2nd VIC 20

[Boray]

Here's the displays of all of my (unmodded) vics:
http://museum.boray.se/#!album-12

1: Swedish keyboard 9V Vic-20 with socketed Vic chip
2. 9V Vic-20 with socketed Vic cip
3: Vic-20 CR with socketed chip
4: My blue Vic-20 with soldered chip

[vicist]

@mrr19121970
This is the type of set-up I used.


I just laid the mb on a towel and jabbed at it from above, holding the parts with a pair of long-nosed pliers.

@Boray
I did say the composite output was diabolical on this vic. The other cr vic I have is not much better. I have the parts so will be attempting to mod that as well.

I found modifying the cable for my monitor very difficult. Trying to hold the din plug steady while soldering tiny wires to the correct pins was most frustrating. Some kind of modular cable kit would be of great use. The interface ends would have all pins wired to a connector box. That way, you would just need to select the interface ends you need and join the two boxes together with the length of lead you require, plugging each end of the lead into the appropriate places on the connector boxes. (It may seem like I'm talking gibberish, but it all makes perfect sense in my head).

I came up with this idea after thinking about trying to make an s-video + audio cable to connect the vic to my tv, or even a multi-interface lead that could be used for either my monitor or tv. I thought this would be beyond my skills, so submitted the requirements to a cable manufacturer - http://www.fruitycables.co.uk
As yet, no reply.

[Boray]

I found modifying the cable for my monitor very difficult. Trying to hold the din plug steady while soldering tiny wires to the correct pins was most frustrating. Some kind of modular cable kit would be of great use. The interface ends would have all pins wired to a connector box.

Well, my video cables looks something like:
http://www.kenable.co.uk/images/105102_ ... _cable.jpg

Which probably means I only need one of these:
http://www.ascendtech.us/mmASC/Images/DINTORCA-03.JPG

[mrr19121970]

@vicist I opened a new thread to discuss soldering kit. it's go abit OT from my original post. You need what is called a 3rd hand (magnifyer and 2 croc clips on a stand - I posted a link for you)

[Mike]

[...] Some kind of modular cable kit would be of great use. [...]

Here's what I use. No soldering necessary at all: a LCA cable made from a DIN to 4x RCA break-out adapter and a normal A/V cable. The colour markings on the RCA ends of the DIN adapter happened to match the inputs of the 1084 (yellow: luma, red: chroma, white: audio):

[Boray]

Here's the displays of all of my (unmodded) vics:
http://museum.boray.se/#!album-12

1: Swedish keyboard 9V Vic-20 with socketed Vic chip
2. 9V Vic-20 with socketed Vic cip
3: Vic-20 CR with socketed chip
4: My blue Vic-20 with soldered chip

I took a couple of pictures of my current display as well now:
http://museum.boray.se/#!album-13

(The Swedish 9V Vic-20 with a LCD TV)

[tokra]

Be aware that some of the cables that look like the one Mike posted have resistors inside the DIN-connector. Supposedly these are usually cables for audio connections and the resistors are in there to improve(?) sound quality. You will need a cable without those resistors. I had a hard time finding one at first.

[vicist]

Thanks for all the info regarding soldering and cables.
We've gone a bit o/t I think. New topic started on soldering already. Maybe one for the cables too!

[ken]

here is the 5 pin composite/ svideo cable I make
it has s-video
composite - yellow
dual mono audio red-white

[mrr19121970]

How does it work with the yellow connector ? Are the chroma and luminance simply bridged ? Does this affect the s-video ?

Mike

[Mike]

Most variants of the S-Video mod place Luma on Pin 4 and Chroma on Pin 5 of the Video Out socket.

I presume ken's cable connects the yellow RCA to Pin 4, so with his switched variant it displays either greyscale (from luma only) with S-Video on or colour (from composite) with S-Video off. Chroma is only 'delivered' to the S-Video plug. This cable obviously can't be used with a 1702 monitor or the like which don't have a S-Video socket.

What the cable shouldn't do is - recreate a composite signal for the yellow RCA by capacitively coupling Luma and Chroma. In that case, the Luma 'signal' on the S-Video plug doesn't actually carry a proper Luma, but also Composite, and you're back to place 1.

[ken]

I moded the vic20 with a switch for composite or s-video
the yellow is only used for composite
the red and white are only used for mono audio
and it has a s-video end that is used only for the s-video

[Mike]

That doesn't make it any clearer how the S-Video mod in your VIC-20 works and how the cable is wired up.

When you have the switch set to S-Video, what signals are present at Pin 4 and Pin 5 of the Video Out socket? When you have the switch set to composite, what signals are then present at those two pins? How is the S-Video plug wired up? The yellow RCA plug is connected to which pin of the VIdeo Out socket? Is there any extra circuitry in the cable?

Only thing that is obviously clear, Pin 3 of the Video Out socket (AUDIO) goes to both the white and red RCA plugs.

...

With my cable, there's just the 1:1 connection of Luma, Chroma and (mono) Audio from DIN to RCA, nothing more.

[ken]

its not rocket science , even I was able to figure it out
as I stated earlier in this thread I added the resistor and cap and switch and 2 wires

I cut the trace between 4-5
lifted one end of FB7 off or out of the board , the side that connects to c13
so the FB7 is still attached to the 6560 and soldered a switch to the end of cr7 that I pulled out of the board
I added a resistor I didn't have a 75 ohm so I used 2 150 ohm ones to equal 75 ohm and a small cap and ran it to the din
then wired the switch up so I could switch between composite or s-video
yes I know , I have heard it 1000 times , just mod it for s-video and keep it that way
but I did this mod for ME and I wanted BOTH
so if I choose composite output the vic-20 is factory
if I choose to use s-video I flip a switch , use the same 5 pin din , and have separate Luma Chroma on 4-5

[mrr19121970]

Ok, I was thinking this cable can do both composite and s-video. I have a little adaptor that converts s-video back to composite (should it be needed)