1980s TV Studio Digital Video Effects

[dexters_lab]

Teardown of two paired devices, these are old digital effects units that appear to come from a TV studio... they are of 1980s vintage and although i do think they are working they are not actually operational because i am missing the system software 

Some pics etc on my blog:
http://dexterslab2013.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/teardown-professional-1980s-digital.html

and video on youtube:

[lausvi]

I also have that P164 main unit, but mine is with "P163 Digital effects controller". I bought them some years ago and have only barely flipped thrue the menus and managed to get some picture in and out with some really nice 80's effects Those removable boards are really great, the front view with allt the modules used to be my desktop background at some point!

I think I have some kind of manual for the main unit, maybe even something related to that touch screen of yours. I have the unit and the manuals at work and tomorrow is my last day of work before my vacation but I'll see if there is anything of interest for you. First I must watch your video.

[dexters_lab]

 

nice!

that P163 looks like a newer unit than the P152 and presumably this connects and controls the P164 without the need for system disks like my P152?

If you have any documentation that would be awesome...

[lausvi]

Yeah, the P163 is a fixed controller, ie. no drives or other methods of file transfer. It's connected to the yellow-coloured CONTROLLER 9-pin in the rear of the P164. The connector at the P163s end is a 8-pin DIN.

I found that I have PDFs of some CELL manuals, sent to me by Paul from oldvcr.tv. By the rarity of these units, I hope it's Ok to share the files (see links below). He also included a PDF of CEL MS850B's manual, which I had never printed as it didn't seem to relate to my equipment, but now as I looked, it does include stuff about the P152B! I am not sure if it has any pinouts. I also didn't have time to see what pins the 9-pin cable of my controller uses.

Hope these help! I'll try to find if I have any photos of my tests with the unit's output, I remember that using a video camera, then pixelating it, mirroring it both ways and altering the colours was quite a pretty sight

Manuals:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/39319567/CEL_MS850B_UserManual.pdf
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/39319567/CELP164_InstructionManual.pdf
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/39319567/CellP147-30.PDF

[dexters_lab]

awesome, thanks lausvi

I have messaged oldvcr.tv to see if he can help with a system disk

i have some reading to do...

[Halcyon]

I remember using a video titler back in the mid to late 90's which still used 5.25" floppy disks to boot and store the titles on.

[helius]

The "Serial" and "Parallel" connections on the rear of the unit are for BT.656 digital video, which had physical layers on either serial (SDI) or parallel formats. But since the "DIO" module is missing, they may not connect to anything.
The GPI port on the controller is a trigger connector. Video gear uses GPI to signal that a frame transfer is happening so that other devices know when to enable.

[dexters_lab]

thanks for the replies guys

not touched these for a few weeks and it seems nobody has the software for the P152, i tried in several places to no avail

I'm just about to head off on holiday for a couple of weeks, i will probably scrap the two parts when i get back, i really could do with the space and it doesn't look like they are going to do anything else other than gather dust now. If anyone in the UK wants them let me know!

[ycrcb]

Just for the purpose of archive and future seekers of the software for this system.

I have a working system disk !

I have been able to use the built-in system utilities to make a copy of said system disk.
Write me if you are interested and need this disk.

[dexters_lab]

Damd, if only you had posted two years ago!

It was taking too much space so after storing it for a year i scrapped it!

I would recommend making a kryoflux copy of the disk and putting it online.

[Harb]

I remember using a video titler back in the mid to late 90's which still used 5.25" floppy disks to boot and store the titles on.

I threw a heap of old Astons out like that......in fact I threw out 15 metric tons of stuff in our last move......it was getting way to hard to store and move around, and the TV format here in Australia has changed so many times in the last few years it was worth nothing.....We went from Pal 4:3 to Digital 16:9 and then HD all in the space of a few years, and every time I had to refit a fleet of OB vans.....such a waste of money....and very sad....... we are so far away from everyone else in the world I couldn't even give it away to other countries still using the old formats.....shipping was just to high.

[ycrcb]

For future reference:

I have made an account on archive.org and will upload all known manuals for the CEL system.
I will also upload a kryoflux image of the boot disk.

I recently got hold of the P163 Maurice Minor II, and the manual that was in that lot is also uploaded.

https://archive.org/details/@ycrcb