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Hooking Up A Commodore 64 To A Modern TV

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Tetris

Wed Jul 01 2015, 09:39PM

Registered Member #4016 Joined: Thu Jul 21 2011, 01:52AM
Location: Gainesville, FL
Posts: 660

Hello. I tried Googling various solutions to my problem, but they either provided an ambiguous solution that is difficult to follow or did not go into detail about the particular part I own.

Earlier in the year, someone at my school attempted to throw away a Commodore 64 that was in mint condition. I asked if I could have it, and they let me take it. Unfortunately, this being far before my time, I have no idea how to connect it to a [modern-ish] TV.

It came with these parts. It came with the PSU too, but I see no point in including that since that's pretty straight forwards how to connect.
MijMXYch

Here's a closer image of the adapter thing.

Mp396Joh

And here's the back of my TV.

Ghy2cPAh

I'm wondering what I should hook up to where, and what extra parts/adapters I need (preferably an Amazon link or a part number or something). I know some of the tutorials asked me to get an adapter for the thing on the far right, but it appeared to be for a completely different type of connector extending from the adapter box.

It's not fun just to plain-ol' emulate a C64. It's one thing to play an emulated version of Pokemon Yellow, and another thing to play it on a GBC. That's why I want to get this thing to work. It may be before my time, but it's in mint condition, and I would love to see what it was like to interact with old technology that existed before the age of the Internet.

Thank you so much!

Ash Small

Wed Jul 01 2015, 09:58PM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

If you can get hold of an old VCR you should be able to do it.

These old computers used to output an analogue TV signal, often through a 'plug in' box thing.

You can connect that to a VCR (you can probably get one for free these days)

Most later VCR's have composite or S video outputs which will connect to a modern TV.

As an added bonus, you'll also be able to play video cassettes

Sulaiman

Wed Jul 01 2015, 10:42PM

Registered Member #162 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3140

you can use the RF out to the ANT IN on your TV (you will have to 'tune' the TV to the correct channel, 36 from memory.
better would be to use the AV OUT to AV IN of the TV
yellow = video, red=left audio, white = right audio
The audio can go to an audio amplifier for better sound.
in UK an RCA/PHONO to SCART adapter would be required for many TVs

the box in your hand is just a switch, either C64 RF or TV antenna in to TV RF IN

if your TV has S-Video in then that will give the clearest picture

Tetris

Wed Jul 01 2015, 11:49PM

Registered Member #4016 Joined: Thu Jul 21 2011, 01:52AM
Location: Gainesville, FL
Posts: 660

I have an s-video thing on there. How do I hook the thing up to that?

klugesmith

Thu Jul 02 2015, 12:51AM

Registered Member #2099 Joined: Wed Apr 29 2009, 12:22AM
Location: Los Altos, California
Posts: 1716

What Ash and Sulaiman said.
Here is a site that says Commodore 64 has an s-video output, and tells how to make an adapter cable to fit a standard S-video input.

More generally, aside from connector adapters,
you need to choose one of several electrical signaling standards that can be handled by both the computer and the TV.
Choices appear to be, in arbitrary order,

1. S-video (see above)

2. Regular composite video, as received by your TV on the yellow cable in AV-IN block. I don't know if C64 has a composite video output. If your C64 and TV are both made for North America then it will be NTSC composite video.

3. RF signal sent to the "antenna" input of TV (in your picture it has an F connector and wants a 75 ohm coaxial cable).
That's what the antenna/computer/TV switch in your picture is for. It was intended to fit a TV's 300-ohm balanced antenna input connector, typically a pair of screws 1/2 inch apart. 300 to 75 ohm adapters are cheap, passive, bidirectional devices.
In my experience, most early computers and video cassette machines could deliver RF on channel 3 or channel 4, selected by a switch, and the TV would be tuned accordingly.

These days, do shoppers need to know the difference between television receivers (that have antenna inputs and tuners) and television monitors (that don't)? You couldn't use the latter to watch television without buying a separate tuner! Not counting content from cable TV, Internet, DVDs, or video cassettes.

p.s. your pictures are too big, according to the forum rules. It has nothing to do with storage space or Internet bandwidth; they are not mobile-device friendly. The "upload attachment" button can fix that for you. Or just turn down your camera resolution when taking pictures intended mainly for online viewing.

Ash Small

Thu Jul 02 2015, 05:54PM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

It looks like pin 4 of the C64 A/V output is 'composite video'. I imagine you'd connect the outer connection on the RCA lead to ground (pin2).

Hazmatt_(The Underdog)

Fri Jul 03 2015, 01:39AM

Registered Member #135 Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 12:06AM
Location: Anywhere is fine
Posts: 1735

Yea all you need is a 300 ohm adapter.

CO320P

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