THE solution for video, for the PCjr... Your thoughts?

[Sharkey1331]

I'm currently using the composite output of my PCjr, in to a little LCD security monitor I use with alot of my retro computers- because it's got VGA, composite, HDMI, and BNC inputs on it. And it is small and portable, so it's easy to move from machine to machine. However, the display is small (8" diagonal), and the composite signal is pretty crappy as you all probably no doubt have experienced. It's OK, and the color is decent, but 80-column text is frustrating (just barely readable).. I have a super cheapo (off eBay, from china) video converter box, that will take the composite signal, and allow VGA output to the same monitor, and then the 80 column text is good- at the expense of super washouted out (almost black and white!) colors. (Oddly enough- a commodore 64 can use this converter and VGA monitor- and it's colors look great?!)

I wanted to start a conversation with you all, to see what your thoughts are. in this day and age- what is the best way to get good resolution, and good color out of the IBM PCjr? My goal would be- on par with the IBM PCjr 4863 CRT monitor. Of course, one solution would be, just use the CRT? BUT, they are expensive, and hard to ship. I'd love to have one. But, if there is a really good way to get that level of display, not spend more than it would cost to buy the CRT, but be able to use LCD, I'd like to use LCD. Less power consumption, new tech (so I'd not have to re-cap anything), and usability with other computers- for space conservation. (The 4863 is a beautiful beast though.. Anyone want to sell me one? )

I have an Apple IIgs, and I've hooked it to an old thrift-store purchased Dell LCD monitor, and interfaced the two using a "Gonbes 8220" converter. (I also used an eBay purchased cable converter- but could have just soldered something up- to essentially mate the Apple IIgs video cable to the Gonbes 8220.) It works well- but is not perfect. Here's what that solution looks like (not my photo, but representative):


..so, this is nice enough. BUT, a little washed out (due to my LCD monitor in use, not shown in this pic).. Also, the vertical lines are not there if one was using the correct CRT for this machine. I understand there is a "SCART to HDMI" solution that doesn't have the vertical banding issue. However, I'd need more converters- Apple IIgs -> SCART, and then my monitor doesn't have an HDMI input!

Back to PCjr. For those of you who have an LCD display- what are you using, and how do you like it/how do you think it compares to the CRT option? Can you post pics? Also, advise what LCD you are using (if you're using LCD) so I can see the colors.. The old Dell I have for the above mentioned IIgs is great size/footprint, but washed out (true-black sucks! and I'm not really a videophile! But, the Blue background in BASIC on the IIgs looks like a blue-ish grey on that setup!)

It appears there are a few parts to using an LCD if you go that route. I searched for other threads discussing this here, and there are a few- but the pics have all expired so I couldn't see the quality- and with tech changing and it being 2020 and all, I felt starting a new thread would be a good idea. I'd love to see CRT pics too if you use that, to A:B the difference.

Jason

[Trixter]

Some people have been using an RGB TTL converter to VGA output called the MCE2VGA. I am not a huge fan since it makes some design choices that don't suit my specific needs, but there are a lot of happy people using them, so that's another option. You'd need the PCjr video cable to turn the PCjr connector into a 9-pin CGA connector.

[ZiggyTheHamster]

You can also make the aforementioned connector yourself if you desire. The pinouts are readily available. The downside is that you probably don't have a nice enough cable to do this with, and using something like a Cat 6 cable like I did is going to introduce noise and make the image quality not great.

[alanh]

The downside is that you probably don't have a nice enough cable to do this with, and using something like a Cat 6 cable like I did is going to introduce noise and make the image quality not great.

Noise doesn't matter unless you fall off the cliff. CGA signals are entirely digital - not analog.

[ZiggyTheHamster]

The sync is analog, I thought? I have some slight jailbars in solid colors on my display via CGA, likely due to the fact that my cable is made using Ethernet cable.