Thanks Chris! I love that there are still so many options to try for the good old C64. :)

Thank you & welcome aboard! Time to dust off the glorious machines I guess. ;)

and this channel even has hidden ponies :D

Yes, I‘ve noticed Fluttershy /)

Oh, thank you! Many more to come. :D

I love mine too

Thank you sir! So amazing that people still come up with all these new devices for the old systems. :)

@@JanBeta Indeed :-)

Yes, every VIC/board combination is different. This should be adjustable for all. :)

Yeah, same here. I kind of prefer the original look of the video output (that's why I don't use any picture enhancing hardware for the upscaling, too). But it is amazing that people still come up with new devices for the good old C64.

Whoops, didn’t know that. Thanks for pointing it out. I’m going to try to change it in future videos. :D

Makes sense to replace the inductor first I guess... ;)

Yes, the results with the LumaFix are pretty hit and miss from what I've heard. Seems to vary a lot depending on the board/VIC-II revisions. This supposedly works better (didn't try the LumaFix though).

I think the jailbars are actually quite sexy and fit the Commodore quite well. Part of the iconic look in a way.

Ah, that makes sense. I usually tin the iron again after use (when I stop soldering for the day) but I was not aware that I was cleaning it before putting it back.

Haha, sorry. :D Would be interesting to compare the two, I heard the LumaFix gives mixed results for people.

@Mr T. Guru I bought a lumafix last year and it seemed to help a little but I ended up removing it and its in a bin with other junk now.

It sure is! :)

Yay! :)

Yes, definitely difficult to capture this. CRTs can be worse though so I didn't even try that. The device allegedly works best for CRTs and it already was really good with my strange upscaler/monitor setup. Looking forward to any research you are going to do. :)

maybe the camera should also be set to 16 colour mode ;)

@@JanBeta #LGR just did a video about capturing CRT video. Good stuff.

When did this shitty trend of removing the moire filter glass from the camera sensor take hold anyway? Back in the day, the anti-aliasing glass was standard, then i guess around 10 years ago some scammy shops opened up which would for like $400 extra resell you a camera with that thing removed, which was always a terrible idea, because i mean, what do you need a sharper picture for, if it's risking being a completely unusable picture anyway? Then the camera manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon, like "uh, we can just leave the $0.20 part out and charge $200 extra ourselves", then they went like "ah we'll make the premium feature standard and save money anyway" and then they went like "hey we can charge more again if we put it back on, maybe get some people to buy another camera". This is how you create semblance of progress without substance.

Haha, ja, so in der Art. Die Einstellung ist ganz schön fummelig. Ich bin sicher, dass ich da immer noch einiges optimieren könnte mit mehr Zeit.

Haha, you got me!

I found it looked quite a lot better on a CRT with the mod. But this particular C64 had pretty bad jailbars.

Present Jan says thank you! ;)

It was very difficult to show, the upscaler/capturing made things a bit worse. It looked cleaner in reality, especially for other colors than blue. Take a look at the fuzziness of the colors in the test pattern, much better with the ClearVideo.

@@JanBeta I think you should have used the 1084s instead of the LCD screen for adjusting. The LCD introduces it's own idiosyncrasies that the CRT won't for optimising/adjusting the signals.

@@JanBeta I had a feeling this might be the case. Love your videos Jan, keep up the awesome work hey.

Yeah, it was really difficult to show. The ClearVideo definitely makes it clearer, especially some color combinations, but it looks way better on a CRT (which in turn is really difficult to get on camera...).

@@JanBeta I get it. Thanks. :)

Jan Beta @LGR just did a great video covering how he captures CRTs on camera kzfaq.info/get/bejne/l7B7iZqXubC2eZc.html

Yeah, one of my upscalers does some picture processing that completely eliminates the jail bars. I actually prefer the original picture, too, as it's a feature of the C64. But I love the fact that people are still tinkering with the C64 and making new improved stuff.

Thank you! :D

According to DHL, the ICs should arrive here today. We'll see if I can find the culprit. ;)

Jan Beta as long as it‘s not the TED. *fingers crossed*

Yes, this works really well. I probably could have gotten a better picture with more fine tuning even. Also, recapping the board would probably help, too.

pretty much anything that replaces the RFM will give a better output. Except this one circuit I tried... I have it here, I don't remember where it came from but it's basically two transistors, one diode, + some caps and resistors.

Zumindest erkennst du daran, ob der VIC-II noch arbeitet. Stimmt. Insofern also sogar nützlich. ;)

These specific pots? Naah. These have a plastic gear, and the brass screw is insulated from everything else. There would be some capacitive coupling, but the distance is really ample that it doesn't matter.

Yes, makes sense to use a plastic screwdriver, I have to get a proper one sometime. As Siana points out, I think in this case it doesn't make any difference.

You only need plastic screwdrivers for variable inductors. The iron in the screwdriver affects the flux during adjustment, then removing the iron changes the adjustment again.

With the ClearVideo, you actually lose the RF and composite signals, you only have Luma/Chroma aka s-video. I certainly like to keep my machines original, too. The jail bars belong to the VIC-II in a way. Still it's interesting and cool that there are people working on the C64 nowadays and come up with these neat devices. ;) I found that the older VIC-II revisions have less jail bars usually. The worst I've seen are the ones used in the cost reduced versions of the C128. And obviously the bars are a lot more apparent on modern monitors than on CRTs that have a natural blur of sorts.

Oh, Jay is located in Canada I'm afraid. :/

@@JanBeta That is bad. I just thought it was from Germany, as the website had German flag and was in German. The issue is, that anything above 10,57 Euro, are slammed with additional sales tax of 25 percent. And at this price, the danish state, charge an additional import tax of just under 22 euro on top of it all. All in all, a clearvideo64 will cost me just under 71 euro in total. And that sucks. 😒😒😒

@@brostenen what if they sold PCB only, so you source the other parts and assemble yourself?

@@brostenen that sucks you buy a c64 for 70 euro

@@arjanvanraaij8440 No. I am talking about the Clearvideo64. Not a C64. I did calculate the total cost.

Thank you sir! :)

Thanks Joseph! :)

There’s a link in the video description. It’s the RetroTink2X. ;)

wish it was 100% compatible, it gets some graphics wrong. If it was perfect I'd be all over that.

@@officermeowmeowfuzzyface4408 Got any examples? I'm genuinely curious and I can check it out easily enough. If it's a case of pixels where there shouldn't or no pixels where there shouldn't then it may be possible to fix in firmware.

Shhh, I might have a video coming up about that some time. ;)

You need to make a little replacement circuit for the RF modulator, as parts of the signals are generated in there.

if you don't need a screen, you don't need any video output. But sure, you can use a C64 without a screen.. to some degree.

Thanks! I listed some of my tools here (including the IC puller): kit.com/janbeta/lab-equipment

Yes, I think I could have adjusted it better if I took more time. It also should look a lot better on a CRT screen.

The camera is actually ruining the image

Oh, I definitely have broken some pins. I have a special talent to do it on EPROMs for some reason but I also have at least one VIC-II with a broken leg. The new IC puller is gold if you are working with ICs regularly. It also doesn't bend the pins so it's easier to re-insert the chips after removing. ;)

Might do it. I think bwack did a replica MagicDesk cart recently. Would be fun to tinker with that.

They are Behringer MS-40. Can't really recommend them but I got them for very cheap some years ago. There's definitely way better sounding monitor speakers out there though.

Yes, the GEOS background is a good test. Will try that. :)

@@JanBeta Dann gib mal bescheid bitte ob es funktioniert. ;)

try it on a 1702!

Oh, the LumaFix is a different device for a similar purpose. The most significant difference is that the ClearVideo gets rid of the RF modulator altogether.

Dead Test only has some basic tests but works with a lot of faulty parts so that's the way to go for black screen/dead machines. The diagnostics cart has slightly more sophisticated tests but needs a loopback cable harness to be able to perform all tests. Plus, it only works if most of the C64 is fine. Both are invaluable tools for troubleshooting in my opinion.

@@JanBeta thanks for the help 1.) When looking at C64 schematics can you give an educated guess by looking at the data buss, address buss where the bank switching is because I "Can Not" tell where the bank switching is at on the schematic? 2.) Why would you want the I/O interface like a PIA or CIA chip to do timing? timing signals for what purpose in the I/O signals? 3.) PLA chips does only the chip selects for the C64 ROM chips and RAM chips? or does the PLA chip does other things like what in the C64? 4.) What kinds of CIA & PLA test do you think the diagnostic tests does? If you didn't have the diagnostic test card how would you do diagnostic tests on the CIA & PLA chips using an oscilloscope and what else?

This version won't but Jay is working on a special version for the 128 at the moment.

There is a Lumafix 128 that is available on ebay if you want the version of this modification where you don't have to remove the RF modulator. I cant post a direct link as I think links in comments are flagged by KZfaq. Edit: if links work, here's a link to the item: www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-LumaFix-128-Now-For-the-Commodore-128-128D-Computers/383247753467

@@LeftoverBeefcake lol no

Extract TL from 24 to 40 Pin :-)

There's different sizes of the tool. Mine is the version that works for 24-40 pin DIP chips.

Your mileage may vary but for me it did not completely remove the jailbars. They were barely noticable though.

@Mr T. Guru agreed except first remove as much solder as you can from the flanges so you can bend them straight first. It only works when they're straight.

Are you one of those people who use lead-free solder and then complain that they can't get anything done? Are you sure that the soldering iron you ordered is actually "better"? I think, send it right back, it's probably junk, all of those kits priced around $16 or less with everything in them have a mains iron which seems like it's temperature regulated, but it's not, the knob is marked with temperatures on it which are all lies, it merely adjusts power, and it's not thermally balanced, because it stems from a design intended for active control, it's not pleasant to use when you are experienced and it's even worse when you're not, and since it goes between much too hot when it's not on the metal and much too cold when it's actually in use, you risk lifting pads and damaging a board. Get a proper 936 or so, doesn't cost much, or better yet a Ksger T12 if that's not too much hassle, and get a cheap solder sucker separately. And get good solder. GOOD solder. Your life will change. When things don't go well, you just add your good solder and then suck it off. I don't know what it is about old solder, but it seems to crystallise somehow with time, and you want to add some fresh one on top, but you for sure don't want it to be one of the modern, difficult to melt types. Apropos cheap things that do something... ZD-211 desoldering iron. $12 or so? Not durable, doesn't live very long, generally about until the second or third time you need to clean it out, so you should be able to complete a few projects with it. Sits right in the middle between having to handle a bit too many things at once, the soldering iron and sucker and so on and having to be swift and precise at it, and an actually expensive desoldering station. Apropos cheap solder suckers: what i did was to just cut the sheath off mine (ZD-190) and 3D printed a flat knob instead of the angled one, so i can reset it by whacking it against my hip or the desk or something. Because while it's by no means big, my thumb still won't reach comfortably to the top of the plunger, my hands are too small. I think some of the $1 ones you get from China have a flat knob to begin with, so you don't even need to 3D print anything. Now naturally if i could afford an Engineer SS-02, that would be nice, but alas. Anyway with the mod my hand was no longer in such a cramped position and closer to the tip and i could be much better with it.

I finally got it out. My old solder iron was just crap. The new one works so much better and has a temperature adjustment. I still had to crank it up a bit to get the ground pin out though but I got it and it reports 38911 bytes free now.

I think it simply upscales to "VGA 640x320" by doubling scanlines. Literally doubling the frequency.

Yes, it's not a "real" upscaler, just a scan doubler, hence the faint lines. (At least that's what I understand.)

Wait, the RetroTink does not normally generate any scanlines at all. Are you connecting it through your OSSC? This has been recommended, but I didn't actually try it when I had the RetroTink.

Oh, seems to be a similar approach but without the fancy buffer and stuff. Would be interesting to compare different devices sometime.

Yes, it was incredibly difficult to show the difference. I actually think the picture quality improved but it's not very apparent from the screen capture. Plus, it looks way better on a CRT.

The cardboard stuff actually works pretty well for shielding RF, used one to shield my disk drive from the CRT that was sitting on top of it. ;) Seriously though, most of the time you don't need any shielding at all.

@Ken Mason there is an issue with lead/zinc, the elements aren't very compatible with eachother in an alloy. The tiniest bit of zinc in a pot of lead (regardless of tin content, as opposed to a pot of tin with lead content) starts producing "oatmeal." I learned this from casting projectiles for reloading firearms cartridges, while preparing the alloy. Many kinds of canned food uses zinc in the can manufacturing to seal the crimp line around the bottom, since some use that as a crucible and end up having problems, like I did... The only way I found to remove the oatmeal (zinc) was by washing/fluxing the alloy with copper sulfate, which pulled the zinc out and replacing them with copper molecules. Although if you have a lot of tin in it, it will also pull tin out but at a much slower rate than zinc. Anyway, the important take-away is that lead with zinc impurities makes it "age" fast and begins crumbling in 5-10 years. Ruby Fluid states "Recommended Alloys: Tin/lead, tin/silver, other tin alloys" which makes sense, but they didn't say "Lead/Tin". The first element named in an alloy is the majority of the alloy, so tin/lead alloys are similar but not the same as lead/tin alloys. Make sure you're using high tin content solder with that.

Because the VIC-II chip only outputs Luma/Chroma, very different approach than RGB. There’s some hardware using an FPGA that can output RGB but that’s basically bypassing the original graphics chip.

@@JanBeta Thanks for explaining it to me.

@@JanBeta and its not 100% compatible, it gets graphics wrong often enough to be annoying.

That's a strange fault, might have something to do with your monitor? Especially modern monitors sometimes have trouble displaying the C64's signal correctly. Otherwise it might be a timing/oscillator problem on the C64.

@@JanBeta Thanks for answer, I am using a S-Video Converter to HDMI for my monitor. I will try to get a monitor that has a composite video port.

Because they are much cheaper to produce in large quantities, and they can be programmed at the factory and delivered ready to go.

@@robbyxp1 thanks, but the only difference between a Masked ROm chips and PROM chip is the price because both can be programmed at the factory so no difference only the price? I'm confused on the differences between H&V sync signals compared to XY deflection vector signals what are the differences between them? Arcade power supplys only use one filter cap rated at 27,000uf any reasons why a big capacitance for arcade games?

The mask ROM doesn't have to be programmed, the chip is manufactured in large quantities with the programming already physically on it ("masked"). The (E)PROMS are empty and have to be individually programmed, so it takes longer if you want to make large quantities.

@@JanBeta oh ok i get it thanks.

There is an s-video mod for the VIC-20 but not much more. It doesn't have an RF modulator built in so the quality should be about as good as it gets with that mod in place.

I see you already watched the other video in the meantime. ;) Yes, it gets a bit too hot to be comfortable. Will probably run for years but it's definitely a good idea to provide some cooling.

@@JanBeta I agree. Thank you :)

You could try using an emulator if you want a perfect picture.

All the c64 emulators ive ever seen i have never been accurate otherwise the SID and VIC2 chips PSU units would fail along with the VIC2 color banding and jail bars

Eine Möglichkeit ist, den VIC direkt aufs Board zu löten, dann passt auch noch ein flacher Kühlkörper. Finde ich aber eher nicht empfehlenswert.

@@JanBeta Ich auch nicht xD Eine Art Verlängerung, oder ein 90Grad Winkel wären gut..

Yay! :D

you lucky bastard ;)

@@gile849 :))