Okay, what's up with "TI Photo"?

[Omega-TI]

I saw this image on the Internet, there was no context with it.  Was it an April Fools joke or something?  If definitely does not have a "TI feel" to it.

 

[brain]

Looks like someone is running 2 comp inputs into a cctv system (one that has a main picture and 4 satellite videos in each corner), one running Wheels (GEOS) on the 64, and the other the TI.

 

Jim

 

[pixelpedant]

Yep.  For example, you can see how I do this (but mostly with other signals as the PIP signal, with the TI usually as background) using an Extron DVS 304, for my TI-99/4A Gaming Control Centre.

 

In that case, it's in the opposite direction. 

 

Where, in this shot, the F18A TI-99 output is the main signal, and a Sega Saturn is the PIP signal:

 

 

The DVS 304 allows the PIP window to be positioned anywhere within the higher resolution signal's picture, at a collection of available scaling ratios.

[Omega-TI]

Thanks guys.  That device looks spendy!  How much are they?

 

[Omega-TI]

At one point (after the F18A MK2 was going to be released as an HDMI device), I considered something like << THIS >>.  Thinking I could do that sort of thing and use my PC screen grabber software to record it all.  However since then, I've made very few videos, and the ones I had planned never came together hardware-wise, and the other got postponed due to weather.

 

Right now this one is going for about $25.50 for a limited setup it looks feasible, but woefully inadequate for a pixelpedant type of super system.

 

[pixelpedant]

Quote

Thanks guys.  That device looks spendy!  How much are they?

 

Oh, they're cheap.  Since they're mainly an analogue scaler and PIP device.  Neither of which functions is of particularly great and widespread interest to the wider retro gaming community, who otherwise sometimes find use for these devices, now that their professional utility has largely disappeared.  So they can pretty regularly be had for $50USD or something. 

 

This particular unit is of special relevance to TI-99/4A users, however, in that it can take Composite 15KHz input (like an unmodded TI-99 outputs), and output RGBHV video at common 4:3 and 16:9 LCD resolutions.  It is an excellent and affordable way to connect a Composite device to, say, a 1024x1280 or 1920x1080 LCD with VGA input, at the screen's native resolution.  With a lot of nice signal tweaks available via the RS-232 command set.

 

I don't use them for that though.  I use them 1) for PIP, and 2) for scaling and fixing the sync on screwy DOS era desktop and notebook video signals and 3) as a YPbPr->RGB converter. 

 

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by pixelpedant

[pixelpedant]

I suppose that an additional use of the DVS 304 with respect to the TI-99/4A would be as a YPbPr upconverter for PAL TI-99s.  Accepts 50Hz SD YPbPr input.  Output RGBHV to an LCD at any desired resolution.  This is arguably a stronger use-case than use with Composite, as 1) support for 50Hz SD YPbPr signals among modern displays is practically non-existent, where support for 60Hz Composite signals among modern displays is at least something you can successfully hunt for, and 2) There will be a much better signal quality payoff, than with Composite. 

Edited February 6, 2020 by pixelpedant