2068 Video (color) problem...
14 messages · 2005-12-09 → 2005-12-12 · Yahoo Group era · View archive on archive.org
Participants: Φοίβος Ρ. Ντόκος, M. Emrah Oral, oralm2, William McBrine, Claudio Bernet, Bill Loguidice
Preserved from the Timex/Sinclair 2068 Yahoo Group (2001–2019), which is no longer online. Text reproduced from the archive.org archive; email addresses masked.
Messages
1. Re: [ts2068] 2068 Video (color) problem...
William McBrine · Fri, 9 Dec 2005 15:39:
On Fri, 9 Dec 2005, oralm2 wrote:
> First of all, there is no color. It is all in B&W.
I assume this isn't a European TV? You should definitely be getting color.
Try routing it through a VCR or an anti-Macrovision device.
> And the image is fuzzy and not sharp.
That, on the other hand, you can't do anything about. Unless maybe you
build/buy an RGB interface for the 2068...
--
William McBrine <[email]>
2. 2068 Video (color) problem...
oralm2 · Fri, 09 Dec 2005 18:56
Hi everyone! I am new to this group. I am originally from Europe and I
have been using ZX Spectrums since 1986. Now that I am living in the
US, I bought a TS2068 on Ebay. But it turns out, the composite video
is in B/W. I am using a brand new Sony Color TV with a composite video
input, a brand new RCA Shielded cable, but the video output is
TERRIBLE! First of all, there is no color. It is all in B&W. And the
image is fuzzy and not sharp. I had been using a +3 connected to an
Amiga monitor via RGB and after using that +3 the image quality of
this TS2068 is almost unacceptable. Any ideas ?
3. Re: [ts2068] 2068 Video (color) problem...
Claudio Bernet · Fri, 9 Dec 2005 17:22:
Hi all,
Have a similar issue with my TS2068 and TC2048 (B&W
and fuzzy picture). I have that problem with modern
TVs, but when I test it with an old skool 80s tv set,
i get a perfect color and sharp image. The only modern
TV that works excelent for me was the Samsung Tantus
Flat TV. Nice picture. Give it a try if you can.
Cheers
--- oralm2 <[email]> wrote:
> Hi everyone! I am new to this group. I am originally
> from Europe and I
> have been using ZX Spectrums since 1986. Now that I
> am living in the
> US, I bought a TS2068 on Ebay. But it turns out, the
> composite video
> is in B/W. I am using a brand new Sony Color TV with
> a composite video
> input, a brand new RCA Shielded cable, but the video
> output is
> TERRIBLE! First of all, there is no color. It is all
> in B&W. And the
> image is fuzzy and not sharp. I had been using a +3
> connected to an
> Amiga monitor via RGB and after using that +3 the
> image quality of
> this TS2068 is almost unacceptable. Any ideas ?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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4. Re: [ts2068] 2068 Video (color) problem...
Φοίβος Ρ. Ντόκος · Fri, 09 Dec 2005 20:45
Την Fri, 09 Dec 2005 15:39:31 -0500,ο(η) William McBrine
<[email]> έγραψε:
> On Fri, 9 Dec 2005, oralm2 wrote:
>
>> First of all, there is no color. It is all in B&W.
>
> I assume this isn't a European TV? You should definitely be getting
> color.
> Try routing it through a VCR or an anti-Macrovision device.
Being European and now in the US myself, I had this problem with my
Multisystem TV. It appears that although off-the-air (or cable for that
matter reception) is available to all systems the TV is listed for but the
Comp Video in (even via the Scart) was PAL/SECAM only. I did instead buy a
Panasonic Widescreen HDTV and instead of trying to display all systems, I
relegated it to use as a Monitor and I have a dedicated receiver box which
can display anything. This way both my Spectrum / QL and my TS can display
stuff in colo(u)r.
Another solution (I use it constantly when I want to connect to the VGA
monitor) is the use of a system auto-switching VGA box. I have one from
Logic 3 (Got it in Greece but it is available also in the US). I can
display everything Comp.Video wise (cannot do S-Video so my modded
Spectrum cannot deal with it) shows nicely on my VGA monitors.
>
>> And the image is fuzzy and not sharp.
>
> That, on the other hand, you can't do anything about. Unless maybe you
> build/buy an RGB interface for the 2068...
>
He should define fuzzy first. Spectrum on the Aerial fuzzy or fuzzier? :-P
Phoebus
--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/
5. Re: [ts2068] 2068 Video (color) problem...
Φοίβος Ρ. Ντόκος · Fri, 09 Dec 2005 20:48
Την Fri, 09 Dec 2005 20:22:41 -0500,ο(η) Claudio Bernet
<[email]> έγραψε:
> Hi all,
>
> Have a similar issue with my TS2068 and TC2048 (B&W
> and fuzzy picture). I have that problem with modern
> TVs, but when I test it with an old skool 80s tv set,
> i get a perfect color and sharp image. The only modern
> TV that works excelent for me was the Samsung Tantus
> Flat TV. Nice picture. Give it a try if you can.
>
> Cheers
Oh come to think of it, there's a paper accompanying the T/S2068
documentation (it is NOT in the manual) that mentions something about some
TV sets. I will look it up, scan it and put it in the files section.
Phoebus
6. Re: 2068 Video (color) problem...
oralm2 · Fri, 09 Dec 2005 23:21
--- In [email], William McBrine <wmcbrine@g...> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 9 Dec 2005, oralm2 wrote:
>
> > First of all, there is no color. It is all in B&W.
>
> I assume this isn't a European TV? You should definitely be getting
color.
> Try routing it through a VCR or an anti-Macrovision device.
>
> > And the image is fuzzy and not sharp.
>
> That, on the other hand, you can't do anything about. Unless maybe you
> build/buy an RGB interface for the 2068...
>
> --
> William McBrine <wmcbrine@g...>
>
No it is an NTSC American Sony TV with compopsite inputs. I have tried
hooking the 2068 up to another color monitor with an NTSC composite
input. Same result. Fuzzy letters, no color, just shades of gray like
I am using a B&W TV. I suspect that it is some sort of filter
capaticor gone dry in there because of age. But I am not sure. I am
tempted to tweak VR1 and VR2 to see if I can change the color
burst/chroma level/etc signals.
7. Re: [ts2068] 2068 Video (color) problem...
M. Emrah Oral · Mon, 12 Dec 2005 10:04
Thank you. I didn't know that the 2068 could be so picky about TV sets. I am actually using the monitor output and I have tried using 2 different sets. One Sony TV and one NTSC monitor and they both give me a fuzzy B&W picture. I suspect that it is the 2068 because a friend loaned me his 2068 and it produces a color image with both of my screens, the sony TV and the monitor. So I guess the TV and monitor are compatible with the 2068 but there is something wrong with the 2068. For those of you who are interested, by the way, my friend had another 2068 which displayed colors wrong. It displayed very different tones of the regular ZX spectrum color range. Magenta looked pink, cyan looked turquoise, yellow looked orange. We fixed it by tweaking the VR2 and VR3 settings, (in other words the R-y and B-y vectors.) and now the colors look right. The only problem is we do not have an NTSC vectorscope and waveform monitor so we can't really fine tune it to the exact NTSC specs, but the colors
"look" right to both of us :)
Phoebus R. Dokos (Öïßâïò Ñ. Íôüêïò) <[email]> wrote: Ôçí Fri, 09 Dec 2005 20:22:41 -0500,ï(ç) Claudio Bernet
Ýãñáøå:
> Hi all,
>
> Have a similar issue with my TS2068 and TC2048 (B&W
> and fuzzy picture). I have that problem with modern
> TVs, but when I test it with an old skool 80s tv set,
> i get a perfect color and sharp image. The only modern
> TV that works excelent for me was the Samsung Tantus
> Flat TV. Nice picture. Give it a try if you can.
>
> Cheers
Oh come to think of it, there's a paper accompanying the T/S2068
documentation (it is NOT in the manual) that mentions something about some
TV sets. I will look it up, scan it and put it in the files section.
Phoebus
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8. Re: [ts2068] 2068 Video (color) problem...
Φοίβος Ρ. Ντόκος · Mon, 12 Dec 2005 13:42
Την Mon, 12 Dec 2005 13:04:39 -0500,ο(η) M. Emrah Oral <[email]>
έγραψε:
> Thank you. I didn't know that the 2068 could be so picky about TV sets.
> I am actually using the monitor output and I have tried using 2
> different sets. One Sony TV and one NTSC monitor and they both give me a
> fuzzy B&W picture. I suspect that it is the 2068 because a friend loaned
> me his 2068 and it produces a color image with both of my screens, the
> sony TV and the monitor. So I guess the TV and monitor are compatible
> with the 2068 but there is something wrong with the 2068. For those of
> you who are interested, by the way, my friend had another 2068 which
> displayed colors wrong. It displayed very different tones of the regular
> ZX spectrum color range. Magenta looked pink, cyan looked turquoise,
> yellow looked orange. We fixed it by tweaking the VR2 and VR3 settings,
> (in other words the R-y and B-y vectors.) and now the colors look right.
> The only problem is we do not have an NTSC vectorscope and waveform
> monitor so we can't really fine tune it to the exact NTSC specs, but the
> colors
> "look" right to both of us :)
I've seen the same thing with both of my T/S's. I did the exact same thing
and the colours came up right. I have a colour chart program that I ran in
both my Spectrum and T/Ss and I calibrated the T/S colours using the ZX as
an exemplar switching between inputs on my VGA monitor/converter.
The unfortunate side-effect of that is that the picture is not as stable
as before. (There's colour bleed where there were none and there's slight
flickering).
My guess (without proper testing equipment and with my currently limited
knowledge of the T/S circuitry) is that the original settings were correct
but that some passive components (most likely capacitors) have begun to
dry out. I suspect that if these are replaced the stability (and colours)
will be as previously.
Phoebus
9. Re: [ts2068] 2068 Video (color) problem...
M. Emrah Oral · Mon, 12 Dec 2005 11:05
Exactly, I measured the resistance on VR3 and VR2 on all machines and they were almost identical before we tweaked the one 2068's settings. I agree that it must be some sort of a capacitor drying out or something so that the tweaking on the R-y and B-y vectors are actually compensating for the malfunctioning components within the circuitry. If only I could locate these compnents and replace them with new ones, I would'nt need to change the VR2 and VR3 settings. Do you think we might be able to locate the capacitors or whatever is going bad and replace those instead of tweaking these settings ? I can only see a few electrolytic capacitors on the PCB. The two big ones are part of the DC regulation I believe and there are only a few others, so it wouldn't be hard to replace those. Do you know if there is any other kind of electronic components that may go bad in time other than the capacitors ?
Phoebus R. Dokos (Öïßâïò Ñ. Íôüêïò) <[email]> wrote: Ôçí Mon, 12 Dec 2005 13:04:39 -0500,ï(ç) M. Emrah Oral
Ýãñáøå:
> Thank you. I didn't know that the 2068 could be so picky about TV sets.
> I am actually using the monitor output and I have tried using 2
> different sets. One Sony TV and one NTSC monitor and they both give me a
> fuzzy B&W picture. I suspect that it is the 2068 because a friend loaned
> me his 2068 and it produces a color image with both of my screens, the
> sony TV and the monitor. So I guess the TV and monitor are compatible
> with the 2068 but there is something wrong with the 2068. For those of
> you who are interested, by the way, my friend had another 2068 which
> displayed colors wrong. It displayed very different tones of the regular
> ZX spectrum color range. Magenta looked pink, cyan looked turquoise,
> yellow looked orange. We fixed it by tweaking the VR2 and VR3 settings,
> (in other words the R-y and B-y vectors.) and now the colors look right.
> The only problem is we do not have an NTSC vectorscope and waveform
> monitor so we can't really fine tune it to the exact NTSC specs, but the
> colors
> "look" right to both of us :)
I've seen the same thing with both of my T/S's. I did the exact same thing
and the colours came up right. I have a colour chart program that I ran in
both my Spectrum and T/Ss and I calibrated the T/S colours using the ZX as
an exemplar switching between inputs on my VGA monitor/converter.
The unfortunate side-effect of that is that the picture is not as stable
as before. (There's colour bleed where there were none and there's slight
flickering).
My guess (without proper testing equipment and with my currently limited
knowledge of the T/S circuitry) is that the original settings were correct
but that some passive components (most likely capacitors) have begun to
dry out. I suspect that if these are replaced the stability (and colours)
will be as previously.
Phoebus
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10. Re: [ts2068] 2068 Video (color) problem...
M. Emrah Oral · Mon, 12 Dec 2005 11:16
By the way, you are right about the picture stability issue. Here is the program I used to generate my color chart
10 FOR n=0 TO 21: FOR f=0 TO 7:PRINT PAPER f;" ";:NEXT f:NEXT n
(Four spaces inside the " " marks)
then out of nowhere I decided to change it to
10 FOR n=0 TO 21: FOR f=0 TO 7:PRINT PAPER f;" ";BRIGHT 1;" "; :NEXT f:NEXT n
(Two spaces inside " " marks)
With the Bright scale included, I notice that the BRIGHT levels look a lot different than those of the ZX Spectrum. Perhaps it is a PAL / NTSC issue , since as they say NTSC colors never look same twice, but I also noticed that the 2068 has a BRIGHT version of color 0 (BLACK). The Speccy, as far as I can remember, didn't have a BRIGHT BLACK.
as for the stability of the pricture, I tried :
10 BORDER 0 : PAUSE 0 : BORDER 7 : PAUSE 0 : GOTO 10
and each time I hit a key, the BORDER changed from 0 to 7. When the SYNC wasn't adjusted properly, with each switch from one black to white (and vice versa) the whole picture flickered/jumped. I couldn't really get a picture stable enough that would go from 0 border to 7 border without the image jumping (TV trying to re-sync) I think this is because of those aging components and the Variable Resistors can only help so much but afterall these components need to be changed. It's funny I have a 1982 speccy which never went bad, no caps dried out or anything, and has been working just fine since 1982! And we all thought uncle Clive used the cheapest possible components available at the time to keep the price down...
"M. Emrah Oral" <[email]> wrote:
Exactly, I measured the resistance on VR3 and VR2 on all machines and they were almost identical before we tweaked the one 2068's settings. I agree that it must be some sort of a capacitor drying out or something so that the tweaking on the R-y and B-y vectors are actually compensating for the malfunctioning components within the circuitry. If only I could locate these compnents and replace them with new ones, I would'nt need to change the VR2 and VR3 settings. Do you think we might be able to locate the capacitors or whatever is going bad and replace those instead of tweaking these settings ? I can only see a few electrolytic capacitors on the PCB. The two big ones are part of the DC regulation I believe and there are only a few others, so it wouldn't be hard to replace those. Do you know if there is any other kind of electronic components that may go bad in time other than the capacitors ?
Phoebus R. Dokos (Öïßâïò Ñ. Íôüêïò) <[email]> wrote: Ôçí Mon, 12 Dec 2005 13:04:39 -0500,ï(ç) M. Emrah Oral
Ýãñáøå:
> Thank you. I didn't know that the 2068 could be so picky about TV sets.
> I am actually using the monitor output and I have tried using 2
> different sets. One Sony TV and one NTSC monitor and they both give me a
> fuzzy B&W picture. I suspect that it is the 2068 because a friend loaned
> me his 2068 and it produces a color image with both of my screens, the
> sony TV and the monitor. So I guess the TV and monitor are compatible
> with the 2068 but there is something wrong with the 2068. For those of
> you who are interested, by the way, my friend had another 2068 which
> displayed colors wrong. It displayed very different tones of the regular
> ZX spectrum color range. Magenta looked pink, cyan looked turquoise,
> yellow looked orange. We fixed it by tweaking the VR2 and VR3 settings,
> (in other words the R-y and B-y vectors.) and now the colors look right.
> The only problem is we do not have an NTSC vectorscope and waveform
> monitor so we can't really fine tune it to the exact NTSC specs, but the
> colors
> "look" right to both of us :)
I've seen the same thing with both of my T/S's. I did the exact same thing
and the colours came up right. I have a colour chart program that I ran in
both my Spectrum and T/Ss and I calibrated the T/S colours using the ZX as
an exemplar switching between inputs on my VGA monitor/converter.
The unfortunate side-effect of that is that the picture is not as stable
as before. (There's colour bleed where there were none and there's slight
flickering).
My guess (without proper testing equipment and with my currently limited
knowledge of the T/S circuitry) is that the original settings were correct
but that some passive components (most likely capacitors) have begun to
dry out. I suspect that if these are replaced the stability (and colours)
will be as previously.
Phoebus
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11. Re: [ts2068] 2068 Video (color) problem...
Φοίβος Ρ. Ντόκος · Mon, 12 Dec 2005 15:00
Την Mon, 12 Dec 2005 14:16:41 -0500,ο(η) M. Emrah Oral <[email]>
έγραψε:
> By the way, you are right about the picture stability issue. Here is the
> program I used to generate my color chart
> 10 FOR n=0 TO 21: FOR f=0 TO 7:PRINT PAPER f;" ";:NEXT f:NEXT n
>
> (Four spaces inside the " " marks)
> then out of nowhere I decided to change it to
> 10 FOR n=0 TO 21: FOR f=0 TO 7:PRINT PAPER f;" ";BRIGHT 1;" "; :NEXT
> f:NEXT n
> (Two spaces inside " " marks)
Mine is a bit more complicated than that as I did squares and text in the
7-n (to follow your thinking) colour so they would help figuring out the
colour bleed.
> With the Bright scale included, I notice that the BRIGHT levels look a
> lot different than those of the ZX Spectrum. Perhaps it is a PAL / NTSC
> issue , since as they say NTSC colors never look same twice, but I also
> noticed that the 2068 has a BRIGHT version of color 0 (BLACK). The
> Speccy, as far as I can remember, didn't have a BRIGHT BLACK.
My speccy does generate a bright black using the same program
> as for the stability of the pricture, I tried :
> 10 BORDER 0 : PAUSE 0 : BORDER 7 : PAUSE 0 : GOTO 10
> and each time I hit a key, the BORDER changed from 0 to 7. When the
> SYNC wasn't adjusted properly, with each switch from one black to white
> (and vice versa) the whole picture flickered/jumped. I couldn't really
> get a picture stable enough that would go from 0 border to 7 border
> without the image jumping (TV trying to re-sync) I think this is because
> of those aging components and the Variable Resistors can only help so
> much but afterall these components need to be changed. It's funny I have
> a 1982 speccy which never went bad, no caps dried out or anything, and
> has been working just fine since 1982! And we all thought uncle Clive
> used the cheapest possible components available at the time to keep the
> price down...
adjusting VR1 will fix that problem.
The best way to do it is while your T/S is loading something. If you
manage to get the picture stable while the border displays the loading
pattern then you're alright :-)
> Exactly, I measured the resistance on VR3 and VR2 on all machines
> and they were almost identical before we tweaked the one 2068's
> settings. I agree that it must be some sort of a capacitor drying out or
> something so that the tweaking on the R-y and B-y vectors are actually
> compensating for the malfunctioning components within the circuitry. If
> only I could locate these compnents and replace them with new ones, I
> would'nt need to change the VR2 and VR3 settings. Do you think we might
> be able to locate the capacitors or whatever is going bad and replace
> those instead of tweaking these settings ? I can only see a few
> electrolytic capacitors on the PCB. The two big ones are part of the DC
> regulation I believe and there are only a few others, so it wouldn't be
> hard to replace those. Do you know if there is any other kind of
> electronic components that may go bad in time other than the capacitors ?
Actually yes. I have schematics here, although they are pre-released ones,
so I will have to check them against my actual T/S to verify their
validity. Apart from that the rest is easy.
Phoebus
12. Re: [ts2068] 2068 Video (color) problem...
M. Emrah Oral · Mon, 12 Dec 2005 12:13
You must be from Europe too. Looks like a big majority of the 2068 people in the US are ex-Speccy users from Europe who moved to the US and felt homesick or nostalgic about the Speccy :)
Phoebus R. Dokos (Öïßâïò Ñ. Íôüêïò) <[email]> wrote:
Ôçí Mon, 12 Dec 2005 14:16:41 -0500,ï(ç) M. Emrah Oral
Ýãñáøå:
> By the way, you are right about the picture stability issue. Here is the
> program I used to generate my color chart
> 10 FOR n=0 TO 21: FOR f=0 TO 7:PRINT PAPER f;" ";:NEXT f:NEXT n
>
> (Four spaces inside the " " marks)
> then out of nowhere I decided to change it to
> 10 FOR n=0 TO 21: FOR f=0 TO 7:PRINT PAPER f;" ";BRIGHT 1;" "; :NEXT
> f:NEXT n
> (Two spaces inside " " marks)
Mine is a bit more complicated than that as I did squares and text in the
7-n (to follow your thinking) colour so they would help figuring out the
colour bleed.
> With the Bright scale included, I notice that the BRIGHT levels look a
> lot different than those of the ZX Spectrum. Perhaps it is a PAL / NTSC
> issue , since as they say NTSC colors never look same twice, but I also
> noticed that the 2068 has a BRIGHT version of color 0 (BLACK). The
> Speccy, as far as I can remember, didn't have a BRIGHT BLACK.
My speccy does generate a bright black using the same program
> as for the stability of the pricture, I tried :
> 10 BORDER 0 : PAUSE 0 : BORDER 7 : PAUSE 0 : GOTO 10
> and each time I hit a key, the BORDER changed from 0 to 7. When the
> SYNC wasn't adjusted properly, with each switch from one black to white
> (and vice versa) the whole picture flickered/jumped. I couldn't really
> get a picture stable enough that would go from 0 border to 7 border
> without the image jumping (TV trying to re-sync) I think this is because
> of those aging components and the Variable Resistors can only help so
> much but afterall these components need to be changed. It's funny I have
> a 1982 speccy which never went bad, no caps dried out or anything, and
> has been working just fine since 1982! And we all thought uncle Clive
> used the cheapest possible components available at the time to keep the
> price down...
adjusting VR1 will fix that problem.
The best way to do it is while your T/S is loading something. If you
manage to get the picture stable while the border displays the loading
pattern then you're alright :-)
> Exactly, I measured the resistance on VR3 and VR2 on all machines
> and they were almost identical before we tweaked the one 2068's
> settings. I agree that it must be some sort of a capacitor drying out or
> something so that the tweaking on the R-y and B-y vectors are actually
> compensating for the malfunctioning components within the circuitry. If
> only I could locate these compnents and replace them with new ones, I
> would'nt need to change the VR2 and VR3 settings. Do you think we might
> be able to locate the capacitors or whatever is going bad and replace
> those instead of tweaking these settings ? I can only see a few
> electrolytic capacitors on the PCB. The two big ones are part of the DC
> regulation I believe and there are only a few others, so it wouldn't be
> hard to replace those. Do you know if there is any other kind of
> electronic components that may go bad in time other than the capacitors ?
Actually yes. I have schematics here, although they are pre-released ones,
so I will have to check them against my actual T/S to verify their
validity. Apart from that the rest is easy.
Phoebus
Yahoo! Groups Links
---------------------------------
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Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at Yahoo! Shopping
13. RE: [ts2068] 2068 Video (color) problem...
Bill Loguidice · Mon, 12 Dec 2005 15:25
Speaking of that, being American and always based in the US, I specialize in
purely US-based systems. As part of my collection, I have two 2068's, one
with a Spectrum compatibility cartridge. I recently acquired a whole bunch
of Spectrum software for use with it, but was intrigued by the relatively
low price of Spectrum 128 systems. What do you guys recommend for making
that PAL-based system work here in the US based on your experiences? I know
I would both need to covert the voltage and the television output. Any
particularly good coverters or setups you guys can recommend? Thanks.
===================
Bill Loguidice, Editor
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
(A PC Magazine Top 100 Website, 2005)
===================
<http://www.armchairarcade.com/> http://www.armchairarcade.com
_____
From: [email] [mailto:[email]] On Behalf Of M.
Emrah Oral
Sent: Monday, December 12, 2005 3:13 PM
To: [email]
Subject: Re: [ts2068] 2068 Video (color) problem...
You must be from Europe too. Looks like a big majority of the 2068 people in
the US are ex-Speccy users from Europe who moved to the US and felt homesick
or nostalgic about the Speccy :)
Phoebus R. Dokos (Öïßâïò Ñ. Íôüêïò) <[email]> wrote:
Ôçí Mon, 12 Dec 2005 14:16:41 -0500,ï(ç) M. Emrah Oral
Ýãñáøå:
> By the way, you are right about the picture stability issue. Here is the
> program I used to generate my color chart
> 10 FOR n=0 TO 21: FOR f=0 TO 7:PRINT PAPER f;" ";:NEXT f:NEXT n
>
> (Four spaces inside the " " marks)
> then out of nowhere I decided to change it to
> 10 FOR n=0 TO 21: FOR f=0 TO 7:PRINT PAPER f;" ";BRIGHT 1;" "; :NEXT
> f:NEXT n
> (Two spaces inside " " marks)
Mine is a bit more complicated than that as I did squares and text in the
7-n (to follow your thinking) colour so they would help figuring out the
colour bleed.
> With the Bright scale included, I notice that the BRIGHT levels look a
> lot different than those of the ZX Spectrum. Perhaps it is a PAL / NTSC
> issue , since as they say NTSC colors never look same twice, but I also
> noticed that the 2068 has a BRIGHT version of color 0 (BLACK). The
> Speccy, as far as I can remember, didn't have a BRIGHT BLACK.
My speccy does generate a bright black using the same program
> as for the stability of the pricture, I tried :
> 10 BORDER 0 : PAUSE 0 : BORDER 7 : PAUSE 0 : GOTO 10
> and each time I hit a key, the BORDER changed from 0 to 7. When the
> SYNC wasn't adjusted properly, with each switch from one black to white
> (and vice versa) the whole picture flickered/jumped. I couldn't really
> get a picture stable enough that would go from 0 border to 7 border
> without the image jumping (TV trying to re-sync) I think this is because
> of those aging components and the Variable Resistors can only help so
> much but afterall these components need to be changed. It's funny I have
> a 1982 speccy which never went bad, no caps dried out or anything, and
> has been working just fine since 1982! And we all thought uncle Clive
> used the cheapest possible components available at the time to keep the
> price down...
adjusting VR1 will fix that problem.
The best way to do it is while your T/S is loading something. If you
manage to get the picture stable while the border displays the loading
pattern then you're alright :-)
> Exactly, I measured the resistance on VR3 and VR2 on all machines
> and they were almost identical before we tweaked the one 2068's
> settings. I agree that it must be some sort of a capacitor drying out or
> something so that the tweaking on the R-y and B-y vectors are actually
> compensating for the malfunctioning components within the circuitry. If
> only I could locate these compnents and replace them with new ones, I
> would'nt need to change the VR2 and VR3 settings. Do you think we might
> be able to locate the capacitors or whatever is going bad and replace
> those instead of tweaking these settings ? I can only see a few
> electrolytic capacitors on the PCB. The two big ones are part of the DC
> regulation I believe and there are only a few others, so it wouldn't be
> hard to replace those. Do you know if there is any other kind of
> electronic components that may go bad in time other than the capacitors ?
Actually yes. I have schematics here, although they are pre-released ones,
so I will have to check them against my actual T/S to verify their
validity. Apart from that the rest is easy.
Phoebus
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14. Re: [ts2068] 2068 Video (color) problem...
Φοίβος Ρ. Ντόκος · Mon, 12 Dec 2005 16:28
Την Mon, 12 Dec 2005 15:13:20 -0500,ο(η) M. Emrah Oral <[email]>
έγραψε:
> You must be from Europe too. Looks like a big majority of the 2068
> people in the US are ex-Speccy users from Europe who moved to the US and
> felt homesick or nostalgic about the Speccy :)
>
I am indeed originally from Europe (Greece), however I am not an ex-Speccy
user :-) I am *a* Speccy user meaning that I never gave up on my Spectrum
or for what that matters my Sinclairs :-) I just wanted a T/S 2068 which I
could not get in Greece back when I got my Speccy. I still have my
original ZX (Zed Ex ;-)) Spectrum+ upgraded with CFIDE and SE Basic/Gosh
Wonderful Basic and I also have several upgraded QLs, a Q40 (QL
Compatible), a 512K Z88, two ZX81s (both custom made but one is a US
model), a T/S 1000. I also have an Archimedes A7000 and an Archimedes
A3000 :-) for good measure (not Sinclairs but damn fine machines)
I don't think though that 2068 users in the US are European. Maybe we are
a little bit more active but that's about it :-)
Phoebus
Indexed under
TS2068 / TC2068 · Video upgrades (composite, RGB, HDMI) · Repair & restoration