Atari XE Remake Pre Order Thread

[_The Doctor__]

Depends on the display device, cables and your eyes as well. I see jailbars where others see a nice smooth blur, waiting for them to get glasses. But I guess the just take you glasses off approach is valid

[ChrisXF]

I look at the signal on an oscilloscope, and check if it matches the specification for a good signal first.

 

Good eyesight (and other subjective measurements) or not, jailbars are always clear on the waveform view! 🙂

Edited September 3, 2023 by ChrisXF

[+scorpio_ny]

4 hours ago, ChrisXF said:

I don't know if it was 'bring your five year old to work and set them free to create' day when most of Atari's video circuitry was drafted, but I sus

Anyways, the proof is in the pudding: Scorpio_ny, let us know the differences you see if you do go for full shielded cable to the RCA connectors?

In my case, it may be moot concerning the video because the video output is not analog: it is all digital. I hook up the connection from the breakout box  (using the single RCA connector) to a variant of the RGBtoHDMI upscaler. The picture is razor sharp as if I was running in an emulator on a PC

 

The audio i have not tested yet.

 

[ChrisXF]

So you've got analogue out the chip to composite, a few CM of cabling and then straight to ADC? Nice!

 

That'll certainly rule out bad cables as any source of interference, and I think upgrading those flying leads to the RCA jack is even less likely to make any difference.

 

Can the upscaler handle s/video output? That should look even nicer.

[+scorpio_ny]

3 hours ago, ChrisXF said:

So you've got analogue out the chip to composite, a few CM of cabling and then straight to ADC? Nice!

 

That'll certainly rule out bad cables as any source of interference, and I think upgrading those flying leads to the RCA jack is even less likely to make any difference.

 

Can the upscaler handle s/video output? That should look even nicer.

No, it is strictly digital. No conversion. Here is the description of what is happening from the developer of the GTIDigiter:

 

Quote

What is it?

This board is inserted between the GTIA chip and its socket in one of the Atari 8-bit home computers. The FPGA on the board listens to the digital communication between the GTIA and the rest of the system and re-generates the video output in a near-digital form. This output signal (we call it 'lumacode') can then be flawlessly upscaled to a pixel-perfect HDMI signal using an RGBtoHDMI device or something with equal capabilities.

If you want more information here is the link to the developer's GitHub site. It works very well! It requires a RGBtoHDMI upscaler that runs off a Raspbery Pi (I am using a PI zero). There was recent bug reported with the GTIA shading that the developer is looking into.

 

[ScreamingAtTheRadio]

1 minute ago, scorpio_ny said:

strictly digital. No conversion

I received mine, can't wait to try it, and compare it to what I'm getting out of Sophia2.

[ChrisXF]

Ah, that's a cool product!! I wasn't familiar with that thanks for posting details.

 

So, I think twisted pair will work perfectly with that - and so will the cables you already have. This shouldn't suffer from any of the common problems that people cite with the Atari video signal.

 

That would be quite a nice thing to incorporate into the motherboard, as the UAV was. 🤔

 

Add: oh it's a c0pperdragon product? Nice, he makes good stuff. And I see there's an option for Commodores including the c128?

 

I FEEL AN ORDER COMING ON, LOL

Edited September 3, 2023 by ChrisXF

[+scorpio_ny]

18 minutes ago, ChrisXF said:

Ah, that's a cool product!! I wasn't familiar with that thanks for posting details.

 

So, I think twisted pair will work perfectly with that - and so will the cables you already have. This shouldn't suffer from any of the common problems that people cite with the Atari video signal.

 

That would be quite a nice thing to incorporate into the motherboard, as the UAV was. 🤔

 

Add: oh it's a c0pperdragon product? Nice, he makes good stuff. And I see there's an option for Commodores including the c128?

 

I FEEL AN ORDER COMING ON, LOL

Yes, I have the C128 version as well and works it great. Also, it requires no soldering. It is a nice alternative to the the Sophia 2. This is more like the Sophia to DVI where it still needed the GTIA chip to read the signals off of it. Also it is less expensive if you want add this feature to multiple devices.

[ChrisXF]

Does the c128 version handle the 80 column at all? Even though I have a PAL SCART equipped TV, that CGA interface is still a pain in the neck.

[+scorpio_ny]

14 minutes ago, ChrisXF said:

Does the c128 version handle the 80 column at all? Even though I have a PAL SCART equipped TV, that CGA interface is still a pain in the neck.

Hi @ChrisXF,

In a matter of speaking yes. You will probably need to get the full version of the RGBItoHDMI upscaler that handles more signals and connects directly to RGBI port. I think we should move this discussion to either the thread I created on the GTIADigiter here on Atari Age or if you prefer, reach out to me directly via PM or the Atari Age discord. I would be happy to answer any questions you have on this.

[+scorpio_ny]

35 minutes ago, ScreamingAtTheRadio said:

I received mine, can't wait to try it, and compare it to what I'm getting out of Sophia2.

I do not think you will be disappointed! 

[lopezpb]

I put my board together a few years ago, but recently I started using it more and noticed a problem with the colors on standard GTIA whether by UAV or stock video. Basic color is green (not blue) and it can't be adjust by the potentiometer. The weirdest thing is the "road" in the Numen demo is pink not brawn. I spend few hours by swapping potentiometers, changing GTIA, ANTIC to other ones, but without any changes.

I ask my colleague Santyago from the Polish forum atari.org.pl, who also assembled the same board, to checked on his XE Remake board. And he has pink road in Numen and green Basic colour on standard GTIA to.

Because he had Spohia2 mounted on his board from the beginning, so he did not check previously how the board works with the standard GTIA. In fact, when I mounted Spohia2 in place of GTIA the colors are correct.

 

 Do you also have such  a problem with colors on XE remake board? or maybe there is a fix that corrects this?

[lopezpb]

Could it be that no one else has such problems ?

[+scorpio_ny]

6 hours ago, lopezpb said:

Could it be that no one else has such problems ?

Hi @lopezpb,

 

I have an NTSC XE remake, but your machine is PAL. Reading your post, there seems to be a possible clue. If the colors are correct with the Sophia chip and not with the stock GTIA, it could be the GTIA chip is defective. I have read that there a lot of defective PAL GTIA chips out there. Do you (or your friend) have access to another Atari computer that the colors are known to be correct? If so, maybe try swapping the GTIA chips between those machines to eliminate that the issue is the GTIA chip.

[lopezpb]

I have checked three diferent GTIA chips, on each is the same.

[subzero79]

Want one piece shipped to greece