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I discovered a device which extracts composite video and stereo sound from RF signals.

 

http://www.allaboutadapters.com/prrfcotocovi.html

 

It worked beautifully with an Atari2600; there was only a little snow when the device itself was near other electronic items like the TV and Atari, and when I moved it away, zero snow. On a CRT I saw a couple slight artifacts on the upper left screen. Zero artifacts on an HDTV.

 

But when I tried it with my TRS-80 Color Computer 2 the picture was very snowy.

 

They have a similar PAL unit as well.

 

I wish this company would come out with a unit that took NTSC and PAL RF, had HDTV out, and somehow enhanced signals from weak devices like, apparently, the CoCo2....

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It's a bit expensive for something that a VCR can do for free :D

As for enhancing, as engineers says : GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out)

The signal you will get can only be as good as what you input. If the signal from yur system is weak, you need to improve it at the source.

And the more you add processus to improve the signal, the more likely you will introduce lag, making the device useless for gaming.

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"The Model I failed the new FCC regulations about RF emissions generated by computers. It is unshielded and could cause interference on near-by radios and televisions. "

 

​Model II apparently also wasn't tested

TRS-80-II_fcc.jpg

 

So a TV transmitter would get unacceptable interference near it

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It's an RF demodulator. It says it right in the name :)

 

It's just a separate version of what comes in every VCR. It may or may not be better; different VCR's had better or worse demodulators, just like you can probably buy better or worse separate demodulators now. I don't know if this is a good one or not. I do feel like most of these are probably overpriced compared to buying a decent used VCR, although this one isn't outrageous. A lot of them are $100+. I've seen them for pretty near $200, which is crazy. The RF signal just isn't that good to begin with; it's always good to prevent further degradation but I doubt you'd notice a heck of a lot of difference between a $30 VCR and a $200 separate demodulator, because the original output's already pretty crappy.

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"The Model I failed the new FCC regulations about RF emissions generated by computers. It is unshielded and could cause interference on near-by radios and televisions. "

 

​Model II apparently also wasn't tested

TRS-80-II_fcc.jpg

 

So a TV transmitter would get unacceptable interference near it

The OP's CoCo 2 is neither a TRS-80 Model I or Model II.

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Has anyone here ever gotten zero "snow" using a VCR? Again, that was not my experience with a VCR, and I got it with this when I moved it a bit away from the TV and Atari. But I don't know, maybe I was using crappy VCR's...

Zero snow is quite hard to reach, as most of our home systems have weak RF emitters to begin with, and an awful lot of them come with a RF cord 2 metres long made in a very thin coaxial wire, which usually mean not enough shielding and too mugh lenght.

But I managed to get a pretty snow free picture with some German made systems coupled with a VCR, but those were snow free to begin with (the VCR was used because my old TV I used for them wouldn't accept PAL from the antenna, only SECAM L, but the SCART would accept PAL signals).

So yeah it's possible, but again, GIGO applies here : if you cannot get a clean signal from the console directly wired to your TV, but that you know your TV have a good tuner, there is little hope that adding an intermediate device in the chain will improve thing.

Now if you know that your TV has a poor RF tuner, using a separate device is a good idea, but that doesn't make the device better than the raw connection.

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A weak RF transmitter aside, one thing that always bugged the crap out of me were the 8/16bit AC Adapters. I mean come on, huge ass medieval ball on a chain brick action going on there. So damned fat you can't get two of them side by side on a power strip as they'll cover up those next to it.

 

Has anyone ever made like a Y splitter, no more than maybe 2-4" of cording just so you can lay those things to the side or do you just have to go with your usual overly long extension cord with the 2 jacks on one side 1 on the other solution? I've been greatly thinking of dumping that stupid R5 and dusting off my top loader and original SNES instead.

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Won't any of the game switches do the same thing for $20?

 

As for fat PSU's I got some short extension cords about 6" just for that. Don't remember what they're called and they were hella expensive, but I got a bunch on clearance for like a buck each a few years back.

 

I also got some power bars with lots of space between plugs for power bricks. Got it from hardware instead of electronics. Thing seems to be made for electronics which is weird as I don't recall many if any tools with a brick type of plugin.

 

Oh god. Genesis, Sega CD, and 32x (and yes a few games used all three) each with their own brick. Rediculous lol

Edited by Video
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I do the same thing with one of my spare VCRs. Or at least I used to. Due to the number of consoles and switch boxes I have setup, I eventually went back to having all of my RF consoles connected straight to the coax input on my TV. It's not the best signal, but those consoles get the least amount of play time from me anyway. I was lucky enough to pick up a cheap coax spliter. I have my 2600, 5200, Odyssey and Odyssey2 hooked up to the splitter and running into my TV. Good enough for me.

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Weird. I swear I've done that. Maybe some do and some don't.

I have a JVC 8 input switcher that has a Y/C separator circuit in it. Meaning it allows me to use composite input and still get an S-Video output. However, while it does essentially work and is a sharp signal, it does so with a horrible waffle pattern on most of the image. So the point being that if there are devices able to do that from a composite it doesn't surprise me. Heck I have several modulators I used for my retro game event back over the years so I could use newer consoles on RF only connections. But never invested or had a need for De-modulator.

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I think I should find another cheap small splitter. I have one now but it's component and it's very long so it's an uncomfortable space waster I have no clue where to put. That with whatever those 6" extension cord jacks are that would be ideal for old PSUs like the NES/SNES have. This thread reminded me I was going to offload that Retron5 for a Retrofreak or just go back to the originals.

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8/16bit AC Adapters. I mean come on, huge ass medieval ball on a chain brick action going on there. So damned fat you can't get two of them side by side on a power strip as they'll cover up those next to it.

 

Has anyone ever made like a Y splitter, no more than maybe 2-4" of cording just so you can lay those things to the side or do you just have to go with your usual overly long extension cord with the 2 jacks on one side 1 on the other solution? I've been greatly thinking of dumping that stupid R5 and dusting off my top loader and original SNES instead.

I made that, jsut go to your DIY shop and buy like a meter of electric wire (or get some from a broken lamp or something) and make yourself short extensions cords.

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I think I recall seeing a big thick hard rubber Y type thing that goes right into the wall (or power strip) too many years ago to remember when. I bet that might work without having more cords dangling around, though it probably would look a little funny trying to balance 2 NES/SNES power bricks in the air in some sick balancing act.

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Has anyone ever made like a Y splitter, no more than maybe 2-4" of cording just so you can lay those things to the side or do you just have to go with your usual overly long extension cord with the 2 jacks on one side 1 on the other solution?

 

 

I found this one... but you could also get some a little cheaper that are just one foot power cords, and plug them into the power strip for anything that has a wall wart. I think I've also seen some power strips/surge protectors that have the plugs spaced out extra wide to accommodate these adapters.

 

https://www.sfcable.com/14-16-awg-nema-5-15p-to-2-nema-5-15r-outlet-saver-power-cord-splitter.html?gdffi=afde19f4670e4f608861514cfe93a30d&gdfms=D0E400A90BB14FDC9B4510E986ADD6B7&gclid=CjwKEAjwxurIBRDnt7P7rODiq0USJADwjt5Db5M8VDOwHkNj_qnqkwHNxdCV0hFcJYgYONwVYMj2BBoCWwPw_wcB

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A weak RF transmitter aside, one thing that always bugged the crap out of me were the 8/16bit AC Adapters. I mean come on, huge ass medieval ball on a chain brick action going on there. So damned fat you can't get two of them side by side on a power strip as they'll cover up those next to it.

 

Has anyone ever made like a Y splitter, no more than maybe 2-4" of cording just so you can lay those things to the side or do you just have to go with your usual overly long extension cord with the 2 jacks on one side 1 on the other solution? I've been greatly thinking of dumping that stupid R5 and dusting off my top loader and original SNES instead.

 

I have bought these extension cords from Walmart that are short like that and made for that purpose. They also light up with LED's. I use the LED's to remind me to unplug them and/or turn off the power strip.

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I think I recall seeing a big thick hard rubber Y type thing that goes right into the wall (or power strip) too many years ago to remember when. I bet that might work without having more cords dangling around, though it probably would look a little funny trying to balance 2 NES/SNES power bricks in the air in some sick balancing act.

US NES and SNES power bricks are wall hogs?

It's one think I like with nintendo up to the Switch, that all of their systems came with a CORD.

980003242.jpg

Nes, SNES, N64, GC, Wii and Wii U all came with "corded" power supplies. The portable doesn't, but the GBA/DS/3DS power supplies are thin enough that they doesn' take more space that a regular plug here.

Edited by CatPix
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US NES and SNES power bricks are wall hogs?

It's one think I like with nintendo up to the Switch, that all of their systems came with a CORD.

980003242.jpg

Nes, SNES, N64, GC, Wii and Wii U all came with "corded" power supplies. The portable doesn't, but the GBA/DS/3DS power supplies are thin enough that they doesn' take more space that a regular plug here.

 

Yes, in the US the NES and SNES power supplies are wall warts just like the SMS, Genesis, 7800, 2600...were.

 

Console5.com also sells these small extension cords for the reasons listed above. They do the job nicely while they don't give you the advantage of splitting 1 outlet into two; I do feel they are safer to use with power strips.

 

https://console5.com/store/1-foot-extension-cord.html

Edited by -^Cro§Bow^-
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