Old VIC-II Colors and Color Blending

Early VIC-II chips produced somewhat different colors than the later ones. In the earliest revisions the 16 colors had five luminance levels, i.e. brightness values. Black and white are the lowest and highest values, and the remaining 14 colors use three luminance levels that are evenly spaced in the brightness spectrum. Simply put, there are dark grey, medium grey and light grey, and all the colors are as bright or dark as these three shades of grey.

In later VIC-II revisions four intermediate luminance levels were introduced. Now there was nine luminance levels instead of the previous five. The palette with nine luminance levels is what most people consider as the normal C64 colors. From this article you can read all about C64 luminance levels and colors.

In this picture you can see how the different luminances affect picture that has been made for the “normal” C64 colors:

C64 S-Video cable – the easy way, and with no SCART

I made another C64 S-Video cable for a fellow Commodorist. Instead of using SCART, this time I made the cable as an actual S-Video lead, which admittedly is more universal than the SCART connector. Also this way it doesn’t take that much effort to make the cable.

This time I present you step-by-step instructions on how to make the thing. For more theoretical approach and details about the wirings and components, check the other post where I made the SCART cable.

I think the best and easiest way to make a cable like this is to use an ordinary S-Video and audio leads. And that’s what we’re going to do here.

Here’s what we need. An S-Video lead, an ordinary audio cable with RCA male connectors, an 8-pin DIN plug for the C64 Video port (check the other post for connector type details) and a 330 ohm resistor. Additionally you might need some heat shrinking tube, and of course, a soldering iron plus some solder, and tools for wire stripping and cutting. Not to forget a continuity tester or multimeter.