knight rider online

Hi ! , how can i do a replica of the "TV - CPU" of KITT´s soul survivor episode?, anyone know what kind of computer or radiotv where used for making this gadget?

Any help would be great

Thanks in advance

I don't know if this will help but all i know about it is it's a portable entertainment unit, with a five-inch TV screen, AM/FM radio, speaker and carrying handle.

The "Soul Survivor CPU" made me think first the flashing KITT CPU box Michael found from the trashcan
The little tv-set remindes me of the portable Commodore SX 64 from the 80's but I don't think that's the one they used for it.

-KITTfan-

It was a Sony FX414

Oh Bo!, you´re a crack ! !

Thanks! !

It doesn't look like it's either of them ...





This really has me stumped too, I wonder what on earth that is ?

its the bottom picture! You can even tell it is. People in the production team have just modified it somewhat.

I went through my pics of kitt and I found this in season 2 soul survivor.This does look more like the second pic with a few modifications.

K.I.T.T wrote:its the bottom picture! You can even tell it is. People in the production team have just modified it somewhat.

I agree with KITT. It does look extremely similar. where kitt's voice modulator is on the right (as you are looking at it) they just removed the speaker and put it there. and the reminates of the tape player and knobs are there as well.

Cool find that Sony Looks like it even have VU meters already so the voicebox must've been easy to make in it.

-KITTfan-

that's definatly it, they just took the tv out & spray painted it black,

I still don't think it is the Sony FX414. Whatever it is, it's *very* close but it isn't this unit.

These pictures are not very detailed, you should compare the Sony against your Soul Survivor DVD in your PC and have a close look, you will notice the differences:

- slide controls (they could be L & R volume and tone) are horizontal on KITT's box and vertical on the Sony
- the top of KITT's box is flat, but the Sony has a raised area
- there is a open area below the cassette buttons on the Sony
- the microphone in the top right of the right speaker on the KITT box is rectangular, but there is an angle on the mic on the Sony

There were many manufacturers in the 80's making these ghetto blaster type things ...

Here's another better shot from the top of the unit


And I think this confirms that ...
.. NOT!

The pictures aren't loading for me. But, it's always possible that Sony did some modifications to their equipment, yet called it the same thing.

Yeah and its also possable the prop department decided to WORK that day and changed/modified how it looked for the show... but who knows lol.

anyone know what those grey screens are that were also on the 2 TV Dash, there weren't any flat screens then were there.

Thats a good question.

James_kr wrote:anyone know what those grey screens are that were also on the 2 TV Dash, there weren't any flat screens then were there.

They would have been those Black and White CRT screens, from those little portable TV's (about 5" or so I think) as there were no LCD TV's back in the 80's.

From what I can remember, it was only in Knight of the Phoenix that they actually worked, all the other episodes the image was super imposed on top in colour using studio effects with that checker plate wipe.

AusKnight2K wrote:

James_kr wrote:anyone know what those grey screens are that were also on the 2 TV Dash, there weren't any flat screens then were there.

They would have been those Black and White CRT screens, from those little portable TV's (about 5" or so I think) as there were no LCD TV's back in the 80's.

From what I can remember, it was only in Knight of the Phoenix that they actually worked, all the other episodes the image was super imposed on top in colour using studio effects with that checker plate wipe.

OK here is the CRT monitors you see in Knight of the Phoenix and some early season 1 episodes but they only show the camera in black and white.



Then the dash became like this:



Which looked like this in Season 1:



And then in season 2 it looked like CGI:



In soul survivor it looked a bit different though almost good enough to be LCD:



Still any idea what they could be?

http://www.lcv.ne.jp/~aiaki/kitt/kitt18/portabletv.html
If you go here and use babblefish you can see how it can be made.

AusKnight2K wrote:Here's another better shot from the top of the unit

.. NOT!

SPEEDBREAKER wrote:http://www.lcv.ne.jp/~aiaki/kitt/kitt18/portabletv.html
If you go here and use babblefish you can see how it can be made. Wink

LOL

James_kr wrote:

SPEEDBREAKER wrote:http://www.lcv.ne.jp/~aiaki/kitt/kitt18/portabletv.html
If you go here and use babblefish you can see how it can be made. Wink

LOL

Agreed, that is an excellent site and and great guide, but unfortunately we don't see the finished result at that site, only the construction pictures.

If an authentic replica is to be created, then let's have a look at it closely.

It certainly answers the thread creator's question about how to create a replica with the readily available Sony unit, but it may not the same unit used in the show. If they did use a Sony, they have gone to an extraordinary effort to drastically change more than just the location of switches and holes in the casing.

Here's more comparisons backing up my previous observations.

The top of the SS unit is completely flat, where as the Sony has a raised area:




The upper outer corners of the speaker grilles on the Sony are angled off for the mic and the cosmetic lines extend to the outer edge of the unit whereas the SS unit does not have the angled corners on the speaker grilles and the mic does not go right to the edge:




Those black rubbery things right on the rear of the Sony (whatever they're called or used for) are closer inwards on the rear of the SS unit: