website/content/museum/spectravideo-svi-738-x-press.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Spectravideo SVI 738 - X'press	Computers	Home Computer	Hong Kong	1986	Zilog Z80A	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts screenshots links oc_id source SVI 738 - X'press /media/museum/photos/spectravideo_738_1.jpg /companies/spectravideo Spectravideo label value NAME SVI 738 - X'press label value MANUFACTURER Spectravideo label value TYPE Home Computer label value ORIGIN Hong Kong label value YEAR 1986 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE MSX Basic (Microsoft Extended) label value KEYBOARD Full-stroke keyboard label value CPU Zilog Z80A label value SPEED 3.58 MHz label value RAM 64 KB (up to 144 KB) label value VRAM 16 KB label value ROM 64 KB (32 KB BIOS/Basic, 16 KB RS232 BIOS, 16 KB DISK ROM) label value TEXT MODES 40 x 24 / 32 x 24 / 80 x 24 (only for MSXDOS) label value GRAPHIC MODES 256 x 192 / 64 x 48 dots label value COLORS 256 label value SOUND AY-3-8910 chipset, three channels, 8 octaves label value I/O PORTS Joystick (2), ROM Cardridge, Tape recorder, Monitor, Centronics, Expansion port, Mono sound output, Keyboard, Floppy, RS232 label value BUILT IN MEDIA Internal 3.5'' disk drive label value OS MSX DOS or CP/M label value POWER SUPPLY External power supply unit label value PRICE £400 photos adverts software links 276 title subtitle text image SVI-730 X'PRESS /media/museum/photos/spectravideo_svi738xpress_2.jpg title subtitle text image DISK-DRIVE CLOSE-UP /media/museum/photos/spectravideo_738_diskdrive_1.jpg title subtitle text image U.K. AD (AUG. 1986) /media/museum/pubs/svi_xpress738_pub_1.jpg title subtitle text image BOOT-UP SCREEN /media/museum/software/spectravideo_738_ss_1.jpg title subtitle text image CP/M BOOT SCREEN /media/museum/software/spectravideo_738_ss_2.jpg title url text Memory upgrade from MSX1 to MSX2 http://8bit.yarek.pl/upgrade/svi.msx2/ 266 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230609190800/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=266 2023-06-09

This computer was a MSX 1 computer equipped with V9938 Video chip, which was quite unusual. It was probably meant to become an MSX 2, thus first versions were prepared to hold a CLOCK-IC chip. Thanks to its V9938 it could display 80-column text.

It was called SPECTRAVIDEO XPRESS because it was delivered with a bag to easily carry it around in. The XPRESS designation was also used in a MSX 2 and PC hybrid (X'PRESS 16, for 16-bits) SPECTRAVIDEO computers. This machine is in fact pretty much a "MSX 1.5". Converting it into an MSX2 machine is not difficult at all and as a result many MSX hobbyists have done it. For example in Finland, when it came out many people converted it simply because there were no MSX2 machines widely available in the country. The main selling point was the ability to show 80-column text even on normal TV's without problems, you just had to adjust the colors a bit. It was also very well priced and had much better specs than the other machines in it's price range.

But the SVI 738 also has many quality problems like all SVI machines. The keyboard is just as bad as in the 328 and 728 computers. The original disk drive is noisy, unreliable and only single sided. The screw holes are not in standard locations, but other ways it can be replaced with standard DD disk drive. The first versions of disk ROM could not format 720KB "PC-disks" but reading works. Almost all MSX2 and up computers had internal disk drive, and it’s also possible to use external disk controllers with this machine. Disk expansion port for external drive has however nonstandard DB25 connector, just as the RS-232 connector (DB9 female).

The machine also suffers from the same problems (won't work at all or bad sound) as the earlier 728 model with Konami's SCC-sound chip games.

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Contributors : Taneli Lukka, Nyyrikki