Path: kernighan.cs.umass.edu!barrett From: vangess1@pilot.msu.edu (Richard A. VanGessel, Jr.) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Video Magician Card Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.graphics Date: 10 Jun 1997 03:11:26 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 183 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <5nigku$v8s@kernighan.cs.umass.edu> Reply-To: vangess1@pilot.msu.edu (Richard A. VanGessel, Jr.) NNTP-Posting-Host: liberation.cs.umass.edu Keywords: hardware, graphics, commercial X-Review-Number: Volume 1997 Number 8 Originator: barrett@liberation.cs.umass.edu PRODUCT NAME Video Magician Card BRIEF DESCRIPTION This card is a scan rate converter and flicker-fixer for all Amiga computers that have a video slot. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Randomize Computer Distribution Address: RR #2 Tottenham, Ontario, Canada LOG 1W0 Telephone: (905) 939-8371 or 1 (888) 726-3664 FAX: (905) 939-8745 E-mail: sales@randomize.com World Wide Web: http://www.randomize.com/products/biocon.html LIST PRICE The list price is approximately $285.00 (U.S.). This of course depends on whom you buy it from. I got my Video Magician through mail order for this price, local dealers may charge a little more. DEMO VERSION NONE SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE Video Slot required. SOFTWARE NONE COPY PROTECTION NONE MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 4000/040 25mHz, 16 MB Fast RAM, 2 MB Chip RAM. 1 internal HD floppy drive. 2 external 880K floppies. 1 420MB IDE internal hard drive. 1 1.6GB IDE internal hard drive. A4008 SCSI controller w/GURU Rom + 8MB fast ram. 1 100MB SCSI internal hard drive. 1 450MB SCSI external hard drive. 1 2x Toshiba Cd-Rom drive SCSI. 1 Syquest EZDrive 135MB SCSI external. Cybervision64 Card w/CybergraphX. Multiface III card. Packard Bell 2020 monitor. AmigaDOS 3.1. INSTALLATION Installation should be fairly easy and straightforward. I had some trouble with my installation due to one of the other Zorro cards I have installed. It seems that one of the cards (I think it is the Multiface III card) prefers a certain order to function properly. Until I put the cards in the following order my machine did not boot properly: Top Zorro Slot: A4008 card Next Zorro Slot: Multiface III card Next Zorro Slot: CyberVision card Bottom Slots: Video Magician (in the video slot) On the A4000 a monitor then connects to the video magician by way of a standard VGA connector. To use the video magician with an A4000 and the Cybervision64 card (not the 3D model), just connect the monitor to the Cybervision64's input port as usual, and connect the CV64 card's output port to the video magician's port. The A4000's monitor port is not needed. REVIEW Other than the installation quirk, the card performs great. The native screens are promoted to 31 kHz rates that are then viewable with my SVGA monitor. The Video Magician promotes these screens without loading any software so screens like the early startup menu are immediately promoted. I still have to tweak the screen prefs to center the newly promoted screens, but it does not appear that they function any differently then unpromoted. Applications that use native screens seem to work properly and do not seem affected by the Video Magician card. I have not found any applications that do not work with the Video Magician. The promotion of the screens is completely automatic and does not require any input from the user. There are dip switches on the card that allow for future expansion and to enable or disable the card. There is also a brightness control on the card. The optional expansions included a video decoder board for CVBS input and for a professional SVHS genlock board. DOCUMENTATION The card came with a one sided piece of paper that served as instructions. The language was geared toward the novice installer. The grammar and spelling could use some work, but I suspect the documentation that came with my card was a translation. LIKES I like that the use of this card is totally automatic and does not require me to configure anything or figure out promotion settings. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS I would have liked documentation that was great in-depth. Also when using the card in the A4000 (and probably the other big box Amigas), the video magician extends over the Zorro III slots that is in-line with the video slot rendering that Zorro III slot unusable. I would have like the card to not extend past the edge of the video slot. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS Have not tried other products like this card. BUGS None found. VENDOR SUPPORT I have not yet had to deal with the vendor. WARRANTY I did not get a warranty card with my video magician. I am going to be contacting Randomize Computer to see if they can correct this. Because of this, I would suggest buying the card with a credit card so that you have some protection if something goes wrong. CONCLUSIONS The Video Magician seems to perform as advertised and is very easy to install. The Video Magician is a low cost way to use all the Amiga's display modes (and the Cybervision64 display modes) without spending a ton of money for a multiscan monitor. I think this card is well worth the money. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1997 Richard A. VanGessel, Jr. Email: vangess1@pilot.msu.edu May be freely distributed. --- Accepted and posted by Daniel Barrett, comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews Web site: ftp://math.uh.edu/pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews/index.html