TV Tuner Solution for LC 5xx ?

[Admiral Ackbar]

Hi all. What would be the recommended TV tuner solution for a Mac LC 5xx series machine? I understand that I'll need an additional external device to convert HDMI and other modern signals to something the tuner would recognize, but am not sure what that would be in 2026. My MacTV logic board went bad and it seems the best replacement is a 520 or 550 but I am not sure what card would carry a signal in to the display.

I have a retro 90's Weather Channel-ish project idea and want to have that good CRT "warmth" for the display.

Thanks.


(related to https://68kmla.org/bb/threads/wtb-lc-520-550-logic-board.51431/)

 

[chelseayr]

hmm well the 550 doesn't support the apple video kit so you would probably have had to look for that uncommon pds-based composite input card (I know there was at least one model I just can't recall any actual details right now..) and use an external tuner box to actually watch anything via that instead

from what I can see right now (others might chip in) only the 630/alike-based is the only 68k board model that actually had the video slot in question. at least afaik pretty much all similar-style (so eg 5200, 6300, etc) ppc logic boards did supported the video kit otherwise

 

[Byrd]

Might be easier to get your MacTV board fixed/send away over finding the rarely seen PDS card for the 520/550

 

[Admiral Ackbar]

Might be easier to get your MacTV board fixed/send away over finding the rarely seen PDS card for the 520/550

I did send the unit to Someone With Skills (TM) and they let me know about the current situation. So now I am basically looking for anything that will fit inside the case and provide TV input, since MacTV parts are kind of hard to find these days.