I have heard that some memory boards and accelerators cannot use more than 4MB of expansion ram with Videomaster. Why is this?

All A1200 memory boards, and some A1200 accelerators, use the 68EC020 processor chip to address any expansion memory fitted to the board. When this is the case and any device (not just the Viodeomaster) is plugged into the PCMCIA slot, the A1200 firmware allocates 4MB of memory to the PCMCIA device - even though the Videomaster does not need it and does not ask for it! This 4MB comes from the standard 8MB range for expansion memory, thus disabling 4MB of potential memory space. If you have a memory board or an older accelerator board that has this limitation, if you fit more than 4MB to the board you will experience memory problems.

Newer, more powerful accelerators use the extra processor to address the memory fitted to the board, which means you can have any amount of expansion memory without conflicting with the PCMCIA slot. Boards that are suitable include all current Blizzard boards, the GVP 1230, the Apollo 1230/40/60, the Magnum 1230/40/60 and the Viper 2 boards.

Remember that all other boards work fine, but only with up to 4MB of expansion ram fitted to them.

When I click on the "WATCH" button, it activates but nothing happens.

The Videomaster software checks for two conditions when this button is pressed, first to see if there is a cartridge inserted and secondly to see if there is a video signal connected to the unit. If you are certain that there is a composite video signal connected, remove the cartridge and examine the pins of your PCMCIA connector (in your Amiga) for damage.

I cannot digitise a colour full screen picture from my video recorder.

Videomaster requires the Colourmaster (colour splitter) in order to grab colour pictures from a video recorder. Colourmaster electronically separates the video into red, green and blue signals. Videomaster can automatically digitise each colour in turn, and perform a merge function to produce a full colour picture.

How can I grab colour pictures without using the Colourmaster splitter?

You can make colour pictures, if you own a camera, by using the colour filters supplied with the package. Simply place each of the filters (red, green and blue) in front of the camera lens and grab each frame in turn. Then select the "MERGE" function.