Hooking Up A Commodore 64 To A Modern TV
Tetris, Wed Jul 01 2015, 09:39PMHello. 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.
Here's a closer image of the adapter thing.
And here's the back of my TV.
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!
Re: Hooking Up A Commodore 64 To A Modern TV
Ash Small, Wed Jul 01 2015, 09:58PM
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
Ash Small, Wed Jul 01 2015, 09:58PM
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
Re: Hooking Up A Commodore 64 To A Modern TV
Sulaiman, Wed Jul 01 2015, 10:42PM
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
Sulaiman, Wed Jul 01 2015, 10:42PM
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
Re: Hooking Up A Commodore 64 To A Modern TV
Tetris, Wed Jul 01 2015, 11:49PM
I have an s-video thing on there. How do I hook the thing up to that?
Tetris, Wed Jul 01 2015, 11:49PM
I have an s-video thing on there. How do I hook the thing up to that?
Re: Hooking Up A Commodore 64 To A Modern TV
klugesmith, Thu Jul 02 2015, 12:51AM
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.
klugesmith, Thu Jul 02 2015, 12:51AM
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.
Re: Hooking Up A Commodore 64 To A Modern TV
Ash Small, Thu Jul 02 2015, 05:54PM
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).
Ash Small, Thu Jul 02 2015, 05:54PM
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).
Re: Hooking Up A Commodore 64 To A Modern TV
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Jul 03 2015, 01:39AM
Yea all you need is a 300 ohm adapter.
Hazmatt_(The Underdog), Fri Jul 03 2015, 01:39AM
Yea all you need is a 300 ohm adapter.
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