Spectravideo

File:Spectravideo SVI318.jpg has a built-in joystick.]]

File:Spectravideo QuickShot I, 2.jpg

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.{{US patent reference|number=D271220 |issue-date=Nov 1, 1983 |inventor=Harry Fox (New York, NY), Peter A. L. Law (Hong Kong) | title=Video game joystick apparatus }}

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 Atari 2600, including several titles of some rarity: Chase the Chuckwagon, Mangia and Bumper Bash.{{cite web

| url = http://www.atariage.com/company_page.html?SystemID=2600&SystemFilterID=2600&CompanyID=20&orderBy=Rarity&orderByValue=Ascending

| title = AtariAge - Companies - Spectravision

| work = AtariAge

| accessdate = September 23, 2010

| archive-date = May 11, 2013

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130511111626/http://atariage.com/company_page.html?SystemID=2600&SystemFilterID=2600&CompanyID=20&orderBy=Rarity&orderByValue=Ascending

| url-status = dead

}}

A few of their titles were only available through the Columbia House music club.{{cite web|url=http://everything2.com/title/Spectravision |title=SpectraVision |publisher=Everything2.com |date= |accessdate=2022-08-22}}

The company's first attempt at a computer was an add-on for the Atari 2600 called the Spectravideo CompuMate, with a membrane keyboard and very simple programmability.

Spectravideo's first real computers were the SV-318 and SV-328, released in 1983.{{Cite web |title=Spectravideo SV-318 |url=https://www.samdal.com/sv318.htm |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=www.samdal.com}}{{Cite web |title=Spectravideo SV-328 |url=https://www.samdal.com/sv328.htm |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=www.samdal.com}} 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, 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 instead. These two computers were precedent to MSX 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 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.{{Cite news|title=No R.I.P. for IPOs.|last=Brammer|first=Rhonda|date=23 January 1984|work=Barron's National Business and Financial Weekly|id = {{ProQuest|350759580}}}}

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.{{Cite news|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A540784/CDB?sid=CDB&xid=6a0baa6e|title=Spectravideo Agrees to Sell 60% Stake to Hong Kong Firm.|date=19 March 1984|work=Electronic News|access-date=8 April 2018|url-access=subscription |via=Gale Computer Database}} 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.{{Cite news|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A640312/CDB?sid=CDB&xid=03b88552|title=Fanon Courier to Purchase 80 Percent Interest in Spectravideo|date=30 July 1984|work=Electronic News|access-date=8 April 2018|url-access=subscription |via=Gale Computer Database}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pS4EAAAAMBAJ&q=Bondwell+Holding&pg=PA23|title=Spectravideo Tries Again|last=Chin|first=Kathy|date=19 November 1984|website=Google Books|access-date=8 April 2018}}

In May 1984 the Spectravideo SVI-728 was released. This was a MSX compatible machine.{{Cite web |title=Spectravideo SVI-728 |url=https://www.samdal.com/svi728.htm |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=www.samdal.com}}

In 1985 the SVI-738, also MSX compatible was released. The machine came with a built-in 360 KB 3.5" floppy drive.{{Cite web |title=Spectravideo SVI-738 |url=https://www.samdal.com/svi738.htm |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=www.samdal.com}}

The last computer produced by Spectravideo was the SVI-838 (also known as Spectravideo X'Press 16), released in 1986. It was compatible with both the PC and MSX2 standards.{{Cite web |title=Spectravideo SVI-838 |url=https://www.samdal.com/svi838.htm |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=www.samdal.com}}

Image:SVI-738 PIC 0929.JPG, a portable MSX computer]]

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,{{cite web|url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/01321309|title=LOGIC3 PLC overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK}} and entered administration in 2013 after a licensing deal with Ferrari proved to be a failure.{{cite web|url=https://www.insidermedia.com/news/central-and-east/101663-logic3-administrators-talks-apple-and-ferrari|title = Logic3 administrators in talks with Apple and Ferrari}} The company was formally dissolved on 19 April 2016.

There are 68 games for Spectravideo that are not compatible with MSX computers[https://www.samdal.com/svsoftware.htm Spectavideo software][https://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=database&listtypes=235&position=1&pirate=0&demo=0&export=1&reissue=1&mamed=1&nongame=0 Gaming History][https://www.generation-msx.nl/company/spectravideo-svi/308/software/ Spectavideo complatible games with MSX]

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.samdal.com/spectravideo.htm Samdal.com: Roger's history of SpectraVision—Spectravideo webpage]
• [http://www.spectravideo.se Spectravideo.se: Glenn's Spectravideo webpage]

{{Atari 2600}}

Category:1981 disestablishments in the United States

Category:1988 disestablishments in the United States

Category:American companies established in 1981

Category:American companies disestablished in 1988

Category:Computer companies established in 1981

Category:Computer companies disestablished in 1988

Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States

Category:Defunct video game companies of the United States

Category:Defunct computer hardware companies

Category:Defunct computer systems companies

Category:Home computer hardware companies

Category:MSX

Category:Video game companies established in 1981

Category:Video game companies disestablished in 1988

Category:Spectravideo