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PRODUCT SHOWCASE Jaycar opens in New Zealand Jaycar Electronics have opened their first retail store in New Zealand. It stocks the entire Jaycar range so that NZ enthu­siasts no longer have to make their orders across the Tasman. Located in Auckland, the store is managed by Jeff Wild who is widely experienced in electronics and previously managed the Jaycar Melbourne City store. Jaycar cordially invite new customers and old to come and check out their new store at 14A Gillies Avenue, Newmarket, Auckland. Phone 529 9916; fax 529 9917. A keen eye that never sleeps movement and change. Constant longterm use takes its toll on tape and moving parts of a VCR. Poor picture quality is a symptom of this wear and tear. Mitsubishi’s digital time-lapse video recorder avoids these problems because it doesn’t require changes of motors and heads and doesn’t use tape at all. Recordings are stored instead on a 2GB hard disc. This means maintenance costs are low and the clear, noiseless images with a high resolution of 720 x 240 pixels won’t deteriorate with long-term use. Accurate retrieval of any particular moment of a digital recording is easy and instantaneous. Users can search for partic­ ular recordings using the time, date or other criteria such as index alarms or comments recorded at random. Searching is made easy with “jog” and “shuttle” operation. With “jog”, pictures can be stepped field by field. Replay speed can be continuously varied from a stationary picture to speed search with the “shuttle” operation. The Mitsubishi time lapse video recorder has 10 modes of recording intervals, from recording a picture every 16 seconds to 25 pictures per Mitsubishi Electric has released a new digital time-lapse video recorder, the DX-TL100E. Time-lapse video recorders work using a series of snapshots to capture AUDIO TRANSFORMERS Manufactured in Australia Comprehensive data available Harbuch Electronics Pty Ltd 9/40 Leighton Pl. HORNSBY 2077 Ph (02) 9476-5854 Fx (02) 9476-3231 January 1998  45 Multimedia PAL/NTSC video encoder-decoder BBS Electronics Australia has released Harris Semiconduc­ tor’s first PAL/NTSC video encoder-decoder chipset. Available now, the PAL/NTSC chipset consists of the HMP8112 decoder and HMP8156 encoder. The new chipset will allow manufacturers to lower system costs for a range of new video functions on Personal Computers. These include VCR (video cassette recorder)-to-personal computer editing systems, PC video capture (TV tuners, frame grabbers), tele­ con­ ferencing systems, digital video disc players and digital VCRs. Because the chipset supports both the PAL (as used in Australia and England) and NTSC formats (mainly the US market), Australian manufacturers can design equipment that is compatible with virtually all standard video equipment throughout the world. The HMP8112 decoder IC contains a patented comb filter implementation for better luminance/ colour (Y/C) separation without loss of vertical detail; a patented sample rate converter that lets the decoder use any available clock instead of a second, and six modes of image compression rates. In single shot mode, about 135,000 pictures can be record­ed. An alarm signal switches the recorder into continuous record mode so that it doesn’t miss a second. All details of an incident, accident or disaster are recorded from the beginning of the event that triggered the alarm. The unit can record continuously for up to 600 hours (25 days). When it reaches its capacity, it overwrites the oldest informa­tion on the hard disc to keep continuity. For longer term archiv­al use, an optional DDS-2 Drive Unit is available for backing-up recordings onto Digital Audio Tape (DAT). The DX-TL100E can be used as a standalone digital recorder to replace conventional VHS monitoring systems or it can be con­trolled remotely via a computer using the PC interface. 46  Silicon Chip spe­cific clock frequency; and digital phase-locked-loops (PLLs) for steadier images in PC-based home video editing equipment. The HMP8112 decoder accepts both analog video formats: CVBS (composite video blanking and synchronization) and S-video (separate luminance and chrominance). Compatible sources include cameras, VCRs and professional video equipment. The HMP8156 video encoder performs the op- The DX-100TLE time lapse video recorder has a recommended retail price of $6987 including sales tax. For further information, contact Mitsu­ bishi Electric, 348 Victoria Rd, Rydal­ mere 2116. Phone (02) 9684 7777; fax (02) 9898 0484. New loudspeakers from Morel Morel have released several new tweeters and woofers. The Solin range of four tweeters is specifically aimed at manufactur­ers and all have 28mm fabric domes. Two of these are of the miniature type, being only 54mm square. All are available in shielded versions. The new MDT 37 (DMS 37 - shielded version) is a hand-treated 28mm fabric dome tweeter with minor horn loading. It features a smooth response within ±2dB from 1.8kHz to 18kHz, a posite function to the HMP8112. It accepts inputs in three formats: YcbCr, 16/24-bit RGB, and Bt.656. YcbCr is the output format used by MPEG decoders in set-top boxes. Bt.656 is a high-end professional digital videotape standard, and RGB is the common format for PC multimedia cards. For further information, contact BBS Electronics, 24/5-7 Anella Avenue, Castle Hill, NSW 2154. Phone (02) 9894 5244; fax (02) 9894 5266. sensitivity of 93dB and 200W power handling (1kW transient), making this an impressive high frequency driver. A new family of woofers is also available, types MW-115S (118mm), MW-144 (142mm), MW-168 (160mm) and MW-265 (222mm). All feature Hexatech voice coils with power hand­ling of 150W and transient power handling of 1kW. The use of double neodymium magnets provides magnetic shielding. The final new driver is the MDM55, a 54mm soft dome mid­range unit with a frequency response from 500Hz to 6.5kHz and 200W power handling. Measuring only 87mm square, the unit matches the miniature range of tweeters that Morel produce. Elsewhere in this issue, Australian Audio Consultants are advertising a once only sale of loudspeaker drivers. They advise that stocks are very limited. Further information is available from the sole Australian distributor, Australian Audio Consultants, PO Box 11, Stockport, SA 5410. Phone/ fax (08) 8528 2201. Updated NATA directory The 1997-98 directory from NATA, which is Australia’s na­tional laboratory accreditation system, lists and describes nearly 2500 NATA-accredited Australian and international labora­ tories which can assist companies in meeting the increasing demand for quality standards compliance. Laboratories covered in the new directory include those examining and analysing products, materials and equipment in such areas as acoustic and vibration measurement, chemical testing, electrical testing and inspection, heat and temperature measurement, construction materials testing, engineering materials testing, medical and biological testing, non-destructive testing, metrology (measurement and calibration), optics and radiometry, wool test­ing and forensic testing. Four separate indexes guide users to laboratories best suited to their needs and each testing facility listed has a separate entry including details of tests and services covered by NATA accreditation, location and contact details and availability to provide testing services. Large loop antenna for testing luminaires The Laplace RF300 is a complete three-axis antenna with a switching unit to select each loop in turn. The RF300 fully complies with EMC tests on luminaires as called for by European product specific standard EN55015 (section 7.s) and annex B. The calibrated frequency range is from 9kHz to The A4 format publication is available for $140 (less for standing orders). For further information, contact NATA, 7 Leeds St, Rhodes, NSW 2138. Phone (02) 9736 8222; fax (02) 9743 5311. 30MHz and each antenna is supplied complete with antenna factor data, enabling the device to be used with any EMC receiver or spectrum analyser capable of antenna factor compensation. For further information, contact Nilsen Technologies, 150 Oxford Street, Collingwood, Vic 3066. Phone (03) 9419 9999; fax (03) 9416 1312; freecall 1-800-623-350; freefax 1-800-067-263. Rail-to-rail dual & quad op amps Analog Devices Inc has announced new dual and quad opera­tional amplifiers that offer rail-to-rail output January 1998  47 Yokogawa 8-channel digital scope The Yokogawa DL708 digital scope incorporates a large 26.5cm TFT colour liquid crystal display which has a wide viewing angle. It uses modular plug-in inputs which include high-speed types, isolated high-speed versions, temperature and logic mod­ules. Sampling speed is up to 10Ms/s, resolution is 16bit and the instrument has a long memory, up to 16M word, making it able to measure slow changing inputs such as temperature right through to high speed MHz signals and sporadic one-shot events. The DL708 provides a wide range of waveform capture and analysis functions including an extensive choice of trigger functions and storage options, automatic computations of min/max values, RMS, frequency, risetime and other time axis parameters. FFT analysis is also supported. Extra marker cursors enable the user to zoom in on part of a waveform to increase reading and logging resolution. The built-in printer records data on 112mm wide thermal paper and can be used for real time recording for a time axis of less than 500ms/ range while maintaining very low power consumption. Designed to operate at single supply voltages from 2.7-12V, the OP281 (dual) and OP481 (quad) draw 4µA (maximum per amplifier). This function makes the new op amps well-suited for applications where long-term battery life is essential. Designers can create micropower reference voltage genera­tors, window comparators, low-side current monitors, low voltage half and full-wave rectifiers, battery operated headset amplifi­ ers, and many other circuits using the OP281 and OP481. This makes them useful for use in security systems, medical instru­ments, safety monitoring, gas detection and tele­ phone headset applications. Whereas other low-supply-current amplifiers often take a relatively long time to recover from a saturation condition, the OP281 and OP481 recover in 50µs when the supply voltage is 3V 48  Silicon Chip div. A floppy disc drive saves instrument setups and waveform data in MS-DOS format, allowing data to be viewed off-line on a PC. Data can also be saved in ASCII if using soft­ware such as MS Excel. Image files are also supported so that waveforms can be read into word processors. RS-232C and GPIB interfaces allow the DL708 to be controlled by a PC. and in 100µs when the supply voltage is as high as 10V. This is an important advantage when using the OP281 or OP481 as a comparator or when their outputs are driven to the rails. Each amplifier features 100kHz bandwidth, low offset voltage (1.5mV) and outputs that will sink or source current. For further information, contact Hartec, 205A Middleborough Road, Box Hill, Vic 3128. Phone 1-800-335623. Surface-mount film capacitors Self-healing film capacitors in stacked-film technology are now available from Siemens as space-saving SMDs. The new chips can be reflow soldered. The dielectric is polyethy­ lene naphthalate (PEN) film, which is more heat-resistant than conven­tional polyethylene tere­phthalate (PET). These non-encapsulated SMD An optional internal hard disc drive can be used for real time recording with an ultra long memory up to 128M word with 1-channel use. Also optional is a SCSI interface for connection to an external device such as hard drive, Zip drive or MO disc. For more information, contact Yokogawa Australia Pty Ltd on (02) 9805 0699 or fax (02) 9888 1844. stacked-film capacitors are a good substitute for lead­e d c a p­­a c i t o r s based on PET film. They come with capacitance values ranging from .015µF to 2.2µF, at voltage ratings between 63V and 400V, in EIA standard sizes 1812 to 6050. For applications at high frequencies there are also non-encapsulated SMD staked-film capacitors based on polyphenyl sulphide film (PPS) in the same range of sizes. For further information contact Advanced Information Pro­ d ucts, Siemens Ltd. Phone (03) 9420 7716; fax (03) 9420 7275.