Add HDMI To Your Vintage Computers! - Part 2

[@brostenen]

Tech in 2020 have been awesomme so far. Vintage computing have gained so much. Feels like the early 90's again.

[@angrydove4067]

Got sent here by Adrian Black. Great device, I need one for my C=128 and Tandy 1000 HX. It will be fun to build it and see it work.

[@thegreatjonzini]

EGA Arkanoid is so nostalgic for me. The pc speaker sound in that game is so funny now.

[@drdpj]

Excellent :) - really great to see this device make an appearance on KZbin! Superb pair of videos too.

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks!

[@BrucesWorldofStuff]

Wow! Nice... Glad that worked... It is better than I thought with very little fussing with... I have use the Vice and Clamp method for years, that is why I mentioned it in the 1st video... :-) Awe Yes, Checkit, what a great program. when I was a tech and a Mom & Pop computer store we would use Checkit to see what all the information on the computer was. We took trade-in back then when folks upgraded from 386's to 486's and up. The version we had was a registered version and if I remember it had way more option than the one you have. I believe the owner paid $50 buck for the version. We had other programs we used to, those were some great days back then with all the jumpers and cables to move around just to get games to work. Then they add support for modems and that was a total Fubar. It sometimes took a whole day to make the game work then. I hated games so much that I gave up playing them... :-( Glad things worked out and can't wait to see what you do next... BTW I would be the guy to build it... Lol Thanks for the video! LLAP

[@vicenteherrera]

Amazing quality and features! Also nice selection of games, Alleycat was one of my favorites

[@computeraisle]

Almost all of the EGA cards had a 6 position switch block, but only the bottom 4 were used. Up, dn, dn, up was the usual setting I believe.

[@johnglielmi6428]

Really like this thing, and I'm gonna get one for my Coco 3 seeing as I don't have the CM8 monitor. I am looking for one just because I have everything else for the Coco 3 and I do mean everything else: Dual Floppy Drive, Multi-Pak Interface, Cassette Drive, Modem, The Orchestra 90 CC, 2 Deluxe Joysticks, most of the Rom Packs as well. it was my very first system I had for my home use when I was in my youth. never got rid of it. It is still functioning. I'm going to probably have to reCap it. but the Electrolytic Caps from the 80's on don't leak very often like the older ones from the 60's back.

[@c128stuff]

default output of a ntsc c128 is very much the same as cga, tho a bit more flexible... should soonish be a new c128 profile and palette made by one of the more active graphics artists on that platform which better match the output of matching crt displays (provided your lcd display is setup somewhat sanely)

[@borayurt66]

I love that 4:3 ratio LG monitor (TV?) that has HDMI input. Not a lot of 4:3 displays has HDMI capability, you're lucky to have one. I have old 15" LCD VGA monitors that I use with my retro computers, I just can't stand the stretched out or centered picture with the newer 16:9 monitors. I will built this board but unfortunately I'll have to use it with an HDMI to VGA adapter. Luckily, since it is a down conversion, the results are pretty good, almost indistinguishable from direct HDMI connection, even with 1080p. I wish HDMI capable 4:3 monitors like your LG were still available.

[@RetroHackShack]

It's not 4:3, but the RGBtoHDMI just scales it correctly without changing the original aspect ratio.

[@borayurt66]

@@RetroHackShack Oh, maybe the camera angle played a trick on me. It looked 4:3 😊 Now I am less jealous. 😄

[@c128stuff]

Default output is dvi over hdmi, I use one with a 4:3 aspect ratio dvi connected display and a typical hdmi to dvi cable. Just tell it what the native resolution of the display is if it doesn't detect it properly, and it will take care of the scaling. Depending on what device you are going to use it with.. frame rate may be an important consideration... not for cga/ega etc, those will be 60hz and your display will pretty surely do that just fine. But if you happen to live in the 'pal part' of the world, and are connecting some Acorn/Commodore or such machine, you want a 50hz capable display. A given with hdmi equipped devices in those parts of the world.. but not all dvi capable devices will work with that, even at resolutions at which they kinda should.

[@cbmeeks]

Amazing quality! I think this might be better than the RetroTink for some things. Would love to see a detailed Amiga video on it.

[@RetroHackShack]

I realize now I never came back to say why I would still likely be buying a retrotink at some point. This is because the analog board won't handle complex composite signals yet like the retrotink does. However, the retrotink doesn't do digital RGB. This is from the wiki page ... "An addon analog interface is available for the 6 bit version of the converter to support a limited number of computers with a few levels of analog RGB / YUV output such as Amstrad CPC, Spectrum, Atom, Dragon or Tandy Color Computer, or monochrome composite output such as Apple II /IIe, UK101, Superboard II, ZX80 and ZX81. Note this interface can only distinguish a few analog levels and is not suitable for systems with many levels of RGB or YUV."

[@drdpj]

@@RetroHackShack - The latest version is 12bit, so does do Amiga: stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=20404&p=295631#p295546

[@briangoldberg4439]

Cool. Thanks for putting this together and sharing it. Always down to see new video transcoding options. As for the results, I think it looks sharp and very clean. The colors look quite different between the CRT and the LCD, but I think that's down to calibration and LCD quality. The pink, for example, on your LCD is looking quite washed-out as compared to the CRT in Arkanoid. Conversely, the skin tone on the main character in PoP is quite off on the CRT. I think both are generally adjustable. Nevertheless, I still greatly prefer the CRT image for any of those old games. The patterns in solid colors created by the pixel size and the presence of the scanlines are an important part of the mood of those games to me. It also changes the brightness and the mix of the color pallet.

[@RetroHackShack]

A lot of the color difference is due to the way the camera records the CRT vs the panel. You reminded me that I meant to show the scanline modes and I totally forgot. Doh!

[@briangoldberg4439]

@@RetroHackShack That would be great to see. Fake scanlines can definitely improve things.

[@yaroze]

Wow thart looks really good, I hope you will do some videos of the Analogue mode for this project!

[@RetroHackShack]

I've already ordered the parts 🙂

[@yaroze]

This is from the guy in Australia, who is building kits based off of this same GITHUIB project, in fact it is what led me to find your videos, the artifacting mode he shows, really has me excited to see how your analogue boards come out for my Apple ][ computers :) - kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqmZcot8j7Wciac (my kit was already ordered before I found your fist video, now to continue to wait for the long trip from Oz to Oregon!)

[@richardkimes7810]

Very nice! do you sell the premade cables also?

[@johnglielmi6428]

I have a special set of crimpers made just for ribbon cable connectors.

[@RetroHackShack]

What are they called. Can you still buy them?

[@davidhunt240]

@@RetroHackShack you can pick them up on eBay for $20 or so. But for the same money, just buy a small bench vice and get much better control. Plus a scalpel to remove the "tail". I have an old set of Amphenol crimps - ex USAF/Rockwell built like a tank, but I prefer the bench vice. I assume the crimping tool is for "in-situ" jobs and I can see its purpose. I've just built 10 Issue 4 boards with the 12 bits/pixel - loving the simplicity of the board, ease of use and of course, the price 😁 The Amiga A500 version of this plugs into Denise and gives the Amiga amazing clarity, another board to spin though. There's also a SCSI drive emulator based on a very similar design (but it's bi-directional logic, so a few more ICs) that also uses a Raspberry Pi Zero.

[@RetroHackShack]

Yeah. I have my bench vise back and it works well. I am always interested in new tools though.

[@LCARSx32]

Any idea when you'll have them back in stock on your site? I'd love to pick one up!

[@RetroHackShack]

Next week. But there are lots of people on the notification list. You can backorder if you want.

[@infinitecanadian]

How is the Tandy making sampled sound?

[@vtec2liter]

need somthing for my Mac SE

[@IanWood]

Any chance of ready made units being available anytime soon?

[@RetroHackShack]

These are available on my website. retrohackshack.com/shop. They sell out quickly though. Sign up for notification or place a backorder if they are sold out.

[@horusfalcon]

It might be worthwhile to use nylon jaw shields in your vise to prevent marring the connector. That, or just order an IDC connector tool: www.peconnectors.com/female-idc-sockets-.100-2.54mm/hws9377/ is less than $20.00 U.S. Edit: "Let's turn this back on" -- THUNK! That's such a good sound!

[@RetroHackShack]

Nice. Thanks for the tip. The vise is working fine for now, but I am going to look into it.