From: motococo@noemail.nonet   
      
   In article <12oe3t1qbjo7ge3@news.supernews.com>, "Leif Bloomquist"   
    wrote:   
   > What's the best way to get composite video from the Coco 1?  Is there a   
   > convenient place to tap the video from the circuit board (i.e. before it   
   > reaches the RF modulator)?   Or should I just get an external TV tuner?   
   > It's NTSC if that makes a difference.   
      
      
   Hiya Leif,   
      
   I have a grey case CoCo 1, a white case 64K CoCo 1, a couple of CoCo 2's,   
   and a CoCo 3.  What I do is this:   
      
   I hook up any of the above said CoCo units via an adapted coaxial cable   
   (RCA male to coaxial female adapter at the CoCo RF modulated output) and   
   plug the other end of the coaxial cable into the coaxial IN of my Radio   
   Shack 15-1981 Cable Converter box (setting the coverter box to the same   
   channel as the CoCo's RF output channel setting.....that being either   
   Channel 3 or 4).   
      
   Then, I output the audio/video outputs on the back of the 15-1981 Cable   
   Converter box to the appropriate audio/video inputs of my Commodore 1702   
   or my Commodore 1084 monitor.   
      
   I get awesome crystal clear composite video this way, even with the CoCo   
   3. Yes, even with the CoCo 3.   
      
   As a matter of fact, when I hook up the CoCo 3 in the above manner, it   
   gives me a better more crisp and more vibrant composite display that when   
   using the CoCo 3's built in composite video output. Go figure!!! Of   
   course, I built an RGB adapter cable to output the CoCo 3's RGB to my   
   Commodore 1084 analog RGB input, so it's kinda a moot point with the CoCo   
   3 in my case. But it's still nice to do when I need to run those blasted   
   artifacting PMODE4 games on my CoCo 3 which show up black and white via   
   RGB.   
      
   But in any event, all my other composite video challenged CoCo 1's and   
   CoCo 2's are able to display very nice clear composite video using my   
   above method, and with no need to hack up the internals of the CoCo's to   
   do so.   
      
   Your mileage may vary with other cable converter boxes (and not all cable   
   converter boxes necessarily will have composite video outputs).  I can   
   only mention the Radio Shack 15-1981, as that's the only one I own and   
   have tried.   
      
   I bought the 15-1981 box brand new at a Radio Shack here in Winnipeg,   
   Manitoba, Canada back in 2001, when there were still Radio Shack stores   
   here, before most of them changed to "The Source by Circuit City" stores.   
   Don't know if The Source stores carry something similar or not, but you   
   may try. Or perhaps if you live in the U.S. your local Radio Shack stores   
   may still carry such a cable convertor. Just make sure it has composite   
   video output on the back of it.   
      
   I also purchased the RCA male to Coax Female adapter(s) at Radio Shack.   
   Note: I used a good quality shorth length (approximately 4 feet) of RG6   
   Quad Shield Coaxial Cable, the kind that my StarChoice satellite installer   
   left me as a bonus.   
      
   Of course, if you want to tap the video directly from the CoCo's circuit   
   board, there are ways to do that to, but I have never tried it personally.   
      
   Since my setup with the coax converter box works so perfect, I see no   
   reason to hack up the internals of my otherwise mint condition CoCo's.   
      
   Hope this info helps.   
   best regards   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)