Re: Video Out

[johng@laol.net (John H. Guillory)]

On Fri, 10 Dec 1999 00:32:14 GMT, god23@heaven.org (Bart) wrote:

>Yeah I have one, that is what I hook to the Beta VCR then set its tuner to 
>channel 3 and hook the amber monitor to the output.  My question thought is: 
>Why do I have to do this?  I mean, wasn't  the monitor designed to be used for 
>these early machines WITHOUT the TV tuner in between?  I have noted this on 
>now 3 diff monitors and on several diff machines ranging from Apples to 
>COmmordores.
But, before we can begin to figure out why it doesn't work, we'll need
to know a bit more on the situation.  

1> What kind of monitor do you have?  What kind of connectors on the
monitor are you using (is it Composite RCA, 3-RCA Jack Seperated
Chroma/Luma/Sound, 9-pin Digital RGBI, 9-pin Analog RGB, 9-pin EGA,
15-pin VGA)?  I assume on the 8-bit computers you are using some kind
of cable that ends up bringing 1 composite RCA connector  to the
monitor (since the Apple II series doesn't support seperated video as
far as I know)  On the Commodore computers, your normal connector
would be the seperated Chroma/Luma/Sound (3-RCA connectors).  
2> How you have it now is a little bit fuzzy to me.  Are you going
computer->VCR->Monitor via Computer->Video In, and Video Out->Monitor?
Or, are you going Computer->Antena and Video Out->Monitor?  Or, are
you going Computer->Antena and TV-Out->TV?  This makes a big
difference.
3> Do you have the book on your monitor?  It might help if we knew for
sure what the refresh rates/supported modes are.    Where did you
aquire the monitor (buy it new, buy it used from the internet, local
store, etc.)  Reason I ask is at least with the Commodore you have a
computer that can run Pal and NTSC, and if set to the wrong type of
monitor you will not be able to see the video.  Also, I have seen
certain cases (eg. a cheap MDA/Herc Converter plug)  that converts the
signal to Composite, but the signal frequency is either a bit too high
or too low to get a decent signal on monitors and TV's (you can
faintly make it out if you adjust the vertical hold way out of range
;-) ...    Also, on my ATI All-In-Wonder and a VGA->Composite
converter box I have, and both will work beautifully on normal TV's
upto a certain screen size.  The ATI will go upto 1024x768, while the
other converter goes up to 800x600.  
4>(I can help you more on the Commodore and faintly on the IIGS), but,
what mode are you trying to display.  Eg. 40column text, 80 column
text, 160x200, 320x200, 640x400, ...