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The Memotech MTX Series |
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Memotech Photos - Multi-Effect Video Wall
A couple of Video Wall components were advertised on eBay UK in
August 2024. The system was incomplete and the seller knew
nothing about them at least, not until I gave him a few
pointers.
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Multi-Effect Video Wall Pictures -
courtesy of eBay |
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The first item listed was described as a "MEMOTECH
MTX2000 Vintage Computer - No Keyboard - Like MTX512 or
MTX "
Although it was in the same MTX2000 case as
my own MTX2000
VideoWall computer, this item did not include all of the
MTX2000 hardware. Despite that, its rarity and Jim's
desire to acquire it, saw the wining bid reach £720! |
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The system was made up of a MTX
4000-05 computer board, a ROM board (without ROMs
fitted), a cut down RS232 interface board with the FDX
interface cut off and a DC power supply replacing the
usual MTX power conditioning components.
The
internal 3.5" floppy drive and controller that were
intended to be installed in a "proper" MTX 2000 system
unit were not installed and the external MTX keyboard
was missing.. |
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| The rear of the unit was fitted
with the same VideoWall ports as mine, i.e., the
connector for the external keyboard, video output,
centronics interface for the DDFS unit(s), RS232
connections and the time-clock input. |
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| The unit had a label on the
bottom with the product ID "2019R" and serial number
"2034". |
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| The seller included a screenshot
of the video output as shown here. It seems that the
system has dropped to "PANEL", more than likely due to
the PAL memory decoder being configured to boot the
system from the missing Video Wall ROMs. The display is
corrupted, likely due to a VRAM failure. Both problems
are relatively easy to resolve. |
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| The second item, listed at the
same time, was described as "MEMOTECH PAL DEC 15 - RGB
Video Box for MTX2000". This was a video decoder unit
for a medium resolution Video Wall system. With its very
limited usefulness, it went for £117. |
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| This unit took a composite video
PAL input and generated 4 RGB outputs for processing by
the DDFS units. It also featured a connection for an
external "Decoder Adjust"[ment] tool to adjust the
picture quality of the outputs with adjustments for
brightness, contract and colour. |
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| The seller included a photo of
the internals of the unit, showing the same Video
Decoder and Distribution Amplifier boards that are
fitted to my Decoder boxes. |
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| Label from the bottom of the unit |
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A couple of months later, in late
October, the seller found the missing DDFS units and
listed them on eBay UK too.
| Described as "Memopix Videowall
1500 MID RES - Part of Memotech CRT Video Wall System?",
these were the major components missing from the
complete system, albeit that the multitude of required
cables was not included. Both were included in the lot.
These components were the most valuable part of the
system back in the day, but despite that, with their
limited use today, they went for £245, with Jim grabbing
them at the end of the auction. |
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| View from above one of the units,
confirming that they were components of a Mid-Res 1500
system. |
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| The rear of the units, showing
the input connections from the Decoder module, the
centronics connections from the MTX2000 or other
controller and the RGB outputs to the monitors. |
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| Label from the bottom of one of
the units |
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| Label from the bottom of the
other |
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| A end--user label from one of the
units, "Telstar Roadshow", suggesting that this system
was operated as a mobile unit from some kind of
audio/video roadshow. This is a similar application to
one of my systems
- I wonder if the components were originally installed
in a similar flight case as mine? |
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