A newer composite converter than N4

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motrucker
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Re: A newer composite converter than N4

Post by motrucker »

Gyro Gearloose wrote: Tue Nov 05, 2019 2:31 am "Because it works that much better. "
OK, I'll accept that, but I need to see it. I am pretty happy with my Viewsonic and the Inline unit. And for the budget-minded I think the many Chinese options are fine.
BTW the main IC in the Chinese scalers is 1$ US in quantity. So 140$ for a simple line-doubler like the RetroTink is too much for me.
But then again I bought a 2031 drive as a bookend, what do I know about budgets? :D
The RetroTink is $99.00 here. I didn't realize the difference between Canadian and U.S. currency was that great. I thought it was closer.
Also, I can't say I have any complaints with the ViewSonic scaler I have, It's worked fine.
One huge problem for people today is that the ViewSonic can't be found any more, so that narrows the field for C-64 users.


C-64, C-128, and Amiga A2000 user
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eslapion
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Re: A newer composite converter than N4

Post by eslapion »

Gyro Gearloose wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:00 pm ...
But there's this
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Hot-3RCA-AV-CVB ... tRuGjqKBWg
Just ordered one... we'll see if it does a good job. It would be my only way to have my PAL C64 display in S-Video.

BTW, I could never praise enough the benefits of either doing the S-Video MOD on the VIC-20 or installing an S-Video adapter.

The image quality improvement is huge.
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Re: A newer composite converter than N4

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"Just ordered one... we'll see if it does a good job."

Well if there's one person I can trust to tear the thing to shreds if it doesn't live up to expectations, it's you!

You'll probably learn all about PAL, take waveform captures and write a 35 page memoir on what the scaler did wrong.

Saves me the effort, LOL

This little thing does "Automatic PAL / NTSC input signal detection", pretty nice.

I hope it works well for you. I used the ~11$ US with a NTSC 64C and the display seemed fine at a first glance. I didn't do any in-depth tests with games or demos or GEOS (with that dotted background).

The only thing that really bothers me so far with scalers is the aspect ratio. I really want a 4:3 picture no matter the aspect ratio of the monitor.
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Re: A newer composite converter than N4

Post by eslapion »

Gyro Gearloose wrote: Fri Nov 08, 2019 12:21 am Well if there's one person I can trust to tear the thing to shreds if it doesn't live up to expectations, it's you!

You'll probably learn all about PAL, take waveform captures and write a 35 page memoir on what the scaler did wrong.

Saves me the effort, LOL
Don't keep your hopes too high. I didn't go that far with the Viewsonic N6 I still own but which will only output VGA and is therefore incompatible with my 4k TV set.

I didn't go that far either with the RCA TV sets I have owned in the past other than saying it supports both PAL and NTSC and doesn't have S-Video input. I gave my 40" one to my girlfriend. Her house was destroyed at Ste-Marthe-sur-le-Lac by the dyke breach and ensuing flooding.
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Re: A newer composite converter than N4

Post by Gyro Gearloose »

Oh maybe one of these would help you too:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/CW-VGA2HDMI-Min ... Sws7NdmaSt

I'll buy one just to see how it interacts with my VB50HRTV.
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Re: A newer composite converter than N4

Post by Gyro Gearloose »

Here's an odd one:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/RCA-Composite-A ... 3938965310

Seems this will "picture in picture" an s-video signal onto an incoming VGA signal, meaning you can dump the 64's video onto your PC while it's running too, I guess.

Weird, but I've reached my limit of eBay crap for a while.
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Re: A newer composite converter than N4

Post by eslapion »

Gyro Gearloose wrote: Fri Nov 08, 2019 12:21 am "Just ordered one... we'll see if it does a good job."

Well if there's one person I can trust to tear the thing to shreds if it doesn't live up to expectations, it's you!

...
This little thing does "Automatic PAL / NTSC input signal detection", pretty nice.

I hope it works well for you.
It was in the mailbox today. We'll see if it performs well.

Patience my friends!
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Re: A newer composite converter than N4

Post by Gyro Gearloose »

eslapion wrote: Fri Nov 22, 2019 8:46 pm
Gyro Gearloose wrote: Fri Nov 08, 2019 12:21 am "Just ordered one... we'll see if it does a good job."

Well if there's one person I can trust to tear the thing to shreds if it doesn't live up to expectations, it's you!

...
This little thing does "Automatic PAL / NTSC input signal detection", pretty nice.

I hope it works well for you.
It was in the mailbox today. We'll see if it performs well.

Patience my friends!
I am very curious. I got mixed results with Chinese AV to HDMI unit. Works fine with the 64, only B/W with my Plus/4.

However, on the professional scaler side, I have bought a Kramer VP-719xl for 20$ and that thing kicks ass. It has two s-video inputs and you can hear relays clicking so it's a real input switcher, no cross-talk.

It has a lot of commands in the menus but my keypad is a bit hard to use, it needs cleaning.
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Re: A newer composite converter than N4

Post by Gyro Gearloose »

The Kramer has 7 inputs total; 2 composite inputs, a component, DVI, VGA, and the two s-videos.

Too bad the pricing and availability are all over the map. It is far better than the Extron unit. It has control over many aspects such as zoom, gamma, output resolution. The picture is well-centered. Even with composite the color separation is clear and there is minimal dot-crawl.

I'd say if anyone can snag up a working Kramer VP-719xl you should not hesitate. Even more so with the remote; they seem to sell for 3-4 times the price of the scaler. The OSD takes some getting used to with the front panel controls.

You need to make your own audio cables since it has no RCA plugs or 3.5mm jack: there are screw terminals for bare wires to hook up to it. I've seen that on all "pro studio" gear, seems to be standard.
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Re: A newer composite converter than N4

Post by Gyro Gearloose »

That's what makes me happy:
Image
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