+5-11under Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 As a founding member of the Microvision Brotherhood, which, by the way, needs more members, I would like to present the solution to the Microvision's biggest issue, that is, "screen rot", which makes areas of the screen become permanently black, or areas that remain permanently white, all of which renders the screen virtually useless, making it difficult to purchase or find a unit that is pristine, thereby making it a system that is relegated to the past and not one that many people are interested in collecting for, even though the overall price of obtaining a complete collection is within the reach of many of us who are fortunate enough to have $100 to $300 or so, depending on your purchasing savvy and patience, as well as exactly how many of the items you choose to collect, as there are North American games, as well as several varieties of European games, including the European exclusive, Super Blockbuster. As a bonus to anyone who read that whole sentence, here are a few pictures, two of them featuring the somewhat elusive non-"Star Trek" version of Phaser Strike. The second picture was taken with flash, and the third one was taken without flash (not sure about the first one anymore - probably without flash). I would have taken more pictures, but my camera's battery kept dying last night. Hopefully these will suffice for now: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 Well, you merely show us what is the result of your research, not the solution you found. I don't agree much on the overbright backlight added but for the sake of modern player's mind, expos and photos I guess it's a solution I would adopt too. Can you reveal more of it? For me the Microvision is certainly an item worth looking for, and neither the LCD nor a multicart should be hard to make, but nothing ever emerged, probably because the demand is very low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+5-11under Posted April 1, 2016 Author Share Posted April 1, 2016 The recessed potentiometer on the back of this Microvision has been wired up to control the backlight level instead of the contrast. The second picture shows a fairly "realistic" view of the current setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 That's awesome! I've been thinking about picking up a Microvision on-and-off for a while but always held back on account of the screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 I'm very interested in the technical details here. The screens look great, and backlight is a nice add-on feature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 The recessed potentiometer on the back of this Microvision has been wired up to control the backlight level instead of the contrast. The second picture shows a fairly "realistic" view of the current setting. Clever detail! if the LCD is a modern one, they suffer less from angles issues, and of course the shovel light helps with that issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevnaguy Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 April Fools most likely 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 Oh indeed! Tho there is a light shovel of sort in that console, but I guess you jsut stick 2 LEDs under the shell and you're set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 And I was looking forward joining the microvision brotherhood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoshiChiri Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 And I was looking forward joining the microvision brotherhood. Me too... this honestly just makes me sad, I'd probably shell out for a Microvision with a nice, new screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 That Microvision Brotherhood make me a bit suspicious at first, but it seems that Americans loves to do clubs and brotherhoods about anything so heh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+5-11under Posted April 1, 2016 Author Share Posted April 1, 2016 Oh indeed! Tho there is a light shovel of sort in that console, but I guess you jsut stick 2 LEDs under the shell and you're set. That might work, but only if the display is in great shape to start with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+5-11under Posted April 1, 2016 Author Share Posted April 1, 2016 And I was looking forward joining the microvision brotherhood. It's like the Intellivision Brotherhood... mostly meaningless, but at least it's free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 That might work, but only if the display is in great shape to start with. It's not unheard of either. Looking at the picture you can see the ghosting, so it's the original screen. Of course, being it's a picture, it could have been a newer screen and the picture captured a less noticeable ghosting. I dunno why, but B&W screen, even moden ones, seems to still have ghosting, unlike color screen. Very bizarre. Or maybe it's because they do'nt care to improve the latency because they know b&W screen wo'nt be used for video or apps with a need for very quick refreshing display. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+5-11under Posted April 2, 2016 Author Share Posted April 2, 2016 Day after April 1st update: I started this 4 years ago with a microcontroller, display, and a cheap logic analyzer. There's a few weird things about the Microvision display controller, especially for a couple of the games, but after a few months, I did end up getting all the games working properly, with a handful of wires leading from a standard Microvision to my simple microcontroller+display+logic analyzer set-up. Later I designed a prototype PCB that was a drop-in replacement for the main board, keeping things such as the keypad, battery connectors, and a few other things. That's what I've shown in the pictures. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, about half of the games don't work anymore. I'm not sure if there's an issue with noise or voltage levels or board wiring. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to work on this since then. Maybe later in the year I'll get a chance to revisit it. One thing I'll need to do is get a slightly larger screen, and make the necessary programming changes. Maybe an update in 364 days... . 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 April Fools most likely D'oh! You got me. Too bad, this was actually kind of exciting to me. That Microvision Brotherhood make me a bit suspicious at first, but it seems that Americans loves to do clubs and brotherhoods about anything so heh. Eh, I think they're kinda dumb, personally. I don't understand the need to declare fandom for a specific console on a forum dedicated to classic game consoles, where it's more or less assumed that most people are fans of multiple systems. And the term "Brotherhood" reeks of turbo-nerdery to me; just call it a club, fellas. It ain't that serious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 (edited) Yeah thinking about that, my comment might sounds like I'm mocking it, but I'm not. I just wanted to mean that I don't have the right culural references to know it it's serious stuff or not. I'm part of some wacky fandom too so I know what it is, but I do'nt catch that "all bro" stuff. Just.... cultural differences. The kind of cultural difference that consider that men hugging each other when they don't know each other alot is odd, but that kissing a girl on the cheeks is a normal, standard thing. Oddities are on the eyes of the one watching. Edited April 2, 2016 by CatPix 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Video Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 If somebody made a screen replacement like that, it would be cool. There won't be a lot of call, as there simply aren't many people who collect the things. I'd love one if someone ever makes it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shinju Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 I have 3 of these consoles and only 1 had a semi working screen, I really regret passing on a almost complete CIB set of these for 100 bucks a couple of years back.Microvision is a pretty unique system, and while primitive it was pretty fun to play some of the games. I would love to get one of mine screen modified to preserve it but it will probably never happen, as screen rot is a huge deal with these units anyone picking one up or see one in the wild test it first, go get a 9v battery and make sure the screen is functioning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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