#12 - The real Philips PM5644

[@video99couk]

I've been offered various pattern generators over the years and always declined, but I will keep an eye open for one of these now.

[@RGC198]

Thanks for sharing this informative video. Test cards on TV always of big interest to me, as they provided a definite channel identification, especially here in Australia. Back in the analogue TV days, during the summer months we would often see TV DX signals that included test cards prior to programmes starting for the day.

[@craggercragger8989]

Ridiculously interesting to me. Thanks for posting it.

[@marktubeie07]

02:18 Had to shed a few years at that point Matt, seeing that beautiful Rank TC Chain _(mark2 I think?)_ We lovingly kept these running at 7 Sydney Epping right up to the gutting of the place. It produced superb pictures and it's a real piece of British engineering. The state of it on the left made my heart sink 😂😞😂😞

[@mattstvbarn]

That unit is in good hands. I am told it is going to be restored, and I will be the first there with a camera when it's running again!

[@marktubeie07]

@@mattstvbarn That's great news Matt and I guess we'll all look forward to a video off that event perhaps. For trivia sake, I have to add that 7 Sydney had 3 of those chains in telecine. When they were decommissioned, they were unceremoniously stuck outside the back entrance, in the rain and weather, until they were literally dumped. I think you would understand the heartache of seeing that. I've sub'd BTW Cheers!

[@granttaylor3697]

Good to see you are keeping busy Matt, I was working with the old test card F from the BBC, as I using it with the PM5544 for the setup for NBTV project I have been working on. They were BMP files, not the real hardware like what you have there, the main thing is to document the work you have done to provide a record of this older technology.

[@WolfmanDude]

Philips is such a underrated company when it comes to professional electronics. I only knew them from boring consumer electronics, like razors, vacuum cleaners and kitchenware. A year ago I was suprised when I got a 350MHz analog scope from them (PM3295). I am pretty young, so I had no idea they ever made something like this. Right now I am building something with a 2,7GHz PLL IC made by Phillips in the early 2000s. Again, I was very suprised to learn they made something like this. To the older guys this was maybe well know, but for me this was absurd to find out! EDIT: OK I did not expect you would build your own damn PM5644 in this video! I am impressed on so many levels!

[@mattstvbarn]

It certainly was a massive company. The range of stuff they made was completely ridiculous. Even just this one part of the company which I've focused on here. Unfortunately today there isn't a lot of the company left!

[@telocho]

You'll be surprised to know what they made for the professional market. Complete public telephone exchanges (the PRX/A) from their PTI division, professional studio camera's and equipment like the LDK3 series from their BTS broadcast division, NXP and also ASML are former Philips daughters. And many more.

[@AnonyDave]

I'm absolutely in awe at how well you've done reverse engineering that. Especially annoying it had to be done because of the ego of the one person that still has one. Absolutely frustrates me how much we've lost over the years due to people thinking "no one will ever need this again" or "if people know how this works, it'll be worth less". Just so much documentation and software from the pre to very early internet days is just lost now, especially for niche test and engineering gear 😢

[@bluetrepidation]

Fantastic work here!

[@andydelle4509]

Great work! I might look at building a 525i SDI version as well as a 1920x1080i. The 525i SDI could easily be encoded to NTSC if required. However rather than fabricate all that hardware, are there standard high quality image files available anywhere online? My approach is to make a Windows or Linux based generator which would output via a low cost Black Magic SDI card using their API. Then just find an old 1RU server as the hardware base.The editing features would be via drop down menus on the PC VGA/DVI display. Or they could be command line based as a start. Of course being software based, such a unit could output in any standard resolution or format. Just load the image file,.What do you think?

[@MissNorington]

I feel your pain when it comes to internet resources, where fake things from around 2005-2009 became the real thing to many (lazy) people. Thankfully, you exist, and others, that can see these inconsistencies, to fix them. Damage must be undone.

[@MissNorington]

Also, IDApro.... Reminds me to get back to work reverse engineering old stuff

[@mattstvbarn]

I'm not too bothered by it myself. But it is a shame for the people who spent decades working on this stuff, only to have a fake remembered as being your work!

[@MissNorington]

@@mattstvbarn Many things I like are being handled the same way, which includes the Philips test pattern (where your work matters the most!). The thing is, if you spent decades on something, and then just let -internet rumors- rewrite history, shouldn't you try to do something about it? That's the sad part: They didn't try to save their own history in the first place.

[@der.Schtefan]

We know that the PM5644 is, because we know what the PM5644 isn't.

[@jxh02]

21:44 puts _that_ project in the shade? Yikes! I've done some reverse engineering of code like that. It takes ... a very special kind of person to press ahead, let alone succeed at it. So I know you're not exaggerating. My hat is off to you!

[@der.Schtefan]

I agree. When I was 16 I would have had the energy for this, but nowadays I would give up after 1 hour.

[@mattstvbarn]

@@der.Schtefan No way I could have pulled this off aged 16! A project like this requires quite a lot of experience, which at 40, I now have :)

[@kFY514]

I once wrote a script that generated images which recreated of the Philips circle pattern (4:3) as closely as I could follow the original descriptions. Recently I found the PTV archive on Github and examined the EPROM data files and... while I (to my rejoice!) found that I got the pattern _really_ close, there were also a couple of differences. What surprised me the most is that the original is purposefully a little "blurry", or should I rather say - band-limited, especially in the chroma channels, leading to some clearly visible gradients like between the green and purple color bars. That of course makes sense for composite generators, considering that the chroma bandwidth is very limited anyway, but I heard that the original PM5544 along with some newer variants had component outputs, so an unfiltered, super-sharp chroma signal could make some sense for that, I guess?

[@mattstvbarn]

@@kFY514 yes there is a surviving component generator in the Netherlands. I contacted the owner but never got a response. Would be interesting to see its EPROMs alright.

[@geertkroezinga6003]

I own a PM5644 PALplus generator. Nice piece of equipment. Very happy with it. (if I can help in any way regarding that unit, let me know) Thanks for the great video.

[@mattstvbarn]

I definitely am looking for newer software versions for it. I have the very first 1995 version. The later versions had a better test card than mine!

[@a4000bear]

I have a PM5644 Pal Plus generator too, model number PM5644/85. Unfortunately no documentation. I also have a PM5544, which I got about 20 years ago. According to the station ID that was programmed into it, it belonged to the ABC in Cairns. It also had a 'home made' card in it that replaced the pattern in the circle with "Please stand by" in yellow lettering on a blue background if the 'Ext pict' button was depressed.

[@mattstvbarn]

Ohhh. I have read about that ABC unit. When you power on the 5644. What firmware version does it say it is?

[@a4000bear]

It says version 001.1

[@mattstvbarn]

@@a4000bear hmm. I think mine is 000.1. I don't suppose you have a picture of the pattern it generates?

[@a4000bear]

I can do a pic, but there is no way of putting it on a message here.

[@mattstvbarn]

@@a4000bear drop me an email maybe. I have it on my youtube about tab

[@KayTestcard]

Do you really have the PM5644 SECAM version? Do you have the PM5644L/00 because I'm ready and want to use it too?

[@hypercomms2001]

Many years ago I used to sell test equipment under the Phillips and fluke alliance, and so it's kinda sad to see what's happened to Phillips, were 40 years ago with dominated the world, and now it's nowhere. Typical of bad management running a company down.

[@a4000bear]

Forgot to mention I also have a Tektronix TPG-625 which generates the PM5544 pattern. No documentation unfortunately.

[@mattstvbarn]

Ohhh. I have the manual for the TPG-625. I will scan it in due course.

[@a4000bear]

Cool, I'd love to see it, but no hurry. :-)

[@mattstvbarn]

@@a4000bearIt will take some time. It is a big manual with like a hundred pages and a mix of A4 and A3 sheets. Will have to pay somebody to do it probably. If you (or anyone else) needs any info the meantime let me know. I could scan specific sections from it.

[@ebaystars]

look like a COTS vero rack ?

[@YuthasinKhamya747]

I will to buy PM5644 also. But model number is PM5644G/00 in 2000 USD

[@manatkhamya]

I really want the Philips PM5644G/00 Pattern Generator. I was going to buy it earlier but it was sold out. I really want it. Mine only has the FML Test Card Maker. I really want the PM5644. Radio repairnan or people. If others still use them, you should sell them to me.

[@mattstvbarn]

I don't have one. I sold my PM5644G/00 to a guy in the netherlands about a year ago.

[@manatkhamya]

@@mattstvbarn But I really want a Philips 5644G/00. Even though you don't have one, I still want one. What should I do?

[@esecallum]

They never put HANDLES OR HOLDS on these things...a nightmare to carry

[@TorbenRune]

I made a video on testcards in general (in danish but subtitled): kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYKVgIaXd8iGldE Some of the engineers from Philips DK that worked on the Philips 5544 was later employed at Denmarks Radio, where I had the chance as a consultant to work together with one of them. He told me a lot about the 5544 development, and how it was gradually refined. If I remember correctly, he worked on the final analog output stage. In the early days of the Danish test signal, the source was the 5544, but modified with DRs own text and clock overlays. At that time the font was quite digital, and there were ":" in the time. Here is a clIp of that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eWG7epyOqpmHq68 (I think this was a DR internal construction). Later, the clock source was one of the newer PM boxex, that had the time separated with "." like this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYOtZWaobN58etU , but still with handmade digital overlays of logos. (BTW: The color logo was in production use for some years in DR). The latest version I know of looks like the PT5300 out-of-the-box: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIfKY3qDrtZ6l8U Needless to say, but I find your video very inspiring and it fills in a lot of unknowns in my knowledge of these delicate pieces of test equipment. Thank's a lot.

[@mattstvbarn]

I will take a look at your video. I can basically read danish nowadays. I have also learned from this! I have covered this topic a lot but despite it is very rare to hear anything from Denmark. Once you start seeing test cards with graphics this is usually the PM5644, especially if recorded after 1989!

[@renejensen5656]

I think that we have 2 pcs PM5644 compositet version in our museum, with logo generator from DR1 and DR2 before we moved to our new facility, where we had DK Tech PT-5300 all over the facility. Even think that we have a PM5644 in component standard version, our OB truck from 1990 was full component, and we had the generator in both truck. Been at DR since 1992, and have done service on most of the Phillips/PTV/DK Tech generators inhouse, also changing eproms when our station change the design of the logo. The new design was made inhouse, and then carried to the company on a 1.44 floppy, and 2 weeks later we got new eproms with the new logo. 2 years ago I exchanged arround 40 pcs PT5300 some with changeover, some without, and with various options to a different manufacture, since DK Tech glosed down, and we couldnt get support anymore.

[@mattstvbarn]

@@renejensen5656 I don't suppose the museum would be able to help out with finding the PM5644 logo generator firmware? I am actually in Copenhagen a week from now...

[@renejensen5656]

@@mattstvbarn as I remember the main firmware prom are soldred in on the board, only the logo proms are in socket. Im not fund off soldring out the prom, i know that the board are a bit fragile in the hole though between the layers. And we try to keep the equipment in working order.

[@renejensen5656]

@TorbenRune can you remember the names of the former Phillips/PTV guys, been working at DR since 1992

[@stanleybest8833]

Secam is a complete waste of time.