[comp.sys.misc] Tuner for Monitor

rre@ihlpg.ATT.COM (Velveteen Rabbit Corps) (07/31/87)

Hi.

A couple of months ago, our television's power died, so, for laughs,
I hooked up my old green-screen monitor to the VCR.  I was amazed at
the better quality of the image.  LAter I hooked it up to my color
monitor, and was *doubly* amazed.

Since I'll be going to school in a month (again), and I don't feel like
lugging a television, I was wondering if I could get a tuner that would
behaving like 1/2 the VCR.  I've tried some TV dealers, and no one's
every heard of just the tuner-half of the VRC.

(Why not the whole VCR, you ask? Becuase I don't want to spend that much
money, that's why.)

I had thought Radio Shack would be the perfect place to find one, but
alas, they never heard of it, either.

Thanks,
Roger Espinosa
ihnp4!ihlpg!rre
-- 
		Roger R. Espinosa
		Live from the Rabbit Ranch
		ihnp4!ihlpg!rre

gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) (08/02/87)

In article <3561@ihlpg.ATT.COM> rre@ihlpg.ATT.COM (Velveteen Rabbit Corps) writes:
>... I was wondering if I could get a tuner ...

Any decent video equipment store will carry component TV tuners.
There is nothing magic about the ones in VCRs.

drg@philabs.Philips.Com (Don Gentner) (08/03/87)

In article <3561@ihlpg.ATT.COM>, rre@ihlpg.ATT.COM (Velveteen Rabbit Corps) writes:
I was wondering if I could get a tuner that would behaving like 1/2 the VCR.

You can get tuners, but they're not much cheaper than VCRs these days.
One possibility is a Sony TU-1110 tuner.  It sells for about $150.
Try a professional video dealer or a home video store.
				
Don Gentner
Philips Laboratories
Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510
(914) 945-6088
email:	gentner@philabs.philips.COM
	philabs!gentner@seismo.CSS.GOV
      	{seismo,decvax,ihnp4}!philabs!gentner

schein@cbmvax.UUCP (Dan Schein MAGAZINES) (08/06/87)

(EDITED for space saving :-)

In article <1426@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> abr@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Adam B Rosen) writes:
>In article <3561@ihlpg.ATT.COM> rre@ihlpg.ATT.COM (Velveteen Rabbit Corps) writes:
>>I was wondering if I could get a tuner that would
>>behaving like 1/2 the VCR.  I've tried some TV dealers, and no one's
>>every heard of just the tuner-half of the VRC.
>>
>
>
>TV tuners are not unheard of, nor in short supply, but usually aren't carried
>(so far as I can tell) in most retail stores.
				^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
>
>Adam

  I know that "SERVICE MERCH." (a catalog store (retail chain)) does sell &
 stock a TV tuner from Magnavox. Price is under 100 (think I remember 75 or 80).
 So if you dont have access to this chain - you can search stores who carry
 magnavox stuff.

 Dan
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halp@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Bruce P. Halpern) (08/08/87)

In article <1502@briar.Philips.Com> drg@philabs.Philips.Com (Don Gentner) writes:
>In article <3561@ihlpg.ATT.COM>, rre@ihlpg.ATT.COM (Velveteen Rabbit Corps) writes:
>I was wondering if I could get a tuner that would behaving like 1/2 the VCR.
>
>You can get tuners, but they're not much cheaper than VCRs these days.
>One possibility is a Sony TU-1110 tuner.  It sells for about $150.
>Try a professional video dealer or a home video store.

Computer Direct advertises, the March, 1987 Call A.P.P.L.E., a TV Tuner for 
$49.95 (plus $3.00 shipping). The tuner is said to list for $130. Its propertiesare said to include dual UHF/VHF switches, mute, auto fine tuning, and computer/TV selector switch. Inputs for 300 and 75 ohm, as well as UHF, are said to be 
includes. Propospective customers are advised in the ad to call:312-382-5050 
(0800-2000 CST, weekdays; 0900-1200, saturday).

***DISCLAMER: Just a reader/reporter.

				
-- 
  |  Bruce P. Halpern  Psychology & Neurobiology & Behavior Cornell Ithaca |
  |  ARPA: halp@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu                                     |
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dever@bsu-cs.UUCP (Greg Dever) (08/10/87)

In article <3561@ihlpg.ATT.COM>, rre@ihlpg.ATT.COM (Velveteen Rabbit Corps) writes:
> Since I'll be going to school in a month (again), and I don't feel like
> lugging a television, I was wondering if I could get a tuner that would
> behaving like 1/2 the VCR.  I've tried some TV dealers, and no one's
> every heard of just the tuner-half of the VRC.
> 

    Magnavox has just the beast that you are looking for.  It is exactly like
a VCR tuner.  It has 12 buttons, each of which can be tuned to either a vhf or
a uhf station.  I think the unit runs for around $50 - $60's at Service 
Merchandise, however, I got mine straight from Magnavox.  Unfortunately the
only other place that I have seen a stand alone tuner was in an ad from CARDCO
which also promised a remote control version.  I think CARDCO's tuners were a
little more expensive and might have given you more than 12 stations, but I
was able to see the Magnavox tuner in action and was pleased.  I hope that this
helped you.   Happy Motering ?
S

flowers@CS.UCLA.EDU (08/10/87)

In article <3561@ihlpg.ATT.COM> rre@ihlpg.ATT.COM (Velveteen Rabbit Corps) writes:
>... I was wondering if I could get a tuner that would
>behaving like 1/2 the VCR. ...

You can find these marketed to the cable tv crowd as cable converters
for people whose TV sets are not cable ready.  There are two sorts:
block converters, which simply take channels on inaccessible cable
channels and move them to UHF, which you DON't want, and actual tuner
boxes which you use to select the channel and it sends that channel to
your TV on channel 3.  Most have remote controls and fine tune.  Very
few have volume controls, which I should think is something you'd
want.  I got one from DAK's bargain room for about $50 (which you
can't do with mail order), and you will find some listed in DAK's
catalog, for about $70-160.  From Sears you can get one with volume
control that will also decode the closed captions for about $180, and
I have seen others advertise cable tuners which include volume
controls but don't remember where.  You also have to make sure your
monitor can be hooked up to the output of one of these.

DISPATCH@NCSUVM.BITNET (08/10/87)

If you hunt around in pawn shops you will probably be able to find
an old Sanyo or like Beta VCR. I have seen these as cheap as
$99.00. If all you want is a tuner, this would probably fit the
bill nicely. If the VCR portion works as well, then all the better.
Hal
     

drg@philabs.Philips.Com (Don Gentner) (08/11/87)

In article <7660@shemp.UCLA.EDU>, flowers@CS.UCLA.EDU writes:
> There are two sorts:
> block converters, which simply take channels on inaccessible cable
> channels and move them to UHF, which you DON't want, and actual tuner
> boxes which you use to select the channel and it sends that channel to
> your TV on channel 3.

You probably don't want the second kind either, because that just
converts everything to channel 3, and most monitors do not have an
input for any RF modulated signal including channel 3.  Assuming your
monitor has only video and audio inputs, you want a tuner that
demodulates the TV signal to produce audio and composite video outputs.

--
Don Gentner			Electronic mail:
Philips Laboratories		gentner@philabs.philips.COM
Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510	philabs!gentner@seismo.CSS.GOV
(914) 945-6088			{seismo,decvax,ihnp4}!philabs!gentner

mph@rover.UUCP (Mark Huth) (08/11/87)

>In article <3561@ihlpg.ATT.COM>, rre@ihlpg.ATT.COM (Velveteen Rabbit Corps) writes:
> Since I'll be going to school in a month (again), and I don't feel like
> lugging a television, I was wondering if I could get a tuner that would
> behaving like 1/2 the VCR.  I've tried some TV dealers, and no one's
> every heard of just the tuner-half of the VRC.
> 
There has been a lot of netnoise concerning "tuners" that can be connected to
the Amiga monitors.  Most of the recommendations that I have seen relate to
RF to RF types of boxes.  These will not work with the Amiga RGB/Composite
Monitor (1080?), as there is no way that these cheap little cable boxes produce
a composite video (or, drool, RGB) output.  The output from the VCR is a
composite video output, no RF involved.  There are RF to composite boxes 
available, but one needs to be careful about getting the right thing.  These
tend to be known as component TV, and are generally not as inexpensive as the
cable converters.

Mark Huth - I speak for myself
seismo!noao!mcdsun!nud!rover!mph

agollum@engr.uky.edu (David Herron aka Admiral Gollum) (08/16/87)

In article <464@rover.UUCP> mph@rover.UUCP (Mark Huth) writes:
>>In article <3561@ihlpg.ATT.COM>, rre@ihlpg.ATT.COM (Velveteen Rabbit Corps) writes:
>> [He's looking for a tuner for his monitor]
>> 
>There has been a lot of netnoise concerning "tuners" that can be connected to
>the Amiga monitors.  Most of the recommendations that I have seen relate to
>RF to RF types of boxes.  These will not work with the Amiga RGB/Composite
>Monitor (1080?), as there is no way that these cheap little cable boxes produce
>a composite video (or, drool, RGB) output.  The output from the VCR is a
>composite video output, no RF involved.  There are RF to composite boxes 
>available, but one needs to be careful about getting the right thing.  These
>tend to be known as component TV, and are generally not as inexpensive as the
>cable converters.
>
>Mark Huth - I speak for myself

Don't listen to this man.

These doohickeys being discussed *do* put out composite video (I believe
I've seen ads for RGB versions as well)--what good would a tv tuner
be if it emitted an RF signal?  You'd need a tv to watch it!

I saw the one Service Merchandise carries (and which someone else already
mentioned)--they had it hooked to a Commodore 1902 monitor--don't remember
if it was composite or RGB.

Mr. Huth may simply be mistaken in his terminology, but *every* VCR I hav
seen emits both RF and composite video--RF through the VHF antenna-out
jacks (the way you'd attach it to a TV set), and composite through the
RCA jacks (the way you'd atttach it to a monitor or another TV).

You don't have to buy an explicitly-marketed "component TV" tuner, though
they'll work too.

Kenneth Herron

ddyment@water.UUCP (08/17/87)

To continue with this general topic, does anyone know of a VHS tape player
(recording capability not necessary) that provides RGB output at some
reasonable cost?

-- 
Doug Dyment, Computer Science, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
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INTERNET: ddyment@er.waterloo.edu                         office: 519/888-4451
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mph@rover.UUCP (Mark Huth) (08/19/87)

In article <1527@ukecc.engr.uky.edu> agollum@ukecc.UUCP (David Herron aka Admiral Gollum) writes:
>In article <464@rover.UUCP> mph@rover.UUCP (Mark Huth) writes:
>>>In article <3561@ihlpg.ATT.COM>, rre@ihlpg.ATT.COM (Velveteen Rabbit Corps) writes:
>>> [He's looking for a tuner for his monitor]
>>> 
>>There has been a lot of netnoise concerning "tuners" that can be connected to
>>the Amiga monitors.  Most of the recommendations that I have seen relate to
>>RF to RF types of boxes.  These will not work with the Amiga RGB/Composite
>>Monitor (1080?), as there is no way that these cheap little cable boxes produce
>>a composite video (or, drool, RGB) output.  The output from the VCR is a
>>composite video output, no RF involved.  There are RF to composite boxes 
>>available, but one needs to be careful about getting the right thing.  These
>>tend to be known as component TV, and are generally not as inexpensive as the
>>cable converters.
>>
>>Mark Huth - I speak for myself
>
>Don't listen to this man.
>
>These doohickeys being discussed *do* put out composite video (I believe
                                   ^^ some do, some don't - just be careful
is all I'm saying.

>I've seen ads for RGB versions as well)--what good would a tv tuner
>be if it emitted an RF signal?  You'd need a tv to watch it!

That is precisely the point - many, but not all cable type boxes simply do
a block conversion.  Those types will not work.
>
>I saw the one Service Merchandise carries (and which someone else already
>mentioned)--they had it hooked to a Commodore 1902 monitor--don't remember
>if it was composite or RGB.
>
> ...
>Kenneth Herron
Perhaps we could listen more closely to each other and avoid flames over 
terminaology that is far from universal.  For instance, I have a Sony tuner at
home that converts RF to the IF frequency.  It is very good as a tuner - if
what you want is to replace the RF front end of a TV.

A tuner is tunable (assuming we speak English).  The RF portion is usually
a hetrodyne converter of some sort which converts the RF channel to a fixed IF
frequency.  The IF stages are very frequency selective and produce a modulated
signal at a fixed frequency.  This signal is then processed by video
demodulators, color-burst separators, audio channel demodulators, sync
separators, etc.  Composite video signals contain baseband luminance (light
intensity) chrominance (sp?) (color information) and video sync (timing)
information.  Of all the stages mentioned above, only the RF hetrodyne front
end is actually tunable by the consumer (as opposed to using tuned circuits
which are factory aligned).  

Various products called tuners in the market place may include little or
all of the signal processing to produce a demodulated video and audio signal.

Disclaimer - while I have tried to be accurate, space prevents a complete
treatment of TV signals.  Do not attempt to use the above information to
construct a television set in you home.  Don't try this at home kids - go
do some research first.

Mark Huth - I speak for myself
seismo!noao!mcdsun!nud!rover!mph

brent@pgt1.UUCP (Brent Chivers) (08/20/87)

There's a phone|mail-order company in California called DAK that has
occasionally had tuners in their catalog suitable for use with a
monitor.  The latest catalog I recieved from them has such a unit for
about $200.  It's rather deluxe, including MTS stereo reception and a
wireless remote control.  Send e-mail for more info about tuner or DAK.
-- 
Brent Chivers	
{bellcore|clyde|ulysses|cmcl2|philabs|seismo|allegra}!princeton!pgt1!brent
Princeton Gamma-Tech, Inc	1200 State Rd, Princeton, NJ  08540	USA
Phone 609-924-7310

keithe@tekgvs.TEK.COM (Keith Ericson) (08/20/87)

Tuner: an audio device for converting RF to audio. You connect the
output to your stereo's preamp.

Demodulator: a device for converting RF to baseband video and baseband
audio. Connect the video output to a (composite) video monitor, and the
audio to either a speaker or an amplifier/speaker system. (If it spits
out RGB then it's also a decoder. But is it RY-BY or I-Q?)

Caution: (tongue-in-cheek) advertisement ahead. Hit "n" now to bypass
it. (I hope this control-L stuff works... :-) ) I'll leave off my
signature file to compensate for the space the "ad" takes.  -  keith.

Advertisement: Tektronix sells a demodulator - the IF-to-baseband
mainframe is in the catalog for US$14,900 (system M). Oh, you want
"channels" (RF-to-IF-to-baseband)? They're another US$3,750 EACH. (Or
get the tunable versions: one each for VHF and UHF at US$7,660 per.)
All _real_ Amigans will want, and buy, one TODAY!

agollum@engr.uky.edu (David Herron aka Admiral Gollum) (08/22/87)

Okay, you didn't specify that you were talking about specific 
types of tuners.

Since the Service Merchandice catalog came yesterday, let me draw 
from it and hopefully provide the final word:

On page 368, with all the TV's, they list the "Gemini (tm) Remote Cable
Converter/Tuner."  This is basically a block converter like the one
most cable systems use.  It provides RF output on channel 3 or 4, so
it requires a TV set (or other tuner like a VCR).  They are asking
$78.84 for it.

On page 349, with the computers, they list the "Magnavox 'Component Tuner'
Model AV7300."  This device has a built-in antenna (and antenna leads,
I suppose), 12 station presets, and attaches to "any composite video/audio
monitor."  The cost is $49.95.  If you went into some high-end electronics
store and asked for a component tuner, they would show you something 
with brushed chrome, smoked glass, black case, high price, etc., but
it would do the same thing this can:  Tune TV channels and provide
composite video as an output.

The lesson here:  When you buy a tuner make sure you know what you're
getting--you'll note both of these products call themselves 'tuners.'
Also, don't shoot your mouth off when you flame (sorry).

Kenneth Herron

(Hmm, Commodore PC-10's for $700! :-)