Rich's Random Retro Reviews

So I've been playing today ANNNND here are my results and something I've learned that I really should have thought about.  In one of my previous posts, I said I had found an unpowered VGA splitter to be good enough for me. Well I take it back. Below is a screenshot (unedited) from OBS earlier using a VGA splitter and the new BlackMagic Design HDMI capture.  As you can see - the image is extremely dark and if you click on it, you'll see that there is lots of noise in the image. For some reason, it has never crossed my mind as to why the image appears so dark. It's because I'm splitting the signal in half. DUH! Of course it's going to be dark. I also think the VGA splitter cable is responsible for the noise that's been added to the image. When plugged directly into the graphics card, the capture is noise free. Here's what it should look like.  This is much better. (Ignore the colour depth change. The first screenshot was at 256 colours, this one is at 24 b...

Our first PC was a DEC Station 917 - which I've mentioned in a previous post and it came with plenty of software to keep the younger me entertained. Remember - the Internet wasn't really a thing at this point...Anyway last night I thought it might be fun to find a wallpaper that I used to have. It was of a parrot and that's all I could remember. I had no idea where I got it from other than we had a very limited selection of software back in the day - so it had to have been from one of those.  One of the CDs was a CD Sampler that had demos of Microsoft Home software and hardware products. I used to browse this CD a lot - wishing I we had the cool looking Microsoft Home Mouse or the Natural Keyboard.  Turns out, someone archived it and put it on archive.org - so I downloaded it and created a Windows 98 VM to explore. I fired it up and was immediately transported back to 1995.  The Microsoft Home Mouse is awful. Ergonomically it's terrible but I loved the look of i...

I thought I'd do a follow up to my original Capturing VGA post as I didn't really mention the software that I used. Initially the solution I used had the same hardware with the exception of the actual USB capture device. This was an AVerMedia GL310 (LGP Lite) which was great, with a couple of exceptions. It would only to 30fps 1080p but would do 60fps at 720p. I wanted 1080p60. The software was a REAL let down. It was Windows only and called RECentral. It wasn't very user friendly and as such I wasn't overly keen on it.  I think  it worked with OBS but I didn't use it with that and I just found it a bit clunky.  The second device I used was the Elgato HD60 - which turns out is old and the software doesn't work on Apple Silicon. But I managed to get it installed and working on the Windows 10 PC that we have as a Plex media server, once I had found it. It turns out I should have bought the newer S version and the older software is buried deeply on the Elgato webs...

To coin a phrase invented by my good friend Wolf, and the one that I've mentioned before - my current brain itch is for speakers. The reason for this has to do with my blue and white G3. The issue is there is only one speaker on the front of the machine and it's mono. It's fine for the Mac chime or for system alert beeps but for anything more it's a bit lame.  Cue my scouring eBay for something appropriate. I do have some JBL Duet speakers that sort of matches the aesthetic of vintage Macs and PCs but they really stand out next to a funky coloured Mac. I did find a video or a picture of some translucent blue speakers but I couldn't find them for sale and I now can't remember the name or brand of them. Anyway back to the eBay search. I did a search for vintage computer speakers and not much came up. I then did a search for vintage multimedia speakers and these bad boys popped up.  Wolf and I are terrible influences on each other. I sent him the link and he said I...