{"id":33331,"date":"2025-03-14T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jungsi.de\/?p=33331"},"modified":"2026-07-17T12:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T10:14:10","slug":"saba-videoplay-itt-telematch-processor-retro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jungsi.de\/en\/saba-videoplay-itt-telematch-processor-retro\/","title":{"rendered":"Saba Videoplay\/ITT Telematch Processor [Saba\/ITT]"},"content":{"rendered":"

The article about the consoles Saba Videoplay<\/em> and ITT Telematch Processor<\/em> requires a look into the past of game consoles. As many may know, the first video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey<\/em>, was released in 1972. As the next evolutionary step, the American company Alpex<\/em> developed a new prototype in 1974 featuring the *Intel 8080* processor. This introduced the concept of a game console utilizing cartridges that employed non-volatile memory in the form of EPROMs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alpex<\/em> set out to find a licensee and found Fairchild Camera und Instrument Corp<\/em>. Through its Fairchild Semiconductor division, the company had its own in-house chip development capabilities and insisted on using a proprietary microprocessor.
Engineer Gerald A. Lawson<\/em> was tasked with determining the prototype's capabilities. Lawson<\/em>, one of the first African American engineers in Silicon Valley, modified the prototype to utilize Fairchild's<\/em> F8 processor chipset. The keyboard originally planned by Alpex<\/em> was replaced by an innovative 8-way joystick. An internal presentation of the system took place in late 1975, leading to the decision to develop the Video Entertainment System.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

After the problems with the cartridges and the joystick had been resolved, work was completed in 1976, and the device\u2014with its innovative components\u2014was patented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The console\u2014initially a non-functional mock-up\u2014was unveiled to the public at CES in Chicago in June 1976. Interest was initially lukewarm until the device, now designated the Channel F<\/em> (Channel Fun), was presented at another trade show in November. The price was $150 for the console and $20 for the cartridges. Shipments of the first units were scheduled for November 1976. The console came with the games Tennis and Hockey built-in; however, only a few units could be shipped because each device had to be individually inspected by the FCC <\/em> (Federal Communications Commission).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fairchild TV game was unveiled at the Electronica<\/em> trade fair in Munich in November 1976. Among the first licensees was the Black Forest-based radio manufacturer Saba<\/em>, which presented its console\u2014the SABA Videoplay<\/em>*\u2014at the IFA <\/em> in Berlin in August 1977. By the end of 1977, the price of the console stood at 500 DM, while the games cost around 50 DM. Licensees in other European countries also offered the products under various names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n