One of the most powerful computers in the museum currently, the
Amiga 4000 was the darling of video production companies.
Interfaced with Newtek’s Video Toaster, the Amiga 4000 was mostly
found in television and production studios all over the world. Running
a 68040 processor (in this case, the processor has been even
further upgraded) the 4000 could address multiple megabytes of
memory and would interface to both SCSI and IDE hard drives,
giving it a lot of flexibility. The failure of Commodore to stay in
business and market the machine effectively ultimately led to its
demise but many are still in use today. Oddly
enough, many Amigas today actually control
bowling alleys as well.
This computer is currently interactive in the Museum.
Video Toaster 4000
Release Date:
1/1/1993
Original Retail Price:
$2,495.00
Current Price:
$250.00
The Toaster 4000 is a newer version of the popular Toaster 2000 which is better suited for installation in an A4000s video slot. The Video Toaster is an extremely powerful television production studio in a box. An Amiga with a Video Toaster was capable of producing effects comparable to dedicated systems costing many times as much. The Video Toaster in conjunction with Lightwave helped produce many TV programs and films including Babylon 5, Seaquest DSV and Terminator II.
The Video Toaster 4000 contains a genlock with 24-bit display framebuffers and video capture facilities. This card can still be used in machines without the AGA style video slot, such as the A2000 and A3000 however not all features will be available. In particular some effects and wipes require AGA. In order to use the Video Toaster it is recommended that you have at least a 68030 processor running @25Mhz, RGB Monitor, Composite Monitor (2 Composite Monitors for preview and program), 10MB RAM (2MB Chip + 8MB Fast) and video signals must be time base corrected.
Connectors
1 x Multipin Video Connector (used for 3rd party addons to access video signals)
4 x BNC NTSC Video Inputs, Channels 1-4
2 x BNC NTSC Video Outputs (1 preview, 1 program)
General Features
4 Input Switcher
Preview and Program outputs
3 Frame Buffers
24-bit, 8 field realtime frame capture
Character Generation
Realtime transitional effects including Dissolve, 2-D Wipes, Colour Amimation Wipes, Covers, Slides, Oragnic Effects, Digital Effects
Audio Effects
24-bit painting
3D Rendering with Lightwave 3D
ARexx Control
Chroma Effects
Colour Correction
This peripheral is currently interactive in the Museum.
 "Commodore Amiga 4000")
 "Video Toaster 4000")