An Expensive TV...Macintosh TV Logic Board in a Color Classic

[KnobsNSwitches]

I've read a couple forum posts from years ago claiming that a Mac TV logic board works in a Color Classic. 

And that the screen res will be 640x480 with no VGA mod necessary.

I was skeptical, but came across a Mac TV board for sale and wanted to find out.

So I did, and the rumors are true:





 I don't have a plastic hex adjusting tool, so I'm hoping I'll be able to get the screen to display right once I can adjust the pots. It's not as dark as it appears in that first pic but the screen it is definitely darker than when running with the regular CC board..

 

[Bolle]

My bet is you won't be able to set this up correctly by using just the pots.

 

[KnobsNSwitches]

Well I improvised a crt adjustment tool with a wooden chopstick. I've gotten things much better, but the horizontal bow (PB) adjustment doesn't seem to make any difference, so things are stuck with this pinched middle picture.

 

[KnobsNSwitches]

i've continued tweaking knobs, and I've got things more useable for now. I think if I shrank the vertical height even more things would be a normal ratio but that's more black bars than I want for now. It seems if I expand the horizontal width farther the horizontal bow doesn't affect the picture.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Very interesting project, but I don't get it other than doing it just for kicks, which I totally get. The only thing the MacTV has over the CC is the the faster clock, it falls short in every other category as compared to the CC, no?

Cool stuff! :approve:

 

[just.in.time]

I believe the CC can handle 10mb RAM where as the TV logic board can only address 8mb RAM. Also, CC supports FPU, TV does not, iirc.

that said, hooking up a PlayStation 1 to a color classic sounds cool. And the TV logic board can run 7.1 plenty confidently, and up to 7.5.5 reasonably well if you keep your expectations tempered appropriately. (Speaking from my own experience there)

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Yep, that's a good breakdown of the differences aside from loss of LC PDS for a NIC, which is no real loss for a TV GameStation CC. That's actually about as useful as anything short of a PowerCC can get. With that hack you get TV AND eggroll! :lol:

 

[just.in.time]

@Trash80toHP_Mini Ah yes, the LC PDS slot exchange for the tuner card, forgot that one. I think we covered it

@KnobsNSwitches if you do get it working please share what you did. Definitely a cool project for the pure case of “why not?”

 

[KnobsNSwitches]

It really is a case of "why not?" 

In usage it does feel snappier than the stock CC, but I also have a 550 board feels faster than the TV board, but it also has 36 megs of RAM (and a faster bus speed, so it should be faster!) 

But I hooked up the original NES for some retro gaming fun, as well a Nintendo Wii and played some TG16. The screen is still squished (same as last pic), but it's useable. Not great, but useble.

 I'm looking at some of the VGA mod stuff out there for the CC (a capacitor at location CL26 is possibly a fix for this type of screen if the board has been VGA modded, but mine hasn't) so I'm kind of in uncharted territory here. But that's part of the fun.

 

[Retro Rider]

if the Mac TV board works with the CC, I'm guessing the CC board works in the Mac TV, that seems like a fun test!

 

[KnobsNSwitches]

So i've been rolling with the CC as pictured here since last fall, and I have to admit, I'd like the picture to be the right ratio.

If I performed the VGA mod, does anyone have any idea if that would allow me to stretch the picture more horizontally? Being that the Mac TV board shows 640x480 without the mod, I'm just not sure what would happen if I did proceed, and I'd hate to mangle a functional CC.

 

[mraroid]

Is your Mac TV logic board sporting a 68030 or a 68040? How fast is the bus?
 
Yep, it is a project I would jump right into if I had that board.  The TV tuner is for over the air analog TV broadcasts that are not transmitted any more.  But maybe you could hook a VCR or a laser disk player up to it?  What kind of video and audio inputs do you have?
 
I did the mystic mod to my CC and it has a LC 575 board with a full 68040 processor in it.  The 68040 processor that comes with the 575 is the crippled one.  A full 68040 processor is a drop in replacement.  No muss, no fuss.  I have 128 MBs of RAM.  The mystic takes forever to boot with that much memory, but I like having the headroom. Now that I have this speed under the hood, I am not sure that I could go back to a slower processor.  But we all know the solution to that problem - buy another CC to play with!
 
Please keep us updated and post more pictures.  I would like to see the rear of that TV logic board.  I do not know the first thing about gaming, but it seems that you do.  Great addition to the CC  family. I hope you can find a fix for the video.
 
mraroid

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Unless it's just for kicks, IMO the only reasonable 68K upgrade to a CC for video/gamestation would involve a 580 board upgrade that uses the Q630 A/V input card. You can just ditch the tuner unless you want to listen to FM Radio. After that it's PowerCC all the way to G3. Mystic upgrade is nice, TAKKY/PowerCC is the bombe! :approve: