QUICK-BIT: Amiga Display VGA Adapter

My objective is to connect my Amiga computer’s to modern monitors without having to destroy the original Amiga video cables.  Being most Amiga’s video output is set to 15khz only a very few select LCD monitors can handle the 15khz signal.  A solution would clearly require some sort of an upscaler to go in between the Amiga and the monitor.  For me using an upscaler is not a problem as I have grown to love the Extron scalers and I use the Extron DVS 304 scaler for my Atari’s, Commodore’s and now Amiga’s.

The Extron DVS 304 has both composite and a 15-pin RGB input which is perfect for this project as I will be using the 15-pin RGB input (also known as the VGA input). In addition to using the Extron scaler I would no longer have to worry about using a 15khz monitor.  So, I will make an adapter to connect on to the end of my Amiga display cable’s 6-pin DIN converting it to a 15-pin RGB.

Using my adapter, I can then connect my Amiga’s to the Extron scaler which in turn sends the signal through a VGA output.  This will allow me to connect directly to any monitor with a VGA connection or I convert that VGA output to HDMI for HDMI monitors.  I can even convert the VGA output of the Extron to HDMI to connect to a video capture device.  So, no matter what I want to connect to the Extron will help fulfill my needs.

I decided to make this adapter instead of a whole new cable to go between the Amiga and scaler for a couple of reasons.

The first reason is the video connector on the Amiga computers are a very unique 23-pin connector and the fittings for them are as common as a real-life unicorn.  I could convert a 25-pin connector to fit the Amiga 23-pin but I also wanted something simple.

The second reason is that I have a ton of VGA cables laying around and the female 6-pin DIN connector is only a few bucks online for a pack of 5 so that makes this a very economical project.

For the pinout of the Amiga video cable 6-pin DIN I used a pinout guide for the Amiga 1084s monitor that my cable connects to.  The wiring diagram I used is pieced together from a couple of online sources to match connections between the Amiga and VGA.

Well enough talk, the QUICK-BIT video above will quickly go through the build of this Amiga Display VGA Adapter and show if it even works in the end!