Date : Fri, 01 Mar 2002 11:19:01 +0000
From : Paul Wheatley <p.r.wheatley@...>
Subject: Re: BBC Domesday on the telly
Dave Gorst wrote:
>
> Can't think that the interface to the laserdisc player would be particularly
> difficult - there's quite a few old laserdisc players about with a serial
> interfaces, which I guess you could connect to the RS432 IIRC (have a look
> at the Dragons Lair emulator Daphne for instance).
This is slow, but a connection to the SCSI interface will hopfeully be better
*:-)
> Was there anything odd
> about the player or disc format?
Lots of things. Like the format itself, which is pretty odd, and the digital
data stored in the space usually reserved in Videodiscs for audio! *:-)
> Otherwise could we not write something to
> step through and play the full contents of the disc and use a PC video
> digitiser card to capture the result?
Thats our plan, subject to sorting legal things.
> Then either re-format the results into
> either HTML or something similar,
Its a little more complicated than that, simply becuase Domesday is a *big*
resource. We are looking into doing some migration owrk however.
> or hack in support for the Master AV and
> playing MPEG video into BeebEm or whatever?
Yep - emulation certainly looks like the best way forward.
> It'd also be a great addition to
> something like MESS (after all, preservation of old systems is what it's
> supposed to be all about), but I don't think they've got it supporting the
> Master as of the mo. Anyway, I'd be happy to have a crack at it if someone's
> got the discs.
>
> I actually saw a Master AV going free in my local paper a few years ago and
> I'm kicking myself 'cos I was thinking of trying to re-write Dragons Lair
> for it (I know, I have no life).
>
> Cheers,
> Dave.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Paul Wheatley" <p.r.wheatley@...>
> To: <news@...>
> Cc: <bbc-micro@...>
> Sent: Friday, March 01, 2002 10:22 AM
> Subject: Re: [BBC-Micro] BBC Domesday on the telly
>
> >
> >
> > news@... wrote:
> > >
> > > >news@... wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > On Wednesday JISC (Joint Information Systems Commitee) is
> > > > > > holding a press launch for the Digital Preservation
> > > > > > Coalition
> > > > > > (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/preservation/prescoalition.html).
> > > > >
> > > > > > As part of the launch I produced a press release
> > > > > > describing BBC Domesday as
> > > > > > an example of the loss of digital materials thru hardware
> > > > > > and software obsolecence (and hence the need for digital
> > > > > > preservation work).
> > > > >
> > > > > With the exception of the huge laser disc players,I wouldn't count
> them
> > > > > as obsolete!
> > > >
> > > > Well that depends on how you interpret the word obsolete.
> > > >
> > > > The Domesday system requires not just the Videodisc player but a
> specially
> > > > modified Master as well. Given that not many were manufactured and
> hence not
> > > > many are still around today (and even less that are still working)
> > >
> > > You could modify a 'normal' master,since tracking for the genlock
> circuitry
> > > is on all the motherboards.The VFS ROM is somewhere on the "BBC Lives!"
> as
> > > I recall.
> > >
> > > The interface to the laser disc could prove more tricky...
> >
> > Thats the key problem I believe.
> >
> > Anyway, all of this is somewhat missing the point. Hardware has a finite
> > lifetime, and we want to preserve digital materials for the long term.
> > "Technology Preservation" is simply not going to do the job.
> >
> > >
> > > > > There are a good few still about and working,I'd imagine it wouldn't
> be
> > > > > too hard to suck the image off the laser disc and hack something
> together
> > > > > in an emulator,
> > > >
> > > > Not necessarily as easy as you think, but I'm hoping we'll have it
> done by
> > > > the summer.
> > >
> > > >From what I remember Acorn implemented a full filing system in VFS,so
> some
> > > BASIC to recursively transmit the files over Econet or the serial port
> would
> > > seem the most obvious solution.
> > > Also,OSWords &60 to &64 are worth a look.
> >
> > Serial port was so slow that it would take literally days to pull the
> digital
> > information off the discs. The next avenue to explore is connecting to the
> > videodisc player via SCSI.
> >
> > >
> > > > The problems aren't just technical tho - the first obstacle is
> > > > legal. We certainly won't be able to give access to anyone. It'll be
> up to
> > > > someone else (maybe the BBC or the British Library perhaps) to pay the
> > > > relevant people and then provide access...
> > >
> > > Ah,yes,I'd forgotton about the BBC getting upset.Still,that doesn't stop
> > > you doing the work - just from making it public!
> > > Sprow.
> >
> > I believe the BBC have some interest in the work, but they aren't the
> owners
> > of the BBC Domesday material...
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Paul
> > --
> > UK Project Manager
> > CAMiLEON
> > http://www.si.umich.edu/CAMILEON/
> > http://www.leeds.ac.uk/camileon
> > 0113 233 5830
--
UK Project Manager
CAMiLEON
http://www.si.umich.edu/CAMILEON/
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/camileon
0113 233 5830