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Last modified on 23 January 2014, at 23:09

MP-3

The MP-3 is a TV Tuner with RGB output for viewing TV channels on the CPC's CTM644 colour monitor.

Amstrad also offered the Amstrad CT-1 Radio/Alarm-Clock, which matched the design of the MP-3 and CTM644 (aside from that, the CT-1 it didn't have any relation or connection to the CPC).

MP-3 Connection

  • The MP-3 uses 12V supply from the monitor (thus works only with CTM644, but not with CTM640).
  • There is no switch to select between CPC and TV mode (so one must manually unplug the 12V and RGB cables every time one wishes to switch between CPC to TV).
  • The User Manual doesn't mention GT64/GT65 green monitors.
    • Unknown if the MP-3 does output a luminance signal (?) the service manual should contain that info (?) if there is no luminance, one should be able to merge R,G,B using a similar resistor-circuit as it is found inside of the CPC (?)

Pictures

  • MP-3 (boxed)

  • MP-3 (bottom)

According to the "boxed" photo, the Tuner (demodulator) was accidently shipped as "modulator" (the opposite meaning).

Review by Gryzor

This was NOT an MP3 player by Amstrad, yet it was quite a nice product to have. It was a device that you could connect to your monitor and turn it into a nice television set for your bedroom. Quality and reception was not stellar, but still it was very good value for money. Don't imagine any fancy stuff like watching TV in a window or anything - the tuner just used the monitor for its output.

It was an interesting reversal of logic: the CPCs shipped with monitors in order to free the home TV from computer use - and then was turned into a TV set itself.

User Manual

Service Manual