CVS camcorder hardware information

Links to specs for the imager and the TFT-LCD

• A014AN04V2 and UPS051 information. Browse the directories to see all the files.
• Richtek's power IC's (RT9902 and RT9167A). Check out their `Technical reference pages' for packaging and other info.
• I2C information. You will need this to understand how the serial interface to the imager works (see the personal gripe below).
OV7660 imager information. See also OVT's webpage for the specs on their serial interface (do not expect too much but you can figure everything out as soon as you get through the docs a couple of times).
• Samsung's web pages. Look for the information on DDR2 SDRAM and Flash chips. Do not forget to get their `device operation and timing information' notes in case you want to write your own interface to their chips (if you want to make a CPLD interface them, say)

My (sometimes misleading) notes

• Notes about the pinouts of the LCD-TFT and the imager chips in .ps and .pdf. Here is the .tex sources used to generate the files (with pictures included; the pictures were drawn in Metapost, by the way).

I have to point out that the notes above are not a guide to using the hardware in the camcorder but rather a record of my experiments with it, as well as a short analysis of what went wrong and what went right. The experiments themselves were done before I knew about the documentation above so treat them with a grain of salt.

Personal gripe

Well, it is great that all this information is availabe, and some of it even where one would normally expect it (even though it is a mistery why AUO and OVT do not post any datasheets on their websites). My gripe is not with this, however. If you take your time to read the documentation, you will notice how poorly written it is. I am not talking about the usual cliche that a non-native speaker cannot write good documentation in English. Even badly mangled language can convey a lot of information if the person writing it is thinking clearly and concentrating on the message, rather than on big, vague words (what is wrong with `drive' instead of `assert' or `float' instead of `de-assert'; what in the world is `NA' and how is it different from `Don't care'? There is a difference but you have to read carefully ...). Sometimes it is impossible to figure out what is going on without the knowledge of a similar product. Read through the SCCB specs on OVT's webpage and then answer this question: how does a 2-line slave know what is a data byte and what is the beginning of the next transmission. You have to look very closely to note that there is a little `exception' mentioned on page 7 (I will let you find it just for fun). Something is `allowed' to drive the line low, no big deal. Well, herein lies the answer to our puzzle: anyone who has heard about I2C will immediately notice that this is a decription of the START and STOP conditions. Even pictures need some explanation (try to figure out what `extracting data from a VGA memory' has to do with the LCD without reading the documentation for UPS051). Ok, enough of this venting, at least the data is out there. If you want to see some good documentation, read some old AN's from National Semiconductor: those were written by somebody who not only knew what they were talking about (I have no doubt that whoever wrote the datasheets above was a very knowledgeable engineer) but could also explain things in a clear, jargonless manner. No wonder Bob Pease hates digital stuff.

Comments welcome!