leonk

I'm glad to see so much RGB love given to the Intellivision! I only have knowledge of the Fred Kono kit, as that's what I used to install a few years ago (I actually have 1 spare kit in my parts bin). The install worked great on Intellivision 1 and 2 and never had an issue either on my PVM-20L2 or XRGB-mini (see attachement of how it looks on my LCD TV using XRGB below) I am interested to find out how it compares to either the 2 new kits that are currently available. Has anyone done real side by side testing? Or at the very least compare color of RF output vs RGB output? I'm also interested to see if someone did a test of the output on an oscilloscope to confirm RGB is 0.7Vpp and CSync is 0.3Vpp.

That’s not the issue. That’s a high quality multi strand wire. It’s also what comes with Sophia, I didn’t make the wire. The run is also short. No one uses shielded wires inside the console when they do RGB mod of anything from 2600 to NES, SNES, N64, etc. Shielding is important outside the console because your SCART RGB cable can run right next to 110-220V AC power wires. Inside a 5VDC machine? Not an issue.

I want to add a bit more detail here based on my findings. I recently upgraded an Atari 130XE NTSC to RGB output using Sophia. To make the install super clean, I replaced the 5pin video DIN with 8 pin DIN (something that people have been doing for years when upgrading NEC Turbo Duo to RGB). Then you use a custom cable to get RGB. I also removed L9 (Luma) and ran CSYNC into it. But I did notice you can also skip doing this, and RGB will sync perfectly fine off the existing Luma pin. When I connected the output to my Sony PVM, this is what I saw: In comparison, here's how my XEGS looks like in RGB: I knew it was picking up noise from somewhere. I started disconnecting pins until the noise went away. I can report that all the noise is generated by the chroma pin (pin 5 on the DIN) It's so noisy, that the noise actually jumped to the RGB pins in the DIN! When I cut the trace, it cleaned up. So S-Video is getting its noise from the chroma pin, not luma and not composite video. Here's what it looks like now:

Quick update: I replaced every IC on the Lynx 2 and still get just title screen frozen and music playing. I just happened to have a BennVenn LCD here so I quickly connected it.. to my surprise it works perfectly. All along it was a bad LCD screen!!!

New Mikey and new Suzy shipped from Best Electronics was over $80USD. It’s too bad they’re the only supplier of these parts, because after cost of RAM + rebuild power circuit when I’m done this unit would cost me more than a known working one. so unless you get broken Lynx for free or close to it, restoring them at this point isnt financially worth it.

I have a defective Micky with bad audio. I put it in and system boots. It plays the music but screen is not refreshed. It’s frozen on the title screen. Is this a sign of a bad Suzy?

Would the zener diode even work with 5V input? I know 7805 in older consoles needs about 7V min to work. in any case, this system came broken. So the previous owner did a good job cooking Micky. so if anyone has a working Micky for sale. I’m open to purchase.

Some great ideas here and yes, lots of people still repairing Lynx handhelds. I fix many of them for the Canadian market as the price went up in recent years. On my desk right now is a Lynx 2 that came in. Game audio was playing, but video was stuck on the title screen instead of moving/scrolling. I opened it up, started testing voltages. Discovered 5V rail was almost 8V! Used console5 power rebuild parts to bring it back in check but it was too late. Unit turns on/off but that's it. Even the "backlight" button doesn't turn off the backlight. I noticed one of the RAM chips was too hot to touch after 10s! I replaced both RAM chips. No change. I checked the reset circuit, voltages, oscillator. All good. Address lines are all low, Data bus is blank! (like not connected). This tells me that CPU is dead. And potentially Suzy. Off to best electronics I go. But after USD -> CDN conversion and shipping cost, these 2 ICs will be almost $100 for me. So yeah, having a pool of "donors" will be helpful.

You called it! Removing C9 made that variable inductor stop effecting the video. It also removed noise from the cvideo out. The schematics are wrong. C9 feeds to pin 9 and not pin 10.

Kevtris. Here's a tweet I just posted with a picture of the pot I'm talking about. Not sure it's purpose but it fixed it for me. https://twitter.com/leonkiriliuk/status/1213148122404343808?s=20

I think I figured it out. For some reason the luminance pin 9 was exhibiting the same behavior. Metering it resulted in color coming back. So I traced that pin back to a trim can. When I started adjusting it, color came back. The only schematics on the Internet are different on the internet so not sure what this is. A metal can with 2 pins on one side connected to ground 3 pins on the other for input/output. Black flat plastic screw in middle deep inside can.

Just tried that. 220uF 10V capacitor. +ve leg on 75ohm out, -ve to RCA port. No change. I did notice that if I remove the diode from the RF tank (1N4148 between pin 13 and 14) there is no change in behavior. Could the mc1372 be damaged? Stuck in RF mode?

Hey Kevtris I built the circuit you linked to earlier. I wasn’t able to find trim resistors close to the values shown so I went with the recommended values as fixed resistors. When I measured voltages, they’re bang on. Except I have 1 strange issue. When first turned on, the picture is grainy and in black and while. If I connect my DMM to pin 12 (video out pin) magically color appears. Even in the DMM is off!! The IC is in a new socket and I made sure to remove all components in that “RF block”. Thoughts on what it might be? Did you use any variable trim pots?

But if I do RGB mod is this still an issue?

You're right.. which would be the worst of both worlds!! The best of both would be PAL60. If I understand this correctly, the system sets colors/encoding (PAL vs NTSC) The ANTIC sets the frequency (50 vs 60hz) So for best compatibility, you'd want a PAL60 which means NTSC ANTIC in a PAL system. Sure, some things will still not work correctly, but it sounds like there is no "solution" that will work with every game and every demo, at correct speed, and full size screen.

Interesting. So if I install the Sofia RGB mod. And the PAL ANTIC I should get video color back on the PVM and have Pseudo PAL / PAL60?? without changing the GTIA?

I just found an XEGS PAL picture online. Oh my. The PAL system has 2 crystal and resistors around it (ntsc has 1 resistor that connects the empty space to the existing crystal) And as far as chips are concerned. Yes. GTIA differs as well. hmmmm So. a better question then is. Is it worth converting a system (XL or XE) to PAL vs NTSC for games?

In order to increase game compatibility, I've converted older consoles from NTSC to PAL with great success. This is especially true for the C64 and Amiga line of computers. My next retro computer of choice is the Atari XE .. in particular, I've purchased an Atari XE GS. I then installed a 40 pin socket where the ANTIC goes, and replaced the C021697-31 (NTSC) with a C021698-07 (PAL) which I purchased from Best Electronics. I have a PVM that can show PAL/NTSC as well as XRGB mini. - When I turn the system on, before any modifications, I get Missile Command (XRGB reports 240p NTSC). - When I swap ANTIC to PAL version, I still see Missile Command - but in Black and White on the composite out port! (XRGB reports 288p PAL) So my questions are: 1) Is swapping ANTIC the only required procedure for XEGS? Or am I missing something (like crystal on C64 and Amiga) 2) Why would the picture be black and white on PAL and color on NTSC ANTIC? Composite out from C64/Amiga in PAL mode show perfectly fine on my display devices. I know they can handle it. 3) Am I doing the right thing by converting to PAL? I recently purchased an AVG cart and my goal is to play as many Atari 8 bit games as possible on it.

Small update to AVGcart cost - it seems to have gone up to 50EUR from 40EUR

I got 2 Mega ST 4 units but no keyboards. Let me know if you got one for sale.

would the TF328 work in an NTSC console? if so, how does one convert the video output to PAL using this device? Is there an option to automatically convert to PAL mode on bootup?

Happy 2018 McWill!!! Now where is that Nomad LCD screen you were working on back in 2016?

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/270282-the-uav-blog-install-uav-ac-in-the-6-switch-2600/

instead of using hot glue, use 2 part epoxy. JB weld makes a special version for plastic. love it!

really? For me the screen had to be pushed all the way down, till it hit the cart slot. The default display had it vertically aligned but shifted to the left. 2 modes later (stretch horizontally) filled the screen perfectly.