MP1

[Sidney]

Hi there,  I've just recently joined this fine forum having just bought a Schneider CPC 464 and I'm really making up for lost time. My system came without a monitor and I have just ordered a scart/psu kit for it so I can use it with a tv but until it arrives I am using the Mp1, obviously as most of you know the picture quality isn't great but as its just temporary I'm happy to soldier on with it for a bit!


The query I have is- after a while it gets a bit warm- nothing too excessive or indeed any worse than any old computer system psu  that I have -but still quite warm, so- how warm do these things generally get? Also I have noticed that it has a kind of warm electric type smell (not sure how to describe it really!) certainly not a burning smell by any means but the kind of aroma some electronics produce when they warm up- is this standard with them?

The Mp1 doesn't make any loud buzzing sounds and the CPC doesn't get warm, in fact quite the reverse - I've never known a a system to be so cool after such extended periods of use! So any advice regarding the Mp1 and it's little habits will be most gratefully received.

[Shaun M. Neary]

That smell is probably because it hasn't been used in decades. I had a similar smell come from the monitor of my 6128+ when I fired it up for the first time. It went after a little while. It's probably down to the amount of dust it's gathered in the last several years. You could probably unplug it, open it and clean the dust out of it, especially if it's blocking the air vents.


I went for a SCART cable in a separate power supply for mine to be honest (primarily because I was adding a HXC and a C4CPC to mine), and wanted to hook it up to a bigger screen. The MP1 was great for it's time as SCART was quite slow in being implemented across the EU during the 80s (east Europe only saw SCART for the first time in 89!). Might be worth looking into that in terms of picture quality. I got mine here:


http://coolnovelties.co.uk/coolnovelties/amstrad-video-cables/258-amstrad-cpc-464-6128-active-rgb-scart-cable.html


My one differs slightly as it's for a Plus machine.

[Sidney]

Shaun- Thankyou once again for your helpful advice, ever since I have joined the forum you have been a thoroughly top notch fellow and your help has been much appreciated.


The scart/psu combo set from Cool Novelties you have recommended is the exact one I ordered, am I right in thinking that sound will now go through the Tv?

[Bryce]

The smell is just from the accumulated dust on the parts getting warmed up, nothing to worry about. The MP1 will get relatively hot, the designers were rather optomistic when it came to dimensioning the heatsinks.

Bryce.

[Sidney]

Thanks Bryce, that has put my mind at ease. Many thanks.

[Shaun M. Neary]

Shaun- Thankyou once again for your helpful advice, ever since I have joined the forum you have been a thoroughly top notch fellow and your help has been much appreciated.


The scart/psu combo set from Cool Novelties you have recommended is the exact one I ordered, am I right in thinking that sound will now go through the Tv?

Not a problem, fairly newly re-acquainted with the hardware end of things myself.

Mine's a plus machine, so the sound and video go through the same cable.

The one you ordered has the stereo jack cable attached with a 3.5mm lead. I'm assuming it'll go from the stereo connector at the side of the CPC to the cable linking up with the SCART so it can output to the TV. But as far as I know, it's not a PSU combo.

So make sure you remembered to order the power cable too! As the computer itself was powered from the original monitor / MP1. I guess you could still power it with the MP1 as well though. 

[Sidney]

Yes I've received it today, it has a small psu and the scart lead with stereo connection and the Cpc looks as crystal clear as I remember my old school chums Amstrad looking back in 1985. Truth be told whilst the Mp1 is a useful gadget I will store it away as a spare/curio because as good as it was to see it up and running initially the Cpc is a machine I'm not used to seeing through Rf!!

[Shaun M. Neary]

Yes I've received it today, it has a small psu and the scart lead with stereo connection and the Cpc looks as crystal clear as I remember my old school chums Amstrad looking back in 1985. Truth be told whilst the Mp1 is a useful gadget I will store it away as a spare/curio because as good as it was to see it up and running initially the Cpc is a machine I'm not used to seeing through Rf!!

I honestly never wanna hear UK guys complain about their postal service ever again when you guys sometimes get 2-3 posts a day AND on weekends. Our post in Ireland doesn't come on Friday, it's tough shit, gotta wait til Monday. 

I can't imagine anything through the MP-1 looking nice at all on a modern day television. It was SCART all the way for me. Now i face a bigger problem... my better half has gotten hooked on Fantasy World Dizzy and has now understood how to load it from the C4CPC... I get the feeling my Amstrad is no longer mine anymore...

[gerald]

Now i face a bigger problem... my better half has gotten hooked on Fantasy World Dizzy and has now understood how to load it from the C4CPC... I get the feeling my Amstrad is no longer mine anymore...

[Sidney]

The post in the Uk is fine for the most part with generally a delivery once a day except Sundays. Parcels can come any amount of time and not always through the Royal Mail either. The psu set was a gift that was delivered to my folks house and they brought it over on a Sunday, maybe I made the postal service sound better than it is because the reason my CPC took so long in getting to me was down to ParcelForce's ineptitude! 

As for the Mp1 I was using it on a CRT tv because I tend to think all 8bit machines look better on them rather than the giant flatscreens of today. Rf never looks great but it's "quality" is not quite as pronounced on a 14 inch portable! I agree that once you have scart there is no going back.

[Shaun M. Neary]

Ah Parcelfarce... anytime I buy a lens (I'm a music photographer when I'm not tinkering around with my Amstrad) and I discover the sender has used Parcelfarce, nothing makes my heart rate and blood pressure increase quite like waiting for a Parcelfarce parcel to arrive.

Not even my recent bout of shingles! 

[Sidney]

I know exactly what you mean and I have a similar reaction whenever I see they are on the case, they aren't called Parcelfarce for nothing! Luckily I got my Schneider eventually and all's well (phew etc!)

[Bryce]

In Germany the one to avoid is GLS. If they ever do eventually arrive, it's weeks later. I had a parcel from within Germany that took 5 weeks to get here and I'm currently waiting for a parcel from Denmark that's been on the road for more than 3 weeks! 

Bryce.