Nukey Shay Posted December 17, 2003 Share Posted December 17, 2003 That is true...the time-limitation is not an issue if the data were being "streamed" from an outside source (like using flash memory, for example). The problem would be keeping that data stream flowing in synch with the VCS routine that displays it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted December 17, 2003 Author Share Posted December 17, 2003 Is is just me, or is it strange that a certian person hasn't replied challenging the validity of the term "VCSvideo" to something like "AniView" or something? It's my understanding that the video could go on much longer than 10 seconds if there were no ROM size limit. I'd expect the reason this particular project is limited to 10 seconds is because 10 cartridges will be made, and the price needs to be kept minimal. Am I wrong thinking this? If this is the case, then VCSVideo is quite an apt name for it, IMO. Then again, what do I know?! I just like to sound like I know what I'm talking about. kthx Given no ROM size limit, or a facility to feed a small RAM buffer with endless streams of Interleaved ChronoColour frames, there's no real limit to the video size. The VCSVideo demo is planned as the first 512KB (yes, half a megabyte) ROM for the '2600. It's based on 3F bankswitching, and there's already a working piece of hardware which proves the technique (see the news page very soon). In 512KB, I figure I can get about 10 seconds of video and audio. Probably a fair bit more, but the real problem is squashing things efficiently inside the bankswitching limitations. I could probably get two smaller-sized frames (+audio) into each 2K bank, so we'd be looking at 500 partial frames (roughly) giving 160+ actual frames (roughly) at 20 frames per second gives pretty much (very) roughly 10 frames per second. Roughly Cheers A PS: The "10 cartridges" is because they'll cost about $50 each - at least - to manufacture, and there's no way I'm going to be making 100 of anything anymore. And no, I'm not taking preorders and no, they're not for sale. I haven't MADE anything yet, so don't get excited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapdash Posted December 17, 2003 Share Posted December 17, 2003 Cool tech... Hope you're not feeling the pressure to produce already though. Had a couple more thoughts... A movie of some modern game, like perhaps Halo, but that might inspire the wrath of others (and I was thinking of something frenetic and bright like Crazy Taxi as a possibility too). An old Pong ad? If that's the game that started the industry, it would be cool to see an homage coming out of the VCS. A clip of the South Park kids playing their Okama Gamesphere. Can you loop the audio & video or does it only play on reset? I had this weird image of one member's avatar -- a dancing Asian gal -- playing over and over with some techno or pop music playing. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Knight Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 10 seconds of the Intellivision sports commercial "Can you see a difference?". The 7 second clip of that fat guy horsing around on a diving board and wanging his head 10 seconds of that clip where the dude jumps out of his garbage can, scaring the collection dudes. Add cheesy logo, "Atari 2600 - new surprises all the time" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vb_master Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 10 seconds of the Wright Brothers first flight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xot Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 How about starting out with a screen shot of Combat and then panning back to two people PLAYING combat, with the VCS and players in the shot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swordofjoshua Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 i've got an idea, what about a video clip of a girl projecting out of a vcs console ala "weird science"? wouldn't that be perfectly befitting? you could even have the weird science song playing along with it. i think it would be sufficiantly dramatic but not overly dramatic and fit in well with the theme and idea of the whole project. and it fits in nicely with atari's own unique quirky brand of gaming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krisjohn Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 It's got to be "Man getting hit in groin with football" Hmm...Barney's movie had heart, but "Football in the Groin" had a football in the groin. How about that video segment used in Contact -- the first TV broadcast? Not anything from 2001. Otherwise, the best option is probably the first Atari TV ad, unless you can rush out a flight-related video for the current 100 year celebrations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gulag picture radio Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 WHile many of these suggestions are interesting, I think that we really need to finds footage the shows off the Andrew's technology best. I like the idea of showing a retro film clip, but I think that color would just be so much more impressive. I like the idea of zooming out from the Combat game to people playing the game - though it would require more work than just filming it off a TV. It would be need to be lit just right to make sure that the necessary details get picked up enough to make it through the low resolution conversion. I also don't know how well a standard Atari game screen would make it through the Chronocolor process. Seems like it might not. I have a small production company and so we shoot a lot of video and do 3D animation. I could whip up something that we can specifically tailor to the strengths of the display technology. Here's an idea: How about a spinning globe with smaller images of 20th century accomplishments (which could also apply to games - i.e. a picture of a Tank represents both human warfare and the game Combat). The sound track would have a few sound effects of these various images (I imagine that the sound track has to remain very simple due to low res. Then the image of the globe tilts back and we see that it is on a cartridge with a VCS in back. A flash of light, then a voice says "This is the Atari Age" (with a little appropriate music). I think that this could be done with bold enough visuals to make everything look good in the Chronocolor process. It also mentions "Atari Age" in a subtle enough way, but it is still a cool statement even for those who don't know this website. And what's more is that I'm offering to create this video and audio for you! Just some thoughts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 "10 seconds of the Wright Brothers first flight." There is no video of the event, just one photograph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 There is no video of the event, just one photograph. Yup, and only because that photograph(s) exist(s), this is considered to be the first "motor powered heavier than air flight" (though they needed a catapult and headwinds to start). There where some similar flights (even without catapults) by other people before (e.g. by German Karl Jatho ) but none of them was photographed. So it was just "marketing" again, that made history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susuwatari Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 I still think that Yars Revenge commercial would be cool. Nothing would do better than a computer generated 3D animation. Still can't find the 20MB HQ video of it. I found the archived file but it's corrupt and won't let that file out at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 Actually...that "zoom out" sounds kind of neat. You plug in a game that looks to be a standard recognizable one...and then the camera shifts out to the players and a voice states something like "This isn't the console you remember anymore." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uosipa llamxew Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 Or... you could do 10 seconds of hardcore porno - this time WITH sound effects! And Liveinabin could provide a dirty cartridge label - he's good at that! I'm kidding. HAHA. (don't hurt me - kthx?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsuinnc Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 The porno idea I can help with. My collection of porn is almost as big as my video game collaction (though not displayed as prominently at home). It's part of my job. Honest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeybastard Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 I have access to some public domain footage thru work that's mostly old historical type stuff. I could digitize this stuff and make you a Quicktime or AVI if you want. What's the specs for frame size, codec, audio sampling, etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic George 2K3 Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 I think a good song clip for this project should be from Weird AL Yankoviceither about the pentiumns or couch potato will be good. Bloated Monkey's "Playin' My Atari" would be a better choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mock Posted December 18, 2003 Share Posted December 18, 2003 eh...you should do something cool...perhaps a home video of your dog, cat, pet, kid or whatever you have ...heck it's your project you should choose something that is important to you. just my .02 Mock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarifan49 Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 How about this short clip that G4TV has on their website of Howard Scott Warshaw (author of Yars Revenge) dancing a jig? http://www.g4tv.com/imageDB/video/clip/G4_...YarsRevenge.zip Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 There was no heavier than air powered flight with a man on board controlling it before the Wright Brothers did it in December 1903. The person you mentioned made a powered model that was able to fly, but his attempts to scale it up to something a man could sit onboard and fly failed miserabley, so I'm afraid that's not true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~llama Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 Today is the 100 anniversary of the man's first powered flight (pretty historically significant). Not sure what song would go best with it. The Star Spangled Banner or America the Beautiful perhaps. the star spangled banner, by Jimi Hendrix! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krisjohn Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 the star spangled banner, by Jimi Hendrix! Ah, we only have 10 seconds. That thing goes on for like 10 minutes. (Still my favourite version though. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmpddytim Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 Ok, lets get somthing horrible to watch that happened before the debut of atari, the Zapruder film (JFK being assassinated) comes to mind. The portion of that video in which he gets assassinated only takes about 10 seconds. Then as a voice over you have "There was violence before video games." Why? Because video games are under attack by people who blame everything on them, violence, profanity, porn, etc.. what better way to protest these peoples vendetta against the video game industry than with the console that started it all? I think some of the ideas on the forum are goos but come on, someone, MAKE A STATEMENT about video games. My idea may suck but someone think of somthing with depth. Thankee Sai Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krisjohn Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 The first colour broadcast was apparently of the NY skyline. Perhaps you could do a simple pan, make reference to 9/11 and auction a few carts for charity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 Bleh...check the politics at the door IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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