Anyone installed a UGV in a 5200 yet?

[+x=usr(1536)]

For anyone who may have already given installing a UGV in a 5200 a shot, how did the installation go for you?

 

My daily-driver 5200 has a UAV in it, and I'm thinking of replacing it with a UGV just to see how the UGV compares.  Since both it and the A8 are GTIA-based, this should work fine, but I was just wondering if anyone had already tried it, and, if so, your opinions.

 

FWIW, this would free up the UAV currently in the 5200 to move over to the daily-driver 600XL, which is currently the last RF-only machine I have. And since The Brewing Academy has both the UGV and the 600XL monitor port, it makes for an easy order to have everything needed to take care of both machines on hand.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Why not just install the UGV into the 600xl? Is there a reason that isn't possible? Granted I'm not nearly as familiar with the UGV as the UAV obviously but that seems like the least amount of work to me? If you wanted to compare them, I would think just loading up the same game on both the 8-bit and 5200 would be enough to compare?

 

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

7 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Why not just install the UGV into the 600xl? Is there a reason that isn't possible? Granted I'm not nearly as familiar with the UGV as the UAV obviously but that seems like the least amount of work to me? If you wanted to compare them, I would think just loading up the same game on both the 8-bit and 5200 would be enough to compare?

I completely agree that just going straight to the 600XL with the UGV would be less work.  However, I'm also planning on installing a U1MB in that machine in the future - and while I know that a U1MB will package in with a UAV in place, I don't know about the UGV.  It seems like it probably would, but until I see one for myself I'd rather go with the known quantity.

 

Besides, there's a lot more room to work with in the 5200, and I've been considering removing the IAB that's in there - it works fine, but the sound is a bit overamplified for my tastes.  Two birds with one stone, really.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

8 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Besides, there's a lot more room to work with in the 5200, and I've been considering removing the IAB that's in there - it works fine, but the sound is a bit overamplified for my tastes.  Two birds with one stone, really.

The IAB isn't needed in the 5200 or most of the consoles really. Does the UGV account for audio then I take it?

 

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

1 minute ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

The IAB isn't needed in the 5200 or most of the consoles really.

Yup.  I installed it as an experiment to see how I liked it.  It's fine, but this isn't the right application for it.

1 minute ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Does the UGV account for audio then I take it?

Not that I'm aware of.  I'll just tap the same resistors that the IAB is taking its audio input from and do the usual output via a cap.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

20 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Yup.  I installed it as an experiment to see how I liked it.  It's fine, but this isn't the right application for it.

Not that I'm aware of.  I'll just tap the same resistors that the IAB is taking its audio input from and do the usual output via a cap.

You will need to add a 2k or slightly higher value resistor inline before that cap to the output as the audio will still be a bit hot.

 

[SiLic0ne t0aD]

First I've ever heard of this.. Would it be an improvement over the UAV?

 

I have a UAV installed in my 5200 and while it looks fantastic on a CRT, it looks horrible on my HDTV (unless I use fake scan lines, which I'm not a huge fan of), no matter if I'm using the OSSC with s-video add on board, or Retrotink 2x Scart with s-video add on board. I'd love to jump to RGB and just be done with it, but who knows when those will be back in stock.

[+x=usr(1536)]

1 hour ago, SiLic0ne t0aD said:

First I've ever heard of this.. Would it be an improvement over the UAV?

No idea, to be honest; I'm just seeing an opportunity to experiment with the UGV.  From what I've read, most folks who have installed a UGV generally seem happy with it and rate it about on par with the UAV.

 

Thing is, 'better' is going to be a subjective measure.  More:

1 hour ago, SiLic0ne t0aD said:

I have a UAV installed in my 5200 and while it looks fantastic on a CRT, it looks horrible on my HDTV (unless I use fake scan lines, which I'm not a huge fan of), no matter if I'm using the OSSC with s-video add on board, or Retrotink 2x Scart with s-video add on board.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding, but it sounds as though the issue is less with the UAV's performance (in terms of picture quality) and more with how a modern HDTV will display its output.  Is that correct?

[zylon]

I've been doing opposite, and stuffing a 400 full of goodies, lol. I might add the BA 5200 video board to it yet.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

12 hours ago, SiLic0ne t0aD said:

First I've ever heard of this.. Would it be an improvement over the UAV?

 

I have a UAV installed in my 5200 and while it looks fantastic on a CRT, it looks horrible on my HDTV (unless I use fake scan lines, which I'm not a huge fan of), no matter if I'm using the OSSC with s-video add on board, or Retrotink 2x Scart with s-video add on board. I'd love to jump to RGB and just be done with it, but who knows when those will be back in stock.

What looks bad on it? Because honestly the 5200's s-video output from a UAV is among the best I've seen on my AV setup in my game room. I also have an OSSC but don't have the converter for it and I don't own a Tink2x either. I have all of my s-video going into an Extron AV switcher and converter and that converts everything as a VGA output that I'm feeding into the OSSC. So maybe my extron is doing something to make them look better, but everyone I've installed the UAVs into their 5200s has stated they couldn't believe how crisp it looks to them?

 

So yeah, I'm curious on this as the 5200 on s-video and s-video from Tim's 2600 RGB, and Crayon's Intellivison RGB are among the best s-video outputs I've seen.

 

There is one thing that the UGV does that the UAV can't. And is the fact that with a UAV and most other upgrades I guess, that you now see the extra video data on the left and right hand side that was obscured by the overscan on the TV. On games like Fractalus for example, you see flickering pixels on the far right. Looks a lot like the CRAM dots on Genesis games that appear below the game play area and wasn't seen until jumps to HD displays. Well the UGV changes the signal to mask that so it looks like it did on the CRT is my understanding. I've never really been bothered by the extra data being shown and could in fact create an OSSC profile to mask it but I don't since I want people to know what they will see with the 5200 upgraded.

 

Unless that is what you are talking about @SiLic0ne t0aD? The extra video data that is shown on the left and right on some games?

 

[SiLic0ne t0aD]

13 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

What looks bad on it? Because honestly the 5200's s-video output from a UAV is among the best I've seen on my AV setup in my game room. I also have an OSSC but don't have the converter for it and I don't own a Tink2x either. I have all of my s-video going into an Extron AV switcher and converter and that converts everything as a VGA output that I'm feeding into the OSSC. So maybe my extron is doing something to make them look better, but everyone I've installed the UAVs into their 5200s has stated they couldn't believe how crisp it looks to them?

 

So yeah, I'm curious on this as the 5200 on s-video and s-video from Tim's 2600 RGB, and Crayon's Intellivison RGB are among the best s-video outputs I've seen.

 

There is one thing that the UGV does that the UAV can't. And is the fact that with a UAV and most other upgrades I guess, that you now see the extra video data on the left and right hand side that was obscured by the overscan on the TV. On games like Fractalus for example, you see flickering pixels on the far right. Looks a lot like the CRAM dots on Genesis games that appear below the game play area and wasn't seen until jumps to HD displays. Well the UGV changes the signal to mask that so it looks like it did on the CRT is my understanding. I've never really been bothered by the extra data being shown and could in fact create an OSSC profile to mask it but I don't since I want people to know what they will see with the 5200 upgraded.

 

Unless that is what you are talking about @SiLic0ne t0aD? The extra video data that is shown on the left and right on some games?

 

What part? The whole thing, unfortunately. Maybe it's my 5200, but it looks awful on my Vizio D43 HDTV, for some reason. While literally every other vintage console I have looks amazing on this TV, it just seems to hate Atari consoles in particular. As we discussed via pm before, my 7800 does look decent with the UAV s-video mod, other than some minor ghosting, and even though it bugs me, I can live with it. However, this 2-port 5200 takes ghosting to a whole new level.. It's unbearable, no matter what configuration I try, except if scanlines are turned on, full strength. I'm not a fan of that look though, and prefer just a touch of scanlines, if any at all. Maybe your Extron does work some additional magic.. I may have to try and snag one up one of these days.

On the bright side, It does look wonderful running through the UAV's s-video on the CRT in the other room though, so not all is lost. It's better off there anyway.. It's just way too damn big to keep hooked up along side my other consoles on the main setup anyway. 😅

 

Regarding overscan, I don't think I'll go out of my way to display that sort of thing, so I think I'll pass on trying the UGV mod afterall. Thanks for explaining that more, as this is the first I've heard of this mod.

Edited February 22, 2023 by SiLic0ne t0aD

[+-^CrossBow^-]

7 hours ago, SiLic0ne t0aD said:

What part? The whole thing, unfortunately. Maybe it's my 5200, but it looks awful on my Vizio D43 HDTV, for some reason. While literally every other vintage console I have looks amazing on this TV, it just seems to hate Atari consoles in particular. As we discussed via pm before, my 7800 does look decent with the UAV s-video mod, other than some minor ghosting, and even though it bugs me, I can live with it. However, this 2-port 5200 takes ghosting to a whole new level.. It's unbearable, no matter what configuration I try, except if scanlines are turned on, full strength. I'm not a fan of that look though, and prefer just a touch of scanlines, if any at all. Maybe your Extron does work some additional magic.. I may have to try and snag one up one of these days.

On the bright side, It does look wonderful running through the UAV's s-video on the CRT in the other room though, so not all is lost. It's better off there anyway.. It's just way too damn big to keep hooked up along side my other consoles on the main setup anyway. 😅

 

Regarding overscan, I don't think I'll go out of my way to display that sort of thing, so I think I'll pass on trying the UGV mod afterall. Thanks for explaining that more, as this is the first I've heard of this mod.

Going to take this back to PM again...