Post by c64stuff on Jan 16, 2023 1:27:58 GMT
I was lucky to have eventually moved on up on my C64 from a color TV using RF to the legendary Commodore 1702 monitor, and while you could use a composite cable to connect it I opted for S-Video which would give you the absolute best picture. Always irked me when I'd see people who spent several hundred dollars for this monitor to use on their C64 and then degraded the picture quality potential by using a composite cable that was only a dollar or two cheaper.
These Commodore monitors have a reputation of being very reliable to this day, and people are very reluctant to sell them. I found one on the counter at a retro game store a few years ago and the owner said no way when I offered to buy it, because he uses it as a reliable way to demonstrate systems to customers.
The C64 was I think the first home computer or home gaming console to use S-Video by several years, before S-Video was even widely known among even home entertainment centers using devices such as VHS or later DVD players. It was so leading edge that Commodore used a non standard input for their monitors, but it's easy enough to buy a breakout able to plug standard S-Video devices into this monitor, or to plug the C64 into a S-Video device.
Yes, composite was a vastly better picture quality than RF, but S-Video was even better. Commodore was so ahead of the times that composite was a normal TV connector offered on a TV for several years long before S-Video became somewhat of a standard.
Don't forget, the C64 was so ahead of it's time, that even the NES that came out several years later still didn't take advantage of the better quality of S-Video, and one can argue the C64 was also a much more capable and versatile gaming system despite being introduced several years earlier, but that's a discussion for another day.
Btw, this video, Adrian's Digital Basement, is a great channel well worth following.
These Commodore monitors have a reputation of being very reliable to this day, and people are very reluctant to sell them. I found one on the counter at a retro game store a few years ago and the owner said no way when I offered to buy it, because he uses it as a reliable way to demonstrate systems to customers.
The C64 was I think the first home computer or home gaming console to use S-Video by several years, before S-Video was even widely known among even home entertainment centers using devices such as VHS or later DVD players. It was so leading edge that Commodore used a non standard input for their monitors, but it's easy enough to buy a breakout able to plug standard S-Video devices into this monitor, or to plug the C64 into a S-Video device.
Yes, composite was a vastly better picture quality than RF, but S-Video was even better. Commodore was so ahead of the times that composite was a normal TV connector offered on a TV for several years long before S-Video became somewhat of a standard.
Don't forget, the C64 was so ahead of it's time, that even the NES that came out several years later still didn't take advantage of the better quality of S-Video, and one can argue the C64 was also a much more capable and versatile gaming system despite being introduced several years earlier, but that's a discussion for another day.
Btw, this video, Adrian's Digital Basement, is a great channel well worth following.
