Steven Lichter <DieSpammer@Ikillspammers.com> wrote:
Michael J. Mahon wrote:
Mitchell Spector wrote:
Visionary GS
-A real-time video capture card that grabs still image from any composite
NTSC video source in 4-bit color or greyscale (the software supports a
raw data format of up to 12-bit that could be exported). Essentially
the AST Vision Plus card (which had bugs and stability issues)
modified and
re-released by a company called Virtual Realities.
Is this the "Allison" version of the card, with new firmware and
software?
There is no software with the card. Is there a way to id the card to
know if it had been modified? I see nothing on it other then a version
number which is v.x5 and on the Rom it says Visionary GS ROM 02.
There was a second reintroduction of the card by Alltech, who renamed
it the "Vision Plus Enhanced". That came with a new ROM firmware and
presumably the Allison software on disk, but I don't think any further
hardware changes were done. Your card is not the Alltech revision as
far as I can tell.
In summary:
-1986: AST released the Vision Plus with some major stability issues (it
would lock up or freeze under certain conditions) which most likely
caused it to be a marketing flop and not sell very well.
-1990: Virtual Realities bought all the unsold stock from AST, did some
minor hardware fixes to the existing boards and wrote new firmware and
software to go with it. They rebranded it Visionary GS and even had an
upgrade program for Vision Plus owners who could send in their cards.
-1994: Alltech takes over the product, updating the ROM firmware once
more and bundling it with another software update. It is renamed the
Vision Plus Enhanced.
All three versions of the card look identical, and I believe never had
the AST name and logo removed. The best way to try and tell them
apart is by looking at the sticker on the ROM chip. I'd still like to find
one to tinker with, I was fairly disappointed by my ComputerEyes GS.
Mitchell Spector