[rec.video] Convert Mac II color monitor into TV set??!!

jellinghaus-robert@CS.Yale.EDU (Rob Jellinghaus) (04/21/89)

Well, this is a nutty question if I've ever heard one, but here goes...

I have a Mac II with a color monitor, which I believe is a monitor very
similar to one of Sony's multiscan RGB monitors (it has the shadow line
cast by the support wire inside the tube).  It's a great monitor, but
there's one problem with it....

I can't watch TV on it.  And nor can I play video games (I may be able to
get hold of a cheap Nintendo soon).

So the question is:  are there any magic boxes that I can plug this monitor
into on one end, and plug an NTSC input into the other end, and be able to
watch the video?  (I know I'll still need a separate speaker for the sound,
and a channel decoder if I want to hook up to cable... any thoughts on
those while you're at it?)

Note that I don't care about image processing TV pictures on the Mac or
anything like that.  All I want to do is turn this incredibly fancy RGB
monitor into a stupid TV set.  Why?  Well, dorm rooms are small, and a real
TV would take up a lot of room... and *maybe* there's a magic box that I
can get for cheaper than a decent color TV.

Thanks for listening to this inane query.  Now tell me... is it possible?

Followups directed to rec.video (as I wasn't sure where to post this).

Rob Jellinghaus                | "Next time you see a lie being spread or a
jellinghaus-robert@CS.Yale.EDU |  bad decision being made out of sheer ignor-
ROBERTJ@{yalecs,yalevm}.BITNET |  ance, pause, and think of hypertext."
{everyone}!decvax!yale!robertj |     -- K. Eric Drexler, _Engines of Creation_

jmt@apple.com (Michael Tindell) (04/26/89)

In article <57811@yale-celray.yale.UUCP> jellinghaus-robert@CS.Yale.EDU 
(Rob Jellinghaus) writes:
> So the question is:  are there any magic boxes that I can plug this 
monitor
> into on one end, and plug an NTSC input into the other end, and be able 
to
> watch the video?  (I know I'll still need a separate speaker for the 
sound,

This would require a scan rate converter (not a cheap, off-the-shelf 
item).  The problem is that NTSC video is ~30 frames/s interlaced and the 
Mac II monitor runs at 67 frames/s non-interlaced.

An alternatice would be using one of the multiscan monitors that are 
aournd.