The Dark Forest's Outbreak64 Aims to Give Your Commodore 64 Its Best Composite, S-video Outputs
Offering S-Video, composite video, and the option of stereo audio outputs, this board-sandwich works with most C64 models.
Pseudonymous Swedish vintage computing enthusiast "The Dark Forest" has released a new accessory for the popular Commodore 64 family of eight-bit microcomputers: the Outbreak64 video output board.
"The Outbreak64 connects to your C64s 8-pin A/V port," The Dark Forest explains of the two-part circuit-board sandwich they have designed, "and gives you easy access to S-video (4-pin mini DIN), audio in, audio out and composite video (RCA)."
In doing so, it solves a key problem with enthusiasts trying to get the Commodore 64 up and running with modern displays: The need for custom cable or reliance on a RF output and the by-now obsolete analog TV tuner.
The board is designed to offer more than a simple video output, however: It also includes a trimpot designed to adjust the chroma levels, allowing the user to fix color bleeding; support for stereo sound, if the host Commodore 64 has been modified with a second SID chip; and a toggle to disable sound input, in order to minimize unwanted noise.
The Outbreak64 is broadly compatible, supporting both the classic "breadbin" Commodore 64 and the more Amiga-like Commodore 64C range — but cannot be used with the very earliest Commodore 64 models that used a five-pin audio/video port in place of the later eight-pin port for which the Outbreak64 is designed.
The Outbreak64 is now available on The Dark Forest's Tindie store, priced at $29.