Monitor Cable

The Coleco's ADAM Monitor Cable distributed by Arcade Shopper is a specialized analog video cable engineered to connect the Coleco ADAM home computer system or a standard ColecoVision console directly to a compatible monitor or television set. It provides a much cleaner, sharper signal than the system's stock RF coaxial switchbox hookup.

The Shared 5-Pin DIN Standard:

Out of the box, the NTSC version of the Coleco ADAM features a proprietary 5-pin DIN video output port on the side of the console. Coleco standardly utilized the exact same pinout mapping architecture as several other major 8-bit home computers of the early 1980s.

Because of this universal standard, the Arcade Shopper ADAM Monitor Cable is cross-compatible and interchangeable with cables built for:

• Texas Instruments TI-99/4A (NTSC models)
• Commodore 64 / Commodore 128
• Atari 800 / 800XL

Cable Specifications & Signal Split:

The cable splits the unified 5-pin DIN source signal out into standard, color-coded RCA male jacks to attach to standard display inputs:

• Yellow Jack (Composite Video): Carries the baseline video composite stream directly from the system's internal Texas Instruments TMS9928A Video Display Processor.
• White Jack (Mono Audio): Carries the system's sound synthesis tracks.
• Note on Stereo: Because the ADAM outputs standard mono sound out of its motherboard chip, the audio connector may simply duplicate the mono track across a dual White/Red split configuration to feed sound evenly into both the left and right speakers of a modern TV.

Why Switch from RF to Monitor Cables?

Using a dedicated composite monitor cable provides a massive visual upgrade over the standard channel 3/4 RF TV adapter wire:

• Eliminates Static: It bypasses the RF modulation stage entirely, permanently removing the fuzzy background snow, rolling static lines, and color bleeding common on old TV turn-dials.
• Improves Text Clarity: The text rendering on the ADAM's native 32-column and 40-column screens becomes significantly sharper and highly legible. This makes programming in SmartBASIC or drafting files in the SmartWriter word processor much easier on the eyes