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Post by The Geek on Skates on Dec 17, 2022 15:25:11 GMT
Good morning (or afternoon, or evening, whatever), I recently scored an old CRT TV (probably NTSC cuz I'm in the US) and I have one of those "mini" brand HDMI to AV adapters. But when I hook TheVIC20 up to the CRT using this, there is no picture or sound. So of course I'm probably going to have to buy new composite cords, a new adapter, new power cord for the adapter just to rule out "it must be a bad {whatever}". But I don't think any of those cables have gone bad, and the adapter is brand new. It's possible it was defective, but again, I'd be surprised if that were the case. But then it hit me, with TheVIC20 being a British thing (or at least I got mine from the UK), maybe it's an NTSC/PAL issue? Or could it be a firmware thing? I got my TheVIC20 a couple years ago, and haven't played with trying to run updates (because "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"). idk, just trying to cover all my bases. EDIT: Yup, sure enough getting the right kind of adapter solved the problem! Here's where I found it in case anyone else runs into this too. It's still not quite right (character cells are a bit narrower than I expected) but I think that might be something I have to play with in display settings. And speaking of display settings, interestingly enough, I still had to use "pixel perfect" (not 4:3) to get it to go fullscreen. Anyway, HTH (and thanks to all who answewred).
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Post by c64stuff on Dec 17, 2022 22:20:34 GMT
More than likely the CRT can't handle a pal signal. Older CRT TVs can't, while I think newer ones could or at least for sure later CRT monitors could handle multiple video syncing I believe, much like modern LCD TV's or monitors can. Is your HDMI to composite adapter able to handle a pal input signal and output to a NTSC device? And you're not trying to hook a composite signal up to a component input are you, because those connections are similar but composite is an older video type and component came along later. I'll see if I can dig up a few videos on using The Vic20 or TheC64 maxi on a CRT. I know I've seen a few. One was RetroRecipies reviewing the A500 where he hooked it up to a CRT monitor, which is going to be the same deal for the most part, and I think he had an issue of no picture until he changed something in the A500 screen settings unless I saw that in somebody else's video.
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Post by The Geek on Skates on Dec 17, 2022 22:30:35 GMT
Turns out I am a bonehead! 🤣 So I continued my research today about getting TheVIC20 working on the CRT... * Checked the HDMI cable - it works * That test confirmed what I already knew - TheVIC20 works. * Hit the web. Found this: At the 1:41 mark, I paused the video and his adapter said "HDMI2AV". Mine said "AV2HDMI upscaler". There is no face-palm emoji, so let me just say 🤣. So aparently these adapters are one-directional, and the one I have is for sending AV output to an HDMI monitor - not an HDMI output to an AV monitor (which explains why I wasn't getting any picture or sound). Thankfully, I got a $25 Amazon gift card from the company I work for this week, so I grabbed the right kind of adapter off Amazon. According to Amazon it'll be here Wednesday, so hopefully I'll be able to start off my Christmas vacation time with some Commodore games! Okay, real talk, if it doesn't work, I'll still be playing Commodore games - just on the flat-screen instead. 🤣 Anyway, thanks for letting me know about the NTSC/PAL thing; I thought that might be an issue. The HDMI adapter I just bought does have a switch for that, so I'll post again with the link if it works (in case someone else makes my mistake or runs into something else). PS: Retro Recipes/The Retro Show is great. Re-watching that Amiga video now.
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Post by c64stuff on Dec 17, 2022 22:37:59 GMT
EDIT: (You responded that you found a solution an instant before I posted this message so please ignore.)
So to be clear: First identify what kind of input, composite or component, your CRT TV has. Then figure out if your video adapter dongle is designed to output that type of ntsc composite or component signal, and if it can accept input from a PAL signal? If all connections match but the dongle won't accept PAL input, then I'd try playing with the screen settings on TheVic20. Isn't there also a factory reset on the Vic or C64 to where when you reboot it will initially ask if you want ntsc or pal that goes beyond simply changing the screen format settings?
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Post by c64stuff on Dec 17, 2022 22:47:37 GMT
Glad you figured it out. And you'd be surprised the mistake you made is a common one. I've read the comments under reviews of some of those video adapters where people said they made that mistake too. Lol. I'm using a HDMI to VGA adapter to use my C64 mini or my RetroPie setup on an older LCD widescreen monitor, while I'm using the reverse of that, a VGA to HDMI adapter, to hook my older PC up to a large LCD TV. Both bought on Amazon and work great.
Incidentally, I got that monitor for only $2 at a garage sale. It's got a great picture, but just because it's not HDMI they didn't want it any more. Go figure. They could have simply bought a $10 or $20 dongle adapter off Amazon. I also got an even older multisync LCD monitor at that garage sale for $2 too which I believe was one of the first LCD monitors made judging by it's thickness, and I have a feeling it will work with odd Atari or Amiga high res multisync frequencies like 15khz but I haven't tried it on real hardware yet. Also bought a third LCD "monitor" for $2 there and when I got home I noticed it's actually a all in one Windows PC and monitor, and it works. I plan to mount it in an arcade cabinet I'm building and run a retro gaming front end at boot on it.
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