C64 B&W edition

[nintendoeats]

I have a Commodore 64 which has been kicking around for ages. I vaguely remember it having colour when I first plugged it in (I may be wrong about that) but when I got a disk drive with a stack of games I plugged it in to find only B&W graphics. It works totally fine (I think, I have no idea how to work this thing beyond actually booting the games), but no colour. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance

[Saabmeister]

If you are using the RCA cables to plug it into a TV, you'll only get black and white. The plugs send out two video signals, Chroma (Red), and Luma (Yellow), and one audio signal (White). You need a Commodore monitor or need to hook it up with an RCA adapter.

Or something is completely screwed with your Commodore.

[nintendoeats]

That sounds like it could be it. So if I were to use Coaxial it would be fine?

[nintendoeats]

right, sorry, you said that. brilliant. thanks :)

[FABombjoy]

If you are using the RCA cables to plug it into a TV, you'll only get black and white.
The C64 outputs both Y/C & Composite (or, Composite only if the C64 only has a 5-pin jack), so it depends on the pinout of the cable you have.

[Pete Rittwage]

You have the cable plugged in wrong. There is a separate Composite and a Luma signal and the composite can be used for the Chroma in the Y/C connection or by itself for color composite output. If you use just the Luma, you'll get B/W like you describe.

BTW this is the same video cable that the Atari computers and Sega Genesis use (and probably others)- it seems like the TI994/A uses that cable also.

Just don't fool with switching the wires while it's on, or you'll easily fry your SID (sound) chip.

[nintendoeats]

Ok, you've lost me. What exactly ar you proposing that I do?

[evildragon]

On my C64 cable:

Yellow: Luma
Red: Chroma
White: Audio