We are huge fans of retro computers here at Tindie, and the constant stream of amazing new tweaks and hacks for these classic machines never ceases to amaze us. This S-Video and Composite Mod … Thing for the VIC-20 improves the output quality of the composite video and adds an ultra-sharp S-Video output to boot! While the VIC-20 was a solid design, most televisions in the early 1980s simply didn’t have the ability to resolve fine edges and so the original VIC chip didn’t need to generate top-tier video output, it just had to be good enough to be usable.
As time wore on and TV technology vastly improved, the shortcomings of the original composite output stage from the VIC became more and more obvious. Fuzzy output, ringing on high frequencies leading to loss of definition, and poor contrast all added up to make the picture less than stellar. On a modern television, the VIC-20 looks… pretty sad, to be honest. But this board remedies that by retroactively applying high-quality circuit design and quality components to the output stage. The difference really is astounding:
Installation requires some soldering, but nothing too difficult. If in doubt, just wrangle the nearest hacker by offering cake and cookies in exchange for soldering. It’s possible to install the mod in such a way that it can be completely undone in case you want to return your VIC back to its original form, though we suspect few will want to!
