Apple TV Tuners in .au?

[Bunsen]

Anyone down under using an Apple TV Tuner for the Performa/LC series? ie 5500. I can't get a channel on the one I've just picked up, although all the local (Melbourne) stations are present in the channel list. Auto tune doesn't seem to do anything.

All the software appears to be working, and I get a window of what looks like normal TV static.

At this stage it could still be an antenna/signal strength problem, as all I have is a pair of rabbit ears, and I don't even know for sure if they work. (Loose wire?)

But here's the thing: this machine's been in storage for years as far as I know. Didn't all the stations change to UHF bands a while back? If that's the case, how do I (and can I even) change the settings to find them?

 

[Flash!]

Didn't all the stations change to UHF bands a while back? If that's the case, how do I (and can I even) change the settings to find them?

All the networks are still broadcasting analog on the old VHF frequencies...it's another year or so before they get switched off permanently. I've never used an Apple Tuner card so I don't know how the software works, but in any case the RF block on the card will only be good for VHF (and low UHF). I assume that by changing the block (which you could pop out of a modern tuner card, or a $50 set top box or something...) that everything would still "just work"

edit: probably need to swap out a couple of other minor components too. I'll bet any Mac-friendly TV repair guy could take a look at the tuner card and tell you whether it's possible or not.

 

[equill]

That you get noise seems to indicate a connection and an application, so some of what I write below may be irrelevant.

First of all, and most importantly, is it a PAL tuner (marked on its RF shield)? You'll get no joy out of NTSC or SECAM.

Do you have an alias to Apple Video Player in your Startup Items folder, or on your desktop if you do not wish for automatic loading of the player? With Video Player active you can configure its behaviour, choosing and excluding stations. What is the Mac's installed OS? Video Player might have been in Applications (Mac OS 9) or in Apple Extras originally, and has two help documents in its folder. It may be in OS 8.6 also, but, as I use 8.6 only on PowerBooks, I would have trashed it, and cannot now check.

Check also that the ribbon cable connecting the tuner to the MLB, which comes loose but taped down in the video tuner bay, is intact and correctly fastened at both ends.

de

 

[Byrd]

Hey Bunsen,

I seem to use my 5500 as a glorified TV most of the time, and one thing is for sure: you really need a decent aerial to get any reception at all. With a pair of DSE amplified rabbit ears, I can get all channels but with significant ghosting. Plugging it into a roof-mounted antenna gives me all channels clearly.

Sadly the quality isn't so great up close, but it's not too bad.

JB

JB

 

[Bunsen]

is it a PAL tuner (marked on its RF shield)?

Probably. It's part of my recent Freecycle haul (in Conquests) and the donor told me all his 5500s had come from a local school. That and the presence of stations labelled GTV9, SBS, etc, would indicate that it worked at some point.

Apple Video Player

Yes, I've been using AVP

What is the Mac's installed OS?

9.1

Check also that the ribbon cable connecting the tuner to the MLB / is intact and correctly fastened at both ends.

I'll check on that and the RF can later in the week.

All the networks are still broadcasting analog on the old VHF frequencies

Good

...it's another year or so before they get switched off permanently.

Oh, nards

I assume that by changing the block / that everything would still "just work" / I'll bet any Mac-friendly TV repair guy could take a look at the tuner card and tell you whether it's possible or not.

Good hint, thanks.

you really need a decent aerial to get any reception at all. / Sadly the quality isn't so great up close, but it's not too bad.

Thanks, I'll see if I can rattle up a better antenna.
Do you reckon the quality would be OK on a 9" SVGA colour CRT? }

 

[LCGuy]

Have you tried putting a real telly in the same place as the Mac and using it with the antenna set up exactly the same? Also, one thing i've learnt from my digital TV experiences (i know you're using analog, but this still applies to a point), consider the polarisation of your antenna. Try and find out what polarisation the local TV stations use, and orient your antenna that way. For example, here in the Wide Bay, the TV stations use vertical polarisation, which means that for me to get a decent picture, i must orient my antenna vertically. I know its hard to do this with a pair of rabbitears, but thats what I use. Connected to my digital STB, I have a TV antenna cable i made up with male RF connectors on each end of an oldskool antenna ribbon cable, which goes to a female to female gender changer, which then goes to a pair of rabbitears i've got leaning up against a window pane.

May/may not help, i know, but it might come in handy.

 

[equill]

I don't follow teev all that much, despite having three black 5500/G3/400MHz Macs. I have but one pair of eyes, after all, and audio is a far better companion than video, for mine.

However, insofar as it is many years since (those with the greatest output in kW, at least) FM radio stations gave up horizontal or vertical signal polarization in favour of horizontal and vertical, or 'circular', I'd be startled, but not desolate, to discover that the teev-moguls did not also use it at their much larger radiated powers. I use a pair of rabbit-ear antennæ, atop the six-foot rack that holds the 5500s, and broadside-on to the masts in Nth Sydney/St Leonards on the other side of the Harbour, maybe 7km as the fly crows. It works quite successfully, despite that there is also a substantial hill (Taverner's) in the way at roughly 0.5km distance.

de

 

[tomlee59]

LCguy's suggestion of trying to compare reception with that of known-working TVs is a very good one. You might happen to be testing your mac in an RF dead zone, and it would be nice to know that before tearing into your computer. If you happen to have a VCR or some other device that contains an RF modulator, you can use that as a signal source instead.

If it turns out that the problem is indeed with your Mac's tuner, note that a common failure mode is for the tuner connector to suffer damage of one sort or another. Take a close look at it to see if the center pin (socket) has corroded away or worked loose somehow. Just do a thorough visual inspection in that general area; you might get lucky and spot something obvious (and simple to fix).

 

[kreats]

or maybe use a vcr/console that uses an RF modulator as the input