How to hook up your Commodore 64 to a VGA Monitor in 2023 (Updated!)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.ค. 2024
- This video will show you how to hook your Commodore 64 to a VGA Monitor. One of the things I had to figure out when I pulled my Commodore 64 out of the attic was what to hook it up to for a monitor. This video shows you how to hook your Commodore 64 to a VGA Monitor and not break the bank. The 8-pin cable can hook up to a TV with an S-Video connection.
If this video helps you, buy me a cup of coffee
ko-fi.com/floppydeepdive
Links to Hardware:
Video Converter - amzn.to/3OFGFAO
How I capture my Commodore 64 video
Video Capture Pro - amzn.to/3DKioXV
8 Bit Classics:
www.8bitclassics.com/product/...
"Commodore 64/128 Audio Upgrade: Affordable PC Speakers Setup Guide!"
• "Commodore 64/128 Audi...
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I often review or link to products & services I regularly use, and you might find them helpful. Wherever possible, I use referral links, which means if you click one of the links in this video or description and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission or other compensation.
I'm a big fan of Amazon, and many of my links to products/gear are links to those products on Amazon. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and related sites. - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
![[NEW] Crystal Clear HDMI For The Commodore 64 In 60 Seconds](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SBgo8oGFung/mqdefault.jpg)
"Commodore 64/128 Audio Upgrade: Affordable PC Speakers Setup Guide!"
th-cam.com/video/vqrcZ3pW3Rc/w-d-xo.html
Man you’re a life saver. Was researching how to connect my Commodore 64 to VGA and it seemed like a ton of jumping through hoops till I found this video. Thank you so much and I can’t wait for my proper cords to arrive
You are welcome! Glad it helped!
@@FloppyDeepDive seems I just need a modern power supply now. I feel dirty I was trying to power it on the last hour with the original till I heard what you said. Hopefully with a new one I won’t just have a blank black screen
@@dungeonmastertyler A blank black screen sounds like a chip issues. You can check out my 1st Commodore repair video, that's the issue I had and see if it's similar.
Excellent video! Great info. Thanks for this. Cheers from Canada!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you FDD and William Campbell for your video and comment which solved my problem! I bought a unit which looks like the one in the video, but it was a knock off. The bad unit had a velvety soft rubber casing, the VGA IN and OUT were reversed and it came in a bag. The correct unit linked above has a hard case, screws on the bottom, VGA IN on the same side as AV IN and SVIDEO IN, a nice swipe effect when changing modes, and it came in a box. The correct unit works great for my Apple IIe, my Atari 800XL, and my Plus/4.
That’s awesome!! I’m so glad you got the good one that works!
lovely and concise mate cheers!
Thank you sir!
Excellent video, actually does help.
Great Brotha! Always hoping to get more of the C64 community up and running!Thanks for watching. Hope you subbed and check out the other C64 videos.
Hey, this is absolutely brilliant 😺👍.
I use the SCART RF cable from my
Commodore 64 to 32" LCD TV.
Thanks for an awesome retrospective video. 😺👍🕹️.
Thanks Ari, it works well for me!
Exactly what converter I bought and it works great!
Excellent! Glad it helped!
@@FloppyDeepDive now I have a C128 so I need to find or build the 80 column cable for my 1084 monitor!
I can't believe I hadn't watched this video all the way through. Thank you for doing all the hard work of finding out what works well with what. Seems like a lot of folks dig SCART connections, which are like unicorns here in the states.
I had been hooking my 64 up to my LCD TV via RF (yes, I have an LCD TV with an RF connection). I'd much rather use an old 4x3 Dell monitor that I've been saving.
Thanks!
Cool, good luck!
Very nice! A easy fix for video!
Yep a quick and affordable way to hook up the good old C64.
Thanks for this video!
I also bought one and I was BLOWN AWAY by the crazy bang I got for the buck.
The composite is...
Quite bad but svideo is just shiny.
Thanks!
That’s awesome! I’m glad it worked for you. I agree the SVideo is excellent for the price!
For an old recycled lcd monitor you got a super sharp 0% artifact-interference picture with that converter! I have noted the model to get one myself, thanks!
Good luck! Hope you find one.
Very interesting!
Thanks Andrew.
I look for commercial grade displays (LCD or CRT)
when I am hunting 2nd hand market; NEC and Planar units in particular.
These unit have an on-board scaler and will typically accept composite, s-video, component, RGB, RGBs, and RGBi over the 15- pin port. You will need a VGA to RGBHV cable to do the breakouts.
Thanks, I like your thinking, will look for those.
Works great. Thanks! But beware of knock-offs. Buy the video converter in the link. I bought another one that looked just like it, but it didn't work at all. I returned it and got the exact product at the link in the description, and that one the picture looks great with the 8bitClassics cable (with resistor). I realized the first gadget was a knock-off when I re-watched this video, and another one, and noticed the in and out VGA ports were swapped on the first unit. Not that attaching any different fixed the problem. The darn thing just didn't work no matter what I did, even trying composite instead of S-video. The video converter in the link works great. Get that one. Thanks again.
Glad it worked for you!
Unfortunately, the adapter in the link is no longer available.
I bought one which unfortunately did not display a C64 picture. It looks the same except the VGA IN and Out are reversed.
Thank you for this comment! This was the answer to why my unit didn't work!
@@michaelb4439 I think I have made the same mistake - and mine is not even delivered yet.
Hah I bought the same wrong item and luckily amazon refunds. Can't find the corrent one now.
this one really works - there are some minor issues with sprites dough
Thanks for Watching!
Thanks.
You are welcome! Thanks for watching
Regarding original power supplies. I agree with you. A year ago, such a power supply damaged 2 C64Cs.
Yep. You have to be careful with those old things.
Awesome, I have a lovely LG CRT VGA monitor… I bet the C64 would look great on it!
C64 does look great on VGA. You won’t be disappointed! Thanks for watching my friend.
Anche io sono un grandissimo appassionato dei monitor 4×3,ma i monitor CRT,si vedono alla perfezione.io sono appassionato del C64 e DELL'AMIGA,ci vado matto!.hai fatto un bel video,complimenti
Grazie
Did the easy way with the Turbo Chameleon 64 V1 for VGA on my C64. Have sell the biggest part of my C64 collection. Use the money for my AMIGA 1200 projects. Seek now the SIDFX for the C64 Reloaded MK1. I’m always busy with the C64, AMIGA 500 and the AMIGA 1200. There is always things to experience and to collect.
What’s the price of Turbo Chameleon?
The new V2 version is around 208 euro. Got my old V1 version secondhand with a great transparante C64C case from the kickstarter from Dallas 2015 deal.
Nice. Now I wish they made a (cheap) device like this for Commodore 128's 80-column output mode to VGA monitor... The ones I've seen look complicated and rare and expensive.
I would be 1st in line for an easy and cheap way to hook my C128 up for 80 columns on a VGA monitor.
facebook.com/groups/rofbbs
Any luck finding a cheaper device for the 128?
I greatly appreciate this video. I bought the components and hooked it to an old Viewsonic lcd square monitor, but could not get video. I will check out Goodwill of something older. Those old dell monitors seem plentiful. I am not too hopeful, but they are cheap. The C64 has been in storage for a while, so anything could be wrong at this point.
Thanks! Goodwill is where I get all my old monitors. Hope you find one. Are you getting a black screen or any kind of flickering?
@@FloppyDeepDive Just blank. The monitor shows the blue screen it always would as though it is not connected. I know it is connected to the video converter since I can bring the converter menu up.
The PS is showing 5.1 v DC and about 11v AC. It's an old microline PS I picked up with my original blew about 25 years ago. Considering replacing it anyway.
I'm afraid it's a chip, perhaps the PLA. There is a large metal bracket over the board with tabs pressed against some of the chips- there is old white paste as well. I assume this was acting as a heat sync and also helping to keep the chips seated.
It's a good idea - my only comments would be that you can probably pick up old CRT monitors that are cheaper than old LCD monitors and the C64 was designed to work with CRT not LCD, so you get a better picture. Some of the "converters" can also have lag issues with them.
Well for me LCD are like $4.00 at Goodwill vs people wanting $100 or more for a CRT. Trust me I would love a good 1702 CRT monitor over LCD but they are much harder to find cheap. Thanks for watching!
That the original power brick can have a defect 5v regulator was not known by a certain eBay seller. He used a working c64 to test other bricks. It was until he had a defect one killing the working one. If that one is sold, than maybe not easy to repair. Electrocuted parts.
Thanks for Watching!
I REALLY LOVE C64 👍🥂🎩
Welcome! Me too!
Really appreciate this video! Box linked here is now available again on Amazon. I had ordered a "velvet soft / no screws on bottom" knock-off apparently that does not work, so returning that for the one you link. Expecting that to work great. Hoping! a Question: your c64 video image is so pure / clean. No jail bars. Have there been other video enhancements to your c64, or is this your "as built" c64 video image? Looks great!
Hello, thanks for watching. No, there are no other video enhancements done to this C64. I'm just using it precisely as I do in the video.
Now you can also use an VGA to HDMI adapter additionally. So you can connect it to every new TV set. An advantage are the calibration switches on the back of the video converter to resize the picture.
Good tip!
What do you use for audio?
What do you use for audio?
Hi. I suscribe your channel . Like
Thank you!
Did you have to do a lot of adjustments on the converter to get a good picture? I have the same monitor and same converter and it’s very dim and blurry. Of course the monitor could be bad I suppose.
No adjustments were needed. Plug and play.
Nice. I thought there might be issues because of the interlace, since it any many old systems like original nintendo doesn't really do proper interlacing which ruins when using most HDMI adapters. Or is that just a PAL issue?
Thanks for Watching!
Good afternoon and thanks for the video. I bought the peripheral from the link in your video and I just tested it on my C64 PAL. Unfortunately it does not work with either a VGA LCD monitor or a VGA CRT monitor. The screen remains blue. I have tried both modes, both with S-video connector and with Composite Video. I think it is related to 60Hz, which is the minimum that the video converter allows. Those of us who have a C64 PAL are outputting the signal at 50Hz.
I would appreciate it if you would do the test yourself to see if I am right or what solution we can find.
Thank you!
I also use it with my ZX Spectrum which is PAL and it works with my VGA monitor 50hz. Did you purchase the one directly from my link? There are different variations of it.
Just got my C64 hooked up to a Sony vga monitor with the recommended items and it looks great! But now sound!, any advice on how to get some speakers hooked up?
Dan
Glad it’s working out for you. I made a video on the sound options. Use your PC Speakers on your Commodore 64/128
th-cam.com/video/vqrcZ3pW3Rc/w-d-xo.html
How do I get my old XP PC VGA to jive with a Commodore 64 monitor?
I have tons of games emulated on the PC, and I’m thinking the picture may improve when using an original Commodore 64 monitor (the way the image improves on a C64 hooked up to a monitor rather than a TV.
Will the picture improve?
If there is a VGA to composite converter you could hook up to a C64 monitor.
Good video, but I haven't seen VGA connector in monitors for the past decade or so, maybe more. They're very rare, at least in Finland. HDMI and DVI have long been the de-facto connecting standard here. My problem is exactly that that I can't find a monitor old enough to have VGA so I could attach both my C64 and retro-PC into it. But I'll keep searching :)
Oh wow, so cheap over here in the states. Just throw aways basically. $4 at the thrift store.
@@FloppyDeepDive I'm a bit jealous. Here they're collector's items mostly, not easily found outside of hoarder's storages :(
thnks for this good video. What about the sound ?
"Commodore 64/128 Audio Upgrade: Affordable PC Speakers Setup Guide!"
th-cam.com/video/vqrcZ3pW3Rc/w-d-xo.html
This is great. Question: If I hook up the Svideo to the VGA converter, I won’t have sound. Can I take the RCA white and blue and connect them to a speaker? If not, what would you do? The VGA monitor I have has no sound.
Thanks, I made a video about the sound issue. Use your PC Speakers on your Commodore 64/128
th-cam.com/video/vqrcZ3pW3Rc/w-d-xo.html
I know its a little late to respond to the video, but does that monitor accept the native video frequency from the 64? or does that converter upscale the signal?
Yes it does.
Good informative video but unfortunately as per other comments here - the device linked in this video does NOT work on UK PAL Commodore 64 computers, just a blue screen, the device only gives options and resolutions between 60-75hz. I tested it on a vintage 15 year old VGA Monitor+TV and a modern 3 year old VGA LCD Monitor and no C64 screen to be seen.
Bummer, it works with my PAL ZX Spectrum.
Great video...do you happen to know how one could capture the video and use it in a PIP video?
I really like the HD Capture Pro. Here is the link amzn.to/3DKioXV
@@FloppyDeepDive Thanks I was wondering what it was. I will go check it out...keep the good videos coming.
I have two of these converters. They do not work as well with PAL C64s. S-video has quite alot of moving bands and composite has graphical corruption. My units was bought from China but looks identical to the ones you have in the video. I do not have an NTSC C64 to try out.
Mine are all NTSC so I can’t really respond to PAL. The ones I get off Amazon have been great for me so far.
i tried one of this , with a pal c64, and i had to send i back.. i guess for 50hz refresh rate.
Great information. I bought the fix cable with scart connector on tv, but I am not satisfied. The VGA is great but how the sound work's with your setup? I have a Monitor with speakers but a separate input for a sound cable what you plug in on the earphones output on a PC or laptop. Maybe I missed something there regarding sounds. Thanks in advance 👍.
I have another video about connecting the sound to the VGA and it's really easy with a simple adapter. You will be able to hook pc speakers up to your system.
@@FloppyDeepDive Thanks again for the information, will search for it.
Did you buy the 8 pin cable with or without 300 ohm resistor? Because they offer both at 8-bit Classics.
I bought it with the resistor.
@@FloppyDeepDive Thanks! I'll buy it with resistor too then. 🙂
❤
Thanks
What are you exactly using? Is the C64 modded, ghosting, jailbar-fixes? looks much better than what I am getting...
I'm using exactly what I show in the video. Nothing is modded. Thanks for Watching!
Wish I still had my Sony SVGA CRT monitor, could at least use VICE with it.
Right! 👍🏻
Nice but what about the audio output? I'm still trying to find an old TV or screen that will work without the converter
Use your PC Speakers on your Commodore 64/128
th-cam.com/video/vqrcZ3pW3Rc/w-d-xo.html
I have the same adapter, only, it does not work with the C64. The signal does not come trough. I've connected with SVideo and wit AV. If i use a more modern device, like a camcorder, then the adapter works. In the past i've tried with the Vic20 also with no luck. Maybe you have a different version of the adapter.
Did you order from my link? There are others out there they looks the same but don't work. Check out comments of the others. Thanks for Watching!
@@FloppyDeepDive The adapter works for other systems. Could it be the S-Video cable? I see here that the cable could need some resistor.
Thought this was gonna be one of those "just snip this and solder that" videos (stuff I'm too afraid to try) but this is just "buy one of these and one of these and there you go!" and THAT I can do. The website ends in classicS not just classic as that redirects you to another retro site. Seems Bill Herd even commented on the S-video cable there in the reviews. No reason to believe it's not him.
I'm glad you found it helpful. I wanted to keep it simple. I was hoping to help the average user who wants to power up their C64 again and have some fun. The links in the description will take you right to the items.
Hello, thanks for the nice video. I bought the same vga converter, but I have no picture from my C64. Any advice ? Thanks in advance
Thanks for watching! Did you order from the link I posted? There are a lot of different varieties of these out there. I use my SVideo to plug into the converter and seem to have the best result.
One question about your S-Video cable - the one you are using does it have the resistor in it? If my cable doesn't have the resistor will the quality be bad? Regards
Mine does have the resistor but it should be fine without it.
@@FloppyDeepDive Thanks. I took the chance and ordered the cable with resistor via the link you provided. So now i have to wait. I might have a 4:3 LCD screen - it's just sitting there at my job waiting for me to grab it. ;0)
hey it's ok for the 80 columns RGBI for Commodore 128 ??? in LCD VGA ??
Nope, wouldn’t work for 80 columns Mode.
Does this minimize jailbars being visible, as they are on Commodore CRTs?
Yes it does minimize them on the VGA
Using a monitor like that, how do you get sound now?
I have a video on that too. Hooking up PC speakers. Check it out.
have had a Vic20 sitting around for 20 + years. never hooked it up. maybe this would work for it
I would see what PIN it has and give it a shot.
Hi Tom . When connecting the composite to the converter , the audio red and white are not used ?
Nope. You hook those up to the speakers. There is another video on that.
@@FloppyDeepDive great thank you . I may try a different converter as I'm in Australia if others have has issues with pal systems.
I didn't see you plug in the audio cables? What do you do for sound?
Here you go: Use your PC Speakers on your Commodore 64/128
th-cam.com/video/vqrcZ3pW3Rc/w-d-xo.html
@@FloppyDeepDive Great...thanks!
Some specs of the monitor? I have same converter, yet it doesn't fly on any of my monitors. Guess they're to fancy.
Nothing special about these VGA monitors. I use them on multiple 5+ different VGA's and they work perfect on everyone. I do know there are a variety of copy cats of this converter and some don't work. Use the specific link I put in the description to get the exact one I use. Good luck!
Did you order your 8 pin cable with the optional 330 ohm resistor?
Yes sir!
Ok, good to know. Will be doing this soon.
I like to get one of those do they work on Tandy 64k color computer 2 and commodore 128
I don’t know about Tandy but yes it will work with the C128 in 40 col mode.
Does the s video cable have sound?
No sound. See this video on how I handle that. Use your PC Speakers on your Commodore 64/128
th-cam.com/video/vqrcZ3pW3Rc/w-d-xo.html
Does this actually work with fast moving games like uridium etc? Most of these boxes usually have terrible lag.
I've had no issue with lag and have been using it for a few years now.
@@FloppyDeepDive great find then,the ones i tried were bad!
ok i ordered one of these for my c64 to dell 1704fpv vga so lets see what happens, it cant suck quality wise more than rf
Good luck. Plus, it’s so cheap that it’s worth a shot. Mine is still working just fine.
@@FloppyDeepDive it came and i finally got it hooked up (the c64 i got came doa so i had to get another one). it works great on a dell 1704fpv upscaled to 1280x1024 but i need the lumafix board cause i have prison bars and checkerboarding on the light blue (well known on problem with svideo on newer displays) but man it looks good otherwise, im glad i found your video... Hope you see this reply
That's awesome to hear!
@@FloppyDeepDive oh and sorry to respond again but my 13 year old still working lg 55" lcd tv has a vga in port so when I have more room im going to see how it looks on that since everything on the 64 does look great in widescreen
This appears to be 60hz only. Does anyone know pf a 50hz version, or has anyone tested this with a PAL setup?
I’ve heard some mixed reports since I’ve posted this video. Someday I’ll get a PAL C64 and test it myself.
Link of Video Converter shows an "RCA to HDMI" converter...can you change it?
I checked the link and it took me right to the Video Converter. Video Converter - amzn.to/3OFGFAO
@@FloppyDeepDive still the same...it shows to me an rca to hdmi converter...weird
That's good but my TV alredy has all that S-video and composite plus I don't need to have speakers hooked up it has them
Sweet!
It had such a converter and it was unable to get an image on any of the 3 LCD monitors I have
Sorry to hear that. Are you NTSC or PAL?
@@FloppyDeepDive Pal. Centrel Europe - Poland.
Is there any latency with the converter?
No sir, no issues there.
What about sound?
Use your PC Speakers on your Commodore 64/128
th-cam.com/video/vqrcZ3pW3Rc/w-d-xo.html
May i ask you how do you hear the sound of the c64 after you connect It to the vga?
Yes, I made a video to show you. Use your PC Speakers on your Commodore 64/128
th-cam.com/video/vqrcZ3pW3Rc/w-d-xo.html
@@FloppyDeepDive thanks!
What about the sound?
Use your PC Speakers on your Commodore 64/128
th-cam.com/video/vqrcZ3pW3Rc/w-d-xo.html
What if you have a 5-pin with no S-video?
You just use your Yellow video connection.
Flip the Switch for JiffyDOS
You know I never messed with JiffyDos. Is it your favorite fast load for the C64?
Or buy a used LCD TV for about the same price and you dont need the converter as they have the RCA inputs (composite)
Yep, that works too
@@FloppyDeepDive There is a Catholic Charity store here that sells high end monitors for like $1-$10 each. Barcos, NEC, Sony, NDS, FSN. Older models but still very very sharp pictures. Crazy thing is that dont move very fast!
Have one the problem is finding a Commodore 64 that works at a good price
Agree, I find local buying is the best. I’m picking up a C64, 1541 and floppies and joysticks for $75 this week.
You can hook up the RF box to a new TV , what are you talking about!?
please share
What about the lag?
I haven’t had any issues on the games I have tested and played so far.
@@FloppyDeepDive Thanks! keep going
I think you are lucky that your monitor actually supports 15 khz. There are monitors that don't support that frequency and those will not work with the converter, unless it is changing the frequency to something more common currently. I doubt. That is the reason there are the retrotinks, osscs, etc
I’ve tried it on many (more than 5) VGA monitors and it works every time.
Please turn off auto-translate for the video title and description - I'm laughing my ass off at how bad it is :D
Which language and what does it say?lol
@@FloppyDeepDive in german it says total crap... i first thought this was some kind of fake video for the bad translation, then i watched it and gave thumbs up! Very nice! but disable auto translation if possible :)
@@FloppyDeepDive btw it says something like "how to put a hook far up on the vga monitor" in german, then i was like "wtf" :) :) but i can speak english so i got it
@@srmeister1 Thanks for heads up. I’ll see if I can shut that off. More harm than good.
Computers like the C64 arent made for LCD, but for CRT Displays or TVs. Games for example looking awful on a LCD.
Agree but if you don't have a 1702 laying around this is a good option.
If you browse TH-cam with language set to German, the video title and description will be terribly translated. It's so wrong it's hard to even make out what it is supposed to mean, it's almost gibberish. I have no idea how that happened but I believe you can disable it.
Thanks for the heads up. It is TH-cam’s auto translate of title and subtitles.
I wanna play Pool Of Radiance!
Me too!
9 out of 10 of these things, does not work. It really depends on what is inside them. And they are all generic, the china-way.
So far that is not my experience. I am 4 for 4 with these converters. They are affordable at under $20. I’m sure there could be some bad ones but at that price it’s worth the chance. It’s not a huge investment.
@@FloppyDeepDive Then I have been unlucky. I bought 6 through the years, and none worked with PAL 50hz. It might be that they are better with 60hz NTSC.
It might be a PAL thing. I only have NTSC.
@@FloppyDeepDive Ahhh... Makes sence now. Most converters that work, are being demonstrated by Americans.
This did not Work for me. Can I email you? Do you have an email address?
Sure, p1tom@yahoo.com