Quantel Paintbox

The Quantel Paintbox was a dedicated computer graphics workstation for composition of broadcast television video and graphics. Produced by the British production equipment manufacturer Quantel (which, via a series of mergers, is now part of Grass Valley), its design emphasized the studio workflow efficiency required for live news production. At a price of about per unit, they were used primarily by large TV networks such as NBC, while in the UK, Peter Claridge's company CAL Videographics was the first commercial company to purchase one. Following its initial launch in 1981, the Paintbox revolutionised the production of television graphics.

Original line

Paintbox DPB 7000/7001

The first generation Paintbox, the 1981 ''DPB-7001,'' was built from readily-available off-the-shelf components, supported by Programmable Array Logic ICs which were custom-programmed by Quantel.

Artist Martin Holbrook worked with Quantel's development team to develop the artist-oriented functionality and user interface, which remained virtually unchanged throughout the life of the product; the custom developed pressure-sensitive pen which proved the killer app.

Paintbox V-series

Released in 1989 modernized and more compact model; aside from internal hardware improvements, the new keyboard and cordless pen also introduced.

From the end of lifespan of Paintbox V line most of his features was also integrated into the latest Quantel Henry, and in 1993 the Quantel Editbox were merged the both lines.

In contrast to the earlier DPB-7000 series machines, the V-series made extensive use of Altera CPLD and FPGA ICs, which integrated much of the complex SSI logic into a smaller number of ICs. Some versions of the V-series hardware refined the design further by moving the CPLD and FPGA logic into "hard-copy" ASICs, which were manufactured by Orbit Semiconductor.

Notable works

The cover for '' The Miracle'', rock band Queen's studio album, wa
created by Richard Gray
on a Quantel Paintbox in 1989. It was used by six artists and designers, including David Hockney and Richard Hamilton, to create original artwork in the 1987 BBC
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