Technical info on HAM-E, DCTV, ColorBurst hardware wanted

[mark_k]

Hi,

Over the Amiga's life, there were several devices produced that connected to the 23-pin video port, and allowed more colours to be shown.

I'm aware of at least 5:
- HAM-E from Black Belt Systems
- DCTV from Digital Creations (this also plugged into the parallel port and the hardware included a video digitiser)
- ColorBurst from MAST
- Fun Color from Adept Development (saw this on amiga-hardware.com)
- Graffiti from Individual Computers

Technical info on the Graffiti is available from the Individual Computers web site, but I couldn't find detailed docs on any of the others.

I'd like to get hold of:
- Technical details about how the hardware works for DCTV, Fun Color, ColorBurst and HAM-E (I got a little info on the HAM-E from an old Usenet posting).
- Any software that came with ColorBurst & Fun Color (DCTV & HAM-E software is available on the web)

So if you have that or know where I might get it, please let me know.


-- M

[YoJoe!]

Do any of those devices provide higher resolutions on AGA Amigas than they do on ECS?

[DrF]

For anyone that does not know heres some links to some of the hardware that Mark_K mentioned :

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showha...cgi?HARDID=503

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showha...cgi?HARDID=473

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showha...cgi?HARDID=498

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showha...cgi?HARDID=282

The DCTV seems more like a digitiser/genlock thingy than a video card add on?

I only have found this so far :

http://www.l8r.net/install/video.html

They have some DCTV and Graffiti drivers/software

[mark_k]

Originally Posted by YoJoe!

Do any of those devices provide higher resolutions on AGA Amigas than they do on ECS?

The Graffiti does. AGA machines can output super-high-res (normally 1280 pixels per line without overscan) and the Graffiti will do its magic to give a high-res (possibly interlaced) chunky pixel display. You can read the details at the Individual Computers web site.

The other devices were all (not sure about Fun Color) released before AGA machines came out, so they probably don't. But AGA machines will work better with them since chip RAM access is faster.

Originally Posted by DrF

For anyone that does not know heres some links to some of the hardware that Mark_K mentioned :
[URLs deleted]

The DCTV seems more like a digitiser/genlock thingy than a video card add on?

I only have found this so far :

http://www.l8r.net/install/video.html

They have some DCTV and Graffiti drivers/software

Yep, I found that too. The DCTV is similar in principle to the other "colour expansion" type devices. It's not a genlock, but can digitise composite video signals (it also plugs into the parallel port for that). There are some details in the review on Aminet, as well as quite a few pictures, animations and utilities: http://aminet.net/search?query=dctv


-- M

I have both a HAM-E and DCTV, but have recently moved, and have TONS of things taking up my time at the moment. So you really need to motivate me to try to find any info for you And since I have 17 computers, including the four I operate 24/7 and use daily, sorting through my old computers isn't my highest priority

Anyways, without having the hardware yourself, there's not too much use for knowing all the details, is there? What exactly are you looking for? Both units used a magic trigger to turn the unit on/off. When on, they'd reinterpret the bit patterns to come up with something different than what would be seen if the hardware wasn't there.

Black Belt Systems made the HAM-E, and they are still in business. They may be able to give you all the info you could ever hope for. Then again, I believe they settled out of court with Commodore over something relating to the HAM-E, and may not be able to talk about it at all anymore.

http://www.blackbeltsystems.com/

Just stumbled across this message while Googling something, and won't normally check this board (although I'll try to remember to check this thread for the next week or two).

[mark_k]

Originally Posted by 2knarf

Anyways, without having the hardware yourself, there's not too much use for knowing all the details, is there? What exactly are you looking for? Both units used a magic trigger to turn the unit on/off. When on, they'd reinterpret the bit patterns to come up with something different than what would be seen if the hardware wasn't there.

I'd like to know (or figure out) exactly how they work. The idea being that Amiga emulators could in future emulate those devices, so you could e.g. play DCTV animations or whatever using an emulator. Knowing what chips are inside could help a lot with reverse-engineering. Ideally I'd get hold of one of the units and trace the circuit inside myself, which could help even more.

Originally Posted by 2knarf

Black Belt Systems made the HAM-E, and they are still in business. They may be able to give you all the info you could ever hope for. Then again, I believe they settled out of court with Commodore over something relating to the HAM-E, and may not be able to talk about it at all anymore.

Yes, I found their site a while ago. Sent a message but never received a reply, unfortunately. But there was a Usenet posting back in the day that contained a fair amount of info on how the HAM-E works. See here.


-- M