Date   : Tue, 09 Mar 2004 11:27:34 +0000
From   : Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...>
Subject: Re: Aerial cables?

On Tue, 2004-03-09 at 01:16, Jason Thain wrote:

> Does anybody know if computer to TV aerial cables are the same for all
> the old 8-bit machines (BBC/Spectrum/Archimedes/C64 etc).

All the ones I've seen, which use a stock TV modulator unit within the
machine, yes. 

>  And if so, does anybody know where I can get one?

Where are you located?

> P.S. Any devices around that convert to VGA to allow you to use old
> computers on your PC monitor?

They do exist, but tend to be expensive - modern PC monitors won't
handle the lower frequencies of the old machines, so a device is needed
to buffer each line from the old computer, essentially stretch it in
hardware and spit it out to the monitor at the higher frequency that the
monitor needs. That gets a little pricey.

Some very old PC VGA monitors from the early days when 8 bit machines
were still common might be able to run at the lower frequencies, but of
course an old PC monitor won't handle anything like the resolution
expected by modern PC applications.

If you're stuck with using a TV for display and have a video recorder
with composite sync input then that can be an option given a clearer
picture than going from the TV output of the computer - lots of 8 bit
machines had composite output on them.

cheers

Jules