IBM PC/XT Monochrome & Hercules Graphics Capture

Here is a capture of my IBM PC/XT's boot, text mode and graphics mode using King's Quest I with a Hercules Graphics Card.

The system boots in 80 Column by 25 Row text mode using a 9x14 character cell, giving a resolution of 720x350. In text mode, the IBM Monochrome Printer and Display Adapter and the Hercules Graphics Card can show nothing, normal video or intense video, the last of which can be seen in the first letter of the menu choices of the Editor program when the drop-down menus are being displayed. The Hercules Graphics Card is 100% compatible with the IBM MDA right down to the horizontal spacing (kerning) of the characters.

King's Quest I has support for the special Hercules Graphics mode. This mode gives the programmer 720x348 pixels, and each pixel can be on or off. Intensity is not available in graphics mode. Sierra uses a unique font for this mode and uses an SCI-like text box which pauses the action on-screen while waiting for input. King's Quest I was designed to use a 16-color graphics mode consisting of 320x200 pixels only uses the center 640 pixels of the 720 available pixels

PC Speaker sound is captured via a two-wire cable which clamps to one terminal of the speaker and to the chassis ground. It should be in mono.

I used my Datapath VisionRGB E1s to capture the video. I also needed the GGLabs CGA2RGB adapter to get an analog signal. This adapter was intended for CGA, not MDA, and the Video pin from the MDA is not connected to anything on the adapter. A simple bridge wire from the Video pin to the CGA's Green pin fixed that problem.

The results are very good, but my Datapath card does not capture 100% of the image. The last two scanlines in both text and graphics modes do not show what they should show for some reason, so I have hidden them for the most part. Fortunately nothing essential is lost. I also upscaled the image to 2160x1400 to give it somewhat less of a widescreen look. Original IBM MDA monitors did not show graphics in (very) widescreen. The MDA and Hercules use a 49-50Hz refresh rate, so 50p is what you should view this video and it is available in 720p or above.