i want a PAL vic

aneurysm · Post by **aneurysm** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 12:32 pm

if i am going to play with raster fun i should be testing it on both machines
so how does a yankee get his hand on a foreign device?
do i need a different power converter?

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 3:24 pm

As the Vic power supply is external, you should be able to use your US one with a PAL model. You just need to figure out a way of getting the PAL display up properly on a device your side.

Still, Vice does a good enough job for first tryouts...

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 3:56 pm

In Europe, many TV sets claim to display NTSC signal. I wonder if the opposite is true on newer US TV sets, or could NTSC be seen as a subset of PAL?

VICE is these days doing a very decent job. For "trivial" raster timing, I think it will work fine, but if you were to do very advanced tricks, I would suggest testing and tuning on real hardware. On the other hand, if you do very advanced tricks, it is likely that you need to rewrite your program when going to another video system, i.e. not possible to satisfy two at once.

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 4:39 pm

The reason TVs here in Europe support NTSC is because they are all built like that to begin with now; the PALness is added later but they don't remove the NTSCness!

Tepic · Post by **Tepic** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 4:54 pm

Kind of like an upgrade with the option of a downgrade, eh?

aneurysm · Post by **aneurysm** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 10:51 pm

well
i've got two Commodore 1701 monitors
i figure adjusting the v.hold would dial it in

vic user · Post by **vic user** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 4:54 am

i think leif (schema) knows of soemone in toronto that has a pal vic 20.

maybe he has some pointers

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 5:06 am

Mayhem wrote:The reason TVs here in Europe support NTSC is because they are all built like that to begin with now; the PALness is added later but they don't remove the NTSCness!

Ehh... I don't think so....

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 5:10 am

Also consider that the European electricity is 50Hz while the American is 60Hz... And that frequency is going through the PSU into the Vic20, so I think you have to do something more than just using an US PSU.

I think VICE is the most confortable option.

/Anders

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 5:38 am

That's the purpose of the transformer; to convert the natural current of the source into what the computer/console wants. After all, if the 50Hz/60Hz thing was a problem, I wouldn't be able to run my US SNES, US N64, Japanese Cube and other imported machines on UK power supplies!

As for the TV thing, I can't prove it but that's what I've been told by someone who worked in the manufacturing field for Sony... it makes sense though; Japan and US almost use the same sort of NTSC, and PAL is pretty much in the minority worldwide. Why custom build PAL sets when you can just add the functionality to existing NTSC sets?

aneurysm · Post by **aneurysm** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 7:12 pm

Boray wrote:I think VICE is the most confortable option.

/Anders

Emulation isn;t real...

Tepic · Post by **Tepic** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 3:53 am

Also consider that the European electricity is 50Hz while the American is 60Hz... And that frequency is going through the PSU into the Vic20, so I think you have to do something more than just using an US PSU.

Conputers HAVE to run off a DC voltage so the frequency isn't that much of an issue. The Vic converts the ac input to dc. The circuit that does this won't care if it's 50 or 60Hz (it's only 4 diodes & a capacitor or two.)

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 9:56 am

The vic20 uses both 5v DC and 9v AC inside. I don't know what the 9v AC is for, but it's there...

(Btw, I doubt that my Telefunken TV (that handles both PAL and NTSC) isn't designed in Germany.... Anyway... I don't think you just can "add" PAL to a NTSC TV, it has to be designed as a PAL/NTSC TV to begin with).

/Anders

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 10:07 am

Or why would the "new" PSU give both 5V DC and 9v AC if the 9v AC isn't used at all? I think one lead goes to the user port if i'm not mistaken...

/Anders

Tepic · Post by **Tepic** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 11:13 am

I don't know what the 9v AC is for, but it's there...

The old vics only had an ac input that was rectified. I'll look at my diagram.

Edit : It gets knocked down to 6V and comes out of the video port. It looks to be rectified at the plug.