Re: Open hardware AV to digital conversion

From: Mark McDougall <msmcdoug_at_iinet.net.au>
Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 12:23:04 +1100
Message-ID: <54A895F8.1090100@iinet.net.au>
On 4/01/2015 8:17 AM, Marko Mäkelä wrote:

> The most future-proof way might be to use a generic A/D converter and a fast
> enough FPGA. A more practical way could be to use a special video A/D
> converter chip, such as this one:
> http://www.analog.com/static/imported-files/data_sheets/ADV7181C.pdf

> Does anyone happen to have experience of such A/D converter chips, or
> connecting Commodore hardware to the video inputs of the MilkyMist One?

I've used the TVP7002 on the front end of an FPGA which implemented a triple 
frame buffer with clipping and scaling engines. In short, the hardware is 
ideal for collectors of a wide range of retro computing equipment.

Having said that, the TVP7002 still required tweaking for different video 
sources, as did the clipper and scaler. The hardware itself was designed to 
handle dozens of different video sources and resolutions, and the 
controlling software was configured to keep track of the tweak factors. So 
whilst it was certainly capable of handling pretty much every known video 
source, it was far from a plug and play solution. Once configured though, it 
was a nice piece of kit.

It was also a very expensive piece of proprietary equipment, and I do not 
retain the rights to the IP, unfortunately. I still have a few boxes that 
I've used on the Amiga and TRS-80 Coco 3, and did toy with the idea of 
producing my own hardware based on the same design, but it would be very 
expensive.

Regards,

-- 
|              Mark McDougall                | "Electrical Engineers do it
|  <http://members.iinet.net.au/~msmcdoug>   |   with less resistance!"

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Received on 2015-01-04 02:00:04

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