General Information
The RCA Studio IV is a console that was never released by RCA. Information here is based on the Studio IV Interpreter and prototype schematics for the video card.
The Studio IV Interpreter by Joe Weisbecker was extracted by Andy Modla from tape S.572.21B from The Sarnoff Collection, The College of New Jersey.
The prototype schematics part A and B were made available from the Hagley Museum and Library: Sarnoff/RCA Collection - Joseph A. Weisbecker's archived manuscripts and materials - M&A 875, Folder 19
The Studio IV is very similar to the Studio III and MPT-02 consoles. Differences include a more extensive pseudo code interpreter in a 2 KB ROM and an improved video chip.
The disassembled Studio IV Interpreter including the complete pseudo code instruction set can be found here, pseudo code syntax is also shown on ST4 Syntax
RCA developed a Tiny BASIC for the VIP and the Studio IV. These BASIC versions are very similar and both use a dedicated pseudo code which is a bit like Chip 8 and other pseudo codes for the 1802. Luck would have it that a printed version of both the VIP and Studio IV pseudo code parts were found, still missing is the original interpreter part for the Studio IV. However with a full version of the VIP and the pseudo code for the Studio IV I have managed to port the VIP interpreter back to the Studio IV and now have a Tiny BASIC version running on the Studio IV. Emma 02 includes a assembler and dissassembler for both pseudo code syntaxes which are more or less the same. See here: AM4KBAS for the Studio IV syntax and here: AMVBAS for the VIP syntax.
Technical specifications
Clock: 3.58 MHz
Memory:
256 Bytes RAM, possibly more!
1 KB Video RAM
1 K 4 bit Colour RAM
2 KB ROM
Video: 'Studio IV' chip, probably an improved 'CDP1864'
Sound: Same as the CDP1864
Keyboard
Screen shot
Studio IV running the build in demo / screen saver
Links
Other information about the RCA Studio IV:
Main Features Studio IV Emulator
- Adjustable speed, boosting the speed of the Studio IV beyond 3.58 MHz!
- Video support for the Studio IV video chip with zoom and full screen option by pressing F3
- Sound support as for CDP1864
- Cartridge support (.st2 file format)
- Video screen dump to a file (BMP, JPEG, PNG or PCX image)