GEC Plessey Semiconductors Ltd has released the MV1822 VCR programming chip that automatically sets the time and date on any video recorder into which it is built, so owners do not experience the frustration of the flashing 0:00 normally suffered. It can also automatically tune the video recorder to the television stations. It keeps time by extracting the unified data and time information from the teletext Broadcast Services Data Packets or automatically reads the time from Teletext pages in regions where the BSDP is not transmitted. To tune the video recorder automatically to the television stations, the chip decodes the Network Identification code that is transmitted as part of the broadcast data and stores the identification data in the memory. An additional bonus is the chip’s ability to enable the correct programme to be recorded, if its actual broadcast is delayed, by using the Programme Delay Control Data and the Video Programme System. These devices make use of the programme identification data broadcast with programmes that identify the programme the video recorder has been set to record. The MV1822 will be #2.80 each in quantities of 10,000.
