[bananas] Question about XAS Tv displays in use

[Eric Greisen]

I am working on the TV implementation in 31DEC08 AIPS' TV
implementation.  At present I am planning to increase the number of
grey-scale TV memories and to make the coding even more parametric.
It would be possible to switch from 8-bit integer (0-255) memories to
something larger (16 bit, but say 0-32767) which would give much more
dynamic range in enhancement functions.

A downside of that would be that a 31DEC08 TV would then not talk to
31DEC07 and vice versa.

Perhaps worse, such a change would prevent the use of 8-bit
pseudo-color visuals in which the data are 8 bits and the enhancement
is done in hardware.  XAS currently supports that mode, but it would
be difficult to maintain that support.  Our systems people tell me
that they think that no hardware limited to such modes (< 24/32 bits)
has been sold in the last decade.  Does anyone on this list know of
anyone using 8-bit pseudo color in their AIPS installation?  One could
choose this mode for speed considerations as well as hardware
limitations, although the pseudo-color mode has serious algorithmic
limitations.

I am not going to break the 8-bit mode yet (although it is now hard to
test it), but it seems likely that I will sometime.

Please let me know if this causes anyone a problem.

Eric Greisen