Video converters for Commodore 64 (Composite/S-Video)

In my quest to find some nice cheap video converters for Amiga and C64 (and similar) I thought I’d post some test images here to share my findings.

These tests has been made on the C64 ReLoaded. While they might be good for other/newer Composite/S-Video equipment, these tests are only made for the C64.

 

Input power	5v
Power Connector	Round
Power consumption standby/active	480mA/520mA
Input Composite	Yes
Input S-video	Yes
Output	VGA
Output resolutions	800×600 / 1024×768
Price	USD $12

As you can see this device is absolutely horrible.

 

Next up is the Mini Video to VGA Scaler. Again I found this on eBay for around $10

Power Connector	Mini B USB
Input power	5v
Power consumption standby/active	300mA / 340mA
Input Composite	Yes
Input S-video	Yes
Output	VGA
Output resolutions	800×600 / 1024×768
Price	USD $10

 

 

The Scart to HDMI converter

Power Connector	Round
Input power	5v
Power consumption standby/active	300mA / 420mA
Input Composite	Yes via Scart
Input S-video	No
Output	HDMI
Output resolutions	720p/1080p
Price	USD $10-20

When first powered on I got the blue screen on the composite signal, after a reset I got the static gray you see on this last image. The S-Video signal looks good, but the converter is only Composite so you won’t get the colour.

 

Power Connector	Round
Input power	5v
Power consumption standby/active
Input Composite
Input S-video
Output	HDMI
Output resolutions	720p / 1080p
Price	USD $24

I’ve shown this box for Amiga RGB and I’m quite happy with that as a cheap converter. Though I was going to use this for testing as well it seems to have stopped working. I’ll update this when I either get it fixed or someday aquire a new one.

Thomas R McFarland on facebook reported that this device doesn’t work well with the C64’s S-Video.

 

For a good measure, I’m posting the native Composite and S-Video signal that my monitor takes.