AT LAST! Easy HDMI For Retro Computers

If you've been waiting for an effective, easy way to get HDMI video out of your vintage home computer, you're in luck.
Let's take a look at c0pperdragon's new LumaCode boards on an Atari and two Commodores. Others are available to support MSX, ColecoVision, Texas Instruments, Sinclair and more.
These easy-to-install mod boards are available from his Tindie store and only require a RGBtoHDMI to work. Now that Raspberry PI Zero's are available again, this solution should suit everyone.
00:00 - Intro
00:35 - c0pperdragon
01:26 - LumaCode
07:03 - GTIAdigitizer
16:38 - VIC-II-dizer
23:16 - VIC20digitizer
29:51 - Outro

[@YARC-1981]

I want to thank everyone who's watched this. Up to now, my best performing video had a little over 1600 views in 7 months. This one beat that in just two days. You guys are awesome. I'd also like to thank c0pperdragon for letting me do this. I'm humbled.

[@networkg]

Great content. Worthy of 100 thousand views.

[@YARC-1981]

@@networkg I appreciate that! Do you happen to know 100k people you can recommend the video to?

[@networkg]

@@YARC-1981 Just checked my Christmas card list and it falls short of the 100K. Best I can do is comment and give a thumbs up !😀

[@donaldblakley6796]

Thanks for sharing. I just received my luma code for c64 2 weeks ago. I absolutely love it 😀. I will definitely be purchasing the vic20 dizer when the ntsc one is available, so thank you for sending them the chip. Happy new year to you as well

[@YARC-1981]

Thanks, Donald. I'm going to be working with c0pperdragon further on the VIC20digitizer to see if we can sort out those issues you saw, so it may be a couple of more weeks before it goes live on the Tindie page. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@donaldblakley6796]

Sounds good:)

[@paulodagraca3469]

Thank you for this great video, wish you a great new year.

[@YARC-1981]

You're most welcome and a wonderful new year to you, too!

[@vanhetgoor]

It is bright, sharp and crisp, it has vivid colours as those colours were ment to be, it is brilliant. If I would search I would be able to find more words that would praise this Copperdragon thing. There is only one disadvantage and that is the low resolution of the original computer, big letters and cyphers fill the screen. With the original video output you could imagine some distortions were ment to be, under the vagueness was hidden a universe of things you had to fill in with your imagination. I will explain. A game has a walking man of 8 pixels high, two legs are two pixels high, the body also two pixels, the arms, two pixels, the head, with the ears and eyes and hairs and nose and lips and eyebrows, with a smile on his face is also two pixels high. You can't do that with just two pixels. Reality kills the fantasy. Now the screen is filled with abstract objects. One line can mean numerous things, like a road, a floor or a trajectory of a missile. The sharper the image is the harder the mind has to work to translate the abstract forms into imaginary friends.

[@YARC-1981]

Gaming is "supposed" to be for kids. Kids have better imagination. As adults, we sometimes lose that. We look for precision. When I was a kid, I didn't mind the chonky block graphics and horrible RF interference I got on my Atari 2600. I could imagine myself transported into these worlds and none of that mattered. As an adult, bad picture grates on my nerves and I can't stand to play Atari's original PacMan port. So I guess it depends on the observer and just how much imagination they have left. Thanks for watching and for the insightful comment.

[@darrylsmith389]

God I love to see this stuff. I have a 64, and 20-the biggest issue has always been the fuzzy picture. Not anymore. I can foresee many hours in the near future playing all of the old classics in a whole new way.

[@YARC-1981]

Glad to hear you found this useful. Wishing you many hours of enjoyment playing your old retro favorites!

[@megatech1966]

Great video. Subscribed 👍

[@YARC-1981]

Thanks for the sub!

[@MarcusLlewellyn]

When I first saw this, it kinda blew my mind. This is such a clever way to repurpose the composite/RF jack without breaking the retro aesthetic caused by ripping it out. Happily, Pi Zeros are easy to get again, so the RGBtoHDMI HAT is a no brainer too. The one I bought from Retro Hack Shack was excellent. All that said, I'd love to get my 1902A monitor working again, but pretty much all I know about CRT repair comes from watching Adrian. Also, happy new year! (And yay! Someone else uses the word "kerfuffle"!)

[@YARC-1981]

LOL! I was just trying to minimize that "other guy's" impact and kerfuffle felt so appropriately small. Yeah, it's great that the RGBtoHDMI's are so easy to come by again. Good luck with the 1902A. I know, probably, about as much as you do about CRT repair (and from the same source) and I've got a PET 2001 that needs monitor work. Thanks for watching and have a great 2024!

[@LanceHall]

Can that aluminum thing be replaced with a 3D printed version that gives space for installing the Luma the same as other computers?

[@YARC-1981]

I suppose you could, but I think part of the unique charm of the 400/800 is that giant cast-aluminum shield/shell. I wouldn't do it, myself. But to each, his own. :) Thanks for the watch and the comment!

[@countzer0408]

I’d love to get something like this for the commodore 16 and plus 4 line of 8 bit computers with the TED chip. Maybe someday.

[@YARC-1981]

I'll mention it to c0pperdragon. Thanks for watching!

[@ryangoodsell7292]

Hi there, could you tell me more about that HDMI audio injector? I could really use one of those for my RGBtoHDMi on my Amiga. Thank you.

[@YARC-1981]

I got it from Amazon (www.amazon.com/dp/B07W7NB4NR?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details). It probably adds a small amount of lag, but I don't find it noticeable. Thanks for watching!

[@SonicBoone56]

About damn time stuff like this was made. Consoles have had HDMI mods for awhile, but somehow home computers were left in the dust. Also, what chip puller are you using? It looks way better than the one I have.

[@YARC-1981]

Glad you enjoyed. Which chip puller are you referring to? There's the Wiha chip lifter that looks like a precision screwdriver with a curved tip. That one is available here: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0875LSTD3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 . The other is the Jonard Tools EX-2 DIP/IC Extraction Tool for 24-40 pin DIP ICs and can be found here www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006C3Y8IY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 .

[@TRONMAGNUM2099]

Excellent video. I will be purchasing this upgrade from C0pperdragon shortly.

[@YARC-1981]

Glad to hear that. Cheers!

[@megatech1966]

I have c0pperdragon for my Commodore 128. It’s great

[@YARC-1981]

Yeah, that's the only one I can't use. I haven't been able to afford a C128 yet.

[@atarimex2643]

Perhaps, I am old school; I think a better video output is actually an old computer hooked up to a CRT monitor, like 1702. I still can’t get used to HDMi for this. Anyways, thanks for sharing this excellent alternative for those that don’t have old monitors.

[@YARC-1981]

I understand. I appreciate CRTs, too. The obvious problem is that those are no longer being manufactured and the ones that are out there are slowly dying. Eventually, there won't be any left. Of course, by then we may be figuring out how to hook our Commodores and Ataris up to our holodisplay, right? :) Thanks for watching and Happy New Year!

[@donaldblakley6796]

All I did for audio was use usb powered speakers, and a cheap female audio to female 3.5 mm jack adapter, plug my composite white and red into a adapter, and done:)

[@YARC-1981]

Yep, that works, too. 😁

[@donaldblakley6796]

Hey bud, just curious.. did you ever try the kawari mini with the luma code to see if it works? Mark at trc says it won't. So curious 🤔

[@YARC-1981]

@@donaldblakley6796 I hadn't until I got your question. I've done some preliminary testing and it looks like Mark was right. I still need to do more testing to see if the Kawari can be set up in such a way that it works, but it's not looking promising. I received the additional digitizers from c0pperdragon today that I'd been waiting for, so I'm working on a follow-up video. I'll try to include some of the Kawari testing in the video.

[@donaldblakley6796]

Np, just curious. So you got the vic20 digitizer today? Can't wait. Hopefully it will be good now:)

[@YARC-1981]

@@donaldblakley6796 I did. Also a TIAdigitizer for my Atari 2600, a ULAdigitizer for my Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K rubber key and a TMSdigitizer I'll install into a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A. Got a lot of work to do to get that video made.

[@stephenpalmer9375]

Maybe Mozart is a less problematic Austrian? Or Sigmund Freud? Maybe Erwin Schrödinger (of 's Cat fame)? Franz Kafka? And more modern... Felix Baumgartner the guy that did a jump from the Stratosphere a few years back. Of course none of them could get HDMI out of a VIC-20

[@YARC-1981]

OK, so I'm guilty of not knowing where a lot of historical figures are from and not doing my homework. Sorry. Yes, there have been a lot of Austrians who made positive contributions to society. Some of them probably even have a sense of humor. :) Thanks for watching!

[@stephenpalmer9375]

@@YARC-1981 hey mate, I am just teasing :) Love the channel and the work you do!

[@YARC-1981]

@@stephenpalmer9375 Don't sweat it. It's all good. I try not to take anything (including myself) too seriously.

[@robertbruce7686]

Links? 😆

[@YARC-1981]

Hello, Robert. The links were displayed near the end of the video. Here they are again: c0pperdragon Tindie Store: www.tindie.com/stores/c0pperdragon/ and his GitHub is github.com/c0pperdragon. I stopped putting links in my video descriptions because I've recently learned that the KZbin algorithm prefers videos that keep viewers on the platform and it sees external links as directing viewers away. Thanks for watching and I hope you got something useful out of it!