Towel Thrown (Buh-Bye LCD): I Broke Down and Bought a Commodore 1701

[bbking67]

Well after trying a few different solutions to output my Atari to an LCD monitor I have given up for now. I bought a used mint condition Commodore 1701 for $10 this morning and I am very pleased with it, though I will need my Apple green screen for XEP80 if i ever hook that up again. I was actually trolling for an 1802S or something with other options, but no luck and this one was real close to me so I jumped on it. I used to have an 1801 that had a nice image, but the flyback went on it and it went off to the recycling program. I think the 1701 is nicer that the 1801 in many ways (I like the type of power button).

 

The thing is that these modern devices have terrible conversion circuits for composite! i tried a Dell U2410 LCD display, and it introduces a ton of noise into the image and there is no way to correct aspect ratio. Lines are crooked and everything is very blurry. Sadly the U2410 component input isn't all that great either when connected to my PS2... so the U2410 is really only great for modern PC use.

 

I also tried a low end "Tv Box" that I bought a few years ago (non-name model TV-LCDHR) I got from Tiger Direct, and it has a very "soft" image with blurry everything. Total crap.

 

I am certain i can get a quality upscaler that I will be happy with, but prices are very high for the ones that seem most suited for vintage stuff.

 

Call me weird, but I actually like the way RF output looks. I have an RCA XL100 TV that works really well, but it has no composite inputs, just coax. I like the type of soft image produced, especially for games, but not so much for text.

 

Still looking for a "holy grail" upscaler to at least VGA (oh my gosh HDMI with audio would be nice), but for now there isn't much in my price range (I think about $100 is all I would spend). It looks like all new TV's have dropped S-video, so it looks like new-ish flatscreens are not going to be a good choice either.

 

/bbking67

[+Ransom]

It's tough to find a good LCD out there. I expect next time I replace mine, none of them will even have RCA inputs any more.

[bbking67]

Yes, I will find a great LCD TV or a decent upscaler eventually. After having bought the 1701 on the weekend, there is now a Commodore 1084S for sale in may area from an online ad. It's hard to resist the temptation.

 

...I'm picking it up after work today. The 1701 looks fabulous, so I am very interested to see how the Commodore 1084S fares (hopefully the condition is good).

 

Geez in a space of a week I have gone from an RCA XL100 TV (no composite at all), to a 1701 and now to a 1084S. A pretty good week!

 

/bbking67

[bbking67]

Turns out the 1084S is shot. Colour is very low... needs a new tube.

[sloopy]

damn, and i chucked my Magnavox CM40... perfect CRT replacement :'/

 

sloopy.

[+wood_jl]

I much prefer a nice sharp small CRT. Stuff just looks like it was designed to. I, too, have seen too many mixed results with LCDs on retro machines.

 

LCD sure looks unbeatable on modern PCs through DVI connections and running in correct native resolution, but THEY SUCK for any other application!

[MEtalGuy66]

They suck period compared to the latest CRT technologies.

[Charlie_]

damn, and i chucked my Magnavox CM40... perfect CRT replacement :'/

 

sloopy.

 

Was that the one rolling around in your trunk?

[sloopy]

nope, and the one in my trunk is STILL there... its been 1 year last Oct since i put it in there...

 

maybe one of these days I should do something about it ;')

 

sloopy.

[griz]

I much prefer a nice sharp small CRT. Stuff just looks like it was designed to. I, too, have seen too many mixed results with LCDs on retro machines.

 

LCD sure looks unbeatable on modern PCs through DVI connections and running in correct native resolution, but THEY SUCK for any other application!

 

I'm using a 13" Citizen CRT color TV I picked up a few years back (I think it was $75 new). At the time I was thinking I'd better get it before they disappear. LCDs were becoming all the rage and I had a soft spot for CRTs. I have wound up using it quite a lot for RF or Composite vintage gear.

 

Do the expensive up-scalers work well with modern lcds? I imagine there will come a time when good crts are rare. Maybe not in our lifetimes though...

[KLund1]

It would nice to have a sticky, or at least a thread with a list of Atari 8-bit fully compatible LCD's, brand, model, sup-model numbers, PAL or NTSE(US?). Same for ST's, though that would harder to do, and be a much smaller list.

I'm sure there are quite a few out there in Atari land that have got their LCD's to work. CRT's are going to be harder to come by, as those screens die off.

 

anyway, just a though.

[+Ransom]

It would nice to have a sticky, or at least a thread with a list of Atari 8-bit fully compatible LCD's, brand, model, sup-model numbers, PAL or NTSE(US?). Same for ST's, though that would harder to do, and be a much smaller list.

I'm sure there are quite a few out there in Atari land that have got their LCD's to work. CRT's are going to be harder to come by, as those screens die off.

 

anyway, just a though.

 

See this page for an ongoing discussion.