Saw this on Vinted for only £4, so obviously I had to buy it immediately
This is the TV modulator for the Amstrad CPC464 range of computers. The CPC464 came with either a green screen or colour monitor, the computer itself could not be connected to an ordinary TV like its contemporaries could, unless you bought one of these, at extra cost of course
In reality this is nothing more than the power supply for the CPC464, which normally lived in the monitor, and a RF modulator which took the RGB output from the CPC464 and converted it to work with the TV's of the era
There are modern solutions these days which include active SCART leads, which I do have
However, at the time these were seen as a cheap upgrade for green screen users to get access to a colour image for playing games, or to make the CPC a little more portable
There was an MP2 version for the CPC664/6128 which provided an additional twelve volts for the disk drive fitted to these computers
The unit itself is quite big and it does weigh a fair amount, I would expect it to have a large transformer and a linear regulator for the five volt supply inside, and there is only one five volt rail available on the MP1
It's styled to match the CPC464 so it can be positioned to the side of the computer
You may also note there's no power switch, so the transformer is always on, even if the computer is switched off, this is in line with other computers of the era
At the rear of the unit, four individual cables come out
Five volts power for the CPC464, video input, mains power in (the plug is not fitted), and RF out
The size of the chonky unit compared to a Roku remote
The MP1 I have here is in very good condition, the plugs could do with a clean though
It is trivial to mod the MP1 to output composite video, as it takes the RGB output from the CPC and converts it to composite before modulating it on to RF, so you just need to tap into the circuit between the two and mount a RCA socket on the rear of the unit. If you need better quality video, then the CPC outputs RGB natively, so just get yourself an active SCART lead instead
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