History of video games/Platforms/1292 Advanced Programmable Video System

History
The 1292 Advanced Video Programmable Video System was released in either 1976 or 1978.

Technology
The 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System is powered by an 8-bit Signetics 2650AI processor clocked at about 887kHz.

A Signetics 2636N Programmable Video Interface (PVI) chip clocked at 3.58 megahertz is used for graphics, capable of rendering four sprites, a background grid and four score digits. By programming in real-time during each scan of the TV picture, the sprites may be reprogrammed further down the screen. Similarly, score digits may be displayed at both the top and bottom of the screen. All video is generated from 113 registers in the PVI. As such, there is no video RAM in this system. The PVI also provides the programmer with 37 bytes of scratch memory that maybe used for variables. A few games cartridges for these consoles such as chess included an extra 1kB of RAM.

Games
Two games were specific to the Voltmace Database.

External Resources

 * IGDB - 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System page with history and specs.
 * Video Game Console Library - Page with history, specs, and photos of variants.