UPGRADE-D to K3BC SSTV



               This revision's focus is on improving the quality of  the 

          picture display in Trucolor, improving the quality of pictures 

          transmitted  by tapping into the 24-bit color CD-ROM  sources, 

          and  improving  the operability. I would like  to  stress  the 

          desirability   of   upgrading  your   computer   to   Trucolor 

          (640x480x16.7  million  colors).  Video  cards  offering  this 

          capability are now quite cheap (the Cirrus Logic chipset  used 

          in  their  own card and by Diamond Speedstar have  pushed  the 

          prices  below  $75) and generally offer direct  addressing  as 

          VESA cards with no extra driver required. The new  DX/Hi-Reso-

          lution  mode  96 introduced in Revision C  requires  Trucolor. 

          There  is a growing army of users of the system on  VHF  where 

          the  extra transmission time of mode 96 is not  an  impediment 

          and  the  resolution  improvement by a factor of  4  is  quite 

          impressive!  The  major additions are listed  below  with  the 

          paragraphs in TVINFO.TXT where more complete info is contained 

          being shown in parenthesis.

               It amazes me how many people are missing the use  of some 

          of the system's capabilities because they have not  thoroughly 

          read the Instruction Manual, TVINFO.TXT. 99% of the  questions 

          I get asked are covered in detail in this document. READ IT ! 

               The major additions are:

               (1) We  have  used  Fractal techniques  to eliminate  the 

          pixelization (or "square pixel" effect) on the TRUSHO pictures 

          that  are expanded to fill the screen. This is easier  to  see 







          than  to  talk about. The improvement on "clean"  pictures  is 

          startling. (TRUSHO)

               (2) The Receive program, RT.BAS, has had Truculor viewing 

          added to it with a selection of options of both color  resolu-

          tion and picture size offered in the SYSTEM CONFIGURATION list 

          in lines 3230 to 3270.  (RT)

               (3)  We have added a picture type menu screen  to  RT.BAS 

          which  can  be easily customized by the user to  use  his  own 

          favorite  picture. This includes single key commands  (ie;  no 

          ENTER  key needed) when choosing from the picture  menu.  This 

          can be switched in or out in line 3230. (RT)

               (4)  Added  a TGACONV.BAS program for  converting  24-bit 

          color Targa files of any resolution (pixels/line) to the  SSTV 

          formats. There are a lot of high quality CD-ROM images  avail-

          able now in this format---this is the first source of pictures 

          I've  found  which really uses the mode 96  capability.  (TGA-

          CONV)

               (5) In the previous revision we added capability to  save 

          pix  directly in compressed format in RT, TRUSHO,  and  SLIDE-

          SHOW.  This revision expands this to cover  TIFCONV,  TGACONV, 

          and  PCXLABEL.  KY1S has convinced me that PKZIP is  a  better 

          choice for compression, so I have made that first choice.  The 

          3  batch  files, PK, PKV, and PKX are now for  PKZIP.  If  you 

          still want to use PKARC, you can rename PK-ARC.BAT to  PK.BAT, 

          rename  PKV-ARC.BAT  to PKV.BAT, and PKX-ARC.BAT  to  PKX.BAT. 

          Also in line 440 of VT.BAS change the .ZIP to .ARC.

               (6)  We added the ability to transmit directly from  com-







          pressed  file pictures in the VT.BAS program. Since this  pro-

          gram  both  views and transmits, it can also be used  to  view 

          single compressed picture files directly. For viewing multiple 

          files,  a simple batch file, PX.BAT, decompresses a series  of 

          pictures into the RAMDISK where a quick TSS will allow  TRUSHO 

          viewing.  Just typing---C:\TV>px a---will decompress  all  the 

          files  in  drive A into full format pictures in  the  RAMDISK. 

          (VT)

               (7)  A simple program, LINETIME.BAS, was added to  calcu-

          late  the  line timing numbers for  all modes  once  you  have 

          experimentally determined the correct timing number, LT3,  for 

          Scottie 1. (RT)

               (8) More info on noisy I/O cards. (RT)

               (9) Batch  files like STGA.BAT are used to chain  several 

          of these programs together to download CD-ROM pictures direct-

          ly  into the View/Transmit program, VT.BAS.  By  pre-answering 

          the  questions in the programs used in the chain; ie,  by  re-

          placing  the line in a program that asks a question by a  line 

          that  states  the answer), you can get  a  seamless  download, 

          format conversion, add predetermined words or graphics, and go 

          right to the Transmit G(o) button. You can even chain portions 

          of the Basic programs together by adding a line with the  word 

          SYSTEM  to toggle the program back to the batch  file  at  the 

          desired point. The only limit is your imagination. (TGACONV)

               Please remember when you incorporate the new revision  to 

          transfer  all of your SYSTEM CONFIGURATION values to  the  new 

          copy of the programs. Also, keep a copy of the old TRUSHO (ie, 

          TRUSHO.BAS  and  TRUSHO.ASM) on a separate floppy so  you  can 







          compare it to the new.

                                                  Have fun,

                                                  Ben Vester, K3BC

          6/18/94