Spectravideo International Limited (SVI) (printed as Spectra Video, with the space, in game manuals) was an American

computer manufacturer Current notable computer hardware manufacturers: Cases List of computer case manufacturers: * Aigo * Antec * AOpen * ASRock * Asus * be quiet! * CaseLabs (defunct) * Chassis Plans * Cooler Master * Corsair * Deepcool * DFI * ECS ...

and software house. It was originally called SpectraVision, a company founded by Harry Fox in 1981. The company produced

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s and other software for the

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit entry level home computer that was sold by Commodore International, Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commod ...

home computer Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a s ...

, the

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridg ...

home video game console A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. While initial consoles were dedicated units with only a few game ...

, and its

CompuMate The CompuMate SV010 was a home computer peripheral manufactured by Spectravideo, Spectravideo International for the Atari 2600 home video game console. It was released on 6 January 1983 at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevad ...

peripheral A peripheral device, or simply peripheral, is an auxiliary hardware device that a computer uses to transfer information externally. A peripheral is a hardware component that is accessible to and controlled by a computer but is not a core compo ...

. Some of their own computers were compatible with the

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...

or the

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the List of IBM Personal Computer models, IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible ''de facto'' standard. Released on ...

. Despite their initial success, the company faced financial troubles, and by 1988, operations ceased. Later, a UK-based company bought the Spectravideo brand name from Bondwell in 1988, but this company, known as Logic3, had no connection to the original Spectravideo products and was dissolved in 2016.

History

SpectraVision was founded in 1981 by Harry Fox and Alex Weiss as a distributor of computer games, contracting external developers to write the software. Their main products were gaming cartridges for the Atari 2600, Colecovision and VIC-20. In late 1982 the company was renamed to Spectravideo due to a naming conflict with On Command Corporation's Hotel TV system called SpectraVision. Harry Fox and Peter Law developed and patented ergonomic joystick for Spectravideo. This was the basis for QuickShot line of joysticks and other input devices produced by Spectravideo for video game machines and home computers. In the early 1980s, the company developed 11 games for the

, including several titles of some rarity: ''

Chase the Chuckwagon ''Chase the Chuck Wagon'' is a 1983 promotional video game written by Mike Schwartz for the Atari 2600 and distributed by Purina. It was available only via mail order by sending in proofs of purchase to Purina. In the 1970s and 1980s, popular t ...

'', ''

Mangia ''Mangia'' (also styled ''Mangia'', with a trailing apostrophe) is a video game for the Atari 2600 released by Spectravision in 1983. The title "Mangia" is an Italian word meaning "eat!". The North American version is one of the rarest games for ...

'' and ''Bumper Bash''. A few of their titles were only available through the

Columbia House Columbia House was an umbrella brand for Columbia Records' mail-order music clubs, the primary iteration of which was the Columbia Record Club, established in 1955. The Columbia House brand was introduced in the early 1970s by Columbia Records ...

music club. The company's first attempt at a computer was an add-on for the

called the Spectravideo

, with a

membrane keyboard A membrane keyboard is a computer keyboard whose keys are not separate, moving parts, as with the majority of other keyboards, but rather are pressure pads that have only outlines and symbols printed on a flat, flexible surface. Very little tacti ...

and very simple programmability. Spectravideo's first real computers were the

SV-318 The SV-318 is the basic model of the Spectravideo range. It was fitted with a chiclet style keyboard, which was difficult to use, alongside a combination cursor pad/joystick. This is a disc-shaped affair with a hole in the centre; put a red plas ...

and

SV-328 The SV-328 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Spectravideo in June 1983. It was the business-targeted model of the Spectravideo range, sporting a compact full-travel keyboard with numeric keypad. It had 80 KB Random-access memory, RAM ( ...

, released in 1983. Both were powered by a Z80 A at 3.6 MHz, but differed in the amount of RAM (SV-318 had 32KB and SV-328 had 80KB total, of which 16KB was reserved for video) and keyboard style. The main

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

, residing in ROM, was a version of Microsoft Extended BASIC, but if the computer was equipped with a floppy drive, the user had the option to boot with

CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/Intel 8085, 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Dig ...

instead. These two computers were precedent to

and not fully compatible with the standard, though the changes made to their design to create MSX were minor. The system had a wide range of optional hardware, for example an adapter making it possible to run

ColecoVision ColecoVision is a second-generation home video-game console developed by Coleco and launched in North America in August 1982. It was released a year later in Europe by CBS Electronics as the CBS ColecoVision. The console offered a closer expe ...

games on the SVI. SpectraVideo also created the QuickShot SVI-2000 Robot Arm which could be connected to a Commodore 64 user port or be controlled stand-alone with two joysticks. In May 1983, Spectravideo went public with the sale of 1 million shares of stock at $6.25 per share in an initial public offering underwritten by brokerage D. H. Blair & Co. However, Spectravideo quickly ran into trouble. By December 1983 its stock had fallen to 75 cents per share. In March 1984, the company agreed to sell a 60% stake of itself to Hong Kong-based Bondwell Holding in a deal that would have also required the resignation of president Harry Fox and vice-president Alex Weiss. That deal was set aside when Spectravideo was unable to restructure about $2.6 million worth of debt, and another deal where Fanon Courier U.S.A. Inc. would have purchased 80% of the company was struck in July. The Fanon Courier deal similarly fell through, and Fox resigned as president in September, with Bondwell Holding purchasing over half of the company's stock and installing Bondwell vice-president Christopher Chan as the new president. In May 1984 the Spectravideo

SVI-728 The SVI-728 is the first home computer from Spectravideo that complied fully with the MSX home computer specification. It was introduced in 1984. The design is virtually identical to that of the earlier SV-328, which did not comply fully with the ...

was released. This was a MSX compatible machine. In 1985 the

SVI-738 The Spectravideo SVI-738 X'Press is an MSX1 compatible home computer manufactured by Spectravideo from 1985. Although compatible with the MSX 1.0 standard, it incorporates several extensions to the standard (80-column display, serial RS-232, bui ...

, also MSX compatible was released. The machine came with a built-in 360 KB 3.5"

floppy drive A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...

. The last computer produced by Spectravideo was the

SVI-838 The SVI-838, also known as X'press 16, is the last microcomputer produced by Spectravideo (at Hong Kong). Although it was a PC clone, it had the standard sound and video coprocessors of the MSX2, making it a hybrid system. The sales were unimpress ...

(also known as Spectravideo X'Press 16), released in 1986. It was compatible with both the PC and MSX2 standards.

Legacy

The Spectravideo name was used by a UK-based company called SpectraVideo Plc, formerly known as Ash & Newman. That company was founded in 1977, and bought the Spectravideo brand name from Bondwell in 1988. They sold a range of products branded as Logic3, and have no connection to the original Spectravideo products. The company changed its name to Logic3 in 2006, and entered

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

in 2013 after a licensing deal with

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

proved to be a failure. The company was formally dissolved on 19 April 2016.

List of video games

There are 68 games for Spectravideo that are not compatible with

computersSpectavideo complatible games with MSX
/ref>

References

External links

* ttp://www.spectravideo.se Spectravideo.se: Glenn's Spectravideo webpage {{Atari 2600 1981 disestablishments in the United States 1988 disestablishments in the United States American companies established in 1981 American companies disestablished in 1988 Computer companies established in 1981 Computer companies disestablished in 1988 Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct video game companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct computer systems companies Home computer hardware companies MSX Video game companies established in 1981 Video game companies disestablished in 1988 Spectravideo