The RCA Studio II is a videogame console made by RCA that debuted in 1977. Unlike most video game consoles, the Studio II had black and white graphics instead of color. The graphics of Studio II games were blocky and resembled those of earlier Pong consoles. The Studio II also did not have joysticks or similar game controllers but instead used two unintuitive keypads that were built into the console itself. The console was capable of making simple beep sounds with slight variations in length. The Nintendo GameCube is an example of a popular video game console. ... RCA, formerly an initialism for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark used by two companies for products descended from that common ancestor: Thomson SA, which manufactures consumer electronics like RCA-branded televisions, DVD players, video cassette recorders, direct broadcast satellite decoders, camcorders, audio equipment, telephones, and related... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... PONG, an adaptation of table tennis to the video screen, was the first commercially successful video game and is widely regarded as ushering in the video game era. ... For other uses, see Joystick (disambiguation). ...
One distinct feature of the Studio II was its five built-in games. Also unique to the Studio II was its use of an automatic switchbox that relayed both the modulated RF signal of the console's video to the television set while automatically powering the console with DC power. Direct current (DC or continuous current) is the continuous flow of electricity through a conductor such as a wire from high to low potential. ...
The Studio II was not a successful product as it was immediately made obsolete by the superior Atari 2600 console and was soon discontinued. Atari VCS/2600 original six-switch version. ...
2k (x8) ROM (includes the five built-in games); total of 16k ROM
512 bytes (x8) RAM; total of 4k RAM
The RCA (CDP)1802 (aka RCA COSMAC*, COSMAC 1802) is an 8-bit CMOS microprocessor (µP) introduced by RCA in early 1976, and presently being manufactured by Harris Semiconductor. ...
RCA is also the abbreviation for The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery.
RCA was one of the eight major computer companies (along with IBM, Burroughs, Control Data Corporation, General Electric, Honeywell, Scientific Data Systems and UNIVAC) through most of the 1960s, but abandoned computers in 1971.
RCA was a major proponent of the eight-track tape cartridge, which it launched in 1965.
The RCAStudioII was designed in 1976, just after the Fairchild Channel F, but RCA didn't get it on the market until January 1977, thus being beaten by Fairchild.
The heart of the StudioII was RCA's COSMAC microprocessor, which was about equal in performance to the F8 processor used in the Fairchild Channel F. You might wonder why RCA used an instruction-set clone of the F8 in their first generation CED players when the in-house COSMAC processor was available.
But from a modern perspective, CED player maintenance would be easier if RCA had used the COSMAC, as the external ROM could be replaced separately from the processor, and the COSMAC is one of the few 8-bit microprocessors that continues to be manufactured (as the Intersil CPD1802).
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