adam@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Adam Glass) (08/13/89)
I recently saw an article in MacWeek with a story which interested me. Well, actually it's somewhat more than interest. I need to be able to do this! Anyway, I read through the article, and I'll transcribe the side bar which supposedly tells how to do it. I'm by no means an EE, but I know enough about electronics to firmly believe that what follows makes no sense at all. ========== From MacWeek, August 8th, 1989, page 20: (For those of you who don't get MacWeek, but were at the Expo, this was the copy which was given out free.) Reproduced without permission. Sidebar entitled, "You'll need a custom cable" Text follows: To get National Television System Committee-standard [editor's note: is *that* what NTSC stands for? I always thought it was for Never Twice the Same Color!] video from Apple's eight-bit color card for the Mac II, users need a special cable to connect the board to video output devices like VCRs and television monitors. The cable requires a 15 pin male DB-15 pin connector, a male RCA plug and a coaxial cable - standard parts available in electronics supply stores for about $30. Many computer dealers, electronics stores and cable companies also make custom cables. The DB-15 end of the cable plugs into the female DB-15 connector on the Macintosh video card, and the other end plugs into a video output device, such as a VCR. ========== OK... I'm a little fuzzy on that last paragraph. I don't think I'll have any trouble soldering a co-ax to an RCA plug. But how does one connect a co-ax cable to a connector with 15 pins? Which two pins should I solder the wires to? Finally, there's a piece of software associated with this little hack. To quote MacWeek again, [it is] "a free software utility developed at Apple... [which was] first distributed at the Apple Developers's Conference in May and soon to be available on bulletin boards like CompuServe and Usenet..." Maybe someone with Phil & Dave's would like to make it available for ftp-ing (or was it not on the CD?). Anyway, I need to make some videos with my mac and I don't want to have to buy an expensive genlock board. This seems like a quick (& VERY dirty) hack which would save me $1000 and do a sufficiently good job to suit my needs. Thank you for reading through this long message. Oh yes, one more thing: though my .signature file says that I am a "NeXT Hacker", I am still very much in love with my Mac II at home. I really love the II a lot, much more so than the NeXT which I use at work for 8+ hours a day. PLEASE, please don't ask me why I like the II more: there are many reasons, and since everyone who has heard my position on this is curious and asks why, I have had to explain millions of times, leaving me VERY reluctant to get into it. Please mail questions to me rather than posting NeXT inquiries here in comp.sys.mac. I am always infuriated when NeXT info invades the privacy of the Mac magazines that I get (listening, editors?) and my rationale for this is very simple: I'm in comp.sys.mac to find out about the mac, not the next. I do happen to subsctibe to comp.sys.next because it is my job, but that's where I draw the line. Thanks... Adam =============================================================================== || Adam Glass, NeXT hacker for the slave-drivers at the MIT Media Laboratory || || #include <std.disclaimer> || || %% "Offer me anything I ask for..." "Anything you want." %% || || %% "I want my father back, you son of a bitch." - The Princess Bride %% || || Remember to send lots of email to: adam@media-lab.media.mit.edu || ===============================================================================