Cheapo Mp3 player to load Spectrum games?

Retrofan · 30 May 2011, 17:54

Hi:
I've brought from my parent's house my beloved Spectrum 48k (well, two ones). I've heard about the Divide, but I want to connect a joystick and don't want to connect another board to the Divide for it.

I would like to load games from a Mp3 player, but it seems they need to have a high volume to work (and it has to play Wav too).

I've watched this video:
[ Show youtube player ]

Does anybody have a working one to know the model? Or has anybody here tried this?

Kehil · 30 May 2011, 21:21

I tried with 48k with an old MSI MP3 stick. Taps can be easily converted by k7zx .
My player didn't have sufficiently powerfull headphones output so I had to use amplifier just to achieve standard bitrate speed. But I heard some succesfull stories about Ipod nano.
So in general it's possible but maybe you will have to try several mp3 players.

Retrofan · 30 May 2011, 22:44

Thanks. I've just now converted some tzx games to Wav with that converter (I was going to give the same link right now, and it works even with Vista), and I've bought this Mp3 player (it has speaker even) for 20€:
http://cgi.ebay.es/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...=STRK:MEWNX:IT

I think I will have to wait and see if it works or not.

EDIT: BTW my faceplates had some scratches in the paint, but I found here http://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/det...plate_NEW-1491 (cheaper than in Ebay) that you can buy them and leave it looking as new:

BTW jejeje... I think I will install Windows XP as OS...jeje... [ Show youtube player ]

Or perhaps I will use it as a Home Theatre to play videos... [ Show youtube player ]

Retrofan · 31 May 2011, 12:17

Another question: Will this cable work with my Samsung Led Tv? Have somebody tried it with a Led one?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...:X:AAQ:GB:1123

Kehil · 31 May 2011, 13:48

It seem this is a kit for a composite mod, not only a cable. So a little soldering has to be done. I modified mine speccy by this guide , and connected to Sharp 37" LCD via cheap cinch cable. Picture is a bit darker but usable.

Retrofan · 31 May 2011, 22:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kehil

It seem this is a kit for a composite mod, not only a cable. So a little soldering has to be done. I modified mine speccy by this guide , and connected to Sharp 37" LCD via cheap cinch cable. Picture is a bit darker but usable.

Thanks. I read your link this afternoon before you posted it. I've connected the speccy with a UHF cable to my Led Tv and the image is very very bad with both spectrums, one a little yellow. I hope the Scart mod will work, as I've ordered it.
EDIT: Forget it, I've searched the channel manually and now it looks great.

To connect the Mp3 player to the Spectrum which cable will I need? I mean, it's stereo and the Speccy was mono, isn't it?

Retrofan · 01 June 2011, 11:46

Thinking I will need anyway an amplifier, I've bought this:

http://cgi.ebay.es/3-5mm-Earphone-He...item2a040c75e2

CritAnime · 02 June 2011, 19:27

We did this with a second gen iPod Nano. The later models all seem to have a lower volume limit and need amplifiers. Sometimes cheap mp3's off ebay can be used. We also had it running off an Hong Kong special fake 3rd gen iPod nano.

cane · 03 June 2011, 06:59

I'm using Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra for loading waw's, works flawlessly.
I also did the composite video mod - Kehil posted link. It's easier to use composite instead of RF.

Hewitson · 03 June 2011, 08:10

Is there much of a market for making amplifiers for this purpose? I'd be willing to design a nice small one if anyone can give me an idea on how much amplification is needed.

Retrofan · 05 June 2011, 01:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hewitson

Is there much of a market for making amplifiers for this purpose? I'd be willing to design a nice small one if anyone can give me an idea on how much amplification is needed.

If you could make a modified Mp3 player with an amplifier included to load Speccy games you could sell some of them. If it's an amplifier only, I'll have to wait to see if my "nano" one works... and it says it has "output power: 150 mW"

Hey @Cane I want to play Jetpac again. Ultimate was the best...

Retrofan · 06 June 2011, 21:34

I've just thought that if the Ipod nano can load Spectrum games I could see it's output power and compare it with the one I'll have with my amplifier. I'm not sure of the one of the player I've bought, but in the amplifier as I've said says it's of 150mW (it seems at 16 Ohm reference).

Well, this is about the Ipod nano:
"Output Power (7.26)

Another major factor for media players is how much power they output. The more power they output, the better the job they can do at driving bigger pairs of headphones. A poor media player might only output 10 or 20 milliwatts of power, which means that it would not have the juice to drive a better set of headphones than the one they come with, limiting your options to add bigger and better headphones to replace the ones they come with. We measured the output power of the iPod Nano at 29.1 milliwatts, which is decent and enough to drive most headphones; this is enough for most in-ear and earbud style headphones. However, it will begin to choke if you try and use a very large or a particularly high impedence set of headphones; the sound will be low in volume, and it may sound overly distorted and grungy. So, the iPod Nano is fine for most earbud and in-ear type headphones, but it will have problems if you prefer a set of bigger, over hear headphones or want to use a set of professional cans; many of these will have a higher impedence and may have some issues. "

http://www.mediaplayerinfo.com/conte...erformance.htm

And this is about the Ipod Touch:

"Output Power (7.87)

The ability of an MP3 player like the touch to drive a bigger set of headphones than the included ones is determined by the output power; how much energy can the media player output? The more output power it has, the better job it will do of driving a bigger, higher impedance set of headphones. The iPod Touch was not lacking here; we measured the output power driving a 10 ohm reference load at 30.6 milliwatts, which would be enough to drive all but the biggest, baddest headphones out there. We confirmed this by trying the Touch with a pair of Koss K501 studio headphones, and the Touch was capable of producing a good level of volume in these high impedance headphones. "

http://www.mediaplayerinfo.com/conte...erformance.htm

So it seems I'll have output power to wake up the neighborhood...

Anyway I've got the idea that if the player has an speaker included, it has to have enough output power (perhaps I'm wrong).

EDIT: It seems the amplifier will be necessary, as long as the output power in a chinese player (not mine, but other) that I've seen is of 11mW, and in the Dingoo is 15mw only.

Allen1 · 07 June 2011, 14:06

You can also use an old mobile phone like the pocket PC SPV M1000 to load the games. That way you can store all the games you have converted onto an SD card and play away. I used OTLA to convert the tap and other files to WAV or MP3, Alexh mentioned the program in another thread and its a great piece of kit to use and its free.

I know that my Dell AXIM pocket PC wont load the games as well as the SPV C500, same for a couple of PDA's I tried but the Orange SPV M1000 (HTC Himalaya) works a treat. Fleabay is where I got mine from quite cheaply plus it was easy enough to unlock via internet information and files

30 May 2011, 17:54	#1
Retrofan Ruler of the Universe Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Lanzarote/Spain Posts: 6,185	Cheapo Mp3 player to load Spectrum games? Hi: I've brought from my parent's house my beloved Spectrum 48k (well, two ones). I've heard about the Divide, but I want to connect a joystick and don't want to connect another board to the Divide for it. I would like to load games from a Mp3 player, but it seems they need to have a high volume to work (and it has to play Wav too). I've watched this video: [ Show youtube player ] Does anybody have a working one to know the model? Or has anybody here tried this? Last edited by Retrofan; 30 May 2011 at 23:03.

30 May 2011, 22:44	#3
Retrofan Ruler of the Universe Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Lanzarote/Spain Posts: 6,185	Thanks. I've just now converted some tzx games to Wav with that converter (I was going to give the same link right now, and it works even with Vista), and I've bought this Mp3 player (it has speaker even) for 20€: http://cgi.ebay.es/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...=STRK:MEWNX:IT I think I will have to wait and see if it works or not. EDIT: BTW my faceplates had some scratches in the paint, but I found here http://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/det...plate_NEW-1491 (cheaper than in Ebay) that you can buy them and leave it looking as new: BTW jejeje... I think I will install Windows XP as OS...jeje... [ Show youtube player ] Or perhaps I will use it as a Home Theatre to play videos... [ Show youtube player ] Last edited by Retrofan; 31 May 2011 at 01:34.

31 May 2011, 13:48	#5
Kehil Registered User Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Prague/CZ Posts: 67	Composite video It seem this is a kit for a composite mod, not only a cable. So a little soldering has to be done. I modified mine speccy by this guide , and connected to Sharp 37" LCD via cheap cinch cable. Picture is a bit darker but usable.

06 June 2011, 21:34	#12
Retrofan Ruler of the Universe Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Lanzarote/Spain Posts: 6,185	I've just thought that if the Ipod nano can load Spectrum games I could see it's output power and compare it with the one I'll have with my amplifier. I'm not sure of the one of the player I've bought, but in the amplifier as I've said says it's of 150mW (it seems at 16 Ohm reference). Well, this is about the Ipod nano: "Output Power (7.26) Another major factor for media players is how much power they output. The more power they output, the better the job they can do at driving bigger pairs of headphones. A poor media player might only output 10 or 20 milliwatts of power, which means that it would not have the juice to drive a better set of headphones than the one they come with, limiting your options to add bigger and better headphones to replace the ones they come with. We measured the output power of the iPod Nano at 29.1 milliwatts, which is decent and enough to drive most headphones; this is enough for most in-ear and earbud style headphones. However, it will begin to choke if you try and use a very large or a particularly high impedence set of headphones; the sound will be low in volume, and it may sound overly distorted and grungy. So, the iPod Nano is fine for most earbud and in-ear type headphones, but it will have problems if you prefer a set of bigger, over hear headphones or want to use a set of professional cans; many of these will have a higher impedence and may have some issues. " http://www.mediaplayerinfo.com/conte...erformance.htm And this is about the Ipod Touch: "Output Power (7.87) The ability of an MP3 player like the touch to drive a bigger set of headphones than the included ones is determined by the output power; how much energy can the media player output? The more output power it has, the better job it will do of driving a bigger, higher impedance set of headphones. The iPod Touch was not lacking here; we measured the output power driving a 10 ohm reference load at 30.6 milliwatts, which would be enough to drive all but the biggest, baddest headphones out there. We confirmed this by trying the Touch with a pair of Koss K501 studio headphones, and the Touch was capable of producing a good level of volume in these high impedance headphones. " http://www.mediaplayerinfo.com/conte...erformance.htm So it seems I'll have output power to wake up the neighborhood... Anyway I've got the idea that if the player has an speaker included, it has to have enough output power (perhaps I'm wrong). EDIT: It seems the amplifier will be necessary, as long as the output power in a chinese player (not mine, but other) that I've seen is of 11mW, and in the Dingoo is 15mw only. Last edited by Retrofan; 07 June 2011 at 10:58.

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30 May 2011, 21:21	#2
Kehil Registered User Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Prague/CZ Posts: 67	I tried with 48k with an old MSI MP3 stick. Taps can be easily converted by k7zx . My player didn't have sufficiently powerfull headphones output so I had to use amplifier just to achieve standard bitrate speed. But I heard some succesfull stories about Ipod nano. So in general it's possible but maybe you will have to try several mp3 players.

31 May 2011, 12:17	#4
Retrofan Ruler of the Universe Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Lanzarote/Spain Posts: 6,185	Another question: Will this cable work with my Samsung Led Tv? Have somebody tried it with a Led one? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...:X:AAQ:GB:1123

01 June 2011, 11:46	#7
Retrofan Ruler of the Universe Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Lanzarote/Spain Posts: 6,185	Thinking I will need anyway an amplifier, I've bought this: http://cgi.ebay.es/3-5mm-Earphone-He...item2a040c75e2

02 June 2011, 19:27	#8
CritAnime Registered User Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Wakefield/UK Age: 41 Posts: 387	We did this with a second gen iPod Nano. The later models all seem to have a lower volume limit and need amplifiers. Sometimes cheap mp3's off ebay can be used. We also had it running off an Hong Kong special fake 3rd gen iPod nano.

03 June 2011, 06:59	#9
cane Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: .hr Age: 45 Posts: 540	I'm using Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra for loading waw's, works flawlessly. I also did the composite video mod - Kehil posted link. It's easier to use composite instead of RF.

03 June 2011, 08:10	#10
Hewitson Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 41 Posts: 3,773	Is there much of a market for making amplifiers for this purpose? I'd be willing to design a nice small one if anyone can give me an idea on how much amplification is needed.

07 June 2011, 14:06	#13
Allen1 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Blyth England Age: 68 Posts: 786	You can also use an old mobile phone like the pocket PC SPV M1000 to load the games. That way you can store all the games you have converted onto an SD card and play away. I used OTLA to convert the tap and other files to WAV or MP3, Alexh mentioned the program in another thread and its a great piece of kit to use and its free. I know that my Dell AXIM pocket PC wont load the games as well as the SPV C500, same for a couple of PDA's I tried but the Orange SPV M1000 (HTC Himalaya) works a treat. Fleabay is where I got mine from quite cheaply plus it was easy enough to unlock via internet information and files

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