Standards conversion - the Third Way!

[evingar]

Hi Kat

I guess we will both always defend our particular work areas.

In broad terms, all other things being equal, the more cheap 405 line standards converters there are, the more interest there will be in 405 TVs. Any solution is fine by me. Keep up the good work.

[Paul Stenning]

I think the various parties should work on their own projects instead of criticising others efforts. Especially when it seems that those doing the criticising have nothing to show for their ideas at this stage.

Dedicated hardware solutions have been available (such as the Domino and Darius' various designs) but people don't want to spend the money on a ready-made one or go to the effort of building a project one. Kat is developing a system that can use an oldish PC, some ready-made hardware, and a small PCB, and probably be booted from a ready-made CD-ROM. Yet that's not good enough for some people either!

There will not be a £25 perfect magic black box solution to this. Every solution will have some shortcomings, depending on your point of view, but the important thing is that it is available and works.

I suggest that those who have another approach to investigate do so, instead of criticising a project that is much further advanced and has been demonstrated as working and viable.

[tubesrule]

Hi Tim,
I see Jeff already beat me to the post, and I couldn't have said it better.

Darryl

[Steve_P]

You beat me to it, Paul. I was reading this in between watching The Clangers and Bagpuss on Nick JR.

Kat - I'll come over when I can, but for your info, I am currently disabled after a stroke. If you do need anything, let me know and I'll twist my Dad's arm. This is useful addition so keep at it.

Just one painful question - can it be made to work under W*****s ?

Talk of interlacing and numbers are all very well but the important thing is does it work, which we've all seen that it does.

Cheers,

Steve P.

[ppppenguin]

I see this as a celebration, not a competition. It's great that several people have devised remarkably different approaches to the problem of running 405 line sets.

Darryl Hock (tubesrule), Malcolm Everiss, Kat Manton, Darius, David Robinson - all have done fine work and deserve credit. And then there are the pioneers. I won't name them all here but I'd like to give a special mention to David Boynes who devised the first amateur built converter way back in about 1990 when it was far harder than it is now.

[Kat Manton]

Originally Posted by Steve_P

If you do need anything, let me know and I'll twist my Dad's arm. This is useful addition so keep at it.

Just one painful question - can it be made to work under W*****s ?

I should be ok for equipment for now - the Sony 9" TV is working much better now and there's a 17" triple-standard monitor with my name on it in Cambridge. (I'm also hopefully going to sort my car out when the weather's improved, I'd gladly bring the gear over to you for a demo, Bolton's not far away, I used to live there and my parents still do.)

It won't work under Windows as the whole thing relies on features that Linux provides and Windows doesn't, but there are some ideas I'm mulling over. It may prove possible to run a cut-down version entirely off a CD without installing anything permanently on the computer's hard-drive. Dual-booting is another option; and there are various means to do this. My personal preference is to dedicate a spare PC to this permanently, though I can appreciate that may not appeal to some.

Originally Posted by ppppenguin

I see this as a celebration, not a competition. It's great that several people have devised remarkably different approaches to the problem of running 405 line sets.

Hear hear

My motivation is purely that of getting pictures on more 405-line television sets; my hope is that it may encourage more people into the hobby; and more sets are preserved. It's encouraging me into the hobby; I didn't have a 405-line set when I embarked on this project - mainly as I couldn't see the point in collecting and restoring something I couldn't really use, much as I like the sets themselves. Now, I have a feeling that 405-line sets may proliferate...

Regards, Kat

[oldeurope]

Originally Posted by ppppenguin

...converter way back in about 1990 when it was far harder than it is now.

Hi Jeffrey, it was possible to build my design without changes 20 years ago.
And I hope it'll be possible in the future. These days less people build things,
electronic shops close down and it will be difficult to get components.
I hope I can make more people building something to stop this process.
When I started building things, we had 6 electronic shops and now 2 are
left. And guess what they sell. (Most is computer hardware.)

Kind regards
Darius

[ppppenguin]

Originally Posted by Darius

Hi Jeffrey, it was possible to build my design without changes 20 years ago.

I have a copy of the manual for the Edutron CCD2h analog timebase corrector. This dates from 1980 and used CCD delay lines (Fairchild(?) 321A2) for the essential line storage. The same technology could have been used to make a 405 converter.

David Boynes used the first generation of low cost video ADC chips with small dual port memories to achieve his converter.

[oldeurope]

Originally Posted by ppppenguin

I have a copy of the manual for the Edutron CCD2h analog timebase corrector. This dates from 1980 and used CCD delay lines (Fairchild(?) 321A2) for the essential line storage. The same technology could have been used to make a 405 converter.

Ok 26 years ago.
Darius