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The Memotech MTX Series

MEMOTECH

     Multi-Effect Video Wall    

Part of the 128 screen Video Wall in the Olympia Centre, East Kilbride - then the largest Video Wall in Europe, c.1990

The Video Wall in the Ecology Gallery at the Natural History Museum, London, c. 1991

 

System Overview

The Cameron Users Manual includes a number of diagrams showing how the system was assembled. These diagrams should help make the functions of the various modules on the Photos page a little clearer. This setup is a "typical" system - there were many variations in how Memotech Video Wall systems were configured, particularly as the product developed over its lifetime.

 

   

Figure 3 shows a "Prompt" monitor connected to the normal MTX Video output, as well as the separate Power Supply Units needed for the MTX Computer and SDX Disk Drive.

 

This diagram appears to show an MTX512S2 with an attached SDX disk drive. Some systems did not need the SDX drive - the software could be installed in ROMs fitted to a ROM expansion board in the computer.

 

 

Figure 4 shows a 16 screen Video Wall, using two "Black Magic" Video Wall controllers, each driving eight monitors and a single, 4 output, Video Decoder module.

 

The RGBS outputs from the Decoder were fed to a pair of 15-pin "D" type sockets on the Video Wall controllers, one for each of the framestore controller boards.

 

The controller boards were multi-dropped on the ribbon cable from the MTX printer port.

   
Figure 5 shows the 8, 9-pin RGBS connections from each Video Wall controller to the monitors. Video Wall specifications from the Cameron User Manual

 

Andy Key has a copy of a Memotech Computers Limited brochure for the Memopix Video Wall system, the brochure is available in the Library pages, it includes this diagram which shows the hardware in these later Video Wall systems.

 

 

 

Example System Architectures

 
I believe that the Video Wall hardware that I bought off ebay in 2013 contained components from two different, and probably relatively early model, Video Walls :-
 

Although I think that I am missing much of the original hardware, particularly from the larger system, if you click on the links, you can see my best guess of how the systems might have been assembled.

I bought another set of Video Wall hardware in 2015, this system uses an MTX000 computer and includes all of the components required to drive a 4 x 4 Video Wall.
 

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