Teletext

 

DirectShow Filter

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I have added Acorn Teletext Adapter support to BeebEm.

The software works in conjunction with a TV capture card in a Windows PC.

The idea is to eventually write a piece of software for a Windows PC to act as a networked teletext server. This would constantly capture teletext data from the TV card and sends it via UDP to a copy (or copies) of BeebEm anywhere on the net.

I haven't written the network server software yet but I have put together a Direct Show filter using the DirectX SDK which captures raw teletext data to disc files. These disc files can then be used with BeebEm to serve teletext data to the emulator.

There are four sample teletext data files in the archive below (txt0.dat, txt1.dat, txt2.dat, txt3.dat). These contain several minutes worth of teletext data from BBC1, 2, ITV and CH4, which was captured on 22 Jan 2006. If you download the archive and copy the four files to your discimg directory, you will be able to view the pages using the *TELETEXT command.

I would also recommend downloading the user guide as well so you know how to drive the teletext software.

Here is another sample of teletext data captured on 4th April 2006.

I have now written a quick VB utility called CeeFax Explorer to view the teletext data from the capture files as a stand alone utility without the need for BeebEm to emulate the teletext adapter.

You can download it below :

You will also need to download the above teletext data files and copy them to the same directory as the CeeFax Explorer application.

You can instead download a full installation program which contains the VB run time files and teletext data files below :

When you run the CeeFax Explorer program, you will see the following initial screen :

You can select a new page to view by typing the three digit page number or by clicking on a three digit page number on the current page.

Alternatively, use the F1 to F4 key to access the coloured link pages at the bottom of each page or click on the coloured link instead.

To change channel, use the F5 to F8 keys.

F5 - BBC1

F6 - BBC2

F7 - ITV

F8 - CHANNEL 4

You can save a screen image or print a screen image using the options off the file menu.

The utility only took a couple of hours to put together so if you find any bugs, please let me know.

You can download the VB6 source code for the program here.


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Last modified: 17-08-2010