Vic-20 TV/Monitor Connection Questions
Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 9:19 pm
Hello everyone, very new not only here, but to the Vic-20 all around! Just received my very first Vic-20 from a friend who found one in his friends attic.
I have a question about connecting the system to a display. The cable that I have to connect it to a TV/monitor is the cable that bypasses a modulator. (5 pin on one side, dual RCA style on the other end.) When I plug the cable into my modern HDTV with the composite cable, I have no problem getting a display. However when I went to plug it into a CRT television (from 1987 no less), I was unable to get a display to show. The CRT television requires an RF modulator to use coaxial, and when I turn the Vic on, the modulator detects the signal, but does not display the system. I tried hooking up other devices to the CRT TV that way, and it was working fine. Is there something I am doing wrong? I would have thought it would have been harder to get it to work on an HDTV but it ended up being the other way around, and I am unable to get it to work on a TV that was made in the same era!
Also, I have a Commodore Amiga 1080 monitor that I use for my Amiga 1000. I was wondering if that monitor was compatible with the Vic-20 since it has similar RCA style connection inputs as an option on the rear aside from the RGB video port. When I tried to use the monitor, with every connection and switch set to every position (both the front and rear selection switches), I still could not get a signal.
Does anyone have any suggestions to get me started? I didn't want to hook it up to the 50" HDTV, I'd rather use a smaller CRT so that it can be a part of my other retro computers on my desk... But for some reason I'm stumped and I wanted to know if I was doing something wrong, since I've never owned a Vic-20 before.
Thanks in advance,
-Kris
I have a question about connecting the system to a display. The cable that I have to connect it to a TV/monitor is the cable that bypasses a modulator. (5 pin on one side, dual RCA style on the other end.) When I plug the cable into my modern HDTV with the composite cable, I have no problem getting a display. However when I went to plug it into a CRT television (from 1987 no less), I was unable to get a display to show. The CRT television requires an RF modulator to use coaxial, and when I turn the Vic on, the modulator detects the signal, but does not display the system. I tried hooking up other devices to the CRT TV that way, and it was working fine. Is there something I am doing wrong? I would have thought it would have been harder to get it to work on an HDTV but it ended up being the other way around, and I am unable to get it to work on a TV that was made in the same era!
Also, I have a Commodore Amiga 1080 monitor that I use for my Amiga 1000. I was wondering if that monitor was compatible with the Vic-20 since it has similar RCA style connection inputs as an option on the rear aside from the RGB video port. When I tried to use the monitor, with every connection and switch set to every position (both the front and rear selection switches), I still could not get a signal.
Does anyone have any suggestions to get me started? I didn't want to hook it up to the 50" HDTV, I'd rather use a smaller CRT so that it can be a part of my other retro computers on my desk... But for some reason I'm stumped and I wanted to know if I was doing something wrong, since I've never owned a Vic-20 before.
Thanks in advance,
-Kris