ULAdigitizer

Name: ULAdigitizer
SKU: 33411
Price: 39.00 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 5.00 (1 reviews)

(1 Review)

Small add-on board to get a digital video signal from a ZX Spectrum home computer.

Designed by c0pperdragon in Austria

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Small add-on board to get a digital video signal from a ZX Spectrum home computer.

US SHIPPING ONLY For tax reasons, I can not use Tindie for sales to anywhere else than the USA. Please use my dedicated shop for worldwide shipping. What is it? This board is added to the underside o…

US SHIPPING ONLY

For tax reasons, I can not use Tindie for sales to anywhere else than the USA. Please use my dedicated shop for worldwide shipping.

What is it?

This board is added to the underside of the ZX Spectrum 16k/48k home computer. The FPGA on the board listens to the digital communication between the ULA and the rest of the system and re-generates the video output in a near-digital form. This output signal (we call it 'lumacode') can then be flawlessly upscaled to a pixel-perfect HDMI signal using an RGBtoHDMI device or some other device that can decode lumacode.

Why did you make it?

The original video output of homecomputers of the 1980th is of pretty low quality. Using a modern TV to display this signal normally does not make this any better. In fact it normally just exaggerates the visible noise. Also there is basically no way to improve the analog signal because of the random nature of the noise.

With my digital-only approach, the monitor picture is absolutely perfect without any noise or ghosting.

Compatibility

This mod only works with the variants ZX Spectrum 16K/48K and ZX Spectrum+. Later variants use a different ULA which is not compatible. But these machines provide either digital RGBI or analog RGB on their video port. These signals can be directly used with a suitable RGBtoHDMI (not available on my store).

Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

Product: (5.00)

Documentation: (5.00)

Shipping: (5.00)

Communication: (5.00)

Yauheni | June 30, 2024

Amazing. Pixel-pefrect picture.

Amazing. It worked without any problem on my ZX Spectrum 48k (Issue 3B) the first time I soldered and connected it. The picture quality is perfect, much much better then I got it using all other methods.