• Published on | Mar 19, 2013 | by FozzTexx

Seeing above the DIN

Last night while I was fiddling with the newest addition to my collection of retro computers, my Commodore 64, I was having problems with the video output on the DIN connector. Everything I had found on the internet said that the Commodore 64, the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, and the Atari 800 all used the same pins for composite video and audio. Just to be sure though I did a lot of searching and tracked down all the various pinouts and organized them into one cheat sheet.

I also threw in the Sega Genesis and Master because it uses the same connector but uses a slightly different pinout. Also note that there are two versions of the TI-99/4A. Almost every page you find talks about the euro pinout. It took a lot of hunting to find out what the US pinout is.

The DIN-8 262 connectors seem to be hard to find, but it's possible to build an S-Video cable for the Commodore 64 by using the cheaper and easier to source DIN-8 270 connector. You simply remove pins 7 and 8 from the connector and use the rest. Complete instructions can be found here.

You can download a PDF of the pinout below.

Media

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+1  Posted by Paul • Apr.05.2013 at 20.53 • Reply

Thanks for this! I just realized why the 8-pin DIN connector that I used for my s-video cable on my C64 was so difficult to plug in-- most likely because of the 270 vs 262 degree pin layout.

+1  Posted by Brian Tristam Williams • Aug.21.2013 at 10.40 • Reply

Hi, Chris. The (unverified) TI-99/4A 6-pin DIN pinout is incorrect. I'm building a circuit to convert all that to RGB, and found your site that way. The correct pinout is:

  1. +12V
  2. Y
  3. R-Y
  4. B-Y
  5. Audio
  6. Ground

Interesting stuff here. I'll be following.

+1  Posted by FozzTexx • Aug.21.2013 at 14.31 • Reply

Do you have a source for this? Most sites showed the wrong DIN-5 180 connector which is not used on the euro version. The few places that had the correct DIN-6 240 had the pinout the way I have it.

+1  Posted by Brian Tristam Williams • Aug.21.2013 at 15.19 • Reply

I'm sure I can find a source. But I initially wired mine according to the above, and it was completely wrong. I had video buzzing coming through the speaker, etc. Did as per the above and I have me a working cable now. Took a few photos while at home (I'm at the office now) if you're interested. This particular photo shows the R-Y and B-Y wire links on the top-right (blue), coming from the 6-pin DIN connector. http://www.flickr.com/photos/48395504@N00/9281292183/in/pool-2290343@N22 I know that doesn't prove anything at thist point, but yeah, the source is me for now - busy working on this stuff at home.

+1  Posted by Brian Tristam Williams • Aug.21.2013 at 15.25 • Reply

Here's a source, but it's in French: http://www.ti99.com/texasinf.htm. I see the confusion now. The pin numbers in the French article are correct. But, the way the pins are numbered is different from the physical connector I have. Mine are numbered 1 to 5, clockwise (looking into the socket), with 6 in the middle. Took a macro shot to see that, but if you go according to the numbering scheme in their diagram, you'll end up with what you have above. As you've said, their image isn't even of a 240-degree connector, so further confusion there. However, having opened up the TI-99/4A modulator, I can only speak from experience. I'll let you know if my RGB converter works :)

+1  Posted by Brian Tristam Williams • Aug.21.2013 at 20.47 • Reply

Okay, now that my RGB circuit works, I can confirm that the pinout I supplied is correct.

+1  Posted by FozzTexx • Aug.21.2013 at 23.12 • Reply

Thanks for verifying! I've updated my diagram to match the pinout you provided.

+1  Posted by Brian Tristam Williams • Aug.23.2013 at 09.50 • Reply

Great stuff! :)

+1  Posted by Brian Tristam Williams • Aug.21.2013 at 20.48 • Reply