Video And Hard Drive Issues

[zunebuggy]

OK every time I search for this I reach a dead end and I know other
people must be frustrated too. I live in the U.S. Every post about the
Amiga 500 ends with "well I have an Amiga xxxx and I'm not sure how
you do this on the Amiga 500". I have an Amiga 500 and no monitor and
no hard drive. I have been using UAE for a while and I don't see the
advantage of having an actual Amiga 500 over the UAE emulator. I have
the A520 video adapter and thought I could run a RCA cable from Video
Out (not RF out) to the yellow RCA jack on my TV. No go, it's
scrambled. Then I read and someone said I need a scan doubler. I
cannot locate one on eBay or anywhere. It looks like they are not
even available anywhere overseas. Then in the US, Amazon has a SCART
to RCA converter (which I am not sure will work without the doubler)
and it has a SCART male. I cannot find an RGB DB23 Female to SCART
female cable and if I did I am not sure this wouldn't be a waste of
money and not work. I can cut down a 25 pin D-Sub without issue and
make my own stuff. As a matter of fact, I have a degree in
electronics engineering but I have not worked in video at all. I have
been strictly multiplexers, audio modulation and some frequency
up/down conversion in the MHz and GHz band. So I am very new to this
video conversion and what I intuitively think will work does not. Here
is the problem. My monitor has VGA and DVI. My flat screen Hi-Def TV
has RCA, HDMI, RGB (RCA style 3 color RGB). They are all newer models (2011 and newer). My TV has RF in also (although I heard this is virtually unusable with Amiga). I do not
care if I use my TV or my monitor with the Amiga, I just want crsip
clear color video. I should add that I was able to use the Mono color
composite video and get a very crisp black and white image on my TV. This will not work for me though, as I want to use the Amiga for graphics.
If I build some device that works, I would make a step by step YouTube video of how I did it so other people will not have to go through this. I just need to get started with stuff that I can get in the U.S. and is reasonably priced because I do not want to put that much money into this. If I have to, I think I'll just stick with UAE. Also, I have space PCs. I know I can make a NULL cable to transfer adf files to the Amiga, but I do not have a hard drive. Just the built in 3.5 floppy. Is it possible to just leave this PC connected via the cable and use the spare PC as a hard drive for the Amiga?
 
Thank you very much,
Zune

[desiv]

Lot's happening in this e-mail..  I'll try to take it one at a time..

I live in the U.S. Every post about the
Amiga 500 ends with "well I have an Amiga xxxx and I'm not sure how
you do this on the Amiga 500".

Yes, expansions aren't as easy on the A500, but they are around...

I have an Amiga 500 and no monitor and
no hard drive. I have been using UAE for a while and I don't see the
advantage of having an actual Amiga 500 over the UAE emulator.

Many people are in that situation.  UAE variants are great.  No argument if that's what you like.

I have the A520 video adapter and thought I could run a RCA cable from Video Out (not RF out) to the yellow RCA jack on my TV. No go, it's
scrambled.

That should work.
You have an NTSC A500 going to an NTSC A520 going to video-in on your TV?
That should work fine...  Something isn't working..  Try going from the video-out RCA on your A500 to your video-in RCA on your TV.  It will be monochrome, but it should work and let you know your A500 is working...

Then I read and someone said I need a scan doubler.

Not really.
You need a scan doubler IF you want to run your Amiga on a VGA monitor (and see 15khz resolutions, which is almost everything on the A500)
You do NOT need a scan doubler for connecting to a television.
 

I cannot locate one on eBay or anywhere. It looks like they are not even available anywhere overseas.

They come up from time to time on e-bay.  There is also the Indivisions that can be had, which are "new" scandoublers.  Incredible devices, but spendy.
If you're OK with solder (or know someone who is), the GBS-82x0 will work.  Not as nice as an Indivision, but MUCH less money.

Then in the US, Amazon has a SCART to RCA converter (which I am not sure will work without the doubler)
and it has a SCART male. I cannot find an RGB DB23 Female to SCART
female cable and if I did I am not sure this wouldn't be a waste of
money and not work.

I wouldn't bother with all that hassle...

I can cut down a 25 pin D-Sub without issue and
make my own stuff. As a matter of fact, I have a degree in
electronics engineering but I have not worked in video at all.

As said above then, the GBS-82x0 might be a good option IF you want to use your Amiga on a VGA monitor.

I should add that I was able to use the Mono color
composite video and get a very crisp black and white image on my TV.

OK, sounds like your A520 is broken....
You can also get a much better adapter.  Amigamaniac and kipper2k make an Amiga to composite AND s-video board that's pretty cheap and a MUCH nicer pic than the A520.

Is it possible to just leave this PC connected via the cable and use the spare PC as a hard drive for the Amiga?

I believe there is some parallel port networking software that might allow you to do that.
You can also get an IDE (usually Compact Flash) adapter for under $100 for your A500.  mkl and tomthul (both hang out on Amibay) make them in batches and release them from time to time.

Good luck..

desiv

[SACC-guy]

@zune
Finding upgrades for the 500 is little harder but,

Several members of SACC have done so.
If you wan t to see and/or buy stuff for your 500...(wait for it)

Come to AmiWest2012 in Sacramento, CA!!!

We'll even help you install stuff.

[danbeaver]

Zune, you are not alone.

The three major forum sites are this one, Amibay's AmiOracle, and the French "English Amiga Board."  All will help you problem shoot and Amibay does a lot of hardware trading.

Desiv is correct about your problem. In addition, Amigakit sells an Amiga 23-pin video cable to SCART tv input and a few US tv's (Samsung & Sony) have them here. If you only want to play games, then you don't need a scan doubler; if you plan on text work or productivity projects, then they are extremely helpful. The best is the Indivision ECS @ $107 USD, but a GBS-8220 will only run $30 to $50 vs that. The A500 was popular in the US while the A1200 was popular in Europe; as luck would have it, the A1200 was more advanced and easier to upgrade and enhance. The better US choice were the A4000 and A4000T.

Now back to WinUAE. There is a guide to make a PC act just like an Amiga with booting directly into WinUAE, but under the hood is DOS with a sandwich of WinXP. Some folks use this as their Fait Accompli Amiga because you use standard hardware and get good speed running Amiga programs. I myself grew up on the old hardware (punch cards and teletype terminals) and about crapped on myself when I saw the chance to get my hands on my own computer. So I run Amiga software on Amiga hardware (another topic), others like the Amiga OS as a puzzle to be solved -- it has that "tweak me until my nipples hurt" feel to it.

But before you start getting lost in that dream, check you wallet and get a pre-nup. It may be a "no go" situation.