Re: USB input devices-- Second Sight

[CUTjefbla@bconnex.net (Jeff Blakeney)]

On 4 Feb 1999 10:30:56 GMT, supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) wrote:

>As for the price of the card, we would not be talking about it if the
>Second Sight was released five years before its release date.  The
>Second Sight's price is similar to that of what the low end model
>ZipGS card sold for and we do not attack the ZipGS for being too
>expensive.  That's because the ZipGS was introduced earlier and
>ended production earlier so it is not around anymore to be a target.
>The Second Sight is one of the last hardware products being sold
>for the IIGS with a price tag the same as what other IIGS products
>sold for.  It seems people will not stop targetting it until it goes out
>of production and is only available used.

Well, I still have a problem with the price.  The problem is that the
price has remained so high for so long.  For example, the video card
I've been looking at getting for my Pentium II machine cost about the
same and lets look at a little comparison between the Second Sight and
the All-in-Wonder.

                       Second Sight   All-in-Wonder
                      -------------- ---------------
         Max memory:       1 MB            8 MB
   SVGA Resolutions:     640x480         640x480
                         800x600         800x600
                        1024x768        1024x768
                                        1152x864
                                        1280x1024
                                        1600x1200
        Max colours:   16.7 million*  16.7 million
   Max Refresh Rate:                      200 Hz
    2D Acceleration:       Yes**           Yes
    3D Acceleration:        No             Yes
      Video Capture:        No             Yes
     Cable/TV Tuner:        No             Yes
Composite Video Out:        No             Yes
        DVD support:        No             Yes
              Price:     $160 US       approx $160 US
                                      (approx $250 CDN)

* 16.7 million colours only allowed in 640x480 mode, 800x600 max
colours is 65536 colours and 1024x768 max colours is 256.

** The Second Sight is capable of 2D acceleration if someone were to
write the code to do it.  Improving the ROM on the Second Sight would
go a long way to making this a reality.

Now, when you take into consideration the fact that EVERYTHING the
All-in-Wonder does gets done MUCH faster than the Second Sight and all
the added features it has, you realize that these two cards shouldn't
be anywhere near the same price but they are pretty much exactly the
same price!

For the features that the Second Sight offers, I've seen equivalent
PCI video cards that cost around $30-$50 CDN.  This is about $20-$30
US.

Now I realize that the production costs are going to be higher for
producing an Apple II SVGA card but it still shouldn't cost as much as
the higher end PC video cards of today.

>Is the programmer of "Facelift," the QD2 patch for the Second
>Sight, still working on it?

Not very much as he doesn't have time to work on it.  He does have
lots of info on how to write drivers and such for it and I'm sure it
could be finished off if he got a little help with it.

=== To ensure I see a reply please also e-mail me but remember to:
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    Jeff Blakeney - Dean of the Apple II University on Delphi
*** HyperCard IIgs course now in session in the A2Pro forum on Delphi