The original Spectravideo computers were released in Australia in January 1993.
They sold quite well in my home state of Tasmania.
The original Spectravideo design for the computer formed the basis of the MSX standard, but some minor changes to the memory map and the cartridge port make them incompatible with the MSX standard.
This model is the 2nd version of the base model (thus the Mark II), released in 1984, where the component count was reduced and the RF modulator was moved to part of the main board.
| Name | SVI-318 Mark II |
| CPU | Zilog Z80A 3.6Mhz |
| Graphics | TI-9918A SCREEN 0: Text mode 40×24 characters, two colours (background+foreground). Fonts are formed using a 6×8 pixel matrix. Sprites are not available in this mode. SCREEN 1: High resolution graphics mode: 256×192, 16 colours. Sprites are available. Colour resolution is 8×1 pixels: that is, for every group of 8×1 pixels, only one foreground/background colour pair may be displayed. This is a standard TMS-9918A limitation. Text is also supported in SCREEN1, allowing up to 43×24 characters (with two pixels chopped off the 43rd character). SCREEN 2: Low resolution graphics mode: 64×48, 16 colours. Sprites are available. The screen is addressed and formed using full 256×192 resolution, with 4×4 block graphics (each 8×8 pixel matrix holds four low-resolution pixels). Sprites are displayed at high resolution (256×192). Text is also supported in SCREEN2, allowing up to 11×6 characters (with two pixels chopped off the 11th character) |
| Memory | 16k Main Memory, 16k Video Memory |
| Sound | AY-3-8910 Three channels, 8 octaves |
