1292 Advanced Programmable Video System

The 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System is a second-generation home video game console released by European company Audiosonic in 1978. It is part of a group of software-compatible consoles which include the Interton VC 4000 and the Voltmace Database. The 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System included its power pack inside the console instead of an exterior power pack.

Specifications



 * CPU: 8-bit Signetics 2650AI at 0.887 MHz
 * Programmable video interface: Signetics 2636N at 3.58 MHz. This chipset was less powerful than the later model Signetics 2637N used in the Arcadia 2001.
 * Data Memory: 43 bytes

Graphics

 * Sprites: 4 single colour sprites (1 can be 8 colours)
 * 1 score line displaying 4 BCD digits
 * Background consisting of a series of alternating lines

Misc

 * The early games cartridges used a 2 KB ROM, later ones, such as Activision branded ones, up to 8 KB
 * Very basic arcade machine sound

User programming
An expensive (£49 in the UK in 1977) Hobby Module was available which gave 6.5 kilobits of user-programmable memory and had a 5-pin DIN socket to allow software to be saved to a cassette tape player. This converted the unit into a halfway house between a home computer and an ordinary gaming console.

The user had to be familiar with programming in Signetics 2650 assembly language and the unconventional ways and register architecture of the Signetics 2650 processor.

Released versions
The console was produced by different companies and sold with different names. Although all variants have identical computational hardware, changes to the dimensions of the cartridge slot on some variants result in cartridges not always being interchangeable between systems. The following is a table of the console variants grouped by cartridge compatibility.

Games
Although, not much information is known about the release dates of the cartridges, the total number of the games should be 59 (33 games released by Radofin between 1977 and 1978, 19 games for the Interton VC 4000 and compatibles after 1978, and 7 more games released around 1980).