66Cooper

1inxs

I don't believe you will get a much better display using the video receiver. Was the original picture ever perfect on the Seiko from the factory? The quality should be similar using your home built adapter. If you still would like to build the stand alone video receiver, Aaron62 was kind enough to post this English translation.
Google Translate

You can contact the local colleges and trade schools to see if they would build the stand alone video receiver as a student project. They build many hobby type gadgets like this.

66Cooper

The picture was grainy I guess but what bothers me is that I can barely even get a picture at all. It is very hit or miss. I would like something that works every time, grainy or not. So far, I have been able to get a picture but was not able to get it tuned in right. That is what annoys me the most about this setup. With the switch to DTV, the watch cant be portable so why not lose the tuning aspect of it, right?
I have spoken with the owner of the site and he has been very helpful. Wont build another but speaks good English and gave me some pointers. I have redrawn his plans to make them a little clear. Will have to get out there and find someone to give it a shot.

Aaron62

Do you think the graininess is due to manually adjusting to the channel that the dvd player or converter box video input is on? Does the slightest adjustment affect your picture in a big way?

66Cooper

Yes, the adjustment is very fine..maybe to fine to get a good picture and sometimes I cant get a picture at all. It feels like it is still needs the antenna to work with this setup but is that right?
On that German website, he posted a video clip of the watch working on the custom receiver and the picture looks better then anything that I can get.

Heres the link:
Google Translate

1inxs

I would think the manual adjust is the problem. When the pocket TVs went to the auto scan, they would lock in the signal. Manually tuning is very touchy and to stop on an exact frequency is hit and miss at best.

How was the audio through the headphones?

The least expensive option for getting the video tuner built, would be to contact a college or trade school. Let us know if it helps clean up the display. Post some pictures here when you get it going.

66Cooper

The audio sounded great actually. It stayed pretty steady through a lot of the tuning. What I do it get the audio to come up and then try and fine tune the picture. That is the hard part:-)

I will try and post pix as soon as I get a picture. Maybe even a video.

Jay

This has been pretty fun watching the saga unfold. Thanks for keeping us updated 66Cooper. I'm sure there are others out there looking to add DTV capability to their Seiko Watches too.

66Cooper

I'm actually on a vintage digital watch forum talking about it now. There are few members looking to do the same. Hoping to get someone to get cracking on that receiver.
Heres the schematics I mentioned.

66Cooper

Havent had any time to get into this lately. Building a race car for the 10th of July. One thing I did try was to get the time section of this watch with a little success. Seems I have a contact problem.
Will give it some more trials (hopefully with pix) as soon as I can.