Hi! I'm getting into C64 tunes with mssiah, am a total n00b though. I'm using S-Video + audio L/R via the A/V port on the back, but I also have an RF port on the back. I don't have an RF cable (yet) but wanted to know if it's possible to get audio L/R out from my A/V port but also use my RF port at the same time (want to plug into my Watchman). I could do a dedicated L/R audio out mod if that's documented somewhere. My bad for the potentially dumb question(s), just tryin' to get into this. Thanks for your time.
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Sea of Souls
The C64 has mono audio unless you've installed a second SID or are connecting both L and R to the same audio out pin. But yes, you should be able to get RF at the same time, though I would suggest ripping out the RF box entirely and using composite video only. Those things are so noisy.
Here's a pinout of the jack if you haven't seen it. https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/A/V_Jack
Also, sorry to hijak the thread but I thought I would toss in a question for the community, that Nikola may benefit from as well:
What is the best Dual SID board available? And why?
Last edited by Orgia Mode (Mar 5, 2019 6:35 pm)
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Sergy, France
@Orgia Mode Thanks!! Yeah, when I want "quality" video I use that A/V port, it has separated chroma and luma so I'm using S-Video with it, but my audio out from that port is mono I see (I do have two rca cables coming out but they must both be connected to that one audio out port). I haven't noticed the notorious noise from the RF box yet, but I also haven't plugged in to any decent speakers, so that's something I've gotta do now. I'll try a few things, it looks like what I'm thinking of might be doable.
PS do you know how to tag people on this forum, I haven't used forums for like a decade..
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
You can just get a y connector to split that audio to two connections:
Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/C2G-Stereo-Femal … amp;sr=8-4
Last edited by jefftheworld (Mar 5, 2019 7:57 pm)
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Bratislava, Slovakia
I also have C64, at the beginning i used normal composite RF out, but audio is really in bad quality, then i got grounded audio / s-video cable from retro computer shack (england) with gold connectors and quality is excellent (for s-video i use that common s-video to vga black box converter which does convertion acceptable to my vga/hdmi 24" samsung led monitor at right settings), at dualsid i believe very excellent is https://www.sidfx.dk, but i personally dont need another sid, even for example defMON supports it, because i am afraid to modify my C64G, it is in excellent condition, i have luck to get that one from czech republic and was used from 1991 upon my purchase maybe 5-times, so it was almost new 
))
Last edited by martin_demsky (Mar 5, 2019 9:25 pm)
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Sergy, France
martin_demsky wrote:
I also have C64, at the beginning i used normal composite RF out, but audio is really in bad quality, then i got grounded audio / s-video cable from retro computer shack (england) with gold connectors and quality is excellent (for s-video i use that common s-video to vga black box converter which does convertion acceptable to my vga/hdmi 24" samsung led monitor at right settings), at dualsid i believe very excellent is https://www.sidfx.dk, but i personally dont need another sid, even for example defMON supports it, because i am afraid to modify my C64G, it is in excellent condition, i have luck to get that one from czech republic and was used from 1991 upon my purchase maybe 5-times, so it was almost new
That dualsid looks super useful! Also good to know about retro computer shack, I got my C64 S-Video cable from retro gaming cables (also UK). I just ordered some adapters I'd need to use the RF out so I'll experiment a bit more. To be clear, I'm looking to get video from RF but audio from the A/V port (reason being I want to use a sexy 1980's Watchman for the video - it'll look like absolute crap, but hopefully it'd be good enough to do basic things like select songs).
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Sea of Souls
martin_demsky wrote:
I also have C64, at the beginning i used normal composite RF out, but audio is really in bad quality, then i got grounded audio / s-video cable from retro computer shack (england) with gold connectors and quality is excellent (for s-video i use that common s-video to vga black box converter which does convertion acceptable to my vga/hdmi 24" samsung led monitor at right settings), at dualsid i believe very excellent is https://www.sidfx.dk, but i personally dont need another sid, even for example defMON supports it, because i am afraid to modify my C64G, it is in excellent condition, i have luck to get that one from czech republic and was used from 1991 upon my purchase maybe 5-times, so it was almost new
Holy, thats pricier than I had imagined but it sure looks decent.
Thanks
nikola wrote:
martin_demsky wrote:I also have C64, at the beginning i used normal composite RF out, but audio is really in bad quality, then i got grounded audio / s-video cable from retro computer shack (england) with gold connectors and quality is excellent (for s-video i use that common s-video to vga black box converter which does convertion acceptable to my vga/hdmi 24" samsung led monitor at right settings), at dualsid i believe very excellent is https://www.sidfx.dk, but i personally dont need another sid, even for example defMON supports it, because i am afraid to modify my C64G, it is in excellent condition, i have luck to get that one from czech republic and was used from 1991 upon my purchase maybe 5-times, so it was almost new
That dualsid looks super useful! Also good to know about retro computer shack, I got my C64 S-Video cable from retro gaming cables (also UK). I just ordered some adapters I'd need to use the RF out so I'll experiment a bit more. To be clear, I'm looking to get video from RF but audio from the A/V port (reason being I want to use a sexy 1980's Watchman for the video - it'll look like absolute crap, but hopefully it'd be good enough to do basic things like select songs).
I was inspired to re-cap my c64c but now it won't boot so I have to figure all that out.. ugh.
EDIT: lol, the video signal from pin 4 of the 8-pin DIN goes "through" the RF box, so when I removed it, I broke continuity. XD
So on that note, don't simply remove the RF box. Just remove the RF components...
http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/ … 251696.gif
Last edited by Orgia Mode (Mar 6, 2019 1:32 am)
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Bratislava, Slovakia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5kg2hSBQbo
Omg i remember from 80s that Sony Watchman TV, but its display is probably that small as Gameboy's, if you want to see some characters or compose something in tracker then this could be a little bit hardcore.
Orgia Mode wrote:
Holy, thats pricier than I had imagined but it sure looks decent.
Yes a lot of 8-bit stuff are now pricier, for example average Gameboy DMG-01 at second hand eshop was costing 8 years ago around 15 eur, now i have found Gameboy Light and seller is asking 200 eur, unbelievable.
And for me some things are not very well optimized for chiptune musician, for example cartridge 1541-Ultimate II+ is very great and i like it a lot, but i simply cannot understand why it doesnt have MIDI, at least midi in since it offer some usb ports, i use only one of them for usb-stick, and i wanted to use midi for Cynthcart 2.0 (midi version).
Last edited by martin_demsky (Mar 6, 2019 9:24 am)
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Czech Republic
I have some vintage small Casio LCD TV, But it's usefull, You need 3,5" at least, but I think this is also too small. Mostly I use old 5" blackandwhite TV, the're bloody cheap and have composite video input. It works well.
Last edited by ryba (Mar 6, 2019 4:15 pm)
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Sergy, France
I have a sexy 5" Mega Watchman, still runs on batteries. Will let you know the results as soon as the cables come in.. I'd need to figure out how to post images on here first tho XD