| Readme: | AGABlaster is a video player for the Amiga Commodore computer.
It uses a customized version of the CDXL format supporting the
AGA chipset with 24 bit colors and variable length frames.
Customized CDXL files can be generated with AGAConv.
AGABlaster is written in 68K Assembly and runs on native Amiga
hardware (no gfx card or sound card required). It is currently
in alpha testing stage.
The CDXL format was created primarily for the Commodore CDTV,
to permit playback of video from CD-ROM in the early 1990s.
The original (standard) CDXL format was a simple streaming format,
consisting of linear concatenated chunks (packets), each with an
uncompressed frame and associated audio data. It did not contain
video timing information, additional command line arguments had to
be provided to the CDXL player.
AGABlaster can play the original CDXL format (see Current Limitations),
but can also play custom variable length CDXL frames. For example,
frames can have have a different number of bitplanes. The custom
headers in each chunk contain all information necessary to display
each frame (audio frequency, etc.), such that no additional command
line parameters need to be provided. However, command line arguments
are available to set all parameters manually to play also original
CDXL videos.
AGABlaster has been tested on an A4000/60 with a Fast ATA 4000 MK-III
disk controller (expansion card) and different PIO settings. AGABlaster
can play videos with 24 FPS, 320x256 Lores resolution, and 8-bit stereo
sound at 22050 Hz directly from disk, with the MK-III in PIO3 setting.
Only chip memory is required. Alternatively, playing from an USB 2.0
memory stick connected to a DENEB USB 2.0 expansion card is also fast
enough.
AGABlaster is designed to only require chip memory and to display videos
in full screen on original Amiga hardware. Graphics cards and/or sound
cards are not required (and not supported). AGABlaster can skip frames
if disk I/O is too slow. Video data is skipped by seeking on disk to
the next frame without loading it into memory. Audio data is always read.
All data is read asynchronously from disk, allowing it to read ahead if
I/O is fast enough.
Overview of supported video/audio modes:
Lores, Hires, Superhires, AGA0 - AGA8, HAM8, HAM6, EHB.
0-8 bitplanes, 0-256 colors (variable length video chunks)
8-bit mono/stereo sound (variable length audio chunks)
12 bit and 24 bit colors.
Tested on Amiga OS 3.9
On AGA systems the border is set to black utilizing the AGA Border-blank
hardware feature (this ensures that the border is black, even when color 0
is used in the video (since version 0.9.70)).
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AGABlaster_0.9.83.lha