★ HARDWARE ★ TUNER TV AMSTRAD de DK'tronics ★ |
DK'Tronics TV Tuner (The Amstrad User) |
Turn your Monitor into a colour TV. The latest offering for the Amstrad range of computers is a handy little device which turns any colour monitor into a colour television. The company DK'Tronics is a successful third party hardware add-on vendor, which has been around for as long as the Amstrad computers. The initial tuner was made for the British television system and was not suited to Australian conditions. After an outcry from users in Australia, DK'Tronics were approached by Fred Gillen of Giltronic (an independent Melbourne Amstrad dealer). The result in less than two weeks, the first and only Australian version of the tuner arrived. The concept for the tuner was simple - plug in the monitor and the TV aerial and away you go. This was done (very quickly) and soon our anxiety was put to rest, for on our 6128 monitor was a crisp, clear smiling Humphrey B. Bear! After the initial excitement had died down a little, Fred contacted England and told DK'Tronics the good news and soon ten more were on their way out to the colonies. The actual tuner comes in an attractive black box with on/off, channel select, brightness and colour switches. It has a connector for the aerial at the back, one at the front for a monitor and a switch which changes from VHF to UHF allowing Channel 0/28 to be accessed. The sound is through a 2" mini speaker on the front panel giving a good quality output. The operation is simple, you connect it up, turn it on, select the channel you wish to view, adjust the picture controls, then sit back and relax. The unit has been checked with the 464,664 and 6128 range and works excellently. There is a possibility in the future that the tuner will work with the PC1512 colour monitor, so stay tuned for more details. Any aerial which works on a domestic television set will work on the tuner, including 'rabbit ears', but the best quality is obtained using an external , aeial . In summary the DK'Tronics tuner is an excellent product, and with a special introductory price of only $279 makes a good investment instead of a second colour TV. They are available right now at Giltronic but be quick - they will sell very quickly.
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