The Sinclair QL Forum

Hi everyone. Just came across my old Sinclair. Has been in a box for over 30 years. I hardly remember anything I did with this when I was 10 but looking forward to getting reacquainted. It's a UK model so I have had to get a 50W step up transformer for it. I managed to connect the uhf output to an LCD TV with some difficulty. The TV allows for fine tuning and I am able to see a rather fuzzy screen on channel 35 though it is in black and white. After about 10 min the screen becomes all distorted and starts to scroll. After doing some reading here I am now pursuing the RGB connector option. The current cable I have is one I have not come across in my readings. It a DIN 9 on the computer side and looks like a CGA connector on the monitor side. I am going to try to get a QL to Scart cable from retroahack and then get a Scart to HDMI converter off eBay. Looks like retroahack is in vacation so might be a month or so before I can make progress. Look forward to sharing some experiences here.

Welcome.

I shall exhaust my electronics "knowledge" by mentioning that after 30 years in a box, I'd say that there's a pretty good chance that (all) the electrolytic capacitors on the circuit board are probably shot!

Hopefully though, they are not and you can get a picture. If it's a UK model, I suspect you might need a 50 Hz PAL TV, I think the US has 60 Hz NTSC so perhaps that's why the picture is a fuzzy black
and white one. Maybe. Perhaps!

Good luck. Let us know how you get on.

Cheers,
Norm.

Welcome, we have quite a few US QL users

Thank you. The unit seems functional indeed. I loaded the quill cartridge and the program came up. I tried the games cartridge too and was able to run the games. So I am hopeful.

The display is black and white because of the PAL / NTSC issue. The SCART to HDMI converter though handles both input types so I understand I should get a color display. As for the fuzzy (and cut off) nature of the display, again I am hopeful the converter will correct that.

If anyone would like to see pictures I'd more than happy to provide.

yes using RGB cable picture should be nice and clear!

heems wrote:Thank you. The unit seems functional indeed. I loaded the quill cartridge and the program came up. I tried the games cartridge too and was able to run the games. So I am hopeful.

The display is black and white because of the PAL / NTSC issue. The SCART to HDMI converter though handles both input types so I understand I should get a color display. As for the fuzzy (and cut off) nature of the display, again I am hopeful the converter will correct that.

If anyone would like to see pictures I'd more than happy to provide.

It is common for TV sets to lose part of the QL display picture. When this happens, what you'll usually get is roughly the central 80 characters of the 85 character text display. Not always central, sometimes you lose a little bit more on one side or the other. Some TVs may lose parts of the top or bottom as well, hence why you have a monitor and TV mode choice at startup. Interestingly, the Psion programs may not be so bad in this respect, as they tend to only use a 80 character screen, so you might lose lesss of the display than a program which uses the full 512 pixel 85 character screen width.

Plugging the QL into SCART input does not normally help with this, although the display will be clearer, steadier and less strain on the eyes than the RF output of course. In terms of fuzzy RF display, the QL is no worse than other computers of the time with similar RF displays. Back then, it was "the norm" and we didn't mind it so much as we do today.

This thread might be useful: http://www.qlforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php? ... hdmi#p7736

I have one of these SCART to HDMI converters on my QL, used with a Low cost TV with HDMI connector - there is a whole thread on this elsewhere on the QL Forum with pictures etc. http://www.qlforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php? ... hdmi#p5967

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome!

Absolutely RGB cable + HDMI upscaler is the best choice.

Retro Shak is on vacation but It will come back very soon.

Welcome!
Adopting the RGB output is the best solution. Some video converters accept RGB signals directly, so you might also consider the option to purchase one of them avoiding the SCART cable.

heems wrote:Hi everyone. Just came across my old Sinclair. Has been in a box for over 30 years. I hardly remember anything I did with this when I was 10 but looking forward to getting reacquainted. It's a UK model so I have had to get a 50W step up transformer for it. I managed to connect the uhf output to an LCD TV with some difficulty. The TV allows for fine tuning and I am able to see a rather fuzzy screen on channel 35 though it is in black and white. After about 10 min the screen becomes all distorted and starts to scroll. After doing some reading here I am now pursuing the RGB connector option. The current cable I have is one I have not come across in my readings. It a DIN 9 on the computer side and looks like a CGA connector on the monitor side. I am going to try to get a QL to Scart cable from retroahack and then get a Scart to HDMI converter off eBay. Looks like retroahack is in vacation so might be a month or so before I can make progress. Look forward to sharing some experiences here.

Welcome Heems