luvvyamy: Import from Cheese-E-Pedia revision 274f085c7132d784f81b7a4cbd96e7a0922db854

2026-10-03T07:47:30Z

Import from Cheese-E-Pedia revision 274f085c7132d784f81b7a4cbd96e7a0922db854

New page

{| class="wikitable cep-infobox" style="float:right; clear:right; margin:0 0 1em 1.5em; width:24em; max-width:100%;"
! colspan="2" | Source metadata
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | [[File:Winchester Hardware Setup.avif|frameless|300px]]
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top; width:35%;" | Type
| Programming Systems
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top; width:35%;" | Tags
| Pizza Time Theatre
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top; width:35%;" | Contributors
| sudo-trans-pony, RessiduePezzzado, CEC Tinley
|}

The ***Pizza Time Theatre Winchester Hardware Setup* was the system used to program the animatronics exclusively at the [[San Jose, CA (370 S Winchester Blvd)]] from May 1977 to sometime between 1980 and 1981.
The system was developed by the Cyan Engineering subdivision of Atari (also known as the ''Grass Valley Team''), headed by Larry Emmons and Gary Waters<ref name="cep1">[https://archive.org/details/atariincbusiness0000gold/page/328/mode/2up?q=theatre archive.org]</ref>**

== Hardware ==

=== PDP-11/70 ===

The main programming computer would be the ''PDP-11/70,'' running the Winchester Programmer software for generating programming data. It is unclear if any terminal was used to program the characters, or to make the software itself.

=== TEAC 4-Track Tape Deck ===

An unnamed TEAC 4-Track tape deck would be used to record audio and programming signals. The Winchester 4-Track Reel would be the format used for data, where audio, programming signals, and a timecode track would be streamed in real time.
Due to the later [[Big C's Cyberamics Center]] using a TEAC A-2340 Tape Deck, which seemingly recorded only in the ''2-track stereo-mode,'' it is a possibility that this was a carryover from the Winchester store, giving this unnamed tape deck a likely model.

== Live Playback ==

It is unclear how the system, if at all, connected to the [[Winchester Control System]] for controlling the animatronics. Multiple statements about the programming of the Winchester system vaguely imply that all programming was done in a separate room, blind to visual feedback or any sort of live playback system. Statements about the process being '''trial and error''' and having to '''program to the Teac tape player and run through until everything was synchronized'''<ref name="cep1" /> gives rise to the possibility of it being the only programming system out of the company's history that didn't have access to visual programming.

== References ==
<references />

== Import provenance ==
Imported from [https://github.com/The64thGamer/cheeseepedia/tree/274f085c7132d784f81b7a4cbd96e7a0922db854 Cheese-E-Pedia] at source revision <code>274f085c7132d784f81b7a4cbd96e7a0922db854</code>. Source material is provided under [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ CC BY-SA 4.0].

Winchester Hardware Setup - Revision history

luvvyamy: Import from Cheese-E-Pedia revision 274f085c7132d784f81b7a4cbd96e7a0922db854