Videoface
Encyclopedia
Videoface Digitiser is a video digitiser interface for Sinclair
ZX Spectrum
home computer
. It was produced by Data-Skip from The Netherlands and later on Romantic Robot from UK in 1987. It was originally sold for GBP 69, but price dropped to 30 GBP within few years.
Videoface takes signal from any video source with composite video
out capability. It produces a 256 × 192 pixel
s, 4 bit screen. Scanning speed is just less than 4 frame/s
. These screens can be saved as single pictures or animations with variable speed, and later loaded and edited in some drawing programs for the ZX Spectrum. During scanning, the contrast
of the picture can be adjusted by turning the knob
on top of the Videoface, and the picture can be shifted horizontally and vertically.
Sinclair Research Ltd
Sinclair Research Ltd is a British consumer electronics company founded by Sir Clive Sinclair in Cambridge. Originally incorporated in 1973 as Ablesdeal Ltd., it remained dormant until 1976, and did not adopt the name Sinclair Research until 1981....
ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
home computer
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...
. It was produced by Data-Skip from The Netherlands and later on Romantic Robot from UK in 1987. It was originally sold for GBP 69, but price dropped to 30 GBP within few years.
Videoface takes signal from any video source with composite video
Composite video
Composite video is the format of an analog television signal before it is combined with a sound signal and modulated onto an RF carrier. In contrast to component video it contains all required video information, including colors in a single line-level signal...
out capability. It produces a 256 × 192 pixel
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....
s, 4 bit screen. Scanning speed is just less than 4 frame/s
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
. These screens can be saved as single pictures or animations with variable speed, and later loaded and edited in some drawing programs for the ZX Spectrum. During scanning, the contrast
Contrast (vision)
Contrast is the difference in visual properties that makes an object distinguishable from other objects and the background. In visual perception of the real world, contrast is determined by the difference in the color and brightness of the object and other objects within the same field of view...
of the picture can be adjusted by turning the knob
Knob
Knob may refer to:* A rounded handle that one pulls or twists:** Doorknob, a round handle one turns to open any door** Control knob, controls a device** Brodie knob on the steering wheel...
on top of the Videoface, and the picture can be shifted horizontally and vertically.