Newbie with Sophia 2 - Please Help!

[salchucks]

Hi all. I was so excited to get the Sophia 2 for my 5200 finally after years of waiting. I thought this would be pretty straightforward and I could send it to my modder but there is a ton of complications and conflicting info out there. I'm going to tell you guys what I have and what I want to do and can someone please just tell me in simple terms what I need to get to accomplish my goal?
- I have a 2-port 5200 and the Sophia 2

- I also purchased these "Retro Access DB9 to SCART for Atari 5200 Sophia board" but when I received them I saw that they are VGA and the new Sophia is DVI. So what cables do I need??

- Additionally I realized that sound isn't going to go through a VGA or DVI connection so how would I get sound to my gscart switch?? (gcomp component would be fine too)

- Also I can't seem to find any straightforward guide or video on how to install this to send over to my modder.

 

I just need to install this mod and have a good shielded rgb cable (scart or component) that brings sound to my switcher. I can't be the only newbie who is confused. Thanks for your help.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

@salchucks I just installed one in a 5200 and it was very simple and straight forward. To install it you just remove the GTIA and replace it with the Sophia 2. That's it.

 

But you are correct in that the Audio isn't part of this and has to be handled separately. The owner of the console I did wanted the DVI output so that wasn't an issue. But, it did require me to purchase the longer cable from Brewing Academy so that was an additional cost above the Sophia already that wasn't quite expected. But back to the audio. I did the same thing I do for UAV installs with audio. Just tap it off the top of R50 with an additional resistor and capacitor inline to bring the signal down a bit more to normal levels and run that to an external jacks either RCA or something similar.

 

From there, a DVI + Audio to HDMI converter was purchased by my client so that I could run all of this to the converter box and get an HDMI output in the process.

 

That all said..

 

I'm pretty sure you don't HAVE to use the DVI output. There are analog outputs to provide VGA or RGB depending on how you configure the board using the configuration program. It does require a flash cart for the 5200 so you can run the program to reconfigure the sophia. Pretty sure it came preconfigured as RGB on the analog outputs so you can just attach wiring from the bottom of the Sophia board that attaches to the analog pins and run those to any connector you want to use. So if you already have SCART then you could setup the Sophia to provide RGB on the Analog side and then wire up to an 8-pin connector or whatever.

 

If you want to use VGA then you setup the Sophia analog signals to provide VGA and then run the wiring you need off the Sophia output pins for the RGB and H and V signals for VGA. Wire that to a standard VGA output and there you go. 

 

And...as you have the gcomp component switcher... you can also set the analog signal to YPbPr  or component output mode too and then your modder could use a set of RCAs on the back of the console or TRRS 4 conductor 3.5mm with a breakout dongle RCA to get your component output off the Sophia.

 

But the only way to get your audio and RGB together is using the RGB with an 8pin or other RGB cable setup for output if you don't want another converter in the mix required. The Sophia manual comes with a detailed description of the output pins and what signal is what that you can tap from if you want a different output vs the build in DVI. If you want DVI, then you need to purchase the longer cable set for the 5200 so that it will reach properly from the sophia to the expansion plate area for a cleaner look.

 

I hope that helps?

 

 

 

[salchucks]

Hi @-^CrossBow^- thanks for the detailed response. This is all a little over my head. Would you mind linking me to exactly what cables (or other) that I'll need to get to do it all component?
I'll purchase whatever it is and send it all over to my modder. Thanks!!

Edited April 4, 2023 by salchucks

[salchucks]

DM'd you as well @-^CrossBow^-