Sophia rev.C - DVI board

[mlordi]

Answering my own question : )

I did some more thinking and I'm going to use the sofia board for the video and take the audio off of the pokey chip.

I'll post my results when I receive and install the components.

[R-Tokyo]

9 hours ago, mlordi said:

Answering my own question : )

I did some more thinking and I'm going to use the sofia board for the video and take the audio off of the pokey chip.

I'll post my results when I receive and install the components.

Please update as I’ll follow the same path!

Hope it all goes well on your end.

[mlordi]

46 minutes ago, R-Tokyo said:

Please update as I’ll follow the same path!

Hope it all goes well on your end.

Will do R!

[+-^CrossBow^-]

On 7/30/2019 at 9:02 AM, mlordi said:

Answering my own question : )

I did some more thinking and I'm going to use the sofia board for the video and take the audio off of the pokey chip.

I'll post my results when I receive and install the components.

AS you are using this for a 5200, you don't have to take the audio from the pokey directly. You certainly can, but I find it easier to just attach a 2k resistor and 10uf cap off of north leg of R50 on the main board. This way the pokey doesn't have to be messed with and can just leave it be in its socket.

[mlordi]

1 hour ago, -^Cro§Bow^- said:

AS you are using this for a 5200, you don't have to take the audio from the pokey directly. You certainly can, but I find it easier to just attach a 2k resistor and 10uf cap off of north leg of R50 on the main board. This way the pokey doesn't have to be messed with and can just leave it be in its socket.

Yes, I agree! I should have been more specific as that's where I'll "physically" be picking it up from.

[mlordi]

-^Cro§Bow^-

I received my Sofia board yesterday and I'm getting ready to start the work.

What capacitor would be best to use for branching the audio out from R50?

I know you recommended a Nichicon electrolytic 10uF, 16V in other posts, but I saw that

other people call out a 1uF capacitor.

 

 

Edited August 10, 2019 by mlordi

[V-Cool]

On 2/13/2019 at 6:38 AM, jowi said:

I was finally able to compare the component/svideo output to the DVI output, and i notice there are color differences; it looks like Sophia can't display yellow? It is replaced by some beige/orange sort of color.

It is very noticable in a level of Donkey Kong; the ladders should be yellow but with Sophia they are sort of beige/orange. Also the beams in component look purple, with Sophia they are light-blue. See picture (is analog signal)

In the Sophia image, the yellow ladders are basically the same color as the orange like fur on kong, and the orange like inner color of the 8 rivets. There is no difference between them.

 

Is this a Sophia issue? Or are Sophia's colors correct and did the programmers use tricks to make colors look different, using the nature of the component signal?

 

Did anyone ever get this figured out?

[R-Tokyo]

On 8/1/2019 at 4:51 AM, -^Cro§Bow^- said:

AS you are using this for a 5200, you don't have to take the audio from the pokey directly. You certainly can, but I find it easier to just attach a 2k resistor and 10uf cap off of north leg of R50 on the main board. This way the pokey doesn't have to be messed with and can just leave it be in its socket.

For a 4600XL what would you recommend?

[+-^CrossBow^-]

On 8/10/2019 at 1:06 PM, mlordi said:

-^Cro§Bow^-

I received my Sofia board yesterday and I'm getting ready to start the work.

What capacitor would be best to use for branching the audio out from R50?

I know you recommended a Nichicon electrolytic 10uF, 16V in other posts, but I saw that

other people call out a 1uF capacitor.

 

 

I'm sure a 1uf can work just fine if you have it on hand. I also tend to use 10uf because for some odd reason, I have a ton of them on hand and they work excellent for most audio output filtering. I usually end up with extra 10uf caps from the kits I purchase as well.

[mlordi]

3 minutes ago, -^Cro§Bow^- said:

I'm sure a 1uf can work just fine if you have it on hand. I also tend to use 10uf because for some odd reason, I have a ton of them on hand and they work excellent for most audio output filtering. I usually end up with extra 10uf caps from the kits I purchase as well.

Very good, thank you!

[R-Tokyo]

10 hours ago, R-Tokyo said:

For a 4600XL what would you recommend?

*600XL

[mlordi]

Success! This first pictures shows the Sofia board nested in place and the audio mod on the main board:

 

This picture shows the opposite end of the audio mod, connected to the RCA jacks. I picked up the ground from the bottom shield:

 

This picture shows the entire board, without shield:

 

This picture shows the shield in place. I had to remove a portion from the top, left corner and where you see the ribbon cable going under the board:

 

DVI to HDMI Cable right into Samsung 4K:

 

For the audio I have a 3.5mm Female to 2RCA Male Stereo Audio cable that I plug my PC speakers into.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2019 by mlordi
Removing unwanted pictures

[Sugarland]

23 minutes ago, mlordi said:

Success! This first pictures shows the Sofia board nested in place and the audio mod on the main board

 

Congrats!! Looks great.

[GoldenGraham]

1 hour ago, mlordi said:

Success! This first pictures shows the Sofia board nested in place and the audio mod on the main board:

 

This picture shows the opposite end of the audio mod, connected to the RCA jacks. I picked up the ground from the bottom shield:

 

This picture shows the entire board, without shield:

 

This picture shows the shield in place. I had to remove a portion from the top, left corner and where you see the ribbon cable going under the board:

 

DVI to HDMI Cable right into Samsung 4K:

 

For the audio I have a 3.5mm Female to 2RCA Male Stereo Audio cable that I plug my PC speakers into.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which Atari computer/console is this on?

[mlordi]

2 hours ago, GoldenGraham said:

Which Atari computer/console is this on?

Atari 5200, 2 port.

[mlordi]

3 hours ago, Sugarland said:

 

Congrats!! Looks great.

Thank you : )

[Colleton]

Very nice, mlordi.  I just received mine today, and am trying to figure out how to get both audio and video into my TV.

 

I think I can get a DVI to HDMI cable and run that and the monitor audio output to an Orei XD-1090 video converter.  It'll hake both the HDMI and audio inputs and output them via HDMI to the TV.  I have an Orei converter that takes s-video or composite video and audio and outputs them to HDMI, 1080P @ 60Hz.  This one should do the same thing, it just has an HDMI input as well.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A7B0YZI/

[slx]

Many TVs allow a separate audio input for digital video inputs. Look for a 3.5mm jack or dual RCA on the rear and check the manual whether they can be used with HDMI input. There are DVI to HDMI cables with a combined 3.5mm audio cable. 

 

Have you checked whether that OREI device can really mix HDMI and RCA input (and if it introduces lag)?

[Colleton]

Well, it's done. Sophia Rev C installed on my 1200XL.  I did an initial test fit with the board installed and the DVI connector hanging out the back.  Then I did the permanent install.  As part of the install I did the following:

 

1. Bridged R63 (SIO power mod).  My SIO2SD now works on the 1200XL.

2. Desoldered and removed the RF modulator.  I needed the space to install the DVI connector card.

3.  Utilized the supplied dupont pins to solder the DVI card to the ground plane where the RF modulator used to be.

4.  Cut a hole in the case for the DVI connector.

5. Forgot to run the chroma signal to the monitor jack.  Don't really need it, but it would be nice for completeness.

 

I had to use the socket supplied with the kit to raise the sophia board to clear other components

Desoldering and pulling the RF modulator was about the scariest thing I've done in a while, but it went pretty smoothly.  I cut the case hole for the DVI connector a bit larger than necessary, this was my only screwup.

In the end, everything is working as it should and I am very pleased with the result.  The picture quality is unreal.  The upper RF shield is uninstalled until I can cut an opening for the sophia board,  It sits too high for the shield to go on properly.

 

 

 

Edited August 24, 2019 by Colleton

[flashjazzcat]

Anyone witnessed issues like these before?

 

Yoomp (NTSC version running on NTSC 800XL with U1MB, DVI Sophia), DVI output:

 

 

Switching TV input to s-video seconds after taking the above photo:

 

Not discernible from photo is that as well as player/missile crap, DVI image frequently loses sync and disappears entirely.

 

So: GTIA works fine, since legacy output is OK.

[Simius]

It seems to be a phi2 related P-M issue. Are the other games also disturbed? Can you try for example a Diamonds? 

[Simius]

It seems to be a phi2 related P-M issue. Are the other games also disturbed? Can you try for example a Diamonds? 

[flashjazzcat]

25 minutes ago, Simius said:

Are the other games also disturbed?

Yes: for example, E-Type also shows graphical corruption.

25 minutes ago, Simius said:

Can you try for example a Diamonds? 

I've downloaded it and ran it when the machine was still cold. After three or four minutes (while I was typing this post), the picture started to go black and then reappear. An hour or so ago, I did the same thing with Yoomp!, running it from cold and it took some minutes before the vertical PMG suddenly appeared on the screen. Switching over to s-video output, everything was fine.

 

Could there be a dry joint somewhere on the Sophia board, do you think?

 

EDIT: Just tried Yoomp! again, without powering the machine down after testing Diamonds, and within seconds of the title screen appearing, the screen went black, and then reappeared with two vertical PMGs running down the full height of the screen. S-video output is simultaneously OK.

Edited September 24, 2019 by flashjazzcat

[flashjazzcat]

Hmmm... maybe I'm off the mark about system temperature. I ran Yoomp! again from cold and problems started immediately.

 

Here's a video (unlisted):

 

 

Problems start around 0:43 and then again at the 1 minute mark. After I turned the camera off, a third glitch resulted in two thicker PMGs running down the left hand side of the screen.

[+mytek]

Did you try swapping out a 74F08 for the 74LS08? I know you probably did, but just in case you didn't, it might be worth a try.