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TheC64 Full Size - Pre-orders Open for USA


StephenJ

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  • 2 weeks later...
5 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

I do not purchase from Amazon, so I will have to wait for it to appear elsewhere, anyway.

Me neither, but I imagine eBay and Etsy prices will need to be competitive ... or are you waiting for something to pop up on Goodwill, haha.

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16 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

hehehe nah, given my disappointment over the seeming loss of interest for the Mini, I will probably give the Maxi a miss. 

I got the Mini, but it was $30. Like, what the hell. I think I would rather get an original C64 with the sd hard drive replacement than the Maxi. Pricey, but you do all the original equipment things the emulator wont.

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I paid $60 for the Mini when it was first released.  I honestly did not think it would available in sufficient quantities to live out initial buys.  I figured it would be $60 (or $69?) sell out in a couple of months, then that would be it.  Had no idea it would drop to $30 and still be available even now.

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13 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

I paid $60 for the Mini when it was first released.  I honestly did not think it would available in sufficient quantities to live out initial buys.  I figured it would be $60 (or $69?) sell out in a couple of months, then that would be it.  Had no idea it would drop to $30 and still be available even now.

I get the same sense about the Maxi as the Euro version is around $230 to the USA and hasn't dropped, but could be wrong.

 

Speaking of the original, does the SD card replacement hard drive do cassettes and carts as well as disks?

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3 hours ago, carlsson said:

Well, back in January 2020, I hinted that I probably could export a THEC64 Full version to anyone of you for $150 shipped, but nobody bite.

I may or may not have responded to that; the offer is appreciated nonetheless.  I do recall I mentioned I wanted to pick up a real North American release unit, in case there would be any differences between a Euro and US release.  If they are the same then I would have no problem picking one up in such a manner.

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Yeah. I was mainly calculating the lowest possible cost to export an unit ahead of time. I understand that people on eBay are making about ~$70-80 profits on each item sold, something that definitely will end if THEC64 is sold on the US market at $130 + shipping. If you're not aware of what these cost locally in Europe, it is easy to believe the system is that expensive to begin with, while in practice it is a matter of 60% markup to unsuspecting American buyers.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I received the full sized “The VIC 20” yesterday.  I have not compared the list of included software with “The 64” but there seem to be a fair number of VIC 20 games included in the Carousel.  Feels like more than what The 64 includes.  The other difference is that it offers VIC 20 mode as the “default” default instead of 64 mode, but in all other respects, it’s the same as the 64.  

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I think TheC64 full sized unit is a good device. It is especially a good device for those folks who do not have a C64 at all anymore and just want to have most of the experience without dealing with nearly 40 year old hardware. It does indeed work great and the software compatibility is quite high. The emulation is pretty spot on.

 

The only thing that kills it for me is that it is HDMI only. Of course it is pixel perfect crisp on an HDMI flat panel TV, but that is not nostalgic to me personally. I like to use my Commodore 8-bit machines with a CRT TV. If they just added a composite or s-video option that would have been great.

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5 minutes ago, carlsson said:

Aren't there external HDMI to composite video degraders?

Yes.  Down-scalers are difficult but not impossible to find.  That is, I have a difficult time finding them in-channel, but you can get them from various outlets.

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On 10/28/2020 at 4:27 PM, carlsson said:

Aren't there external HDMI to composite video degraders?

 

I have never found anything that truly works "good". They all display a really cruddy or unreliable image. I have tested so many of these in the past and they never satisfy.

 

The RetroTink works so well for taking old sources to HDMI. I think what I would need here is a reverse RetroTink ;)

 

Aside this, TheC64 is really a fantastic device. I would highly recommend this to newcomers that just want a simple and easy way to play some old games and do some basic things on the computer. It's cheaper than a real machine, much less prone to issues, easier to get connected to a modern display, easier to get software to it, has a pretty good keyboard. It's really great that this thing exists at all.

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FWIW, the full version of VICE (assuming that THEC64 runs a licensed version of the emulator) has settings for CRT emulation and blur but perhaps they scaled away all the extra settings in order to make a simplified product? Since this is a mass market product, I suppose it dictates which features and options it should have and that the majority of customers are using a modern HDMI capable TV, expecting as crisp graphics as possible.

 

If you DIY something with a RPi or small PC, you probably can get composite video output from it. Or use real gear like many of us others. Yes, I know I am boring but when it comes to niche use cases you can't expect that a mass market product will satisfy those.

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11 hours ago, eightbit said:

I have never found anything that truly works "good".

I am a VAR for a company out of Oregon which makes video equipment for professional A/V installations. It used to have a line of down-scalers which were "commercial-grade."  At least, not the one-chip consumer solutions you pick up from China, &c.  I have a good bit of equipment left over from a job which never paid me and this is one of the pieces.  It has a really good composite and S-Video output.  There are some equivalents out there I have seen, just never bothered to note the names -- with some exceptions, just about all A/V small equipment are made by just a handful of manufacturers and re-branded.

 

Anyway, I am holding onto this device like it is gold.

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8 hours ago, carlsson said:

FWIW, the full version of VICE (assuming that THEC64 runs a licensed version of the emulator) has settings for CRT emulation and blur but perhaps they scaled away all the extra settings in order to make a simplified product? Since this is a mass market product, I suppose it dictates which features and options it should have and that the majority of customers are using a modern HDMI capable TV, expecting as crisp graphics as possible.

 

If you DIY something with a RPi or small PC, you probably can get composite video output from it. Or use real gear like many of us others. Yes, I know I am boring but when it comes to niche use cases you can't expect that a mass market product will satisfy those.

 

Yup, I use real gear on a real CRT (I have a few Commodores) so it isn't necessary for me to have a TheC64 at all let alone have one and hook it up composite or chroma/luma. But, it would be cool for that to be possible ;)

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 Pre-ordered mine today! Kind of excited, my VIC 20 has been flaky these past few years and that was a selling point for me. That and the amount of software available without messing around with real floppy disks and stuff.

 

  Pretty much everything I have loaded on my BackBit sd card I can swap over for use on this machine.  I do have the 64 mini and I like it. Being able to swap disks (like I can in VICE) was selling point #2.   I think this will be a fine addition to my addiction. 

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DavidC,
I got the following email from Amazon on Thursday (11/05) regarding my THEC64 preorder...

We're encountering a delay in shipping your order. We’ll make every effort to get the delayed item to you as soon as possible. If you still want this item, please confirm below. We apologize for the delay.

 

Edited by StephenJ
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