ARA Video Digitizer - Revision history

MacDeath at 18:07, 19 December 2010

2010-12-19T18:07:14Z

2010-12-17T00:16:12Z

2010-08-11T21:08:26Z

2010-05-08T13:29:37Z

‎10bit Config Value

2010-05-08T13:29:04Z

‎Technical

2010-05-08T13:25:13Z

‎Technical

2010-05-05T12:56:24Z

‎Download

2010-05-03T23:18:48Z

‎Download

2010-05-03T23:15:43Z

‎Main Menu

2010-05-03T23:12:23Z

‎10bit Config Value

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:07, 19 December 2010
Line 122:		Line 122:


−	~~[[Category:Hardware]]~~[[Category:Peripherals]][[Category:Graphic]]	+	[[Category:Peripherals]][[Category:Graphic]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:16, 17 December 2010
Line 120:		Line 120:

	* [[VIDI digitizer]] - another video digitizer (Rombo Productions)		* [[VIDI digitizer]] - another video digitizer (Rombo Productions)
		+
		+
		+	[[Category:Hardware]][[Category:Peripherals]][[Category:Graphic]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:08, 11 August 2010
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	A video digitizer made by Philippe Borg in 1987, for a french company ~~called~~ Jagot & Leon. The french name of the hardware is ''Digizaliseur Ara'' (seen on sticker), or ''Ara Digitaliseur d'images video'' (seen on screenshot).	+	A video digitizer made by Philippe Borg in 1987, for the french company [[Jagot & Leon]]. The french name of the hardware is ''Digizaliseur Ara'' (seen on sticker), or ''Ara Digitaliseur d'images video'' (seen on screenshot).

	ARA is said to be simply referring to the colourful parrot with same name (rather than being an abbreviation for something like analog recording apparatus or so).		ARA is said to be simply referring to the colourful parrot with same name (rather than being an abbreviation for something like analog recording apparatus or so).

@@ Line 78: / Line 78: @@
 === 10bit Config Value ===
-The Z80's 8bit databus doesn't allow to write 10bit values. The ARA is using a rather strange solution to overcome that problem. The mechanism to set Config=N is:
+The Z80's 8bit databus doesn't allow to write 10bit values. The ARA is using a rather strange solution to overcome that problem.
    OUT [F9F5h],garbage, FOR I=1 to N, OUT [FAF5h],garbage, NEXT I
-  Whereas, the separate bits in "N" are:
+ Whereas, the separate bits in "N" are:
 -1  Contrast
 -5  Brightness

@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 The hardware consists of an A/D converter, and bunch of logic chips. It does also includes two 8K SRAM chips, used as 16K capture buffer (the image is captured to that buffer in realtime, and can then be read by software at slower speed).
-The device connects to SCART connector on TV Set (or Video Recorder or other picture source). There seem to be no attempts to decode SECAM color informations, ie. only luminance (brightness) seems to be supported. Luminance should be same in all countries, so it should also work with PAL/NTSC.
+The device connects to SCART connector on Video Recorder (or camcorder or other picture source). There seem to be no attempts to decode SECAM color informations, ie. only luminance (brightness) seems to be supported. Luminance should be same in all countries, so it should also work with PAL/NTSC.
 Two capture formats are supported: 320x200x4 and 160x200x16. Of which, in practice, the software supports only max 8 colors, not 16 colors (nethertheless, the actual hardware might, or might not support 16 colors, and it's just the software ignoring their LSBs; the CPC's 27-color palette isn't suitable for displaying 16 "grayscales").
 === I/O Port Summary ===

@@ Line 86: / Line 86: @@
 === Dotclock ===
 The dotclock (horizontal resolution) is unknown. For a CPC-like aspect ratio, it ''should'' be 4MHz (for 320 pixel resolution), which could be obtained from expansion port. However, the digitizer includes it's own crystal (the photo isn't clear there, it ''looks'' like 5MHz or 6MHz) (but more probably it's something like 16MHz, the leading "1" being invisible on the photo, 16MHz would be reasonable for splitting a 4MHz dotclock into 4 steps).
 == Pictures ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:56, 5 May 2010
Line 109:		Line 109:

	Caution: The software includes some french-cuisine-slang expressions which may confuse english users. For example, "ENTREE : DIGITIZE" means "begin with pressing D for digitize". Namely, it does NOT mean "to press ENTER for digitize".		Caution: The software includes some french-cuisine-slang expressions which may confuse english users. For example, "ENTREE : DIGITIZE" means "begin with pressing D for digitize". Namely, it does NOT mean "to press ENTER for digitize".
		+
		+	== See also ==
		+
		+	* [[VIDI digitizer]] - another video digitizer (Rombo Productions)

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:18, 3 May 2010
Line 107:		Line 107:

	* [[Media:ARA Digitaliseur Video Disc.zip]] (dsk)		* [[Media:ARA Digitaliseur Video Disc.zip]] (dsk)
		+
		+	Caution: The software includes some french-cuisine-slang expressions which may confuse english users. For example, "ENTREE : DIGITIZE" means "begin with pressing D for digitize". Namely, it does NOT mean "to press ENTER for digitize".

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 === Main Menu ===
-To get here, press "E" in Boot menu (or ENTER at Slideshow Prompt). Available options are then... well, they are strange: The cuisine related words, ''entree, hor's d'oeuvres, specialies du chef, and dessert'' are jokes - ignore them. The actual options are:
+To get here, press "E" in Boot menu (or ENTER at Slideshow Prompt). Available options are then... well, they are strange: The french cuisine related words, ''entree, hor's d'oeuvres, specialites du chef, and dessert'' are jokes - ignore them. The actual options are:
    D = Digitize
    P = Paint (allows to edit colour scheme)