A Cyberamic Cyberstar control unit consisting of a card cage, DVD player, A/V switcher, LCD display, and television (top to bottom).
The Cyberstar is a unit that controls the animatronics' movements. The Cyberstar was a custom made unit by TRIAD Productions. A DVD player (formerly a VCR) is connected to the Cyberstar. The DVD contains the show video along with the audio (on the right audio channel) and inaudible signals (on the left audio channel). The signal channel is sent to the Cyberstar which retrieves and decodes the signals.
The Cyberstar then sends signals to the greybox (on 3-Stages), or, the Card Cage (on Cyberamic shows). The data is carried to the graybox (on 3-Stages) by way of a 26-pin ribbon cable and, on Cyberamic shows, from the CPU card, through the backplane board to the character driver boards.
During conversion to Cyberstar, certain parts of the old computer were no longer needed and removed, such as the old decoder board called the playback board (on 3-Stages). Data from the Cyberstar was then routed directly to the character driver boards. On Cyberamic shows, the old CPU and transport cards were retired. Additionally, the reel-to-reel/VCR control panel is no longer used because of the switch to DVDs.
In 1993, the bit layout on all existing stages (3-Stages and Cyberamic shows) was changed in order to make it impossible for restaurants to play pre-1993 showtapes (due to music licensing and other copyright reasons). On 3-Stages, a simple EPROM change was done, but, on Cyberamic shows, the new CPU card (mentioned previously) was actually installed. Prior to the new 1993 CPU card, the PTT CPU card was used, only using a VCR with video instead of the old reel-to-reel setup.
Throughout its lifetime, the Cyberstar has undergone several Eprom changes for various reasons.
In early 2012, the Cyberstar units were replaced by Weigl Controls, starting with Studio C.