Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uunet!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!ibm-b.rutherford.ac.uk!CDO
From: CDO@ibm-b.rutherford.ac.UK (Chris Osland)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.visualization
Subject: Re: Computer to VCR
Message-ID: <9105301156.AA24230@aramis.rutgers.edu>
Date: 30 May 91 10:57:14 GMT
Sender: nobody@aramis.rutgers.edu
Lines: 47

On 30 May 91 07:21:53 GMT you said:
>
>I want to record whats on a computer screen directly onto a VCR.
>If the output is in RGB or mono output how would I get about
>doing this.
>
>Would one of those  thingys that take the computer output and enable it
>to be viewed on a TV screen do the trick (what are they called).
>
>Thanks
>
>Barr Kum
>
There's been a lot on this in the last couple of months.

Briefly, the options:

1.  Use a camera; loads of quality problems.

2.  Use a standards convertor; loads of money.

3.  Use a system that produces an NTSC (US,Japan) or PAL
    (rest of the world) compatible RGB signal and put it through
    an NTSC/PAL convertor.

4.  Use a system that produces an NTSC or PAL composite signal
    direct.

A plea for sanity on this: the majority of output viewed on
a high-res screen IS NOT SUITABLE for recording onto videotape.
Realize that to get a watchable sequence (as opposed to a session
transcript) you will almost certainly need

(a) to junk most of the text

(b) to alter the colours to less saturated ones

(c) to thicken or junk loads of thin lines

(d) to reduce the usual multi-focus arrangement of windowed
    screens down to one where there is a single area of interest.

Cheers

Chris Osland
Head of Computer Graphics
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK