Macintosh TV
Encyclopedia
The Macintosh TV was Apple's first attempt at computer-television integration. It shared the external appearance of the Macintosh LC 500 series
, but in black. The Macintosh TV was essentially a Performa 520 that could switch its built-in 14" Sony Trinitron CRT from being a computer display to a cable-ready television. It was incapable of showing television in a desktop window, although it could capture still frames to PICT
files.
One of the reasons cited for its failure was its sub-par graphics performance.
It came with a small credit card-sized remote control that was also compatible with Sony televisions. It was the first Macintosh to be made in black and came with a custom black keyboard and mouse. Later Apple would issue a custom black Performa 5420 in markets outside the United States with many of the features of the Mac TV. The Mac TV tuner card was a popular option for the LC & Performa series.
Only 10,000 were made in the model's short time on the market.
Macintosh LC 500 series
The Macintosh LC 500 series is a series of personal computers that is a part of Apple Computer's LC line of Macintosh computers. It was Apple's mid-1990s upper low end-range series, positioned below the Centris and Quadra but above the Classic II and Color Classic models...
, but in black. The Macintosh TV was essentially a Performa 520 that could switch its built-in 14" Sony Trinitron CRT from being a computer display to a cable-ready television. It was incapable of showing television in a desktop window, although it could capture still frames to PICT
PICT
PICT is a graphics file format introduced on the original Apple Macintosh computer as its standard metafile format. It allows the interchange of graphics , and some limited text support, between Mac applications, and was the native graphics format of QuickDraw.The original version, PICT 1, was...
files.
One of the reasons cited for its failure was its sub-par graphics performance.
It came with a small credit card-sized remote control that was also compatible with Sony televisions. It was the first Macintosh to be made in black and came with a custom black keyboard and mouse. Later Apple would issue a custom black Performa 5420 in markets outside the United States with many of the features of the Mac TV. The Mac TV tuner card was a popular option for the LC & Performa series.
Only 10,000 were made in the model's short time on the market.
Specifications
- Introduced October 25, 1993, Discontinued February, 1994 http://apple-history.com/body.php?page=gallery&model=tv&performa=off&sort=date&order=ASC
- Requires System 7.1 (with Enabler 404) to 7.6.1
- CPU: 32 MHz 68030
- Bus: 16 MHz
- FPU: none
- performance: 7.0 MIPS
- ROM: 1 MB
- RAM: 5 MB from factory (4 MB on motherboard, expandable to 8 MB using a single 100ns 72-pin SIMM; can use 1 MB or 4 MB SIMM)
- video: 512 KBKilobyteThe kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
VRAM; supports 640 x 480 at 8-bits - L2 cache: none
- hard drive: 160 MB
- CD-ROM: 2x
- ADB ports for keyboard and mouse
- DIN-8 serial ports on back of computer
- DB-25 SCSI connector on back of computer
- Antenna In (F-type RF Connector)
- Composite Video-In, Stereo Audio Input (RCA-type)
- no expansion slots
- size (HxWxD): 17.9" x 13.5" x 16.5"
- Weight: 40.5 lb.
- PRAM battery: 3.6 V lithium
- Gestalt ID: 88
- addressing: 32-bit
- upgrade path: none