ANTIC Interview 130 - Dave Pratt, founder of Digital Vision (ComputerEyes)

Published: Feb. 12, 2016, 8 a.m.

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Dave Pratt, founder of Digital Vision (ComputerEyes)

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Dave Pratt was founder of Digital Vision, the company that made ComputerEyes for the Apple //, Commodore 64, and Atari 8-bit computers. ComputerEyes was a slow-scan video digitizer that plugged into the joystick port (on the Atari version). You\'d connect a video camera or VCR into the ComputerEyes box, and software on your computer would create a black-and-white or greyscale version of the image on the computer screen.

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This interview took place October 12, 2015. After we did this interview, Dave set up a nice web site with a history of Digital Vision and photographs of the early products, at www.Digital-Vision-Inc.com.

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Teaser quotes:

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"Even just running tight machine language loops, it barely could keep up with that kind of rate pulling samples from the scan lines."

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"That same signature from the very first scan -- literally the very first scan that was done by the prototype initial product -- literally, that same image was used to sign the company\'s checks for half a dozen years."

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Digital Vision History site: http://www.Digital-Vision-Inc.com

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Dave\\u2019s personal web site: http://www.dvpratt.com

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Antic magazine review of ComputerEyes: http://www.atarimagazines.com/v4n8/VideoStar.html

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ComputerEyes in Creative Computing magazine: http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v11n7/70_Choosing_an_image_process.php

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