Star Tech Journal

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The Technical Monthly
for the Amusements Industry
P.O. Box 1 065
Merchantville, NJ 08109
609/662-3432
MARCH 1984
VOLUME 6, NO. 1
Publisher/Editor
James Galore
Administrative Assistant
L.T. DiRenzo
Art/Advertising Coordinator
Paul Ehlinger
Circulation Promotion
Linda Geseking
Layout
Dale Melani Graphics
Contributing
Technical Writers
Todd Erickson
Mark "Bear'' Attebery
Sam Cross
David Oerman
STARHECH JOURNAL, March
1984, Vol. 6, No. 1. Copyright 1 984
by Star*Tech Journal, Inc. All rights
reserved . Address inquiries to: P.O.
Box 1065, Merchantville, NJ08 109.
Phone: 609/662-3432. Subscrip-
tion rates: USA-$56.00. Canada·
$63.00. Other Countries-$98.00.
Please remit payment in US funds.
POSTMASTER: Send address
changes
to
STAR*TECH
JOURNAL, P.O. Box 1065,
Merchantville,
NJ
08109.
STARHECH JOURNAL (ISSN
0739-1048) is published monthly
by Star*Tech Journal, Inc., 18
North Centre St. , P.O. Box 1065,
Merchantville, NJ 08109. Second-
class postage paid at Camden, NJ
and additional mailing offices.
Advertising rates available upon
request. Contents of the articles
herein are verified as much as
possible. However, any reader using
this information does so at his/her
own risk. All manuscripts become
property of Star*Tech Journal. No
part of this Journal may be repro-
duced without permission.
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NEWS BITS
COLOR OSCILLOSCOPE USES LIBUIO-CRYSTAL
SHUTTER
HOOK A VIOEOCISC TO YOUR APPLE
FLICKER-FREE 3-C MOVIES WITH NEW STEREO
SYSTEM
FIRST DIGITAL TV SETS SHOWN IN EUROPE
SHARPEST TUBE IN TOWN
COLOR OSCILLOSCOPE USES
LI GU ID-CRYSTAL SHUTTER
T
ektronix has placed on the market the
5116 Color Display Oscilloscope, the
fi rst commercial application of its Liquid-
Crystal Color Shutter. Color, says the company,
results in increased productivity due to faster
analysis, ease of use, and reduced operator
error.
Color traces act as coding devices for
separating information, emphasizing impor-
tant features, enhancing pattern recognition,
and, perhaps the most important, improving
the user interface.
Coupled with the 501 0 Waveform Digitizer
(a plug-in for all 5000-series oscilloscopes)
Tektronix calls it "the world's first liquid-crystal
color-shutter display digital storage-oscillo-
scope," with the ability to store transient
events with frequency components up to 1,000
kHz for single-channel acquisition and up to
50 kHz for dual-channel acquisition.
HOOK A VIDEODISC TO
YOUR APPLE
T
he Omniscan interface permits owners
of Apple II computers to connect and
control videodiscs from manufacturers such
as Pioneer, Sylvania and Magnavox. The inter-
face replaces the functions of the player's
control panel but permits programmed control
via the Apple.
The user can control fast motion, slow
motion and single-step frame advance of the
videodisc player. You can also extend control
to the audio output of the device and switching
of the TV monitor between videodisc or
computer display.
Software to control the videodisc is pro-
vided with the Omniscan interface. The
software can be used with the Basic, Pascal
and Super Pilot languages as well as with
machine language. The interface is supplied
as a circuit board with all the necessary
connecting cables.
The Omniscan interface has a list price of
$275. A wireless control module is available
as an option for $30.
Anthro-Digital, Inc., 103 Bartlett Avenue,
P.O. Box 1385, Pittsfield, MA 01202;
(413) 448-8278.
FLICKER-FREE 3-0 MOVIES
WITH NEW STEREO SYSTEM
V
arious "3-D" optical systems used in
videogames, movies, etc., have shown
weaknesses. Those using red-green eye-
glasses limit the color spectrum and often
cause eyestrain. Polarizing systems render
color better but produce ghosting if the
viewer's head is not kept rigidly vertical.
In a new system, originated by Stereo·
graphics Corp. of San Rafael, CA, glasses are
used in which the left and right lenses are
triggered alternately on and off in sync with
the program source (video games, computer
software, videotape, stereoscopic microscope,
or video camera).
The stereoscope program source is
connected to a "black box", which decodes
the image for each eye and keeps it in sync
with the electro-optical shuttering glasses.
In earlier versions of the system, the
glasses are connected to the black box by
wire. In later systems, infrared rays or ultrasonic
waves have been used experimentally.
FIRST DIGITAL TV BETS
SHOWN IN EUROPE
T
he world's first production color-
television sets using digital signal·
processing techniques were shown in public
atthe International Radio and Television Show
in West Berlin last September.
Both picture and sound signals are pro-
cessed digitally, with claimed advantages in
long-term picture-quality stability, true high-
fidelity stereo sound, simplified inclusion of
videotext, easier and more accurate service
adjustments, and increased reliability.
The new sets were demonstrated by
Standard Electric Lorenz, an ITT company,
and are being sold under the brand names of
ITT and Graetz.
Seven very-large-scale integrated circuits
(VLSI), designed and patented by ITT Semi-
conductors Worldwide (Freiburg, Federal
Republic of Germany) are being used to
replace some 300 conventional components.
The space saved by reducing the number of
parts has been used to incorporate an en-
hanced audio section, with improved sound
reproduction from a new bass-response
system.
The new VLSI circuits will be licensed to
major television manufacturers in Europe,
Japan and the United States.
SHARPEST TUBE IN TOWN
S
ony has developed a 20-inch mono-
chrome monitor with a superhigh-
resolution display of 2820 x 2130 pixels. The
monitor is designed to be used in a CAD/CAM
design station that uses the Japanese language
kanji-character displays. According to Sony,
the monitor will be available for $4000
sometime in 1984.