On 2015-06-02 11:47, Mark J. Blair wrote:
>> After that, you will need something fairly hefty at the start to find the
>> characteristics of the signal and align the sampling. Then you just need to
>> track clock drift and adjust a VCXO.
>
> I was wondering whether I could get away with tra
I just noticed that the Si2137 and Si2177 tuners are now marked as "factory
special order" and Mouser, where they were previously just marked "New at
Mouser". So my guess that those parts are a leftover tray with questionable
future availability might be unpleasantly accurate.
I'm still interes
> On Jun 2, 2015, at 08:25, Alan Hightower wrote:
> As far as the crazy cat lady project, as I was trying to explain
> earlier.. my $.02 which maybe redundant to your own thoughts:
You did inspire my choice of project name! :)
>
> VIDEO ADC/DECODER
>
> You can certainly use an off-the-shelf
On Monday (06/01/2015 at 07:39PM -0700), Mark J. Blair wrote:
>
> > On Jun 1, 2015, at 19:31, Chris Osborn wrote:
> > This one looks exactly like yours, but it’s even cheaper! I wonder if it’s
> > the same?
> >
> > http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009A6PJKQ
>
> When you get it, we can compare picture
On 2015-06-01 20:24, Mark J. Blair wrote:
> I'm also working on getting design details from Silicon Labs for one of their
> inexpensive single-chip TV tuners under NDA. If the Crazy Cat Lady project
> moves forward, that chip might come in handy. If I use that chip, I'll need
> to consider
> On Jun 1, 2015, at 19:31, Chris Osborn wrote:
> This one looks exactly like yours, but it’s even cheaper! I wonder if it’s
> the same?
>
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009A6PJKQ
When you get it, we can compare pictures of their innards. Mine has a PCB with
blue soldermask. Most of the function
On Jun 1, 2015, at 7:03 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
> Now I'm even more curious about the reports I've heard about having trouble
> with video conversion, since the first cheap converter I tried seemed to work
> OK with an Apple //c.
Color is always the problem with converters. The cheap compos
> On Jun 1, 2015, at 17:43, Chris Osborn wrote:
>
> The color on the hi-res screens looks pretty good, but the vertical lines
> through the blocks on the lo-res screens isn’t quite right. The bottom 4
> lines of text having color bleeding is normal, even on an Apple color
> composite monitor.
> On Jun 1, 2015, at 17:43, Chris Osborn wrote:
> Do you happen to have an old CRT TV around with composite input that you can
> hook up and compare to, just for yourself? I’ve got an Amdek Color I and
> Apple IIc Color Composite here that I’ll try to take some sample pictures of.
>
Hmm, I
On Jun 1, 2015, at 5:24 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
> I received the $19 composite video to HDMI converter that I ordered from
> Amazon, tested it a bit with my Apple //c, and posted pictures of the results
> here:
>
>http://www.nf6x.net/2015/06/cheap-hdmi-converter-with-apple-c/
>
> Text m
I received the $19 composite video to HDMI converter that I ordered from
Amazon, tested it a bit with my Apple //c, and posted pictures of the results
here:
http://www.nf6x.net/2015/06/cheap-hdmi-converter-with-apple-c/
Text modes worked pretty well, but graphic modes had a lot of colored f
On 23 May 2015 at 16:35, Chris Osborn wrote:
>
> Are you on the CoCo mailing list? Have you seen the RGB2VGA by Luis Antoniosi
> (CoCoDemus)? I know at one point he had been tinkering with making it support
> composite from the Apple II. It’s semi open-source, I think there are 2
> versions and
> On May 26, 2015, at 14:07 , Chris Elmquist wrote:
>
> If you do end up building a custom solution, I have a feature request :-)
>
> It would nice if the device was also a frame grabber that could, under
> command, snap one or more frames of the legacy video and export it over
> USB perhaps.
If you do end up building a custom solution, I have a feature request :-)
It would nice if the device was also a frame grabber that could, under
command, snap one or more frames of the legacy video and export it over
USB perhaps.
This would allow us to document operation of legacy software with h
> On May 25, 2015, at 10:10, tony duell wrote:
>
>
>>> Hopefully one of them will work for you.
>>
>> If you would like to purchase hundreds of converters to catalog which ones
>> work with each screwball vintage
>> computer, I will welcome the data.
>
> And then keep on purchasing and eval
> > Hopefully one of them will work for you.
>
> If you would like to purchase hundreds of converters to catalog which ones
> work with each screwball vintage
> computer, I will welcome the data.
And then keep on purchasing and evaluating these converters so that when they
are updated to use
> On May 25, 2015, at 05:46, Alan Hightower wrote:
> OMG, stop.
No, thank you. You are not compelled to participate if the idea offends you.
> Google "Composite to HDMI" and you will find hundreds of low
> cost boxes that do this.
And as has been already discussed, none of them is universal, a
On 2015-05-23 11:24, Mark J. Blair wrote:
> In the middle will be some FPGA to perform any necessary magic. I've been
> looking at a prohibitively expensive ($115) one that has enough dual-port RAM
> blocks to support a frame buffer. I need to see if I can push the frame
> buffer out into e
23, 2015 9:15 pm
Subject: Re: Monitor wanted (was Re: 8-bit Computer TV Channel Use)
On 05/23/2015 04:24 PM, Eric Smith wrote:
> I'd like some of the REAL monitors,
such as an NEC Multisync 3, that
> can do VGA *and* NTSC-rate analog RGB. At
some point the monitor
> companies stoppe
On 05/23/2015 04:24 PM, Eric Smith wrote:
> I'd like some of the REAL monitors, such as an NEC Multisync 3, that
> can do VGA *and* NTSC-rate analog RGB. At some point the monitor
> companies stopped bothering to make them handle horizontal scan rates
> below 30 kHz.
On Sat, May 23, 2015 at 6:56
If you want to go big-screen, some of the Presentation displays (e.g.
Mitsubishi Megaview Pro) have very wide sync ranges (e.g. Horizontal
15-90Khz) that should do very well. They're all CRTs and range up into
the 55 inch range, so you should have a strong back...
--Chuck
On 05/23/2015 04:24 PM, Eric Smith wrote:
On Sat, May 23, 2015 at 9:36 AM, Fred Cisin wrote:
Would you like some of the REAL monitors? They will do all sorts of bizarre
I'd like some of the REAL monitors, such as an NEC Multisync 3, that
can do VGA *and* NTSC-rate analog RGB. At some point
On Sat, May 23, 2015 at 9:36 AM, Fred Cisin wrote:
> Would you like some of the REAL monitors? They will do all sorts of bizarre
I'd like some of the REAL monitors, such as an NEC Multisync 3, that
can do VGA *and* NTSC-rate analog RGB. At some point the monitor
companies stopped bothering to m
There are probably a fair number of "TV cards" in both ISA and PCI
wandering about, since they're not terribly useful with the advent of
digital TV (and the web).
Has anyone hooked up an ordinary NTSC modulator with one of those and an
8 bit PC that relies on the peculiarities of NTSC chroma e
Speaking of digital RGB (and RGBI) interfaces, the hardware cost of adding them
to an FPGA-based converter would be so cheap that I might as well add them to
the plan. Will an analog RGB interface for converting things like 15kHz Amiga
outputs feature-creep its way in there, too, I wonder? :)
-
On May 23, 2015, at 12:35 PM, Chris Elmquist wrote:
> The GBS-8200/8220 does support CGA
The GBS-8200/8220 supports analog signals, not digital. It will directly
support the 15khz misnamed “CGA” of arcade monitors (which is the same RGB
signal the IIgs puts out), but that’s an analog signal,
On Saturday (05/23/2015 at 11:30AM -0700), Chris Osborn wrote:
>
> On May 23, 2015, at 9:33 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
>
> > Has anybody tried this board with home computers that are known to be
> > troublesome with modern displays?
>
> The GBS-8200/8220 doesn’t support composite input, only RG
On May 23, 2015, at 12:05 PM, Steven Hirsch wrote:
> That really surprises me. Mine was utterly unusable with the IIGS. The
> desktop (and all icons, folders, etc.) had distinct vertical bands through
> them. Also, lots of dot-crawl at sharp edges from what I recall.
I believe mine is a kn
On Sat, 23 May 2015, Mark J. Blair wrote:
On May 23, 2015, at 10:28, Steven Hirsch wrote:
On Sat, 23 May 2015, Chris Osborn wrote:
I own one of just about every commercially available (and hobby)
converters and precisely none of them provides a universal solution.
Some give great displ
On Sat, 23 May 2015, Chris Osborn wrote:
The GBS-8200/8220 doesn’t support composite input, only RGB. I’ve used
the board on quite a few of my computers that output RGB and it works
fine. I’ve even got a couple of blog posts:
ZX Spectrum 128:http://www.insentricity.com/a.cl/23
On May 23, 2015, at 9:33 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
> Has anybody tried this board with home computers that are known to be
> troublesome with modern displays?
The GBS-8200/8220 doesn’t support composite input, only RGB. I’ve used the
board on quite a few of my computers that output RGB and it
> On May 23, 2015, at 10:28, Steven Hirsch wrote:
>
> On Sat, 23 May 2015, Chris Osborn wrote:
>
>>
>> On May 23, 2015, at 8:24 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
>>
>>> In the middle will be some FPGA to perform any necessary magic. I've been
>>> looking at a prohibitively expensive ($115) one that
> Getting an acceptable combination of crisp 80-column text and proper color
> aliasing from a converter is decidedly non-trivial. I own one of just
> about every commercially available (and hobby) converters and precisely
> none of them provides a universal solution. Some give great displays fr
Am 23.05.15 um 18:11 schrieb emanuel stiebler:
>> Advantage:
>> - No obscure FPGA magic needed.
>>
>> Disadvantage:
>> - No obscure FPGA magic needed.
>
> ?
Depending on your personal preference FPGAs can be an annoying fight in
an obscure HDL with proprietary tools running on Window$, or it can
> The output of a single-chip tuner might also be at IF. The Maxim part (which
> I will not use) outputs at 36 MHz, I
> think. Can't tell the output of the SiLabs part without more info. Hopefully
> it's either baseband or a lower IF
36MHz does sound like the standard TV IF frequency.
> freq
On Sat, 23 May 2015, Chris Osborn wrote:
On May 23, 2015, at 8:24 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
In the middle will be some FPGA to perform any necessary magic. I've
been looking at a prohibitively expensive ($115) one that has enough
dual-port RAM blocks to support a frame buffer.
Getting an a
> ...
> His mention of a line buffer is already my "Oh, duh!" moment
> about how to use cheaper external SDRAM instead of on-FPGA
> dual-port memories for the frame buffer. The dual-port memories
> are very convenient, but having enough to form a frame buffer
> pushes the design up into over-$1
> On May 23, 2015, at 09:25, tony duell wrote:
>
>> Handling the VHF/UHF tuner economically may be another sticky point. Maxim
>> makes a tuner chip that's available
>> at Digi-Key, but I refuse to design Maxim parts into anything on account of
>> off-topic reasons. Mouser has stock of
>> a
> On May 23, 2015, at 08:35, Chris Osborn wrote:
>
>
> On May 23, 2015, at 8:24 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
>
>> In the middle will be some FPGA to perform any necessary magic. I've been
>> looking at a prohibitively expensive ($115) one that has enough dual-port
>> RAM blocks to support a fra
> Handling the VHF/UHF tuner economically may be another sticky point. Maxim
> makes a tuner chip that's available
> at Digi-Key, but I refuse to design Maxim parts into anything on account of
> off-topic reasons. Mouser has stock of
> a very inexpensive ST tuner chip that looks very promising,
On 2015-05-23 09:59, Jochen Kunz wrote:
Advantage:
- No obscure FPGA magic needed.
Disadvantage:
- No obscure FPGA magic needed.
?
;-)
Am 23.05.15 um 17:24 schrieb Mark J. Blair:
> In the middle will be some FPGA to perform any necessary magic.
What about the analogy of Software Defined Radio:
Use only as much electronics as minimal necessary to get the input
signal digitized by a high speed ADC. Maybe some cheap DVB-T USB thing
c
maybe this will do ?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GBS-8220-RGB-CGA-EGA-YUV-to-VGA-ARCADE-VIDEO-CONVERTER-BOARD-Latest-Software-/120967105011?ssPageName=ADME:B:FSEL:US:1123
On 5/23/2015 8:24 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
> Assuming that I don't find an off-the-shelf converter that Just Works for our
> po
On Sat, 23 May 2015, Mark J. Blair wrote:
Assuming that I don't find an off-the-shelf converter that Just Works
for our poorly-behaving vintage computer video outputs, what I have in
mind is this: A converter that is specifically designed to emulate the
response of an 80's TV or 80's composite
On May 23, 2015, at 8:24 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
> In the middle will be some FPGA to perform any necessary magic. I've been
> looking at a prohibitively expensive ($115) one that has enough dual-port RAM
> blocks to support a frame buffer.
Are you on the CoCo mailing list? Have you seen the
Assuming that I don't find an off-the-shelf converter that Just Works for our
poorly-behaving vintage computer video outputs, what I have in mind is this: A
converter that is specifically designed to emulate the response of an 80's TV
or 80's composite monitor when driven by a vintage computer o
>What are you doing for the PSU
>(the computer ran off the SMPSU in the monitor IIRC)?
The cable "kit" came with a stand-alone PSU. This works fine.
Yes, I don't know what the problem is. It could be the cheap "no-brand"
SCART <--> composite video/s-video converter (the signal can go either
way)
> Yes, video is tricky. I've just had an experience which emphasizes the
> topic under discussion.
The main problems stem from the fact that these computers output anything
but broadcast-standard video. In some cases it was because they were built
to a price and it was 'what can we get away with'
On 05/22/2015 04:54 PM, Fred Cisin wrote:
A little over half a century ago, UHF was an extra price option!
My brother and I pooled our money and bought a 19" Philco "portable".
Our father chipped in the additional to get UHF.
I remember watching the Cuban missile crisis on it, with my father
mut
On Fri, 22 May 2015, Chris Osborn wrote:
Heh, I have a few already. :-) I’ve even got one of those funny
looking ones that has knobs on it. With VHF & UHF dials. And fine
tuning. And only screw terminals on the back, none of those fancy
RCA/phono jack connectors on it.
A little over half a ce
On May 22, 2015, at 1:31 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote:
> Do you have anything like Freecycle in your area? Usually, if you say you're
> looking for an old-style TV, people will jump at the chance to give away the
> old sets.
Heh, I have a few already. :-) I’ve even got one of those funny looking on
Yes, video is tricky. I've just had an experience which emphasizes the
topic under discussion.
Just recently I got hold of an Amstrad CPC 464.
http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/collection/amstradcpc464.htm
It didn't come with its screen though (dedicated screens were sold with the
machine). Ho
On Fri, 22 May 2015, Mark J. Blair wrote:
I've ordered a $15 composite to HDMI converter from Amazon to try out
for myself with my Apple IIe and IIc. I'd also like to try out my Color
Computers with a modern monitor to see if the color aliasing used by
some games can be reproduced. I don't have
On 05/22/2015 01:15 PM, Chris Osborn wrote:
I’m anxious to hear reports on it. I’ve tried a lot of different
things and so far nothing can handle the NTSC color signal that the
Apple II puts out. Same with the Atari 800. I just end up with a
monochrome screen with lines instead of colors.
Do y
On May 22, 2015, at 9:26 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
> I've ordered a $15 composite to HDMI converter from Amazon to try out for
> myself with my Apple IIe and IIc. I'd also like to try out my Color Computers
> with a modern monitor to see if the color aliasing used by some games can be
> reprod
I've ordered a $15 composite to HDMI converter from Amazon to try out for
myself with my Apple IIe and IIc. I'd also like to try out my Color Computers
with a modern monitor to see if the color aliasing used by some games can be
reproduced. I don't have a modern television, but I might still hav
> On May 21, 2015, at 12:11 , John Foust wrote:
>
> At 03:03 PM 5/19/2015, Mark J. Blair wrote:
>> I've been brainstorming about hypothetical hardware for converting video
>> from vintage 8-bit computers to drive modern monitors well, with support for
>> all of the dirty tricks like color alia
At 03:03 PM 5/19/2015, Mark J. Blair wrote:
>I've been brainstorming about hypothetical hardware for converting video from
>vintage 8-bit computers to drive modern monitors well, with support for all of
>the dirty tricks like color aliasing that many of them used.
Hasn't this list discussed exi
On 05/19/2015 03:33 PM, Fred Cisin wrote:
In San Francisco bay area, including Silicon Valley, there was a very
strong independent station on 36.
Ah, yes, the Carol Doda station.
Ever been to the Condor?
(Miss Doda would be 77 now)
--Chuck
> On May 19, 2015, at 14:57, Chris Osborn wrote:
>
>
>> On May 19, 2015, at 1:46 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
>>
>> Did anything use US VHF channel 2? I can't recall whether I have seen that
>> used before, but I have a feeling that I might have.
>
> The NTSC Atari 2600 switches between 2 & 3.
But those two strong signals made it easier to find the 34 of the Sup'R'ModII
Note that in those days, TVs had KNOBS!
VHF had individual click detents, with a "fine tuning" analog knob that
would take you almost to what you wanted to tune.
UHF didn't even have detents, with a continuous analog
On Tue, 19 May 2015, tony duell wrote:
Most, if not, all home computers sold to connect to TVs in the UK were
set to use our UHF channel 36.
In San Francisco bay area, including Silicon Valley, there was a very
strong independent station on 36.
On 32? there was an insane? speed-freak? preacher
On Tue, May 19, 2015 at 5:22 PM, Fred Cisin wrote:
> The NTSC Atari 2600 switches between 2 & 3.
>>>
>>
> On Tue, 19 May 2015, Kyle Owen wrote:
>
>> As do the TRS-80 CoCos, if I'm not mistaken.
>>
>
> 3/4 for the ones intended for USA. Other options might have been
> available for export models.
The NTSC Atari 2600 switches between 2 & 3.
On Tue, 19 May 2015, Kyle Owen wrote:
As do the TRS-80 CoCos, if I'm not mistaken.
3/4 for the ones intended for USA. Other options might have been
available for export models.
On Tue, 19 May 2015, Mark J. Blair wrote:
Did anything use US VHF channel 2? I can't recall whether I have seen
that used before, but I have a feeling that I might have.
Certainly POSSIBLE. But channel 2 tends to be occupied in MOST places.
3 was used by VCRs, etc, and 3&4 switchable just in c
On Tue, 19 May 2015, Mark J. Blair wrote:
My old Color Computer used US VHF channels 3 or 4 for NTSC video. I
found a reference to the ZX Spectrum using UK UHF channel 35 for PAL
video.
What other channels were used all over the world by 8-bit home computers
(and video games, too, I suppose), a
On Tue, May 19, 2015 at 4:57 PM, Chris Osborn wrote:
>
> The NTSC Atari 2600 switches between 2 & 3.
As do the TRS-80 CoCos, if I'm not mistaken.
Kyle
On May 19, 2015, at 1:46 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
>
> Did anything use US VHF channel 2? I can't recall whether I have seen that
> used before, but I have a feeling that I might have.
The NTSC Atari 2600 switches between 2 & 3.
--
Follow me on twitter: @FozzTexx
Check out my blog: http://ins
> On May 19, 2015, at 13:47, tony duell wrote:
>
> Most, if not, all home computers sold to connect to TVs in the UK were set to
> use our UHF channel 36.
> VHF channels were not used for broadcast 625 line TV in the UK, and most TVs
> could not tune to them. So you
> will not find a UK home
> > My old Color Computer used US VHF channels 3 or 4 for NTSC video. I found a
> > reference to the ZX Spectrum
> > using UK UHF channel 35 for PAL video.
>
> My NTSC ZX81 uses US UHF 34/35.
Most, if not, all home computers sold to connect to TVs in the UK were set to
use our UHF channel 36.
> On May 19, 2015, at 13:40, Chris Osborn wrote:
>
> My NTSC ZX81 uses US UHF 34/35.
Thanks! Added to my list.
Did anything use US VHF channel 2? I can't recall whether I have seen that used
before, but I have a feeling that I might have.
On May 19, 2015, at 1:03 PM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
> My old Color Computer used US VHF channels 3 or 4 for NTSC video. I found a
> reference to the ZX Spectrum using UK UHF channel 35 for PAL video.
My NTSC ZX81 uses US UHF 34/35.
--
Follow me on twitter: @FozzTexx
Check out my blog: http://in
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