[Coco] CoCo 2

[Rob Rosenbrock]

Not too keen on what I’m seeing with AC. The CoCoDV looks interesting, and he seems very knowledgeable, but I hear alarm bells ringing.

He has posted many videos on youtube and Facebook telling people to email him for details rather than creating a quick and simple webpage with answers to common questions. In a post where someone criticized the many options (?!) available, someone said that the $100 for CoCoVGA was too expensive while the CoCoDV was more affordable. Yet I have been told that the price of the CoCoDV was $120 + shipping! This just isn’t adding up right.

In another video, (that runs 1:16:01,) he talks about building S-Video and Composite video mods for the CoCo. After a lengthy discussion about the RF modulator, he then discusses an S-Video to Composite converter that you can buy at Amazon and then shows his final results. One is left no wiser about actually building an interface.

Thanks, but I think I’ll hold off on this idea. I don’t feel right sending him money.

> On Jan 13, 2023, at 11:06 AM, Clifford Flath via Coco <coco at maltedmedia.com> wrote:
> 
> I recently installed  ACs 8-bit Zone CocoDV on a on my Coco1 F board, and I am very pleased with it.  
> It arrived about a week after I ordered it.   
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZztOCo-0GKI
>    On Friday, January 13, 2023 at 02:23:54 AM CST, Rob Rosenbrock via Coco <coco at maltedmedia.com> wrote:  
> 
> Brief: I’m looking for what options exist currently for connecting the CoCo to a VGA/HDMI monitor. I’ve gone through the archives somewhat, but everything I’ve seen seems to be out of stock. I want to know what I will need now, or in the future, to get my CoCo’s usable.
> 
> Background:
> 
> The 26-3136A I bought through eBay looks nice and seems to be working just fine. On this model, the RF converter lies parallel to the board rather than standing up. It has a 6847 VDG rather than the 6847T1. I haven’t broken the warranty seal yet, but I can see that the memory on this model is on a daughter card rather than being populated on the system board, and all chips appear to be soldered in place.
> 
> I have connected both it and the CoCo 3 to a Dynex 19” HDTV through the cable input and they both presented a rather poor image. Same thing if I connect the composite signal on the CoCo 3. I was able to get a half-way decent image (readable) by bringing the color down to 0.
> 
> I then tried my old Sakata composite SC-100 monitor with the CoCo 3. It’s not crystal clear, but the picture is much better and I can even read WIDTH 40. If I turn the color all the way down I see what looks like a white band on the left edge of the screen and a white border on the right side of each character - like ghosting.
> 
> That sounds familiar. On the CoCo 3, the composite output is merely a transistor buffer for the same signal that is going into the RF modulator. I’m suspecting that an aged capacitor in that circuit is screwing up alignment with the color signal. I have a recap kit on the way, so I might just replace them after all.
> 
> Either way, that CoCo 2 is not going to connect to the composite monitor without a mod. I like the idea behind the CoCoVGA - replacing the RF modulator with a composite interface without modding the case. I am interested in one if they are available somewhere. My other option is to build my own.
> 
> I’m open for options on the CoCo 3 as well. I’ve got a (hopefully) perfectly good CM-8, but it won’t last forever. All of the options I’ve seen to convert the RGB to VGA look rather convoluted involving multiple adapters to convert from one connection to another.
> 
> Sorry. I know this has been discussed before, but there’s a lot of messages to look through - and much of it seems obsolete.
> 
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