S-Video from the VIC

Mental_(Denmark) · Post by **Mental_(Denmark)** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:18 am

I couldn't agree more saehn

and I do thank you for pointing it out.

But sadly I know noone that is both capable and willing to do it for me. It is not a matter of avoiding paying for it.

So there is basically no other alternative. And I am quite confident that I will be able to pull it off - now that I know which capacitor to use, thanks to Ola / TBCVIC

Actually I have two VIC 20s. One is a original PRE-CR version - in perfect working condition - and almost no yellowing. And then one bought from a quite dishonest person on a danish counterpart to the likes of EBAY. A CR model VIC20 that is significantly more yellow than anything I have seen on pictures, and whats worse it is very uneven yellowing, actually it's resembling a giraffe. To top things off there is something wrong with the picture (around every 1 in 8 lines is missing), and finally to add insult to injury - the PSU is also defective, so theres no power to the casetteport. So my plan is doing a "practice run" on the not-so-prestine VIC, and if things go to plan, I will do it on the nice VIC. And I will do my very best not to mess things up.

Ian Colquhoun · Post by **Ian Colquhoun** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:22 am

Be careful. The video circuits between an original VIC-20 and a CR version are slightly different. The photos in the wiki are specifically for a CR board.

Mental_(Denmark) · Post by **Mental_(Denmark)** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:30 am

Thank you Ian for that info

(Can't believe how friendly and helpful you guys (from Denial forum) are proving to be).

I was however aware that there is a diffence in the video circuit, between CR and NON-CR VICs, but the values of the capacitor and resistor replacements should be the same in both models, right ? At least it seems logical to me (with my very very limited knowledge of electronics), that at least the resistor should be 75 Ohm in both cases?

I do honestly appologize for wasting so much of you guy's time, for something that I understand is very basic for the likes of you. But for what it's worth: I am most grateful.

mr zetec · Post by **mr zetec** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 10:20 am

Has anyone successfully folowed the instructions talked about on this page? As I said it did not work for me. Maybe no-one has noticed the issues I mentioned earlier? I am sure the problem will be something simple, but if you follow the guide to the letter it will not work. I would be so pleased to hear from someone who made it work, not just talked about making it work. Again if anyone comes up with a working guide I am all ears.

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 11:19 am

mr zetec wrote:Has anyone successfully folowed the instructions talked about on this page?

Yeah, Ian and I did but as he said, there were a few little differences that had to be accounted for. It all worked out though.

Again if anyone comes up with a working guide I am all ears.

Good idea. It's time to update the Wiki with what we learned.

mr zetec · Post by **mr zetec** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 11:52 am

Good idea. It's time to update the Wiki with what we learned

Of course it is! It's not a complex task: it's something most people here have the skills to do, we just need a real Techie to draw the schematics and list the process in a logical manner.

Bacon · Post by **Bacon** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 11:45 pm

I successfully followed the instructions -- my screenshots are in the wiki article -- but just like Golan I noticed one or two slight differences. They were easily spotted though, even for a semi-techy guy like me; I think it was a resistor that wasn't present on my VIC.

mr zetec · Post by **mr zetec** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:18 pm

Hello Bacon, I am really tempted by your post to do the conversion again following things said since my last attempt. However I will not because there are too many variables, for example you say you 'think' a resistor wasn't present which means we cannot be certain it wasn't present which leaves an uncertainty in the proceedure which means we cannot trust it. Please don't be offended, I am not trying to be critical. We need a definitive guide: ie. a guide with no doubts.

Bacon · Post by **Bacon** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 11:44 pm

Hey, I'm not offended. I didn't write the instructions

I agree, the wiki article should be edited to cover as many VIC variants as possible. I think I have "before" and "after" pictures of the video part of my VIC's PCB that I could have a look at and maybe upload to the wiki. Won't have time to do that in a while though.

a4000bear · Post by **a4000bear** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 7:59 am

Mental_(Denmark) wrote:I couldn't agree more saehn

and I do thank you for pointing it out.

But sadly I know noone that is both capable and willing to do it for me. It is not a matter of avoiding paying for it.

So there is basically no other alternative. And I am quite confident that I will be able to pull it off - now that I know which capacitor to use, thanks to Ola / TBCVIC

Actually I have two VIC 20s. One is a original PRE-CR version - in perfect working condition - and almost no yellowing. And then one bought from a quite dishonest person on a danish counterpart to the likes of EBAY. A CR model VIC20 that is significantly more yellow than anything I have seen on pictures, and whats worse it is very uneven yellowing, actually it's resembling a giraffe. To top things off there is something wrong with the picture (around every 1 in 8 lines is missing), and finally to add insult to injury - the PSU is also defective, so theres no power to the casetteport. So my plan is doing a "practice run" on the not-so-prestine VIC, and if things go to plan, I will do it on the nice VIC. And I will do my very best not to mess things up.

The yellowed case can be fixed with this: http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/

Be very careful with a defective PSU, if it is putting out incorrect (high) voltages, it could damage your VIC.

thebytewasbit · Post by **thebytewasbit** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:05 pm

I can't wait to try out this S-Video mod! I am learning quite a bit about the VIC-20.

I got my VIC-20 about a year or so ago @ a garage sale when my wife & I were living in MI. It came w/ the VIC, tape cassette deck, joystick, dust cover, 10 or so cartridge games, 5-10 cassettes, all the manuals, PSU, & several magazines from around that era. I asked the woman how much she wanted for the whole box of stuff and is like ..."$5".

Needless to say I made sure no one else snagged it!

I did have a PCI video capture card in my pc about 6 months ago & tried to hook up the vic w/ the SUPPLIED cable, I tried hooking it up w/ the splitter thru coax on my both my TV & TV in on my vid capture card. To no avail. Well sort of...

I plugged it in & powered it on. It came on & I could VERY FAINTLY (thru all the static) see the main screen w/ the blinking cursor. My current tv is a 19" tv that is about 8-10 years old w/ only coax & RCA jacks. However I also have an S-Video to RCA cable/adapter that I would be able to use assuming that I perform the mod correctly.

When I first got my VIC I had never heard of it. Of course I had heard of the C64. In fact I used to play the C64 @ my cousin's house growing up. Her other cousin (on her mom's side of the family) would visit in the summers and would leave his C64 & a HUGE box of games. I recall she & I would play the Summer Olympics game and it would take FOREVER to load!

I always had a curiosity as to what I was missing out on in that huge box of floppy disks even to this day. All I was accustomed to was playing arcade games (PACMAN, DONKEY KONG, QBERT, DIG DUG, ASTEROIDS, ETC) & had an NES, along w/ playing my brother's ATARI 2600.

I'll take apart the VIC w/ in the next couple of days & see what things look like. A friend gave me a Panasonic DVD player that crapped out a few months ago. Thankfully I kept it, because I KNEW that I'd be able to salvage some components & jacks off of it. It has a few RCA/component jacks as well as an S-Video jack.

Anyways, I'm new here, can't wait to start programming, & will keep you guys posted! These forums kick all kinds of arse!

I have found such a huge wealth of info here. So thank you guys & hopefully maybe I can contribute something useful as well.

a4000bear · Post by **a4000bear** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 9:24 pm

thebytewasbit wrote:I can't wait to try out this S-Video mod! I am learning quite a bit about the VIC-20.

I got my VIC-20 about a year or so ago @ a garage sale when my wife & I were living in MI. It came w/ the VIC, tape cassette deck, joystick, dust cover, 10 or so cartridge games, 5-10 cassettes, all the manuals, PSU, & several magazines from around that era. I asked the woman how much she wanted for the whole box of stuff and is like ..."$5".

Needless to say I made sure no one else snagged it!

I did have a PCI video capture card in my pc about 6 months ago & tried to hook up the vic w/ the SUPPLIED cable, I tried hooking it up w/ the splitter thru coax on my both my TV & TV in on my vid capture card. To no avail. Well sort of...

I plugged it in & powered it on. It came on & I could VERY FAINTLY (thru all the static) see the main screen w/ the blinking cursor. My current tv is a 19" tv that is about 8-10 years old w/ only coax & RCA jacks. However I also have an S-Video to RCA cable/adapter that I would be able to use assuming that I perform the mod correctly.

I have bad news for you, if you are using an S-video to composite (RCA) cable, and your TV does not have its own S-video input, then doing the S-video mod will do nothing for you. Everything must be S-video to get the benefits. Computer, cable and TV.

You would be better off getting an old DIN to 4xRCA cable as used on tape and cassette recorders, and using that to connect your TV, without using the modulator.

thebytewasbit · Post by **thebytewasbit** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 12:10 am

Since I mainly want composite so I can use it on a modern tv, wouldn't I just be able to trace the appropriate pins for ground, low video, & audio from the 5 pin cable that is attached to the VIC RF modulator & say drill some holes in the modulator box/case, install the RCA jacks & tie the grounds of the RCA jacks to the ground pin wire going to the VIC?

I am assuming since that w/ only 2 RCA jacks (one for video the other for audio) that it would be mono sound & therefore would come thru just one speaker on the tv since there wouldn't be 2 jacks (one for L audio the other for R audio). Of course I would think that I could also just install a 3rd RCA jack so that it comes thru both speakers.

I know this wouldn't give me "stereo" sound, but I could go this route & get it thru both speakers or I could just get an RCA y-splitter cable. I would think that it would be a similar situation as to how my NES works. Since there is no stereo audio coming out of the NES (nor L & R audio jacks), that w/ the RCA jack connection (as opposed to the RF connection) that I'd have to plug one of the cables into EITHER the L or R audio jack on my tv.

Forgive my seemingly noobish VIC-20 & A/V cable knowledge, but I'm not really seeing how a 5 pin din to 4 RCA jacks adapter cable would benefit.(?)

Unless to just utilize 2 of the jacks (one for video the other for audio). If that's what you are getting @ then that makes sense. I know I could buy a cable to solve this, but I'm a bit short on cash @ the moment & seeing that I do have some soldering experience (I used to build guitar fx pedals & I built myself a tube amp) & a LOT of extra RCA cables laying around, I'd be willing to make my own cable.

a4000bear · Post by **a4000bear** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 5:00 am

Its probably not a good idea to try and tap into the modulator to obtain composite video and audio as the circuitry in the modulator would probably load these down .

The VIC only has a single audio channel. Some modern TVs will allow you to connect your single channel audio to the left input socket, leaving the right empty. The TV then internally connects the two together. If your set does not do that, you can of course, use a Y adaptor.

The 5 pin DIN to 4 RCA is the easiest way to connect your VIC, without messing around. Of course, you could make your own.

mr zetec · Post by **mr zetec** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 5:10 am

Anyone volunteering to produce a definitive guide? seems like we are all talking about something most of us cannot do without the guide anyway.