title: Apple IIGS

text: The Apple IIGS's sound is provided by an Ensoniq 5503 Digital Oscillator Chip (DOC) wavetable synthesis chip designed by Bob Yannes, creator of the SID synthesizer chip used in the Commodore 64. The ES5503 DOC is the same chip used in Ensoniq Mirage and Ensoniq ESQ-1 professional-grade synthesizers. The chip has 32 oscillators, which allows for a maximum of 32 voices (with limited capabilities when all used independently), though Apple's firmware pairs them for 16 voices, to produce fuller and more flexible sound, as do most of the standard tools of the operating system (the Apple MIDISynth toolset goes even a step further for richer sound, grouping four oscillators per voice, for a limit of seven-voice audio). The IIGS is often referred to as a 15-voice system, because one voice, or "sound generator" consisting of two oscillators, is always reserved as a dedicated clock for the sound chip's timing interrupt generator. Software that does not use the system firmware, or uses custom-programmed tools (certain games, demos and music software), can access the chip directly and take advantage of all 32 voices.


title: Apple IIGS

text: The computer's audio capabilities were given as the primary reason for record label Apple Corps's 1989 resumption of legal action against Apple that had been previously suspended. Apple Corps claimed that the IIGS's audio chip violated terms of the 1981 settlement with the company that prohibited Apple, Inc. from getting involved in the music business.


title: Apple IIGS

text: A standard -inch headphone jack is on the back of the case, and standard stereo computer speakers can be attached there. This jack provides only monaural sound and a third-party adapter card is required for stereo, despite that the Ensoniq and virtually all native software produces stereo audio. The Ensoniq can drive 16 speaker output channels, but the molex expansion connector Apple provided only allows 8. There is 64 KB of dedicated memory (DOC-RAM) on the IIGS motherboard, separate from system memory, for the Ensoniq chip to store its sampled wavetable instruments.


title: Apple IIGS

text: To exploit the IIGS's audio capabilities, during its introduction, Apple sold Bose Roommate amplified speakers for the computer (matching its platinum color and with custom Bose/Apple logo grille covers).


title: Apple IIGS

text: Like other Apple II machines before it, the IIGS is highly expandable. The expansion slots can be used for a variety of purposes, greatly increasing the computer's capabilities. SCSI host adapters can be used to connect external SCSI devices such as hard drives and a CD-ROM drive. Other mass-storage devices such as adapters supporting more recent internal 2.5-inch IDE hard drives can also be used. Another common class of Apple IIGS expansion cards is accelerator cards, such as Applied Engineering's TransWarp GS, replacing the computer's original processor with a faster one. Applied Engineering developed the PC Transporter, which is essentially an IBM-PC/XT on a card. A variety of other cards were also produced, including ones allowing new technologies such as 10BASE-T Ethernet and CompactFlash cards to be used on the IIGS.


title: Apple IIGS

text: Steve Wozniak said in January 1985 that Apple was investigating the 65816, and that an 8MHz version would "beat the pants off a 68000 in most applications", but any product using it would have to be compatible with the Apple II. Rumors spread about his work on an "Apple IIx". The IIx was said to have a 16-bit CPU, one megabyte of RAM, and better graphics and sound. "IIx" was the code name for Apple's first internal project to develop a next-generation Apple II based on the 65816. The IIx project, though, became bogged down when it attempted to include various coprocessors allowing it to emulate other computer systems. Early samples of the 65816 were also problematic. These problems led to the cancellation of the IIx project, but later, a new project was formed to produce an updated Apple II. This project, which led to the released IIGS, was known by various codenames while the new system was being developed, including "Phoenix", "Rambo", "Gumby", and "Cortland". There were rumors of several vastly enhanced prototypes built over the years at Apple but none were ever released. Only one, the "Mark Twain", has been revealed so far. The Mark Twain prototype (named for Twain's famous quote "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated") was expected to have the "ROM 04" revision (although prototypes that have been discovered do not contain any new ROM code) and featured an 8 MHz 65C816, built-in SuperDrive, 2 MB of RAM, and a hard drive.


title: Apple IIGS

text: Some design features from the unsuccessful Apple III lived on in the Apple IIGS, such as GS/OS borrowing elements from SOS (including, by way of ProDOS, the SOS file system), a unique keyboard feature for dual-speed arrow keys, and colorized ASCII text.


title: Apple IIGS

text: As part of a commemorative celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the Apple II series' development, as well as Apple Computer itself celebrating the same anniversary, a special limited edition was introduced at product launch. The first 50,000 Apple IIGSs manufactured had a reproduced copy of Wozniak's signature ("Woz") at the front right corner of the case, with a dotted line and the phrase "Limited Edition" printed just below it. Owners of the Limited Edition, after mailing in their Apple registration card, were mailed back a certificate of authenticity signed by Wozniak and 12 key Apple engineers, as well as a personal letter from Wozniak himself (both machine-reproduced). Because the difference between standard and Limited Edition machines were purely cosmetic, many owners of new were able to "convert" to the Limited Edition by merely swapping the case lid from an older (and likely nonfunctional) machine.


title: Apple IIGS

text: Upon its release in September 1986, Apple announced it would be making a kit that would upgrade an Apple IIe to a IIGS available for purchase. This followed an Apple practice of making logic board upgrades available that dated from the earliest days of the Apple II until Steve Jobs' return to Apple in 1997. The IIe-to-IIGS upgrade replaced the IIe motherboard with a 16-bit IIGS motherboard. Users would take their Apple IIe machines into an authorized Apple dealership, where the IIe motherboard and lower baseboard of the case were swapped for an Apple IIGS motherboard with a new baseboard (with matching cut-outs for the new built-in ports). New metal sticker ID badges replaced those on the front of the IIe, rebranding the machine. Retained were the upper half of the IIe case, the keyboard, speaker and power supply. Original IIGS motherboards (those produced between 1986 and mid-1989) have electrical connections for the IIe power supply and keyboard present, although only about half of those produced have the physical plug connectors factory-presoldered in, which were mostly reserved for the upgrade kits.


title: Apple IIGS

text: The upgrade cost US$500, plus the trade-in of the user's existing Apple IIe motherboard. It did not include a mouse, and the keyboard, although functional, lacked a numeric keypad and did not mimic all the features and functions of the Apple Desktop Bus keyboard. Some cards designed for the GS did not fit in the Apple IIe's slanted case. In the end, most users found that the upgrade did not save them much money once they purchased a 3.5-inch floppy drive, analog RGB monitor, and mouse.


title: Apple IIGS

text: Software that runs on the Apple IIGS can be divided into two major categories: 8-bit software compatible with earlier Apple II systems such as the IIe and IIc, and 16-bit IIGS software, which takes advantage of its advanced features, including a near-clone of the Macintosh graphical user interface.


title: Apple IIGS

text: Apple claimed that the IIGS was 95% compatible with contemporary Apple II software. One reviewer, for example, successfully ran demo programs that came on cassette with his 1977 Apple II. The IIGS can run all of Apple's earlier Apple II operating systems: Apple DOS, ProDOS 8, and Apple Pascal. It is also compatible with nearly all 8-bit software running on those systems. Like the Apple II+, IIe, and IIc, the IIGS also includes Applesoft BASIC and a machine-language monitor (which can be used for very simple assembly language programming) in ROM, so they can be used even with no operating system loaded from disk. The 8-bit software runs twice as fast unless the user turns down the processor speed in the IIGS control panel.


title: Apple IIGS

text: The Apple IIGS System Software utilizes a graphical user interface (GUI) very similar to that of the Macintosh and somewhat like GEM for PCs and the operating systems of contemporary Atari and Amiga computers. Early versions of the System Software are based on the ProDOS 16 operating system, which is based on the original ProDOS operating system for 8-bit Apple II computers. Although it was modified so that 16-bit Apple IIGS software can run on it, ProDOS 16 was written largely in 8-bit code and does not take full advantage of the IIGS's capabilities. Later System Software versions (starting with version 4.0) replaced ProDOS 16 with a new 16-bit operating system known as GS/OS. It better utilizes the unique capabilities of the IIGS and includes many valuable new features. The IIGS System Software was substantially enhanced and expanded over the years during which it was developed, culminating in its final official version, System 6.0.1, which was released in 1993. In July 2015, members of a computer group from France released a new, though unofficial, version of that System Software, dubbed "System 6.0.2" (and later followed by System 6.0.3 and 6.0.4), that primarily fixed some bugs.


title: Apple IIGS

text: Similar to that of the Macintosh, the IIGS System Software provides a mouse-driven graphical user interface using concepts such as windows, menus, and icons. This was implemented by a "toolbox" of code, some of which resides in the computer's ROM and some of which is loaded from disk. Only one major application can run at a time, although other, smaller programs, known as Desk Accessories, can be used simultaneously. The IIGS has a Finder application very similar to the Macintosh's, which allows the user to manipulate files and launch applications. By default, the Finder is displayed when the computer starts up and whenever the user quits an application that is started from it, although the startup application can be changed by the user.


title: Apple IIGS

text: Software companies complained that Apple did not provide technical information and development tools to create IIGS-specific software. In 1988 "Compute!" reported that both Cinemaware and Intergalactic Development had to write their own tools to maximize their use of IIGS audio, with the latter stating that "these sorts of problems … are becoming well-known throughout the industry".


title: Apple IIGS

text: The IIGS System Software can be extended through various mechanisms. New Desk Accessories are small programs ranging from a calculator to simple word processors that can be used while running any standard desktop application. Classic Desk Accessories also serve as small programs available while running other applications, but they use the text screen and can be accessed even from non-desktop applications. Control Panels and initialization files are other mechanisms that allow various functions to be added to the system. Finder Extras permits new capabilities to be added to the Finder, drivers can be used to support new hardware devices, and users can also add "tools" that provide various functions that other programs can utilize easily. These features can be used to provide features that were never planned for by the system's designers, such as a TCP/IP stack known as "Marinetti".


title: Apple IIGS

text: A third party UNIX-like multitasking kernel was produced, called GNO/ME, which runs under the GUI and provides preemptive multitasking. In addition, a system called "The Manager" can be used to make the Finder more like the one on the Macintosh, allowing major software (other than just the "accessory" programs) to run simultaneously through cooperative multitasking.


title: Apple IIGS

text: After previewing the computer, "BYTE" stated in October 1986 that "The Apple IIGS designers' achievements are remarkable, but the burden of the classic Apple II architecture, now as venerable (and outdated) as COBOL and batch processing, may have weighed them down and denied them any technological leaps beyond an exercise in miniaturization." The magazine added that "hog-tied by [classic] Apple II compatibility, [the IIGS] approaches but does not match or exceed current computer capabilities" of the Macintosh, Amiga, or Atari ST, and predicted that many vendors would "enhance existing products for the [classic] Apple II instead of writing new software" that fully exploited the IIGS's power.


title: Apple IIGS

text: "inCider", which in September had warned that the next Apple II "needs (at least)... a megabyte of RAM... That's what the market wants", indeed reported in November that "Rather than risk investing time and money in programs that work only on the Apple IIGS, a number of software developers have simply upgraded old Apple II programs", and that the "most interesting program available specifically for the IIGS at this time is LearningWays' Explore-a-Story, which was released simultaneously for the good old 128K Apple IIe and IIc". The magazine concluded, "The moral is simple: Good hardware, even innovative hardware, won't give birth to good, new software overnight."


title: Apple IIGS

text: "Nibble" was more positive, calling the price "fantastic" for "Steve Wozniak's dream machine". It praised the IIGS's "incredible" legacy Apple II compatibility, graphics, and sound, stated that only its slower speed made the computer significantly inferior to the Macintosh, and expected that Apple would soon introduce new products to better distinguish the two product lines. The magazine concluded that "The IIGS is an incredibly fine computer, arguably the finest assemblage of chips and resistors ever soldered together... Ladies and gentlemen of Apple, on behalf of the Apple II user community, you have earned our gratitude and admiration."


title: Apple IIGS

text: "Compute!" described the IIGS in November 1986 as "two machines in one—a product that bridges the gap between the Macintosh and Apple IIe, and in so doing poses what may be serious competition for the Commodore Amiga and the Atari ST series". It described the IIGS's graphics "as different as night and day" from the earlier Apple IIs and the audio as "in a class by themselves... [it] justifies the price of the IIGS to many music fans and fanatics". The magazine reported that "well over one hundred outside developers were actively engaged in creating software for the IIGS", and predicted that "as new products are developed to take advantage of the IIGS, people will move away from the pure Apple II and toward the newer titles with their improved performance".


title: Apple IIGS

text: "Compute!'s Apple Applications" in December 1987 reported, however, that "Many publishers have canceled or postponed their plans for Apple IIGS software and instead are cautiously introducing programs for the Apple IIc and IIe", while "many of the products for the Apple IIGS are simply versions of" older Apple II software "that incorporate color and use the mouse interface". So little IIGS software was available, it said, that "the hottest product... is "AppleWorks". No mouse interface, no color, no graphics. Just "AppleWorks" from the IIe and IIc world". The magazine stated that many customers either chose the slightly more expensive Macintosh Plus or kept their inexpensive IIc or IIe which ran AppleWorks well, with the IIGS "in a strange position" in between.


title: Apple IIGS

text: "BYTE"s Bruce Webster in January 1987 praised Apple for permitting Wozniak to finish the IIx project, but said that the company should have done so "a few years ago". The IIGS is an excellent replacement for the [earlier models from the] Apple II line, but it's awfully late in coming. The technology is more trailing-edge than leading-edge in many areas", with speed and graphics inferior to that of the Amiga and Atari ST. The other computers, he wrote, have both larger software libraries that use their power and lower prices; Webster found that a IIGS package costing was comparable to a Atari ST configuration. He concluded with a "qualified approval" of the computer: "It was necessary to prevent the Apple II line from dying off during the next year or so. However, Apple didn't go far enough." A "BYTE" review in April 1987 concluded that the IIGS "has the potential to be a powerful computer" but needed a faster CPU and more addressable memory. The magazine advised potential customers to compare the Macintosh, Amiga, and Atari ST's more powerful 68000 CPU with the IIGS's greater expandability and large Apple II software library.


title: Apple IIGS

text: "Compute!" in 1988 urged Apple to make the computer faster, stating that "no matter which way you cut it, the IIGS is slow" and that IIGS-specific programs could not keep up with user actions. In 1989 the magazine stated "One of the biggest complaints of IIGS-specific software is the way it imitates the pace of a zombie. You'd think 16-bit software had died and voodoo-transformed into a shuffling, stumbling imitation of real computer applications." It reported that year that after increases in September, a IIGS with color monitor, two disk drives, and ImageWriter II cost more than , a price the magazine called "staggering". "inCider" also criticized the price increase, warning that it "opens the door further to low-cost MS-DOS computers".


title: Apple IIGS

text: While in production between September 1986 and December 1992, the Apple IIGS remained relatively unchanged from its inception. During those years, however, Apple did produce some maintenance updates to the system which mainly comprised two new ROM-based updates and a revamped motherboard. It is rumored that several prototypes that greatly enhanced the machine's features and capabilities were designed and even built, though only one has ever been publicly exposed (i.e. the "Mark Twain"). Outlined below are "only" those revisions and updates officially released by Apple.


title: Apple IIGS

text: During the entire first year of the machine's production, an early, almost beta-like, firmware version shipped with the machine and was notably bug-ridden. Some limitation of this include the fact that the built-in RAM Disk can't be set larger than 4 MB (even if more RAM is present) and the firmware contains the very early System 1.x toolsets. It became incompatible with most native Apple IIGS software written from late-1987 onward, and OS support only lasted up to System 3. The startup splash screen of the original ROM only displays the words "Apple IIgs" at the top center of the screen, in the same fashion that previous Apple II models identify themselves.


title: Apple IIGS

text: Very early production runs of the machine had a faulty video graphics controller (VGC) chip that produced strange cosmetic glitches in emulated (IIe/IIc) video modes. Specifically, the 80-column text display and monochrome double-high-resolution graphics had a symptom where small flickering or static pink bits would appear between the gaps of characters and pixels. Most users noticed this when using AppleWorks classic or the Mousedesk application that was a part of System 1 and 2. Apple resolved the issue by offering a free chip-swap upgrade to affected owners.


title: Apple IIGS

text: In August 1987, Apple released an updated ROM that was included in all new machines and was made available as a free upgrade to all existing owners. The main feature of the new ROM was the presence of the System 2.x toolsets and several bug fixes. The upgrade was vital, as software developers, including Apple, ceased support of the original ROM upon its release (most native Apple IIGS software written from late-1987 onwards would "not" run unless a ROM 01 or higher was present, and this included the GS/OS operating system). This update also allows up to 8 MB for the RAM Disk, added some new features for programmers, and reported the ROM version and copyright information on the startup splash screen.


title: Apple IIGS

text: In March 1988, Apple began shipping IIGS units with 512 KB of RAM as standard. This was done by preinstalling the Apple IIGS Memory Expansion Card (that was once sold separately) in the memory expansion slot—the card had 256 KB of RAM on board with empty sockets for further expansion. The built-in memory on the motherboard remained at 256 KB and existing users were not offered this upgrade.


title: Apple IIGS

text: In August 1989, Apple increased the standard amount of RAM shipped in the IIGS to 1.125 MB. This time the additional memory was built-in on the motherboard, which required a layout change and allowed for other minor improvements as well. This update introduced both a new motherboard and a new ROM firmware update; however, neither was offered to existing owners—even as an upgrade option (the new ROM, now two chips, is incompatible with the original single-socket motherboard). Apple had cited the reason an upgrade was not being offered was that most of the features of the new machine could be obtained in existing machines by installing System 5 and a fully populated Apple IIGS Memory Expansion Card.


title: Apple IIGS

text: The new ROM firmware was expanded to 256 KB and contained the System 5.x toolsets. The newer toolsets increased the performance of the machine by up to 10%, due to the fact that less had to be loaded from disk, tool ROM read access being faster than RAM, and their highly optimized routines compared to the older toolsets (pre-GS/OS-based). In addition to several bug fixes, also added were more programmer assistance commands and features, a cleaned-up control panel with improved mouse control and RAM Disk functionality, more flexible Appletalk support and slot-mapping.


title: Apple IIGS

text: In terms of hardware, the new motherboard is a cleaner design that drew less power and resolved audio noise issues that interfered with the Ensoniq synthesizer in the original motherboard. Over four times more RAM is built-in, with double the ROM size, and an enhanced Apple Desktop Bus microcontroller provides native support for sticky keys, mouse emulation, and keyboard LED support (available on extended keyboards). Hardware shadowing of Text Page 2 was introduced, improving compatibility and performance with the classic Apple II video mode. The clock battery is now user-serviceable, being placed in a removable socket, and a jumper location was added to lock out the text-based control panel (mainly useful in school environments). Support for the Apple-IIe-to-IIGS upgrade was removed, and some cost-cutting measures had some chips soldered in place rather than being socketed. As the firmware only worked in this motherboard and no new firmware updates were ever issued, users commonly referred to this version of the IIGS as the "ROM 3".


title: Apple IIGS

text: Like the Apple IIe and Apple IIc built-in keyboards before it, the detached IIGS keyboard differs depending on what region of the world it was sold in, with extra local language characters and symbols printed on certain keycaps (e.g. French accented characters on the Canadian IIGS keyboard such as "à", "é", "ç", etc., or the British Pound "£" symbol on the UK IIGS keyboard). Unlike previous Apple II models, however, the layout and shape of keys were the same standard for all countries, and the ROMs inside the computer were also the same for all countries, including support for all the different international keyboards. In order to access the local character set layout and display, users would change settings in the built-in software-based control panel, which also provides a method of toggling between 50/60 Hz video screen refresh. The composite video output is NTSC-only on all IIGS systems; users in PAL countries are expected to use an RGB monitor or TVs which featured RGB SCART. This selectable internationalization makes it quick and simple to localize any given machine. Also present in the settings is a QWERTY/DVORAK keyboard toggle for all countries, much like that of the Apple IIc. Outside North America, the Apple IIGS shipped with a different 220 V clip-in power supply, making this and the plastic keycaps the only physical differences (and also very modular, in the sense of converting a non-localized machine to a local one).


title: Apple IIGS

text: Apple designed the Apple IIe Card to transit Apple IIe customers to the Macintosh LC, particularly schools who had a large investment in Apple II software. While Apple discussed creating an LC plug-in IIGS card, they felt that the cost of selling it would be as much as an entire LC and abandoned it. However, the educational community had a substantial investment in the IIGS software as well, which made upgrading to a Macintosh a less attractive proposition than had been for the Apple IIe. As a result, Apple software designers Dave Lyons and Andy Nicholas spearheaded a program to develop a IIGS software emulator they called Gus in their spare time, which would run on the Power Macintosh only. Apple did not officially support the project. Nevertheless, seeing the need to help switch their educational customers to the Macintosh (as well as sell Power Macs), Apple unofficially distributed the software for free to schools and other institutions that signed a non-disclosure agreement. It was never offered for public sale, but is now readily available on the internet, along with many third-party classic Apple II emulators. Gus represents one of the few software emulators developed within Apple (officially or otherwise), including MacWorks and Mac OS X Classic environment. The app was publicly demonstrated in Rhapsody's Blue Box at WWDC 1997.


title: Apple IIGS

text: The Apple Desktop Bus, which for a long time was the standard for most input peripherals for the Macintosh, first appeared on the IIGS. In addition, the other standardized ports and addition of SCSI set a benchmark which allowed, for the first time, Apple to consolidate their peripheral offerings across both the Apple II and Macintosh product lines, permitting one device to be compatible with multiple, disparate computers.


title: Apple IIGS

text: The IIGS is also the first Apple product to bear the new brand-unifying color scheme, a warm gray color Apple dubbed "Platinum". This color would remain the Apple standard used on the vast majority of products for the next decade. The IIGS is also the second major computer design, after the Apple IIc, where Apple worked with Hartmut Esslinger's team at Frog Design. The consistent use of the new corporate color and matching peripherals ushered in the Snow White design language, which was used exclusively for the next five years and made the Apple product line instantly recognizable around the world.


title: Apple IIGS

text: The inclusion of a professional-grade sound chip in the Apple IIGS was hailed by both developers and users, and hopes were high that it would be added to the Macintosh; however, it drew another lawsuit from Apple Corps. As part of an earlier trademark dispute with the business arm of The Beatles, Apple Computer had agreed not to release music-related products. Apple Corps considered the inclusion of the Ensoniq chip in the IIGS a violation of that agreement.


title: Apple IIGS

text: John Carmack, co-founder of id Software, started his career by writing commercial software for the Apple IIGS, working with John Romero and Tom Hall. "Wolfenstein 3D", based on the 1981 Apple II game "Castle Wolfenstein", came full-circle when it was released for the Apple IIGS in 1998.


title: Apple IIGS

text: Two mainstream video games, "Zany Golf" and "The Immortal", both designed by Will Harvey, originated as Apple IIGS games that were ported to other platforms, including the Sega Genesis.


title: Apple IIGS

text: Pangea Software started as an Apple IIGS game developer. Naughty Dog started with the classic Apple II machines, but later developed for the IIGS.


title: Apple IIGS

text: In August 1988, "inCider" magazine reported Apple was working on a new Apple IIGS. It was stated it had a faster CPU, improved graphics (double the vertical resolution, 256 colors per scanline and 4,096 colors per screen), 768 KB of RAM, 256 KB of ROM, 128 KB of sound DOC-RAM and a built-in SCSI port. No new machine would appear that year.


title: Apple IIGS

text: In 1989 "Compute!" reported on speculation that Apple would announce at the May AppleFest a "IIGS Plus" with a processor two to three times faster, 768 KB to 1 MB RAM, and a SCSI port. The speculation was partially based on Apple CEO John Sculley stating that the IIGS would receive a new CPU in 1989. No new computer appeared, but in August the IIGS started shipping with 1 MB RAM in the base configuration.


title: Apple IIGS

text: VTech, makers of the 8-bit Apple II-compatible Laser 128, announced plans for a IIGS-compatible computer in 1988 for under $600. They demonstrated a prototype in 1989, but the computer was never released.


title: Apple IIGS

text: Cirtech produced a working prototype of a black-and-white Macintosh hardware emulation plug-in card for the IIGS dubbed "Duet". Using a 68020 processor, custom ROM and up to 8 MB RAM, Cirtech claimed it outperformed the Macintosh IIcx. The project was ultimately canceled due to the projected high cost of the board.


title: DV

text: DV refers to a family of codecs and tape formats used for storing digital video, launched in 1995 by a consortium of video camera manufacturers led by Sony and Panasonic. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, DV was strongly associated with the transition from analog to digital desktop video production, and also with several enduring "prosumer" camera designs such as the Sony VX-1000. DV is sometimes referred to as MiniDV, which was the most popular tape format using a DV codec during this time.


title: DV

text: In 2003, DV was joined by a successor format called HDV, which used the same tapes but with an updated video codec; HDV cameras could typically switch between DV and HDV recording modes. In the 2010s, DV rapidly grew obsolete as cameras using memory cards and solid-state drives became the norm, recording at higher bitrates and resolutions that were impractical for mechanical tape formats. Additionally, as manufacturers switched from interlaced to superior progressive recording methods, they broke the interoperability that had previously been maintained across multiple generations of DV and HDV equipment. In the 2020s, DV codecs are still sometimes used when dealing with legacy standard definition video.


title: DV

text: The original DV specification, known as "Blue Book", was standardized within the IEC 61834 family of standards. These standards define common features such as physical videocassettes, recording modulation method, magnetization, and basic system data in part 1. Part 2 describes the specifics of video systems supporting 525-60 for NTSC and 625-50 for PAL. The IEC standards are available as publications sold by IEC and ANSI.


title: DV

text: DV uses lossy compression of video while audio is stored uncompressed. An intraframe video compression scheme is used to compress video on a frame-by-frame basis with the discrete cosine transform (DCT).


title: DV

text: Closely following the ITU-R Rec. 601 standard, DV video employs interlaced scanning with the luminance sampling frequency of 13.5 MHz. This results in 480 scanlines per complete frame for the 60 Hz system, and 576 scanlines per complete frame for the 50 Hz system. In both systems the active area contains 720 pixels per scanline, with 704 pixels used for content and 16 pixels on the sides left for digital blanking. The same frame size is used for 4:3 and 16:9 frame aspect ratios, resulting in different pixel aspect ratios for "fullscreen" and "widescreen" video.


title: DV

text: Prior to the DCT compression stage, chroma subsampling is applied to the source video in order to reduce the amount of data to be compressed. Baseline DV uses in its 60 Hz variant and in the 50 Hz variant. Low chroma resolution of DV (compared to higher-end digital video formats) is a reason this format is sometimes avoided in chroma keying applications, though advances in chroma keying techniques and software have made producing quality keys from DV material possible.


title: DV

text: Audio can be stored in either of two forms: 16-bit Linear PCM stereo at 48 kHz sampling rate (768 kbit/s per channel, 1.5 Mbit/s stereo), or four nonlinear 12-bit PCM channels at 32 kHz sampling rate (384 kbit/s per channel, 1.5 MBit/s for four channels). In addition, the DV specification also supports 16-bit audio at 44.1 kHz (706 kbit/s per channel, 1.4 Mbit/s stereo), the same sampling rate used for CD audio. In practice, the 48 kHz stereo mode is used almost exclusively.


title: DV

text: The audio, video, and metadata are packaged into 80-byte Digital Interface Format (DIF) blocks which are multiplexed into a 150-block sequence. DIF blocks are the basic units of DV streams and can be stored as computer files in raw form or wrapped in such file formats as Audio Video Interleave (AVI), QuickTime (QT) and Material Exchange Format (MXF). One video frame is formed from either 10 or 12 such sequences, depending on scanning rate, which results in a data rate of about 25 Mbit/s for video, and an additional 1.5 Mbit/s for audio. When written to tape, each sequence corresponds to one complete track.


title: DV

text: Baseline DV employs "unlocked audio". This means that the sound may be +/- ⅓ frame out of sync with the video. However, this is the maximum drift of the audio/video synchronization; it is not compounded throughout the recording.


title: DV

text: Sony and Panasonic created their proprietary versions of DV aimed toward professional & broadcast users, which use the same compression scheme, but improve on robustness, linear editing capabilities, color rendition and raster size.


title: DV

text: All DV variants except for DVCPRO Progressive are recorded to tape within interlaced video stream. Film-like frame rates are possible by using pulldown. DVCPRO HD supports native progressive format when recorded to P2 memory cards.


title: DV

text: DVCPRO, also known as DVCPRO25, is a variation of DV developed by Panasonic and introduced in 1995 for use in electronic news gathering (ENG) equipment.


title: DV

text: Unlike baseline DV, DVCPRO uses "locked audio", meaning the audio sample clock runs in sync with the video sample clock, and 4:1:1 chroma subsampling for both 50 Hz and 60 Hz variants to decrease generation losses. Audio is available in 16-bit/48 kHz precision.


title: DV

text: When recorded to tape, DVCPRO uses wider track pitch - 18 μm vs. 10 μm of baseline DV, which reduces the chance of dropout errors during recording. Two extra longitudinal tracks provide support for audio cue and for timecode control. Tape is transported 80% faster compared to baseline DV, resulting in shorter recording time. Long Play mode is not available.


title: DV

text: DVCPRO50 was introduced by Panasonic in 1997 for high-value electronic news gathering and digital cinema, and is often described as two DV codecs working in parallel.


title: DV

text: The DVCPRO50 doubles the coded video data rate to 50 Mbit/s. This has the effect of cutting total record time of any given storage medium in half. Chroma resolution is improved by using 4:2:2 chroma subsampling.


title: DV

text: DVCPRO50 was used in many productions where high definition video was not required. For example, BBC used DVCPRO50 to record high-budget TV series, such as "Space Race" (2005) and "" (2006).


title: DV

text: A similar format, D-9 (or Digital-S), offered by JVC, uses videocassettes with the same form-factor as VHS.


title: DV

text: Comparable high quality standard definition digital tape formats include Sony's Digital Betacam, launched in 1993, and MPEG IMX, launched in 2001.


title: DV

text: DVCPRO "Progressive" was introduced by Panasonic for news gathering, sports journalism and digital cinema. It offered 480 or 576 lines of progressive scan recording with 4:2:0 chroma subsampling and four 16-bit 48 kHz PCM audio channels. Like HDV-SD, it was meant as an intermediate format during the transition time from standard definition to high definition video.


title: DV

text: The format offered six modes for recording and playback: 16:9 progressive (50 Mbit/s), 4:3 progressive (50 Mbit/s), 16:9 interlaced (50 Mbit/s), 4:3 interlaced (50 Mbit/s), 16:9 interlaced (25 Mbit/s), 4:3 interlaced (25 Mbit/s).


title: DV

text: "DVCPRO HD", also known as "DVCPRO100" and "D-12", is a high-definition video format that can be thought of as four DV codecs that work in parallel. Video data rate depends on frame rate and can be as low as 40 Mbit/s for 24 frame/s mode and as high as 100 Mbit/s for 50/60 frame/s modes. Like DVCPRO50, DVCPRO HD employs 4:2:2 color sampling.


title: DV

text: DVCPRO HD uses smaller raster size than broadcast high definition television: 960x720 pixels for 720p, 1280x1080 for 1080/59.94i and 1440x1080 for 1080/50i. Similar horizontal downsampling (using rectangular pixels) is used in many other magnetic tape-based HD formats such as HDCAM. To maintain compatibility with HD-SDI, DVCPRO100 equipment upsamples video during playback.


title: DV

text: Variable framerates (from 4 to 60 frame/s) are available on "VariCam" camcorders. DVCPRO HD equipment offers backward compatibility with older DV/DVCPRO formats.


title: DV

text: When recorded to tape in standard-play mode, DVCPRO HD uses the same 18 μm track pitch as other DVCPRO flavors. A long play variant, DVCPRO HD-LP, doubles the recording density by using 9 μm track pitch.


title: DV

text: DVCPRO HD is codified as SMPTE 370M; the DVCPRO HD tape format is SMPTE 371M, and the MXF Op-Atom format used for DVCPRO HD on P2 cards is SMPTE 390M.


title: DV

text: While technically DVCPRO HD is a direct descendant of DV, it is used almost exclusively by professionals. Tape-based DVCPRO HD cameras exist only in shoulder mount variant.


title: DV

text: A similar format, Digital-S (D-9 HD), was offered by JVC and used videocassettes with the same form-factor as VHS.


title: DV

text: The main competitor to DVCPRO HD was HDCAM, offered by Sony. It uses a similar compression scheme but at higher bitrate.


title: DV

text: Like DVCPRO, DVCAM uses locked audio, which prevents audio synchronization drift that may happen on DV if several generations of copies are made.


title: DV

text: When recorded to tape, DVCAM uses 15 μm track pitch, which is 50% wider compared to baseline. Accordingly, tape is transported 50% faster, which reduces recording time by one third compared to regular DV. Because of the wider track and track pitch, DVCAM has the ability to do a frame-accurate insert edit, while regular DV may vary by a few frames on each edit compared to the preview.


title: DV

text: Digital8 is a combination of the tape transport originally designed for analog Video8 and Hi8 formats with the DV codec. Digital8 equipment records in DV format only, but usually can playback Video8 and Hi8 tapes as well.


title: DV

text: Tape-based DV variants, except for DVCPRO Progressive, do not support native progressive recording, therefore progressively acquired video is recorded within interlaced video stream using pulldown. The same technique is used in television industry to broadcast movies. Progressive-scan DV camcorders for 60 Hz market record 24-frame/s video using 2-3 pulldown and 30-frame/s video using 2-2 pulldown. Progressive-scan DV camcorders for 50 Hz market record 25-frame/s video using 2-2 pulldown.


title: DV

text: Progressive video can be recorded with interlaced delivery in mind, in which case high-frequency information between fields is blended to suppress interline twitter. If the goal is progressive-scan distribution like Web videos, progressive-scan DVD-video or film-out, then no filtering is applied. Video recorded with 2-2 pulldown and no vertical filtering is conceptually identical to progressive segmented frame.


title: DV

text: Consumer-grade DV camcorders capable of progressive recording usually offer only 2-2 pulldown scheme because of its simplicity. Such a video can be edited as either interlaced or progressive and does not require additional processing aside of treating every pair of fields as one complete frame. Canon and Panasonic call this format "Frame Mode", while Sony calls it "Progressive Scan recording". 24 frame/s recording is available only on professional DV camcorders and requires "pulldown removal" if editing at native frame rate is required.


title: DV

text: DVCPRO HD supports native progressive recording at 50 or 60 frame/s in 720p mode. To record video acquired at 24, 25 or 30 frame/s frame repeating is used. Frame repeating is similar to field repeating used in interlaced video, and is also called pulldown sometimes.


title: DV

text: DV was originally designed for recording onto magnetic tape. Tape is enclosed into videocassette of four different sizes: small, medium, large and extra-large. All DV cassettes use ¼ inch (6.35 mm) wide tape.


title: DV

text: Small cassettes (66 x 48 x 12.2 mm), also known as "S-size" or "DVC" or "MiniDV" cassettes, had been intended for amateur use, but have become accepted in professional productions as well. MiniDV cassettes are used for recording baseline DV, DVCAM, and HDV. These cassettes come in lengths up to about 14~20.8GB for 63 or 90min minutes of DV or HDV video. When recording in DVCAM, these cassettes hold up to 41 minutes of video. There are some 83-minute versions but these use thinner tape than the 63-minute ones, and Panasonic advised against playing these cassettes in DVCPRO decks.


title: DV

text: Medium or "M-size" cassettes (97.5 × 64.5 × 14.6 mm), which are about the size of eight-millimeter cassettes, are used in professional Panasonic equipment and are often called "DVCPRO tapes". Panasonic video recorders that accept medium cassette can play back from and record to medium cassette in different flavors of DVCPRO format; they will also play small cassettes containing DV or DVCAM recording via an adapter. These cassettes come in lengths up to 66 minutes for DVCPRO, 33 minutes for DVCPRO50 and DVCPRO HD-LP, and 16 minutes for the original DVCPRO HD.


title: DV

text: Large or "L-size" cassettes (125.1 x 78 x 14.6 mm) are close in dimensions to Betacam cassettes and are accepted by most standalone DV tape recorders and are used in many shoulder-mount camcorders. The L-size cassette can be used in both Sony and Panasonic equipment; nevertheless, they are often called "DVCAM tapes". Older Sony decks would not play large cassettes with DVCPRO recordings, but newer models can play these and M-size DVCPRO cassettes. These cassettes come in lengths up to 276 minutes of DV or HDV video (or 184 minutes for DVCAM). Unlike the VHS and Digital8 formats that use thinner tape for their longest-length variants, the 276-minute DV cassette employs the same tape as its shorter-length variants. On the DVCPRO side, these cassettes have nearly double the tape capacity of their M-size counterparts, with duration up to 126 minutes for DVCPRO, 64 minutes for DVCPRO50 and DVCPRO HD-LP, and 32 minutes for the original DVCPRO HD. A thin-tape 184/92/46-minute version was also released.


title: DV

text: Extra-large cassettes or "XL-size" (172 x 102 x 14.6 mm) have been designed for use in Panasonic equipment and are sometimes called DVCPRO XL. These cassettes are not widespread, only a few models of Panasonic tape recorders can accept them. Each XL-size cassette holds nearly double the amount of tape as the full-length L-size cassettes with a capacity of 252 minutes of DVCPRO video or 126 minutes of DVCPRO50 or DVCPRO HD-LP video.


title: DV

text: Technically, any DV cassette can record any variant of DV video. Nevertheless, manufacturers often label cassettes with DV, DVCAM, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50 or DVCPRO HD and indicate recording time with regards to the label posted. Cassettes labeled as DV indicate recording time of baseline DV; another number can indicate recording time of Long Play DV. Cassettes labeled as DVCPRO have a yellow tape door and indicate recording time when DVCPRO25 is used; with DVCPRO50 the recording time is half, with DVCPRO HD it is a quarter. Cassettes labeled as DVCPRO50 have a blue tape door and indicate recording time when DVCPRO50 is used. Cassettes labeled as DVCPRO HD have a red tape door and indicate recording time when DVCPRO HD-LP format is used; a second number may be used for DVCPRO HD recording, which will be half as long.


title: DV

text: Panasonic stipulated use of a particular magnetic-tape formulation—metal particle (MP)—as an inherent part of its DVCPRO family of formats. Regular DV tape uses Metal Evaporate (ME) formulation (which, as the name suggests, uses physical vapor deposition to deposit metal onto the tape), which was pioneered for use in Hi8 camcorders. Early Hi8 ME tape was plagued with excessive dropouts, which forced many shooters to switch to more expensive MP tape. After the technology improved, the dropout rate was greatly reduced, nevertheless Panasonic deemed ME formulation not robust enough for professional use. Tape-based professional Panasonic DVCPRO camcorders and decks only record onto DVCPRO-branded cassettes, effectively preventing use of ME tape.


title: DV

text: With proliferation of tapeless camcorder video recording, DV video can be recorded on optical discs, solid state flash memory cards and hard disk drives and used as computer files. In particular:


title: DV

text: Video is stored either as native DIF bitstream or wrapped into an audio/video container such as AVI, QuickTime or MXF.


title: DV

text: Nearly all DV camcorders and decks have IEEE 1394 (FireWire, i.LINK) ports for digital video transfer. This is usually a two-way port, so that DV video data can be "output" to a computer (DV-out), or "input" from either a computer or another camcorder (DV-in). The DV-in capability makes it possible to copy edited DV video from a computer back onto tape, or make a lossless copy between two mutually connected DV camcorders. However, models made for sale in the European Union usually had the DV-in capability disabled in the firmware by the manufacturer because the camcorder would be classified by the EU as a video recorder and would therefore attract higher duty; a model which only had DV-out could be sold at a lower price in the EU.


title: DV

text: When video is captured onto a computer it is stored in a container file, which can be either raw DV stream, AVI, WMV or QuickTime. Whichever container is used, the video itself is not re-encoded and represents a complete digital copy of what has been recorded onto tape. If needed, the video can be recorded back to tape to create a full and lossless copy of the original footage.


title: DV

text: Some camcorders also feature a USB 2.0 port for computer connection. This port is usually used for transferring still images, but not for video transfer. Camcorders that offer video transfer over USB usually do not deliver full DV quality - usually it is 320x240 video, except for the Sony DCR-PC1000 camcorder and some Panasonic camcorders that provide transfer of a full-quality DV stream via USB by using the UVC protocol. Full-quality DV can also be captured via USB or Thunderbolt by using separate hardware that receives DV data from the camcorder over a FireWire cable and forwards it without any transcoding to the computer via a USB cable or a Firewire to Thunderbolt adapter - this can be particularly useful for capturing on modern laptop computers which usually do not have a FireWire port or expansion slot but always have USB or Thunderbolt ports.


title: DV

text: High end cameras and VTRs may have additional professional outputs such as SDI, SDTI or analog component video. All DV variants have a time code, but some older or consumer computer applications fail to take advantage of it.


title: DV

text: The high quality of DV images, especially when compared to Video8 and Hi8 which were vulnerable to an unacceptable number of video dropouts and "hits", prompted the acceptance by mainstream broadcasters of material shot on DV. The low costs of DV equipment and their ease of use put such cameras in the hands of a new breed of videojournalists. Programs such as TLC's and ABC News's Hopkins: 24/7 were shot on DV.


title: DV

text: Most DV players, editors and encoders only support the basic DV format, but not its professional versions. The exception to this being that most (not all) consumer Sony miniDV equipment will play mini-DVCAM tapes. DV Audio/Video data can be stored as raw DV data stream file (data is written to a file as the data is received over FireWire, file extensions are .dv and .dif) or the DV data can be packed into container files (ex: Microsoft AVI, Apple MOV). The DV meta-information is preserved in both file types being Sub-timecode and Start/Stop date times witch can be muxed to Quicktime SMPTE standard timecode.


title: DV

text: Most Windows video software only supports DV in AVI containers, as they use Microsoft's avifile.dll, which only supports reading avi files. Mac OS X video software support both AVI and MOV containers.


title: DV

text: There was considerable controversy solely based on hearsay over whether or not using tapes from different manufacturers could lead to dropouts. Initially this was suggested around the conception of mostly MiniDV tapes in the mid to late 90s as the only two manufacturers of MiniDV tapes (Sony, who produce their tapes solely under the Sony brand; and Panasonic, who produce their own tapes under their Panasonic brand and outsources for TDK, Canon, etc.) used two different lubrication types for their cameras - Sony uses a 'wet' lubricant ('ME' or 'Metal Evaporated'), while Panasonic uses a 'dry' lubricant ('MP' or 'Metal Particle').


title: DV

text: The standard practice for casual and professional camera operators alike is not to mix brands of tapes. (as the different lubrication formulations can cause or encourage tape wear if not cleaned by a cleaning cassette) No significant problems have occurred for the last few years - meaning that switching tapes is acceptable, though sticking to one brand (and cleaning the heads with a cleaning cassette before doing so) is highly recommended.


title: DV

text: A research undertaken by Sony claimed that there was no hard evidence of the above statement. The only evidence claimed was that using ME tapes in equipment designed for MP tapes can cause tape damage and hence dropouts. Sony has done a significant amount of internal testing to simulate head clogs as a result of mixing tape lubricants, and has been unable to recreate the problem. Sony recommends using cleaning cassettes once every 50 hours of recording or playback. For those who are still skeptical, Sony recommends cleaning video heads with a cleaning cassette before trying another brand of tape.


title: Corey Brewer

text: Corey Wayne Brewer (born March 5, 1986) is an American former professional basketball player who serves as a player development coach for the New Orleans Pelicans. He played college basketball for the Florida Gators, winning back-to-back NCAA national championships in 2006 and 2007. He was named Most Outstanding Player of the 2007 NCAA tournament.


title: Corey Brewer

text: Brewer was born in Portland, Tennessee. He attended Portland High School, where he played high school basketball for the Portland Panthers. As a 6'7 174 lbs senior in the 2003–04 season, Brewer averaged 29.4 points and 12.8 rebounds per game and was named the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) Class 2A "Mr.Basketball", McDonald's All American, and a fourth-team "Parade" All-American.


title: Corey Brewer

text: Considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Brewer was listed as the No. 7 small forward and the No. 31 player in the nation in 2004.


title: Corey Brewer

text: Brewer accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida, where he played for coach Billy Donovan's Florida Gators men's basketball team from 2004 to 2007. Brewer was one of four key freshman members of Donovan's 2004 recruiting class who would have a dramatic impact on the Gators' fortunes over the next three seasons. Propelled by the 2004 class, the Gators would win the first three SEC basketball tournament championships in team history (2005, 2006, 2007), and two back-to-back NCAA Tournament national championships (2006, 2007) with the same starting line-up.


title: Corey Brewer

text: Brewer recorded the first triple-double in Gators team history on December 18, 2005, posting 15 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists (the 13 assists were the most by a Gator since Jason Williams had a team record 17 in 1997).


title: Corey Brewer

text: He was projected by ESPN.com's Chad Ford to be a lottery pick to mid-first round pick in the 2006 NBA draft if he had entered the draft that year. However, Brewer, along with teammates Joakim Noah and Al Horford announced at the championship pep rally that they would be returning for their junior seasons in pursuit of their second NCAA Tournament championship. Following the Gators' second NCAA championship, Brewer chose to enter the NBA draft on April 5, 2007 along with teammates Noah and Horford.


title: Corey Brewer

text: Brewer was selected seventh overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2007 NBA draft. Due to the retirement of the No. 2 jersey in Minnesota worn by the deceased Malik Sealy, Brewer expressed the desire to wear No. 22 instead. He officially adopted the No. 22 for the season's summer leagues, in Las Vegas, Nevada.


title: Corey Brewer

text: On December 1, 2008, it was announced that Brewer had sustained an ACL tear and would miss the rest of the 2008–09 NBA season.


title: Corey Brewer

text: On February 22, 2011, Brewer was traded to the New York Knicks in a three-way blockbuster trade that also brought Carmelo Anthony from the Nuggets to New York. On March 1, 2011, he was waived by the Knicks without playing a game for them.


title: Corey Brewer

text: On March 3, 2011, Brewer signed a three-year, $8 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks. He went on to win his first NBA Championship with the Mavericks when they defeated the Miami Heat in six games in the 2011 NBA Finals.


title: Corey Brewer

text: On December 13, 2011, Brewer and Rudy Fernández were traded to the Denver Nuggets for a future second-round pick and a traded player exception.


title: Corey Brewer

text: On July 12, 2013, Brewer signed a reported three-year, $15 million contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves, returning to the franchise for a second stint.


title: Corey Brewer

text: On April 11, 2014, Brewer scored a career-high 51 points in a 112–110 win over the Houston Rockets. In doing so he joined Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson and Rick Barry as the only players to record 50-plus points and 6-plus steals in one game. He also tied Kevin Love's then-franchise record for most points in a game.


title: Corey Brewer

text: On December 19, 2014, Brewer was acquired by the Houston Rockets in a three-team trade that also involved the Timberwolves and the Philadelphia 76ers. Three days later, he made his debut for the Rockets against the Portland Trail Blazers. In just under 23 minutes of action off the bench, he recorded 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals and 1 block in a 110–95 win. On February 21, 2015, he recorded season-highs of 26 points and 10 rebounds in a 98–76 win over the Toronto Raptors. During 2015 NBA Playoffs of the Semiconference finals, Brewer score 19 points, grab 10 rebounds and 2 assist off the bench leading the Rockets to decisive victory over Clippers in game 6 that ultimately came back with a 3–1 deflict and head to the Western Conference Finals.


title: Corey Brewer

text: On July 14, 2015, Brewer re-signed with the Rockets to a three-year, $23.4 million contract. On January 22, 2016, he picked up the team's starting small forward role. On February 4, in his ninth start of the season, Brewer scored a season-high 24 points in a 111–105 win over the Phoenix Suns.


title: Corey Brewer

text: On February 23, 2017, Brewer was traded, along with a 2017 first round draft pick, to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Lou Williams. On February 28, 2018, he was waived by the Lakers after reaching a buyout agreement.


title: Corey Brewer

text: On March 3, 2018, Brewer signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The signing reunited Brewer with his former college coach Billy Donovan. On March 16, 2018, he scored 22 points and matched a career high with six steals in a 121–113 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.


title: Corey Brewer

text: On January 15, 2019, Brewer signed a 10-day contract with the Philadelphia 76ers. On January 25, he signed a second 10-day contract with the 76ers. Following the expiration of his second 10-day contract, the 76ers parted ways with Brewer, deciding not to sign him for the rest of the season.


title: Corey Brewer

text: On February 8, 2019, Brewer signed a 10-day contract with the Sacramento Kings. He went on to sign a second 10-day contract on February 18, and a rest-of-season contract on February 28. After spending the whole of the 2019–20 NBA season (before it was suspended) as a free agent, Brewer re-signed with the Kings on June 23, 2020 prior to the planned resumption of the season.


title: Corey Brewer

text: On November 16, 2020, the New Orleans Pelicans announced that they had hired Brewer as a player development coach, at the same time announcing his retirement from the NBA.


title: Christmas Island red crab

text: The Christmas Island red crab ("Gecarcoidea natalis") is a species of land crab that is endemic to Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean. Although restricted to a relatively small area, an estimated 43.7 million adult red crabs once lived on Christmas Island alone, but the accidental introduction of the yellow crazy ant is believed to have killed about 10–15 million of these in recent years. Christmas Island red crabs make an annual mass migration to the sea to lay their eggs in the ocean. Although its population is under great assault by the ants, as of 2020 the red crab had not been assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and it was not listed on their Red List. The crab's annual mass migration to the sea for spawning is described as an "epic" event. Millions emerge at the same time, halting road traffic and covering the ground in a thick carpet of crabs.


title: Christmas Island red crab

text: Christmas Island red crabs are large crabs with the carapace measuring up to wide. The claws are usually of equal size, unless one becomes injured or detached, in which case the limb will regenerate. The male crabs are generally larger than the females, while adult females have a much broader abdomen (only apparent above 3 years of age) and usually have smaller claws. Bright red is their most common color, but some can be orange or the much rarer purple.


title: Christmas Island red crab

text: Like most land crabs, red crabs use gills to breathe and must take great care to conserve body moisture. Although red crabs are diurnal, they usually avoid direct sunlight so as not to dry out, and, despite lower temperatures and higher humidity, they are almost completely inactive at night. Red crabs also dig burrows to shelter themselves from the sun and will usually stay in the same burrow through the year; during the dry season, they will cover the entrance to the burrow to maintain a higher humidity inside, and will stay there for 3 months until the start of the wet season. Apart from the breeding season, red crabs are solitary animals and will defend their burrow from intruders.


title: Christmas Island red crab

text: For most of the year, red crabs can be found within Christmas Islands' forests. Each year they migrate to the coast to breed; the beginning of the wet season (usually October/November) allows the crabs to increase their activity and stimulates their annual migration. The timing of their migration is also linked to the phases of the moon. During this migration, red crabs abandon their burrows and travel to the coast to mate and spawn. This normally requires at least a week, with the male crabs usually arriving before the females. Once on the shore, the male crabs excavate burrows, which they must defend from other males. Mating occurs in or near the burrows. Soon after mating the males return to the forest while the females remain in the burrow for another two weeks. During this period they lay their eggs and incubate them in their abdominal brood pouch to facilitate their development. At the end of the incubation period the females leave their burrows and release their eggs into the ocean, precisely at the turn of the high tide during the last quarter of the moon. The females then return to the forest while the crab larvae spend another 3–4 weeks at sea before returning to land as juvenile crabs.


title: Christmas Island red crab

text: The eggs released by the females immediately hatch upon contact with sea water and clouds of crab larvae will swirl near the shore until they are swept out to sea, where they remain for 3–4 weeks. During this time, the larvae go through several larval stages, eventually developing into shrimp-like animals called megalopae. The megalopae gather near the shore for 1–2 days before changing into young crabs only across. The young crabs then leave the water to make a 9-day journey to the centre of the island. For the first three years of their lives, the young crabs will remain hidden in rock outcrops, fallen tree branches and debris on the forest floor. Red crabs grow slowly, reaching sexual maturity at around 4–5 years, at which point they begin participating in the annual migration. During their early growth phases, red crabs will moult several times. Mature red crabs will moult once a year, usually in the safety of their burrow. Their lifespan is about 12 years.


title: Christmas Island red crab

text: Christmas Island red crabs are opportunistic omnivorous scavengers. They mostly eat fallen leaves, fruits, flowers and seedlings, but will also feed on dead animals (including cannibalising other red crabs), and human rubbish. The non-native giant African land snail is also another food choice for the crabs. Red crabs have virtually no competition for food due to their dominance of the forest floor.


title: Christmas Island red crab

text: Adult red crabs have no natural predators on Christmas Island. The yellow crazy ant, an invasive species accidentally introduced to Christmas Island and Australia from Africa, is believed to have killed 10–15 million red crabs (one-quarter to one-third of the total population) in recent years. In total (including killed), the ants are believed to have displaced 15–20 million red crabs on Christmas Island.


title: Christmas Island red crab

text: During their larval stage, millions of red crab larvae are eaten by fish and large filter-feeders such as manta rays and whale sharks which visit Christmas Island during the red crab breeding season.


title: Christmas Island red crab

text: Coconut crabs (alternatively known as robber crabs) have also been filmed on Christmas Island preying on red crabs.


title: Christmas Island red crab

text: Early inhabitants of Christmas Island rarely mentioned these crabs. It is possible that their current large population size was caused by the extinction of the endemic Maclear's rat, "Rattus macleari" in 1903, which may have limited the crab's population.


title: Christmas Island red crab

text: Surveys have found a density of 0.09–0.57 adult red crabs per square metre, equalling an estimated total population of 43.7 million on Christmas Island. Less information is available for the population in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, but numbers there are relatively low. Based on genetic evidence, it appears that the Cocos (Keeling) red crabs are relatively recent immigrants from Christmas Island, and for conservation purposes the two can be managed as a single population.


title: Christmas Island red crab

text: During their annual breeding migration, red crabs will often have to cross several roads to get to their breeding grounds and then back to the forest. As a result, thousands of red crabs are crushed by vehicles and sometimes cause accidents due to their tough exoskeletons which are capable of puncturing tires. To ensure the safety of both the crabs and humans, local park rangers work to ensure that crabs can safely make their journey from the centre of the island to the sea; along heavily travelled roads, they set up aluminium barriers whose purpose is to funnel the crabs towards small underpasses so that they can safely traverse the roads. Other infrastructure to assist the crab migration includes a five-metre-high "crab bridge". In recent years, the human inhabitants of Christmas Island have become more tolerant and respectful of the crabs during their annual migration and are now more cautious while driving, which helps to minimise crab casualties. Their small size, high water content and poor meat quality mean they are not considered edible by humans.


title: Sylt

text: Sylt (; ; Söl'ring North Frisian: ) is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian Islands and is the largest island in North Frisia.


title: Sylt

text: The northernmost island of Germany, it is known for its tourist resorts, notably Westerland, Kampen and Wenningstedt-Braderup, as well as for its sandy beach. It is frequently covered by the media in connection with its exposed situation in the North Sea and its ongoing loss of land during storm tides. Since 1927, Sylt has been connected to the mainland by the Hindenburgdamm causeway. In later years, it has been a resort for the German jet set and tourists in search of occasional celebrity sightings.


title: Sylt

text: With , Sylt is the fourth-largest German island and the largest German island in the North Sea. Sylt is located from off the mainland, to which it is connected by the Hindenburgdamm. Southeast of Sylt are the islands of Föhr and Amrum, to the north lies the Danish island of Rømø. The island of Sylt extends for in a north-south direction. At its northern point at Königshafen, it is only wide. Its greatest width, from the town of Westerland in the west to the eastern "Nössespitze" near Morsum, measures . On the western and northwestern shore, there is a sandy beach. To the east of Sylt, is the Wadden Sea, which belongs to the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park and mostly falls dry during low tide.


title: Sylt

text: The island's shape has constantly shifted over time, a process which is still ongoing today. The northern and southern spits of Sylt are exclusively made up of infertile sand deposits, while the central part with the municipalities of Westerland, Wenningstedt-Braderup and Sylt-Ost consists of a geestland core, which becomes apparent in the form of the Red Cliff of Wenningstedt. The geestland facing the Wadden Sea gradually turns into fertile marshland around Sylt-Ost. Sylt has only been an island since the "Grote Mandrenke" flood of 1362. The so-called "Uwe-Düne" (Uwe Dune) is the island's highest elevation with above sea level.


title: Sylt

text: The island in its current form has only existed for about 400 years. Like the mainland geestland, it was formed of moraines from the older ice ages, thus being made up of a till core, which is now apparent in the island's west and centre by the cliff, dunes and beach. This sandy core began to erode as it was exposed to a strong current along the island's steep basement when the sea level rose 8000 years ago. During the process, sediments were accumulated north and south of the island. The west coast, which was originally situated off today's shore, was thus gradually moved eastward, while at the same time the island began to extend to the north and south. After the ice ages, marshland began to form around this geestland core.


title: Sylt

text: In 1141, Sylt is recorded as an island, yet before the "Grote Mandrenke" flood it belonged to a landscape cut by tidal creeks and, at least during low tide, it could be reached on foot. It is only since this flood that the creation of a spit from sediments began to form the current characteristic shape of Sylt. It is the northern and southern edges of Sylt which were, and still are, the subject of greatest change. For example, Listland was separated from the rest of the island in the 14th century and from the later 17th century onwards the "Königshafen" (King's Harbour) began to silt up as the "elbow" spit began to form.


title: Sylt

text: In addition to the constant loss of land, the inhabitants during the Little Ice Age were constrained by sand drift. Dunes shifting to the east threatened settlements and arable land and had to be stopped by the planting of marram grass in the 18th century. Consequently, though, material breaking off the island was increasingly washed away and the island's extent continued to decrease.


title: Sylt

text: Records of the annual land loss exist since 1870. According to them, Sylt lost an annual of land in the north and in the south from 1870 to 1951. From 1951 to 1984, the rate increased to and respectively, while shorelines at the island's very edges at Hörnum and List are even more affected.


title: Sylt

text: Severe storm surges of the last decades have repeatedly endangered Sylt to the point of breaking in two, e.g. Hörnum was temporarily cut off from the island in 1962. Part of the island near Rantum which is only 500 m wide is especially threatened.


title: Sylt

text: Measures of protection against the continuous erosion date back to the early 19th century when groynes of wooden poles were constructed. Those were built at right angles into the sea from the coast line. Later they were replaced by metal and eventually by armoured concrete groynes. The constructions did not have the desired effect of stopping the erosion caused by crossways currents. "Leeward erosion", i.e. erosion on the downwind side of the groynes prevented sustainable accumulation of sand.


title: Sylt

text: In the 1960s breaking the power of the sea was attempted by installing tetrapods along the groyne bases or by putting them into the sea like groynes. The four-armed structures, built in France and many tons in weight, were too heavy for Sylt's beaches and were equally unable to prevent erosion. Therefore, they were removed from the Hörnum west beach in 2005.


title: Sylt

text: Since the early 1970s the only effective means so far has been flushing sand onto the shore. Dredging vessels are used to pump a mixture of sand and water to a beach where it is spread by bulldozers. Thus storm floods would only erase the artificial accumulation of sand, while the shoreline proper remains intact and erosion is slowed down. This procedure incurs considerable costs. The required budget of an annual €10 million is currently provided by federal German, Schleswig-Holstein state and EU funds. Since 1972 an estimated 35.5 million cubic metres of sand have been flushed ashore and dumped on Sylt. The measures have so far cost more than €134 million in total, but according to scientific calculations they are sufficient to prevent further loss of land for at least three decades, so the benefits for the island's economic power and for the economically underdeveloped region in general would outweigh the costs. In the 1995 study "Klimafolgen für Mensch und Küste am Beispiel der Nordseeinsel Sylt" (Climate impact for Man and Shores as seen on the North Sea island Sylt) it reads: ""Hätte Sylt nicht das Image einer attraktiven Ferieninsel, gäbe es den Küstenschutz in der bestehenden Form gewiss nicht"" (If Sylt did not have the image of an attractive holiday island, coastal management in its current form would certainly not exist).


title: Sylt

text: The enforcement of a natural reef off Sylt is being discussed as an alternative solution. A first experiment was conducted from 1996 to 2003. A sand drainage as being successfully used on Danish islands is not likely to work on Sylt owing to the underwater slope here.


title: Sylt

text: In parallel to the ongoing sand flushing, the deliberate demolition of groynes has begun amid great effort at certain beach sections where they were proven largely ineffective. This measure also terminated the presumably most famous groyne of Sylt, "Buhne 16" – the namesake of the local naturist beach.


title: Sylt

text: A number of experts, however, fears that Sylt will still have to face considerable losses of land until the mid 21st century. The continuous global warming is thought to result in increasing storm activity, which would result in increased land loss and, as a first impact, might mean the end of property insurance. Measurements showed that, unlike in former times, the wave energy of the sea is no longer lost offshore, today it carries its destructive effects on to the beaches proper. This will result in an annual loss of sand of 1.1 million m³.


title: Sylt

text: The dunes of the island constitute nature reserves and may only be traversed on marked tracks. So called "wild paths" promote erosion and are not to be followed. Where vegetation is tread upon, no roots are left to hold the sand and it will be removed by wind and water.


title: Sylt

text: The Wadden Sea on the east side between Sylt and the mainland has been a nature reserve and bird sanctuary since 1935 and is part of the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park. The construction of breakwaters in this area will abate sedimentation and is used for land reclamation.


title: Sylt

text: Also the grazing of sheep on the sea dikes and heaths of Sylt eventually serves coastal management, since the animals keep the vegetation short and compress the soil with their hooves. Thus they help create a denser dike surface, which in case of storm surges provides less area for the waves to impact.


title: Sylt

text: The flora of Sylt is shaped by the island's original sparseness. Until the mid 19th century Sylt was an island almost completely devoid of trees, only artificial plantations created small areas of forest and bush. Still today one can recognize the man-made structure of the "Friedrichshain" and "Südwäldchen" forests in Westerland, the trees mostly standing in rank and file. Also the now widespread rose Rosa rugosa, known as the "Sylt rose" on the island was only imported to Sylt. It originates from the Kamchatka peninsula in Siberia. The undemanding rose met ideal conditions on Sylt and spread so quickly that it is now a common sight on the island. Its proliferation is viewed critically from a biological point of view, since it threatens to displace endangered local species, especially on the heaths.


title: Sylt

text: The ample heaths on the eastern side of the island provide habitats for many rare species of plants and animals which are adapted to the extreme conditions such as drought, warmth, wind. About 2,500 animal species and 150 species of plants have so far been recorded. 45% of those plants are on the IUCN Red List. Especially notable are the 600 species of butterflies that live in the heaths, small tortoiseshell, brimstone, painted lady and peacock butterfly among them.


title: Sylt

text: With several thousand individuals in the dune belt of Sylt, the natterjack toad, endangered in Germany, has one of Germany's largest populations here. Their spawning places are wet dune slacks and shallow, short-lived pools. For a habitat they prefer sandy areas with vegetation, but the species has also been observed on the top of the Uwe Dune. The main threat for this species on Sylt is road traffic.


title: Sylt

text: The many water birds and other coastal avians that have their hatching grounds on Sylt or use the island for resting on their migrations constitute an ornithological feature. There are two notable hatching areas on Sylt, the "Königshafen" bay with the small island Uthörn in the north and the Rantum basin in the southeast. Birds that hatch on Sylt include black-headed gull, Arctic tern, pied avocet, common redshank, common gull, oystercatcher, northern lapwing, common shelduck and tufted duck. During the migration, Sylt is a resting spot for thousands of brent geese and shelducks, Eurasian wigeons and common eiders, as well as bar-tailed godwits, red knots, dunlins and Eurasian golden plovers. Ringed plover, common snipe, ruff and other species are less common visitors to the island.


title: Sylt

text: Regarding land mammals, there is no significant difference from the neighbouring areas of mainland Nordfriesland. Primarily European hare, rabbit and roe deer can be found and are also hunted as game on the island. When the island was connected to the mainland by the causeway, red fox and European badger also became common.


title: Sylt

text: West of Sylt a breeding area of harbour porpoises is located. In addition, great numbers of harbour seals and grey seals, the latter being rather uncommon in German seas, can be found on sand banks off Sylt.


title: Sylt

text: Numerous associations and societies that care for the exploration and the protection of endangered animals and plants have branches on Sylt. Among them are the Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Verein Jordsand and Wadden Sea Conservation Station. Also the Federal Office for the Environment operates a research station in the dunes at Westerland.


title: Sylt

text: On Sylt, a marine climate influenced by the Gulf stream is predominant. With an average of 2 °C, winter months are slightly milder than on the mainland, summer months though, with a median of 17 °C, are somewhat cooler, despite a longer sunshine period. The annual average sunshine period on Sylt is 4.4 hours per day. It is due to the low relief of the shoreline that Sylt had a total of 1,899 hours of sunshine in 2005, 180 hours above the German average. Clouds cannot accumulate as quickly and are generally scattered by the constant westerly or northwesterly winds.


title: Sylt

text: The annual mean temperature is 8.5 °C. The annually averaged wind speed measures 6.7 m/s, predominantly from western directions. The annual rainfall amounts to about 650 millimetres. Since 1937 weather data are collected at Deutscher Wetterdienst's northernmost station on a dune near List, which has meanwhile become automated. A number of commercial meteorological services like Meteomedia AG operate stations in List too.


title: Sylt

text: Sylt features an oceanic climate that is influenced by the Gulf Stream. On average, the winter season is slightly warmer than in mainland Nordfriesland. The summer season, however, is cooler despite longer sunshine periods. The yearly average sunshine period is greater than 4.4 hours per day with some years exceeding the average sunshine for all of Germany. Also precipitation is lower than on the mainland. This is due to the low relief of Sylt's shoreline where clouds are not able to accumulate and rain off.


title: Sylt

text: Sylt is divided into two administrative bodies: the "Amt" Landschaft Sylt administrates all municipalities on the island, save for the "Gemeinde Sylt", which was established in 2009 from the formerly independent municipalities of Westerland, Rantum and Sylt-Ost. As of December 2007, Sylt had 21,190 inhabitants, 9,072 of whom living in Westerland. These numbers do not include owners of summer residences.


title: Sylt

text: A referendum held in May 2008 resulted in a merger of the Sylt-Ost municipality with the town of Westerland on 1 January 2009. Various interest groups hope to merge every island municipality into one governing body.


title: Sylt

text: Six municipalities are situated along the west coast of Sylt. List in the very north of the island constitutes Germany's northernmost municipality; it retained a certain independence due to its remote location and its long-time adherence to the kingdom of Denmark. On its eastern shore, a harbour is located where, in addition to tourist ships, the "Sylt-Express" ferry-boat sails to Havneby on the Danish island of Rømø. Wenningstedt together with Braderup and Kampen used to form the "Norddörfer" (Northern Villages) municipality, an early intercommunal association, which partly remains today in form of a school union. While Kampen, mainly in the 1950s and 1960s, was famous in Germany for attracting celebrities, Wenningstedt has been known as a "family resort" for more than 100 years. Since 1855, the prominent black and white Kampen Lighthouse has been located between Kampen and Wenningstedt; it is the oldest one on the island. East of there, the "Braderuper Heide" nature reserve is situated. Right south of Wenningstedt are the town limits of the island's largest town, Westerland.


title: Sylt

text: After the complete destruction of the village Eidum by a storm surge on 1 November 1436, the survivors founded a new village northeast of their old home: Westerland. The name was first recorded in 1462. In 1865 a seaside spa was founded, 50 years later Westerland was granted town privileges. In 1949 it was officially recognised as a health resort. In 2007, the town numbered 9,072 citizens.


title: Sylt

text: South of Westerland, the island extends for about 15 km in the form of a spit, until it is cut by the "Hörnumtief" tidal creek that runs through the Wadden Sea mudflats east of Sylt. Here is the location of Rantum. This village, like no other on Sylt, had to fight sand drift during the past centuries. Many farmsteads and a church had to be abandoned because of shifting dunes moving eastward. Only the planting of marram grass stopped the dunes and put an end to this threat. To the east there are a few scattered spots of marshland, while the area is mostly dominated by dunes.


title: Sylt

text: Hörnum on the island's southern headland is the youngest village, having been founded shortly after 1900. But already in former times the uninhabited southern tip of Sylt was said to serve as refuge for pirates and fishermen. The name "Budersand" in the area emanates from that custom, marking a great dune where booths () stood in former times to serve as shelters. This southern headland, called "Odde", is marked by continuous loss of land. Each year great amounts of sand are washed away by storm floods and coastal management has not yet seen sustainable effects in the area, so that further losses have to be expected.


title: Sylt

text: Sylt-Ost ("East Sylt") is a former municipality which was formed in 1970 out of several small villages on the "Nössehalbinsel" of Sylt. The population (as of 2000) was 5,500. The villages included Tinnum, Munkmarsch, Archsum, Morsum and Keitum. In 2009, Sylt-Ost merged with Westerland and Rantum to form "Gemeinde Sylt".


title: Sylt

text: Geographically, Sylt was originally part of Jutland (today Schleswig-Holstein and mainland Denmark), with evidence of human habitation going back to 3000 BC at Denghoog. The first settlements of Frisians appeared during the 8th century and 9th century. In 1386, Sylt was divided between the Duke of Schleswig and the King of Denmark; except for the village of List, Sylt became part of the Duchy of Schleswig in 1435.


title: Sylt

text: During the 17th and 18th century, whaling, fishing and oyster breeding increased the wealth of the population. At this time, Keitum became the capital of the island, and a place for rich captains to settle down. In the 19th century, tourism began. Westerland replaced Keitum as the capital. During World War I, Sylt became a military outpost. On 25 March 1916 British seaplanes bombed the German airship sheds on Sylt. The main connection for tourists was boats from Højer. Since Højer was ceded to Denmark in 1920, a rail causeway to the mainland was built in 1927, the Hindenburgdamm, named after Paul von Hindenburg. During World War II, Sylt became a fortress, with concrete bunkers built below the dunes at the shore, some of which are still visible today. Lager Sylt, the concentration camp on Alderney was named after the island. Rudolf Höss hid on the island after Nazi Germany's defeat, but he was later captured and brought to trial in Poland.


title: Sylt

text: Today, Sylt is mainly a tourist destination, famous for its sandy beaches and healthy climate. The west beach has a number of surf schools and also a nude section. The PWA World Tour Windsurf World Cup Sylt, established in 1984, is annually held at Westerland's beach front. Sylt is also popular for second home owners, and many German celebrities who own vacation homes on "the island".


title: Sylt

text: At the beginning of the 20th century, the bathing beaches on Sylt were segregated by sex into "ladies' bath" ("Damenbad") and "men's bath" ("Herrenbad"); one bathed in long bathing dresses of that time period. From the beginning of the 20th century - starting from the Free German Youth camp Klappholttal and the intellectuals and artists in the village of Kampen - a social movement developed that lived a beach life without clothing (part of the German "Freikörperkultur - FKK" and "Lebensreform" movement). The first official nude bathing beach in Germany was opened on Sylt in 1920. Nude bathing and sunbathing (also erroneously referred to as "nudist" or "nudism") spread over the entire island. "Sylt" was associated with nude bathing and the ideal environment for supporters of the "Freikörperkultur (FKK)". Since the 1960s there have been designated nudist beaches (marked "FKK-Strand") with names such as "Abyssinia", "Samoa" or "Zanzibar" on the entire west beach. The most famous nudist beach on Sylt became the "Groyne 16" ("Buhne 16") in Kampen through regular reports in the tabloid media. Today the boundaries between nude and textile beaches are becoming more and more blurred. While nude beaches have lost some of their popularity, it is no longer unusual or sensational to bathe or sunbathe on "normal" beaches with no clothes on.


title: Sylt

text: Sylt is a part of the Frisian Islands. It has its own local dialect, Söl'ring, which is the indigenous speech of Sylt. Söl'ring is a dialect of insular North Frisian, with elements of Danish, Dutch and English. Today, only a small fraction of the population still speak Söl'ring. A law to promote the language ("Friesisch-Gesetz") was passed in 2004. The northernmost part of the island, "Listland", was traditionally Danish-speaking.


title: Sylt

text: As in many areas in Schleswig-Holstein on New Year's Eve, groups of children go masked from house to house, reciting poems. This is known as "Rummelpottlaufen", and as a reward, children receive sweets or money.


title: Sylt

text: Since the mid-18th century, the vowel in the name of the island has been represented as "y" for unknown reasons, while older spellings are "Sildt" and "Silt", allegedly derived from Danish "sild" "herring", or maybe related to English silt.


title: Sylt

text: Sylt is mentioned in a pangram, a sentence that uses each letter in the German alphabet, including every umlaut (ä, ö, ü) plus the ß: "Victor jagt zwölf Boxkämpfer quer über den großen Sylter Deich" ("Victor chases twelve boxers across the Great Levee of Sylt").


title: Sylt

text: Among the first painters who discovered Sylt as a theme were Eugen Dücker and Eugen Bracht. Franz Korwan followed them.


title: Sylt

text: The painter Andreas Dirks was born in Tinnum on Sylt in 1865. He studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy and in Weimar, lived in Düsseldorf since 1895, accepted a professorship there in 1916 and at the same time maintained a studio in Westerland.


title: Sylt

text: Ulrich Schulte-Wülwer described him as "... the strongest artistic talent that the island has produced". Carl Arp came to Sylt in 1903.


title: Sylt

text: Painters like Emil Nolde, Erich Heckel, Anita Rée and Albert Aereboe moved to Sylt. Contemporary artists include the painters and sculptors Rainer Fetting and Ingo Kühl, who live in Berlin and on Sylt.


title: Sylt

text: Sylt is connected to the German mainland by the Hindenburgdamm, a causeway with a railway line on top. The passenger trains connect Westerland (Sylt) to Niebüll or Klanxbüll, and the Deutsche Bahn's "Syltshuttle" as well as RDC's "Autozug Sylt", allow the transfer of cars and trucks between Westerland and Niebüll. There are also car ferry services to the nearby Danish island of Rømø, which offers a road connection to the mainland. Sylt Airport at Westerland serves the region.


title: Sylt

text: The island was used during the filming of "The Ghost Writer," as an alternate location for Martha's Vineyard, due to the film's director, Roman Polanski being unable to travel to the United States, due to an outstanding arrest warrant for rape. The ferry between the islands of Sylt and Rømø features prominently in the film.


title: AMX-50

text: The AMX 50 (official designation) or AMX-50 was a French heavy tank designed in the immediate post Second World War period. It was proposed as, in succession, the French medium, heavy, and main battle tank, incorporating many advanced features. It was cancelled in the late 1950s however, due to unfavourable economic and political circumstances after serious delays in development.


title: AMX-50

text: After the war the French Army possessed no modern tanks with a heavy armament. The ARL 44 was being developed, but this vehicle, although to be armed with a powerful 90 mm gun, could hardly be called modern, as its suspension system was obsolete. Therefore already in March 1945 the French industry had been invited to design a more satisfactory vehicle. The same year the "Ateliers de construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux" (AMX) company presented its "projet 141", a project to build the so-called M 4 prototype, armed with a 90 mm Schneider gun with a 1000 m/s muzzle velocity and comparable in performance to the German 8.8 cm KwK 43.


title: AMX-50

text: The M 4 closely resembled the German Tiger II in general form, though the turret was to be made of welded sections; but to limit the weight to a desired thirty tonnes the proportions were rather smaller and the armour had a maximum thickness of just thirty millimetres. Like the later German tanks of the war it had, in this case eight, overlapping road wheels. Part of the project was to study whether a modern torsion bar suspension should be used or the height lowered by ten centimetres through a fitting of leaf or coil springs.


title: AMX-50

text: Two prototypes of the M 4 were ordered. The Army soon indicated that a protection level offered by 30 mm of armour was unacceptably low. In response the armour was increased to 80 mm. To save weight it was decided to install a novel oscillating turret, designed by the "Compagnie des forges et aciéries de la marine et d'Homécourt" (FAMH). Nevertheless, when the first prototype, now named the AMX 50 after its intended weight class, was delivered in 1949, it weighed 53.7 tonnes. In the winter of 1950 instead of the 90 mm, a 100 mm gun designed by the "Arsenal de Tarbes" was fitted. The second prototype with a slightly different turret also with a 100 mm gun, was ready soon after. The prototypes had a length, with gun, of 10.43 m, a width of 3.40 m and a height of 3.41 m. It was intended to fit a 1,200 hp engine to attain a speed much superior to all existing medium tank types. The Maybach HL 295 (a redesigned German gas engine in 1945 captured at Friedrichshafen by Engineer-General Joseph Molinié) and a Saurer diesel engine were tested. Both failed to deliver the required output and maximum speed was no higher than 51 km/h, while the cross-country speed was 20 km/h. The prototypes were tested between 1950 and 1952.


title: AMX-50

text: The transmission for the AMX M 4 was developed for the French Army by the German "Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen" (ZF) in 1945. It was a modern five-speed manual gearbox with a two radii double differential steering ("Überlagerungslenkgetriebe") integrated. The service brakes were fitted to both output sides of the transmission. They consisted of Argus disk brakes of the type developed by , similar to those previously used in the German Tiger and Panther tanks.


title: AMX-50

text: Parallel to the M 4, from 1946 AMX designed the "AMX Chasseur de Char", a lightly armoured 34 tonne tank destroyer based on the M 4 chassis, but fitted with a modern rounded sleek turret for the 90 mm gun. No prototype was built.


title: AMX-50

text: In competition with AMX, the SOMUA company also developed a tank to meet the demand for a heavily armed vehicle: the Char SOMUA SM, that however had been conceived as a "Char Lourd" ("heavy tank") in the sixty tonne weight class from the very beginning, like the M4 paralleling the German Tiger II. The order to build a prototype was given in 1946. The vehicle was delivered in October 1951, weighing 56 tonnes but still lacking an engine. Both companies had ultimately been forced by the French army to work to identical detailed specifications. As a result the SOMUA SM closely resembled the AMX 50. It too had an oscillating turret, first with a 90 mm, then with a 100 mm gun. The main external difference was that the nine road wheels were not overlapping. It was not tested until 1953, between January and July, as many parts had not been sufficiently developed; the delay ensured that the type was rejected.


title: AMX-50

text: A third AMX 50 project was begun in August 1951. Ten preseries vehicles were to be built by DEFA ("Direction des Études et Fabrications d'Armement", the state weapon design bureau), the first being delivered in 1953. The type was armed with a 120 mm gun, also with a 1,000 m/s muzzle velocity, in response to the perceived threat posed by the Soviet heavy tanks, such as the IS-3 and the T-10. To accommodate the larger gun, an enormous turret was fitted; originally planned in a conventional form, eventually it was decided to also make it of the oscillating type. Armour was increased to a maximum of ninety mm. These changes caused a weight increase to 59.2 metric tonnes. From 1954 to 1955 this type was made even heavier, creating the "surblindé" ("Uparmoured") version with a lower turret and a higher hull with a pointed glacis like the IS-3, bringing weight to about 64 tonnes and the line-of-sight thickness of the armour to 200 mm. As this caused serious mechanical reliability concerns despite a reinforced suspension, from 1956 to 1958 weight was reduced to 57.8 metric tonnes by building a cast lower hull, creating the "surbaissé" ("lowered") with a lighter but again taller turret, the "Tourelle D" (fourth type turret). As problems with the preferred Maybach engine persisted, despite limiting the desired output to 1,000 hp, from 1955 onwards a special design team, brought over from Germany, cooperated with the AMX factory to solve them. It was called "Gruppe M", after professor Karl Maybach who personally headed a mission of seventy German engineers. Optimistically it was at that time projected that maximum speed could eventually be increased to . In the end only five complete AMX 50 prototypes were constructed, including the final hull.


title: AMX-50

text: Based on the M 4 chassis in 1950 a prototype was finished of a heavy tank destroyer in the form of a 120 mm self-propelled gun, the "Canon Automoteur AMX 50 Foch", named after Marshal Ferdinand Foch. It was intended to give long range fire support to the medium AMX 50 "100 mm". After the tank version was planned to be armed with a 120 mm gun, the Foch project was abandoned.


title: AMX-50

text: As it was already obvious in the early 1950s that the AMX 50 might well turn out to be too heavy — the eventual weight of 53.7 tonnes came as a shock — a parallel medium tank project was initiated in 1952: the Lorraine 40t.


title: AMX-50

text: In total, there were five prototypes produced, that considerably differed in the details of their construction. Weighing about fifty-five tonnes, the general AMX 50 project was the heaviest of a trio of French armoured fighting vehicle designs of the postwar period to feature an oscillating turret, the others being the AMX 13 and the Panhard EBR. The oscillating turret design, lacking a conventional gun-mantlet, is in two separate parts, with an upper and lower part connected by two hinge bolts or pivots, the gun being fixed within the upper section. The horizontal movement of the gun, traversing, is conventional, but the vertical movement, elevation, is achieved through the pivoting of the entire upper section with respect to the lower section, which holds the lower sides of the upper section within its trunnions. This method of elevation has two main advantages. Firstly it allows for a smaller turret volume, as no internal space is needed for the vertical movement of the gun breech. Secondly, it allows the use of a relatively simple semi-automatic auto-loader fed by multiround magazines, achieving a very high rate of fire for as long as the magazines were loaded, as the gun is also fixed with respect to the auto-loader located in the back of the upper turret, i.c. a protruding bustle. The automatic loading system worked satisfactorily when the calibre was 100 mm. After the larger 120 mm gun was introduced, reliability suffered, due to the increased weight of the rounds used. The oscillating turret was a very fashionable concept in the 1950s, and also applied in some American projects, such as the T57, T58 and T69. Only the French however, would produce operational systems, having pioneered the concept.