February 1997 Issue, copyright
1997, Canada Computer Paper Inc.
Snappy maker plans to Play with the pros
Play Inc., a leader in the general PC graphics enthusiast market with its
entry-level Snappy video digitizer has, since its inception in August 1994,
made clear its intention of becoming a leader in in professional-level digital
video. And the success of Snappy has provided Play with a steady stream
of revenue to fund research and development to fulfill that long-term vision.
At the last National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) exposition, Play
demonstrated a prototype of "Trinity," a studio-quality digital-video
imaging, editing and effects system. Sometime in 1997, Play expects to release
the production version of the system, which, if it matches the advance billing,
will become a strong contender for the title of ultimate desktop video system
for the PC.
According to Play spokesperson Kiki Stockhammer, "Today it takes an
enormous amount of money, equipment and time to create video with the quality
of real broadcast television. Trinity replaces equipment, which now costs
hundreds of thousands of dollars with a US$10,000 PC-based desktop system.
At the same time, Trinity makes broadcast-quality production far easier
by integrating several dedicated 'black boxes' into one device with one
simple interface."
The Trinity Video Production System is a combination of custom hardware
(with 29 newly developed chips) and software that gives a PC user an 8-input
video product switcher with real-time digital effects, plus paint, animation
and compositing, five nanosecond character generator, both linear and non-linear
video editing, and full digital audio production options.
Who are these people?
It would seem rather odd for a startup company like Play to come out
of nowhere, and within 2.5 years come up with two leading-edge, world-beating
video systems like Snappy and Trinity.
In fact, Play has, by the standards of the computer video field, an extraordinarily
rich history. Play was founded by a collection of ex-Amigoid techies-refugees
from the collapse of Commodore's Amiga developer community.
Many of Play's key players, including Paul Montgomery and Stockhammer, left
NewTek Inc. (creators of the famous Video Toaster) just months prior to
founding Play. A decade before Play, NewTek started out by producing a low-cost,
highly efficient parallel port video digitizer called Digi View, and then
used the cash flow from Digi View to fund the development of the professional-level
Video Toaster system.
Play has replayed some of NewTek's history on the PC platform, but unlike
the Amiga, it seems improbable that the PC is going to vanish anytime soon.
In addition to its inherited Toaster gurus, Play also makes use of talent
from two of the other main Amiga hardware companies, Digital Creations and
Progressive Peripherals.
While the dear departed Amiga was consciously designed for video, animation
and multimedia-making it an ideal platform to develop video hardware on-the
more plain, vanilla PC has proven to be a tougher platform to bend to the
peculiar needs of video production. That Play has been able to accomplish
so much, so quickly, is a testament to endless hard work and raw talent.
The Play booth at Comdex in November was buzzing with excitement about Trinity,
and the premier issue of Trinity World Magazine, an attractive, glossy
magazine devoted to the forthcoming product, gave detailed coverage of many
of Trinity's features. This must be one of the only times in computer graphics
history that a major trade magazine has been launched to cover a single,
as yet unreleased, prototype product. When it does hit the market, the expected
price will be in the range of US$10,000.-Jeff Evans
Contact: Lou Wallace, of Trinity, email: lou@trinity.com
or Play Inc, Web site: http://www.play.com
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