31 May
2007
31 May
'07
3:17 p.m.
I have something similar in a Polaroid product - a
high-res B&W CRT in
a box with an internal motorized color wheel and a video input. You
provide a 15KHz (NTSC freq) RGB video stream to the box, press the
"freeze" button, which captures an image internally, then it shows 4
different views through the 4 portions of the wheel and exposes a
frame of film 4 times before advancing.
Interesting. I have a similar, but probably older Polaroid product,
called, IIRC, a 'Videoprinter 4'.
There doesn't seem to be any internal video storage. You give it RS-170
timed (TV rates) RGB video) on seprate BNC sonnectors. Inside is a small
mono monitor, the colour filter wheel, a stepper motor to turn that, and
some control electronics. The latter is microprocesor-based, I want to
say 8080, but it may be an 8085 or something.
On the front is a 'camera'. This uses an enlerger lense (presumably
chosen because it's computed for use at close distances) and a Polaroid
SX70 film back. The camera can be removed, I got what seems to have been
a home-made bracket with mine which probably held some 35mm SLR. I have
no idea what SLR was used, though.
Anyway, it moves each filter into the light path in turn, selects the
appropriate video 'colour' signal and then unblanks the CRT for the
appropriate time. After doing all three colours, it ejects the print from
the side of the film back.
It got it with my I2S Model 70 image processor/display systems
(minicomputer peripherals dating from about 1980 IIRC). It was, alas, the
only part of that system that I got no documentation on (I got full
schematisc of the I2S machines and the Barco monitor, etc). Polaroid told
me they'd never made such a device and couldn't supply a manual.
Oh well, one day I'll take some time to figute it all out.
-tony