Atari 8-bit OEM monitor question

[wildstar87]

This is more of a curiosity questions, I always wondered why Atari never came out with OEM branded monitors, since obviously some of them have monitor ports, and they did it for the ST.  It's funny in a stupid way, that a lot of us went with the Commodore 1702, because it was decent, compatible, and relatively inexpensive.  Almost every one I have ever seen (including my own), lost/busted the front door on the monitor.

Edited July 31, 2019 by wildstar87

[+DrVenkman]

Atari Corp. (Tramiel’s company, post 1984) made a prototype XE-styled monitor. One of those protos was up for sale a few years ago - a search here and/or on eBay might turn it up. It wasn’t working 100% unfortunately and the owner didn’t have the tools/skills/knowledge to fix it. It was composite-only, as I recall, which is a damn shame. 

 

Given Jack’s long history of doing business in Asia (the 1701/1702 were rebranded JVC screens after all), it’s no surprise he’d at least look into the idea. But I’m sure by 85/86 the 8-bit market had waned enough and consumers were increasingly turning to 16-bit systems, most of which did have matching monitors. And there were a plethora of options for 8-bits already, from consumer TVs through high-end broadcast monitors. The limited market share probably precluded the idea.

As for why the Warner-era Atari, Inc. didn’t produce a monitor, who knows? That company could never really effectively figure out how to market the A8 machines, nor decide what niche to slot them into (game machine? Business machine? General purpose home computing machine? Etc). Spending time and effort to source and rebadge computer monitors was probably a very low priority for them, assuming it ever came up in serious business discussions.

[tjlazer]

I think in the early years most companies didn’t make monitors. (Vic 20, Tandy, TI 99/4a, Atari 400/800). They would all use 3rd party monitors. But I do think with the new XL line Atari dropped the ball. They should of released matching monitors. Like Commodore did with the 64.

[+slx]

An XL styled monitor would indeed have looked great but by the time the 600XL/800XL came out Atari was losing money in a price war against Commodore and had just shelved the 1200XL and a whole lot of more "professional" peripherals like the 1090 and was trying to sell a cheap computer that could compete against the C64. I'd also assume that a monitor was low on their list of priorities. 

[+Nezgar]

Simply that you could use any existing television set. It was part of the sales pitch that it would "save you money" compared to those "other" computers that required you to purchase a monitor too. I think that was the main thought process at Atari/Warner.

 

And since it was pitched as a "Home Computer" where surely there would be a TV at home already.

[Gunstar]

I have a bunch of old 400/800 and XL/XE ads that I use as desktop wall papers on my PC, and Atari kept flip-flopping between Personal Computer and Home Computer in the 400/800 ads, or, dropping both with the tag-line 'Computers for people.' The XL line sticks with Home Computer in the ads, and the XE ads revert back to strictly Personal Computer. Jack even said at one point something like "We don't make home computers, we don't make business computers, we make personal computers. People can use them for what ever they want."

 

In all of the 400/800 ads they show one time what looks like a third-party monitor (Sony Trinitron I believe) all the rest show what is clearly TV's. The XL ads show TV's or omit TV/monitors, and the XE ads either show the proto-type XE monitor or omit TV/monitors.

Edited August 1, 2019 by Gunstar

[Nebulon]

I'm using one of those Atari 800XL to composite cables on a Magnavox 8CM515 and it looks stellar. 

 

The 8CM515 is the more squareish version of the Commodore 1084.

 

The A8 certainly deserved its own monitor though. That might have helped them make the inroads into the business and educational sectors that they were trying for.

Edited August 2, 2019 by Nebulon

[+davidcalgary29]

I think it would have been a terrible idea for any of the Ataris. I can see something for the 400/800 — maybe — but you know that instead of a nice beige case, we’d have ended up with an orange and brown Burger King horror. That would now be yellowed and subject to home peroxide horror threads.

The Tramiels had lots of experience with monitors by the time they took over. If they could have made money off of an A8 monitor, I’m sure they would have released one.

Edited August 3, 2019 by davidcalgary29

[Gunstar]

There were some good third-party monitors that went well with the Atari's, one could match-up something if they researched it. Amdek and I think Zenith had some 400/800 matching monitors and Thomson had some lighter color monitors, I think even with chroma/luma inputs, that went well with the XL line. So CBM monitors weren't the only choice. I myself have used the 1702, the 1084 and an Apple II composite over the years. I'd love to get a hold of an old, quality 3rd party monitor for my 800, it would have to have chroma/luma. The 1084S I painted to match my XL line system. In high school, we had all Apple II's and they all used Amdek monitors, amber, green or composite. Like in the second picture down.

 

Of course, matching or not, and just wanted the best, any Sony Trinitron with composite and/or S-video was a must, IMHO.

 

Edited August 3, 2019 by Gunstar
added photos

[ricortes]

One of my favorites was the Magnavox Color 80. It worked as both IBM style color monitor and composite. I think it also did analog RGB for things like the Amiga. Mine went south on the IBM 9 pin interface and since I already had a Commodore 1701 it became superfluous, so I passed it on. Before it got crippled I thought it was one of the best monitors for someone who had to have one of everything but monitors.

[Atari030]

There is always cheating.....

[krslam]

On 7/31/2019 at 11:20 AM, tjlazer said:

I think in the early years most companies didn’t make monitors. (Vic 20, Tandy, TI 99/4a, Atari 400/800). They would all use 3rd party monitors. But I do think with the new XL line Atari dropped the ball. They should of released matching monitors. Like Commodore did with the 64.

Commodore didn't manufacture the 1701/1702 monitors that bear their name: JVC did.  Also, the original TI-99/4 (1979) came with a TI-branded (manufactured by Zenith) monitor and they offered another model to go with the 4A.

[Gunstar]

I thought about doing that with my 1084S when I had my 130XE, awesome by the way, but then I sold it and decided to fall in love with the XL design, so it was just easier to paint the 1084S.

[_The Doctor__]

NEC and believe it or not Monitor Class Televisions with S Video made very nice displays another surprise was some of the later goldstar as well as sharp tube sets were pretty good, toshiba was not far behind but their stuff didn't age well... The Commodore monitors had terrible dot pitch and mask issues that made the 80 column displays terrible.. didn't matter what machine, moire patterns and bleed...

That's all been covered before though.

Edited August 5, 2019 by _The Doctor__

[Gunstar]

Yes, this is true. But for standard definition CRT monitors/TV's when using composite or S-video, nothing beats Sony's Trinitron tube technology.