Possible problem with Atari VCS composite AV mod

[Sceptre_JLRB]

Hi there,

 

As I commented several weeks ago, I acquired an NTSC 4-Switch woody Atari VCS. Given that I'm in a PAL region and all my TVs are PAL, I felt a composite AV mod was the best option to enjoy it. So I ordered the mod to an store offering that service, since I lack proper soldering abilities and equipment at the moment. They performed the standard transistor-based composite AV mod, eliminating the RF module and cable, and adding a mini-jack AV connector to output the signal. Finally, I got my modded console back and am currently testing it.

However, it seems to me that the picture shows excessive artifacts. Concretely, the image has kind of a 'shadow' effect at sprite edges, being somehow 'splitted' into two different images imperfectly synchronized. In fact, this seems to occur in every pixel on screen, which shows this gray shadow on its right. In bigger sprites, this shadow on the right is more evident. Besides, horizontal black lines on the screen left edge typical of many games show these gray tracks on their right. In smaller sprites, the image turns out to be a little confusing (i.e., Harmony menu text). As a consequence, all colors in general are somehow dirty. There are no clean hues, what can be easily appreciated in yellow colors. Neither are there pure whites.

(Please, find attached some pictures taken from my CRT TV showing the described issues, as well as some images of the aforementioned mod.)

I've tried adjusting the color potentiometer on the console PCB and tweaking the TV image settings, of course, but the defects still persist. I'm aware that composite video isn't the best picture signal, though, but when comparing this case with other retro systems I also use via composite video, it gives me the impression that there is something wrong here.

So my questions to all the users having this AV mod or experience with it are:

Is this composite video signal, with all these image artifacts, normal? What could be wrong? Any way to get a better composite picture quality?

Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you very much in advance!