When do you think it was that Silicon Graphics added the capability to have not just one but two video inputs at the same time? That is a crucial feature needed for the page turn. Real time video effects at 50/60 fps broadcast resolution was not easy. The signals would have been component analog, not digital, with everything having to be synchronised.
I doubt that the SGI O2 would have had the chops for this task and that was a latter day model costing proper workstation money, supposedly with the I/O for animation etc.
So why would you spend real money on an SGI as used by moviemakers 'deskside workstation'?
Back then electronics based solutions effectively worked on every pixel in parallel, not a pixel at a time, as per CPU style graphics. So changing things wholesale on an image, e.g. brightness and contrast, is instant. Back then a CPU would need to do a lot of work and could not manage the instant refresh.
In broadcasting back then a 1U rack of kit would cost a lot of money no matter what it was. A clock could cost $100000 and not even tell the time on the front of its rack-mount enclosure. So it would not have been a problem to spend $$$ on another piece of kit.
When do you think it was that Silicon Graphics added the capability to have not just one but two video inputs at the same time? That is a crucial feature needed for the page turn. Real time video effects at 50/60 fps broadcast resolution was not easy. The signals would have been component analog, not digital, with everything having to be synchronised.
I doubt that the SGI O2 would have had the chops for this task and that was a latter day model costing proper workstation money, supposedly with the I/O for animation etc.
So why would you spend real money on an SGI as used by moviemakers 'deskside workstation'?
Back then electronics based solutions effectively worked on every pixel in parallel, not a pixel at a time, as per CPU style graphics. So changing things wholesale on an image, e.g. brightness and contrast, is instant. Back then a CPU would need to do a lot of work and could not manage the instant refresh.
In broadcasting back then a 1U rack of kit would cost a lot of money no matter what it was. A clock could cost $100000 and not even tell the time on the front of its rack-mount enclosure. So it would not have been a problem to spend $$$ on another piece of kit.