Aiming ultimately to break into the Japanese stronghold on video camera-on-a-chip technology, Marshall Electronics Inc has announced what it claims is the first US-made commercially- available color video camera on a single integrated circuit. The chip offers a full-color NTSC picture, and can be directly viewed on any television or video monitor. The company says the camera, which comes fully featured on a board complete with lens is available now to ‘anyone who wants to buy it’, although it is primarily targeting the US market. Marshall says while the technology will eventually provide broadcast quality high resolution images, it is currently in its infancy, and suitable for lower end, low cost applications such as teleconferencing, color recognition and robotics. UK rival the Vision Group, Edinburgh, launched its single chip NTSC color camera back in March (CI No 3,125), and also claims to have a commercially available product. Marshall says it is not worried about the European market. What all the companies are fighting for at the moment, the US firm says, is the chance to take share from the Japanese, to break up their position.
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