BBC B and Flat Screen TVs

[dcdrac]

BBC B and Flat Screen TVs

I guess I am going to have to track down a portable old crt the BBC I have now does not seem to to like my Flat screen Samsung TV or it does not like the signal from the BBC

[TheCorfiot]

How are you connecting them buddy, if scart connection pls upload a schem of your wiring so I can check it for you..

I find just about every modern tv is quite happy with Acorn Beebs.

If you are not using scart , I can help you make a lead that should work fine...

TC 

[MartinW]

Yep, my LG flat panel is perfectly happy with the Master, BBC B or Electron when hooked up via scart. So is the Goodmans in the kitchen. I've not tried the main Panasonic in the living room. Whether it's the best picture or not is debatable but it works fine.

[dcdrac]

I have a scart cable coming that should plug into the RGB socket on the back, I tried using a  UHF cable I got off ebay that was supposedly for BBCs to connect to a tv
Getting this cable
Acorn BBC B Micro High Quality RGB Scart Lead | eBay

[TheCorfiot]

I can guarantee the UHF or RF output will not work with modern tuning systems, however take it as a blessing because the quality is awful. The lead you have ordered should be fine and probably have cost you the same if you self built it.
The RGB scart connection will give you the best quality output from the Beeb.

Let us know how you get on, if you have any problems the cables can be tweaked...

[Bryce]

You can also get an S-Video signal from the Beeb that will give you a rather crisp picture on most modern TVs and the cable / connector is much smaller and thinner.

Bryce.

[dcdrac]

Thank you for the help and advice, will give it a go and relearn how to use a BBC B
Had two of them but one blew due to a dried out capacitor

[TheCorfiot]

If you want the blown beeb repaired I can sort that for you, Acorns are my speciality..

TC 

[dcdrac]

I only just got it off ebay the supplier is either going to swap it for another or give me a refund but thank you anyway
What happened was turned it on and after 5 minutes there was a crackly electrical noise then smoke.

[TheCorfiot]

You wont believe how common this is...

It's down to 2 filter X2 caps in the psu that just breakdown due to age...
It's a very std repair and the 2 components are only a few pounds...

All Beeb PSU's should have these replaced asap..unless the seller is refurbing the psu's then chances are the replacement will do the same..as will your working one if they have not been changed....

It's nothing to worry about...the funny thing is that the computer continues to function fine whilst these caps keep smoking badly...as they are not central to the psu's operation, just filters.

I'm more than happy to refurb both supplies for you, there is also a startup cap to replace, once this is done, these psu's will run quite happy for another 30 yrs...

Feel free to get in touch if you need any help or more info.

TC 

[dcdrac]

When the replacement comes yes, so weirdly the computer will still work, just smoke like a steam train and stink the house out?

[Bryce]

It only smokes for a few minutes at the most, until the entire electrolyte gunk has burnt off, but it will stink for months

Bryce.

[dcdrac]

it certainly does.....adds a whole new level to the definition of working.

Working but do not worry about the smoke...that will clear and you will get used to the smell....

[dcdrac]

BBC now displaying, now I have to remember how floppy drives worked on the Beeb.

[Bryce]

Depending which BBC you have, most of them are quite easy to extract an S-Video signal from. All you need is the connector and some wires, no extra components. It will give you a really sharp picture on a modern TV (if it accepts S-Video), very close to RGB (SCART), but a much smaller, neater cable.

Bryce.

[dcdrac]

BBC b 32K and the picture looks great just figuring out if the floppy drive is dead or not, the light is not coming on when I press Shift break the power block for it is getting power the cable is in. the ribbon cable is plugged in.
its using the Watford DFS.

[dcdrac]

ok got a Cumana drive all looking good Elite ran other discs when tried using *!boot kept giving me the bad programme message.

[dcdrac]

Just had Elite running on CPC6128 and a BBC B alongside each other, both good but in different ways, the Amstrad version looks better, the BBC one has a bit more in it.