9: |
What is the maximum true color resolution?
|
| A9: |
| Product |
Memory |
Resolution |
| XCLAIM™ VR |
4MB |
1152x870 |
| XCLAIM™ VR |
8MB |
1152x870 |
| XCLAIM™ 3D |
4MB |
1152x870 |
| XCLAIM™ 3D |
8MB |
1600x1200 |
|
| |
|
| Q10:
|
How does the graphics compare to my
onboard graphics? |
| A10: |
Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D provide 2D,
3D and video acceleration and off load the system CPU
from performing the processor intensive calculations required
to draw graphics and 3D models on screen. The benefits
of 3D acceleration are three-fold: better interactivity/more
responsive performance in applications and games, higher
frame rates and higher quality graphics. Xclaim™ VR and
Xclaim™ 3D provide up to six times the 3D performance
of a Power Macintosh® 9500/120 running QuickDraw 3D in
software. This kind of performance should be realized
on any PCI-based Mac® OS computer as it is dependent on
the performance of the ATI 3D RAGE II or 3D RAGE PRO engine.
However, 2D acceleration is more dependent on the software
application being used. Some applications use QuickDraw
acceleration routines very effectively, while others seem
to benefit very little from 2D acceleration. For example,
users of Adobe PhotoShop v3.0 can experience 3X performance
increase in scrolling compared to on-board graphics. Adobe
Illustrator on the other hand does not yield the same
results. Generally, the more CPU intensive the application
(MIDI is a good example), the greater the 2D performance
delta between Xclaim™ VR or Xclaim™ 3D and Onboard graphics.
Software |
| |
|
| Q11:
|
What software/utilities are bundled
with Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D? |
| A11: |
ATI Displays ATI Displays 2.0 is included
with both Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D. ATI Displays is used
to get information about the installed card(s) as well
as configure the special features of the card(s) installed
in the system. For more details see the description of
ATI Displays. Xclaim™ Video Player (XCLAIM™ VR only) Xclaim™
VR also includes Xclaim™ Video Player (XVP), ATI's video
capture utility. XVP includes support for composite and
S-video sources, QuickTime™ movie capture, post compression,
still capture (PICT format), drag and drop, zoom, and
pan. Xclaim™ Video Player is also the interface for Xclaim™
TV. QuickTime™ Acceleration |
| |
|
| Q12: |
What version of QuickTime™ is required
to take advantage of the QuickTime™ features? |
| A12: |
QuickTime™
2.5 (or later) is required to take advantage of the
QuickTime™ acceleration capabilities of Xclaim™ VR or
Xclaim™ 3D |
| |
|
| Q13:
|
What types of QuickTime™ movies are
accelerated? Will the Xclaim™ VR or Xclaim™ 3D accelerate
QuickTime™ Animation or QuickTime™ VR? |
| A13: |
Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D accelerate
the playback of Cinepak (the major format on Mac® OS computers)
and Indeo (from Intel) compressed QuickTime™ movies. Accelerated
MPEG playback is available as part of the Version
2.1 software release of Xclaim™ VR. The QuickTime™
API currently only supports acceleration of the Movie
and MPEG tracks or media types. QuickTime™ animation tracks
and QuickTime™ VR do not benefit from the scaling capabilities
of Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D. |
| |
|
| Q14:
|
What type of MPEG acceleration does
Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D provide? |
| A14: |
There are numerous strategies for playing
an MPEG movie often more commonly referred to as decoding
an MPEG movie. One strategy is to use dedicated MPEG decoding
hardware to decode an MPEG movie. A second strategy is
to use software decoding which requires no specialized
hardware as the main CPU performs the decoding of the
movie. Another strategy to decode an MPEG movie is to
use a combination of hardware and software referred to
as hardware-assisted software decode.
It is easy to understand the type of acceleration by looking
at the steps involved in decoding an MPEG movie and what
component of the computer performs the function under
each approach.
| Step in MPEG decode process |
Hardware Decode |
Software Decode |
Hardware-assisted Software Decode |
| Decode from File |
MPEG Hardware |
Software Decode |
Software Decode |
| Color Space conversion |
MPEG Hardware |
Software Decode |
Video Accelerator |
| Scaling |
MPEG Hardware/CPU |
Software Decode |
Video Accelerator |
| Display |
Display Hardware |
Display Hardware |
Display Hardware |
Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D accelerate the playback of MPEG
movies using the hardware-assisted software decode strategy.
The ATI 3D RAGE PRO or 3D RAGE II graphics chip that powers
Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D has integrated Video acceleration
and Display functionality. Consequently Xclaim™ VR and
Xclaim™ 3D perform the color space conversion, scaling,
and display of the MPEG movie leaving the CPU to perform
only the decoding of the movie from the file to memory.
In the case of a software only solution (which is what
Apple® is providing with the MPEG additions to QuickTime™),
the CPU must perform both the decoding of the movie from
the file as well as color space conversion and scaling
operations. The CPU can keep up with decoding the movie
from a file but has problems keeping up with decoding
the movie when it also has to perform any color space
conversion and scaling operations.
Note that Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D do not accelerate
the decoding of the MPEG movie from file to memory. Dedicated
MPEG hardware is required to accelerate the decoding from
file. In this scenario, the additional hardware adds to
the size of a graphics card or requires a separate MPEG
card. In either case you are adding unnecessary cost to
a system. Due to the increased speed and performance of
CPUs such as the PowerPC CPUs currently used in computers
running Mac® OS and graphics cards such as Xclaim™ VR
and Xclaim™ 3D, MPEG movies can be played at full screen
and full frame rate without any additional MPEG hardware.
However, an important piece of information with regards
to the hardware-assisted acceleration strategy used by
Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D is that if the CPU can only
decode the movie at 15 fps from file even though the movie
was encoded at 24fps, Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D will not
make the movie playback at 24fps. In this scenario, either
the CPU is busy with other operations or the CPU is not
fast enough to decode the movie at full frame rate. Xclaim™
VR and Xclaim™ 3D allow you to scale an MPEG movie full
screen without a drop in frame rate as well as improved
movie quality when scaled. For example, if the movie can
only be decoded by the CPU at 15fps, if you scale the
movie to full screen while running at a screen resolution
such as 1024x768 for example, the frame generally drops
to approximately 5-7 fps with software. With Xclaim™ VR
and Xclaim™ 3D the frame rate remains at 15fps even though
the movie has been scaled. |
| |
|
| Q15:
|
Why does a Cinepak or MPEG movie scaled
with Xclaim™ VR or Xclaim™ 3D look smoother than a movie
scaled in software? |
| A15: |
When a Cinepak or MPEG movie is scaled
to full screen using Xclaim™ VR or Xclaim™ 3D one of the
benefits is superior quality of the movie compared to
the quality of the movie when scaled in software. To help
with the explanation of why movies look superior when
scaled with Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D, it is important
to describe what happens when a 320x240 QuickTime™ movie
is scaled to full screen with the display set to 1024x768
as an example. A QuickTime™ movie of size 320x240 has
76800 pixels. The screen or the movie scaled to full screen
of 1024x768 = 786432 pixels. Therefore when scaling a
320x240 movie to full screen, there is approximately 10
times the data. This works out to an additional 704 pixels
(1024-320) on each line and an additional 528 lines of
video (768-240). The extra data is generated using different
approaches from the data that exists in the 320x240 movie.
The approach that QuickTime™ uses is a combination of
pixel doubling in the horizontal direction or x-axis and
line doubling in the vertical direction (y-axis). Since
QuickTime™ only performs pixel and line doubling the image
is blocky or is often described as having the "jaggies".
QuickTime™ MPEG also has two quality modes that relate
to the scaling of MPEG movies. The default mode uses blacklining
which shows every other line and thus reduces the amount
of data that needs to be displayed on screen. While blacklining
does improve the frame rate of the movie when scaled compared
to displaying all the lines of video, there is still a
drop in frame rate as compared to playing a movie at normal
size. The high quality mode displays all the lines which
improves the quality of the movie but doubles the amount
of data and thus lowers the frame rate (The Authoring
and Goodies MoviePlayer plug-ins need to be installed
to access the high quality mode setting). Xclaim™ VR and
Xclaim™ 3D perform two enhancements which result in Cinepak
and MPEG playback that is smoother and does not have the
jaggies. Chroma interpolation involves the averaging of
chroma to fill in the color of the extra pixels. Pixel
blending smooths out the pixels using the luma in both
the horizontal and vertical direction. Scaling a movie
using chroma interpolation and pixel blending gives the
best quality movie but requires the most horsepower and
thus is not feasible with software only MPEG playback
without an unacceptable loss of frame rate. The 3D RAGE
chip that powers Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D has the horsepower
to scale a movie using chroma interpolation and pixel
blending in both the X- and Y- axis without any loss of
frame rate. QuickDraw 3D |
| |
|
| Q16: |
How is the 3D acceleration accomplished?
|
| A16: |
QuickDraw 3D acceleration is accomplished
through the QuickDraw 3D RAVE API (Application Programmers
Interface). QuickDraw 3D RAVE is Apple®'s API for Hardware
acceleration. QuickDraw 3D RAVE is included with QuickDraw
3D 1.0.6 or later and is installed in the extensions folder.
Any application that properly supports QuickDraw 3D or
QuickDraw 3D RAVE is accelerated by Xclaim™ VR or Xclaim™
3D. Both Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™ 3D include ATI's QuickDraw
3D RAVE driver, ATI 3D Accelerator, which is installed
in the extensions folder. |
| |
|
| Q17:
|
What is the performance of the QuickDraw
3D acceleration? |
| A17: |
The performance of QuickDraw 3D is up
to 6X the performance of a Power Macintosh® 9500 running
with software only. This performance should be realized
on any PCI-based Mac® OS computer using Xclaim™ VR or
Xclaim™ 3D as the performance is a function of the ATI
3D RAGE II & 3D RAGE PRO engine. |
| |
|
| Q18: |
Why do some models or applications
look faster then others when running on Xclaim™ VR or
Xclaim™ 3D? |
| A18: |
QuickDraw 3D performance is due to a
number of factors. The factors determining why models
are accelerated to different degrees are different from
the factors that determine an applications performance.
The degree to which a model is accelerated depends on
how complex the model. In particular, the number of triangles
that make up the model and the size of the triangles are
the main factors in performance. A model that is composed
of many small triangles performs slower than an object
composed of a few large triangles. Applications advertising
support of QuickDraw 3D differ in the degree of QuickDraw
3D implementation. On one end of the spectrum, an application
may only implement support for the QuickDraw 3D file format
and use its own internal geometry and rendering. In this
case the application does not have access to QuickDraw
3D acceleration. On the other end, an application may
fully use QuickDraw 3D's core architecture. By doing so,
all of the application's modeling, shading, and rendering
are done through QuickDraw 3D and accelerated rendering
is accessible. Applications can also be written to directly
use QuickDraw 3D RAVE, the acceleration layer of QuickDraw
3D and thus are accelerated by hardware. 3D creation/modeling
applications will generally use the QuickDraw 3D interfaces,
while 3D games and other 3D applications that require
maximum rendering speeds use the QuickDraw 3D RAVE API.
|
| |
|
| Q19:
|
What is texture mapping? Why is it
important? |
| A19: |
Texture mapping is the process of taking
a picture or bitmap and wrapping it around an object.
Texture mapping is used to add realism to 3D generated
scenes used in games and models. For example, instead
of shading an object brown to represent the color of
a log, a picture of bark can be applied to the log to
give a very realistic representation.
|
| Q20:
|
What are texture filters/modes? Why
are they important? |
| A20: |
- Texture filters are the functions
used to remove aliasing artifacts such as sparkles
or blockiness through interpolation of stored texture
images. They are important because they improve the
quality of the graphics. For example, filtering will
remove the blockiness that is associated with viewing
a wall close up in a game such as Doom or Descent
II. There are two common texture filters used in 3D
graphics.
- Pick Nearest (or Point Sampling)
- One texel (texture map pixel as opposed to screen
pixel) is read (i.e. picked) from the texture
map to determine the pixel color to display on
screen. This results in an aliased image especially
when the texture is enlarged.
- Bi-linear filtering (Sampling)
- Four texels are blended (bi-linear interpolation)
from the texture map to get one pixel color to
display on screen. This prevents the pixellation
of textures or the aliased look especially when
the texture is enlarged.
Notice how the number of texels differs
between the different modes or filters. The more texels
used to determine the pixel, the higher the quality and
the lower the speed. The benefit of 3D hardware that supports
textures and texture filters is that it offloads from
the CPU the calculations involved in blending texels when
bi-linear filtering is enabled.
|
| |
|
| Q21: |
What are MipMaps? |
| A21: |
"Multum In Parvum" (Latin) means "Many
in one". One way to improve the quality of the textures,
yet maintain speed, is to filter ahead of time and store
the original texture as well as several smaller filtered
copies. This technique is called mipmapping. The base
map and stored versions collectively are referred to as
a mipmap. Filtering the texture map ahead of time reduces
the need to filter the texture in real-time when the object
moves into the distance or as the object gets smaller.
In the case of the object getting smaller or moving into
the distance, the hardware determines the level of detail
(i.e. which version of the texture to use) and then maps
the texture to the object. When using mipmapping the whole
mipmap is loaded into video memory which requires 30%
more memory than loading one copy and filtering.
|
| |
|
| Q22:
|
What is Z-buffering? |
| A22: |
A Z-buffer stores depth information
for every pixel in an image from the camera's position.
A Z-buffer renderer uses depth information to determine
which objects will be visible on a per-pixel basis. In
an image, several objects might cover the same pixel with
the depth of each object determining the color of a particular
pixel. The benefit of having Z-buffer support in hardware
is that the graphics engine does the calculations that
determine the color of the pixel as opposed to having
a software driver do the calculations which uses CPU cycles
and reduces performance. |
| |
|
| Q23: |
What is alpha blending or alpha texturing?
|
| A23: |
A computer image normally has red, green,
and blue values for each pixel. The image can also have
an alpha value for each pixel. If an image has an alpha
value for each pixel, it is said to have an alpha channel.
The alpha value specifies the transparency for the pixel.
Normally, alpha channels are 8 bits, and 255 is opaque
while 0 is completely transparent. Alpha blending is the
process of combining two pictures using the alpha values
to produce a transparent effect. Transparency, in a similar
manner to texturing, adds to the realism of the model
or scene. The astronaut shown below is an example of the
use of alpha blending to produce transparency on the visor
of an astronaut. The face and visor of the helmet are
blended based on the alpha values of each pixel that make
up the visor and face allowing the face to be seen behind
the visor. Support of alpha blending in the 3D RAGE II
& 3D RAGE PRO graphics accelerator in Xclaim™ VR and Xclaim™
3D allows for transparency which cannot be accomplished
with the interactive renderer included with QuickDraw
3D.
|
| |
|
| Q24: |
How do I get more information on
QuickDraw 3D and the applications that support QuickDraw
3D? |
| A24: |
The QuickDraw
3D web site includes a comprehensive list of information
on QuickDraw 3D including FAQs, applications supported,
sample programs, and models. Xclaim™ VR Only QuickTime™
Capture |
| |
|
| Q25:
|
What type of hardware do I need to
do video capture? |
| A25: |
Any PCI-based Mac® OS computer with
free hard disk space for temporary storage of the raw
movie prior to software post-compression process. When
capturing video one of the main bottlenecks to video capture/playback
is the data rate of your system, especially the hard disk
drive. For video capture, you need a high-speed hard drive
with lots of available hard disk space. Your drive needs
to write approximately 5 MB per-second to capture video
at 320x240 at 30 frames per second. Slower drives will
result in less than 30fps video capture. |
| |
|
| Q26: |
What is the maximum size of still
capture? What about video capture? |
| A26: |
The maximum size of a still is 320x240.
The maximum size and frame rate of video capture is 320x240@30fps.
The frame rate will vary depending on the capabilities
and configuration of the system used to capture the video.
|
| |
|
| Q27: |
Does Xclaim™ VR support video compression?
|
| A27: |
Xclaim™ VR does not include real-time
hardware video compression such as M-JPEG compression.
Xclaim™ Video Player, ATI's capture application, includes
support for software post-compression using standard QuickTime™
codecs (compressor/decompressor) therefore reducing the
space required to store a captured movie. |
| |
|
| Q28:
|
What color depths are available for
still and streaming video capture? |
| A28: |
Xclaim™ VR captures movies in the YUV
4:2:2 color space. The YUV color space is used in broadcast
(i.e. TV, film) whereas the RGB color space is used in
computers. The Y or luminance (intensity) is sent separately
from color information (U and V). The 4:2:2 refers to
the fact that for every two samples of Y, there is one
sample each of U and V. YUV 4:2:2 is equivalent to millions
of colors in the color depth selector on your Macintosh®.
|
| |
|
| Q29: |
Can Xclaim™ VR provide live video
input, i.e. without capturing to disk? |
| A29: |
Yes. Xclaim™ Video Player provides real-time
live video input from a composite or s-video source as
well as from Xclaim™ TV in either a resizeable window
(any arbitrary size) or full screen. |
| |
|
| Q30: |
Does Xclaim™ VR have an audio input?
|
| A30: |
Audio is connected to and captured by
the motherboard audio subsystem. Due to the improvements
in QuickTime™ and the overall faster speeds of systems,
the previous problem of audio synchronization is not as
big a problem as with previous Macintosh® computers. |
| |
|
| Q31:
|
Does Xclaim™ VR accept PAL format
of video as an input? What about SECAM? |
| A31: |
Version
2.1 of Xclaim™ VR software includes support for PAL
format video input. SECAM is not supported by Xclaim™
VR. |
| |
|
| Q32: |
Can Video Capture be performed with
any other application or only with Xclaim™ Video Player?
|
| A32: |
The ATI Video Digitizer conforms to
QuickTime™'s standard video digitizer (vdig) API. This
means that any software using Apple®'s "Video Settings"
dialog can use Xclaim™ VR's video digitizer to preview/capture
video input. In the Video Settings dialog, choose "Source"
from the pop-up menu, and in the "Digitizer" popup, choose
"ATI Video Digitizer".
|
| |
|
| |
Mac2TV |
| Q33: |
What is Mac2TV? ImpacTV2? |
| A33: |
Xclaim™ VR includes Mac2TV video out
functionality based on ATI's ImpacTV video out controller.
ImpacTV is a highly integrated TV-out chip that produces
crisp, flicker-free graphics for a big-screen experience
on a Mac® OS computer. Anything that can be displayed
on a TV - QuickTime™ movies, self-running demos, presentations,
animated 3D models - can be recorded to video tape. High
quality images are achieved through advanced, on-chip
circuitry for scaling, flicker removal, and artifact suppression.
These techniques overcome quality problems like image
flicker, illegible text, and low-definition graphics which
make current TV encoders unusable. Using the AMC (ATI
Media Connector) port, ImpacTV2 interfaces to ATI's 3D
RAGE PRO graphics accelerator. ImpacTV2 supports TV output
in either NTSC or PAL formats using composite, S-Video
or SCART connector standards. For maximum compatibility,
ImpacTV2 incorporates programmable timing, allowing it
to generate TV signals from graphics display modes ranging
from 512x384 up to 832x624. This provides full support
of common Mac® OS modes and modes required by games. Easy-to-use
utilities included in the ATI Displays control panel v.2.0
provide users with a simple mechanism for sizing and positioning
the TV image, setting contrast and color saturation levels,
and controlling filter settings. |
| |
|
| Q34:
|
What modes are supported on a TV?
|
| A34: |
- When Xclaim™ VR's Mac2TV feature is
enabled there are 4 supported resolutions available.
They are:
-
- 512x384
- 640x480
- 800x600
- 832x624
|
| Q35: |
Does Xclaim™ VR support PAL video
out for use in a country where PAL is the standard for
video? |
| A35: |
There are different versions of Xclaim™
VR corresponding to whether the default video standard
is NTSC or PAL but all versions support both video formats.
|
| |
|
| Q36: |
How does Xclaim™ VR's Mac2TV compare
to the video out offered by Apple® on the Power Macintosh®
8500? |
| A36: |
The MAC2TV video out functionality of
Xclaim™ VR is in many ways superior to the video out offered
on a Power Macintosh® 8500. While both offer flicker free
output, only Xclaim™ VR allows for precision control over
the TV display such as TV image sizing and positioning,
brightness, contrast, and color controls. |
