Xref: utzoo rec.video:2687 comp.sys.ibm.pc:10397
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mcnc!decvax!decwrl!sun!imagen!atari!portal!cup.portal.com!Isaac_K_Rabinovitch
From: Isaac_K_Rabinovitch@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: rec.video,comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: CGA to Composite
Message-ID: <2397@cup.portal.com>
Date: 12 Jan 88 00:55:25 GMT
References: <20857@yale-celray.yale.UUCP> <4923@well.UUCP>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 26
XPortal-User-Id: 1.1001.1472

rshuford@well.UUCP (Richard S. Shuford) writes:
->The original IBM Color/Graphics Adapter (CGA) has been much maligned for
->its low resolution, but the resolution was fixed at that level so as to
->enable the CGA to drive a regular TV set through an RF modulator.  (It
->can also be used with a regular EIA video monitor.)  The composite video
->output of the CGA is very close to being an NTSC signal by itself. 
Whoops!  You've just let slip something important.  Is there any off-the-shelf
item that will do this conversion?  Gotta be standard stuff, I'm not a
hardware hacker.

My situation is, I have CGA hardware but no monitor.  I suspect this situation
is common:  CGA cards are very cheap now, and CGA capability seems to come
for free with most laptops.  But I'm not willing to shell out for a monitor
because the only software that seems to benefit from color is games, and
I'm unwilling to spend $300 bucks to get slightly more realistic games!
(Admitedly applications software looks *nice* in color, but that doesn't
make it more usable!)  But like a lot of people I have a TV set with
a video in jack, and it makes a servicable composite monitor.

Obviously, the conversion can be done, but can it be done easily?  Or would
it be cheaper to just buy an RGB monitor?

Isaac Rabinovitch
Disclaimer:  Just because I think you're wrong, doesn't
             mean I don't think you're a fun person!
:-)