NES RGB mod

Started by Bostich, August 29, 2005, 08:22:17 AM

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Salamander

@Live_Steam_Mad:

Have you tried a different PPU?  Of the ones I've gotten my hands on (RP2C03B, RC2C03B) both show the same glitching when not using overscan.  I built one of those Japanese kits for the AV Famicom a few months ago and it shows them as well.  The PPU I was trying to track down to test, RC2Co3C, allegedly does not show these.  It appears to be a slightly harder to find version packaged with Vs. Duck Hunt.  My current setup on a Sony PVM allows overscan to hide the problem but I can certainly understand your frustration.

@skips:

I would try desoldering the dual mono jacks entirely first to see if that clears up the noise.

Live_Steam_Mad

#361
Quote from: skips on August 11, 2012, 12:49:34 AM
Last night I decided to toy around with it and [ ] I started by putting a .1uf capacitor on the sync line. Video came right up. This part might interest you Live_Steam_Mad. I popped in Mario Brothers 2 again and noticed that the blue line glitch at the start was far less noticeable. I decided to experiment some more and tried bigger capacitors each time. I ended up at a 220 uf capacitor and the glitch is almost non existent now. It is still there but is far less than it used to be. Doing this also seemed to clear up a few other glitches I was experiencing as well. I updated my last post to include that you do not need the sync cleaner. I am by no means an expert but maybe thats something you can go off of.

I also seem to be getting a fair amount of noise in the picture. You do not notice it in most games but if the screen is black or mostly black (ship levels in Mario 3) It becomes a bit more noticeable. The noise seems to be there regardless of where I ground it. Would anyone have any ideas on how to clean this up a bit?

On page 8 I mentioned that "I just put a 220uF cap on the amplified Composite Sync just before it hits pin 20 of my SCART plug, my NES is using the RF box for amping the Sync, and with the new cap it did NOT remove these darned glitches. Curses. All it did was make my jail bars suddenly visible when they weren't there before, so that I now needed to turn my TV down more, this time to 50 percent brightness, to make them go away on the black start screen of SMB2.

As well as increasing the jail bars significantly, I also got the 2 vertical short blue lines on the right in the last column of pixels flashing at me a lot more prevalently in SMB2. This sucked LOL. They were still there in the World section 1 as well. No change on SMB1.

Either the strength of the cap might make a difference maybe or maybe I have to add a cap before the sync gets amplified instead, or I am just wasting my time and it's the revision of my NES and I can't get rid of it (which is what I strongly suspect) without altering one or more IC's on my PCB."

I am using a Sony KV14LT1U 14" Flat Trinitron CRT TV, and NTSC Revision 4 NES with USA version of SMB2.

On page 8 I mentioned that  I have "fitted the 68pF capacitor as recommended by Markus for the RP2C03B. There are now no signs of the horizontal broken blue lines on the underground stages of SMB1, or anywhere else on that game (so it seems the cap mod only solves the horizontal short flashing lines problems), BUT there are still the 2 flashing short vertical blue lines in SMB2 on a lot or all of level 1 and still a white border to the right on the intro screens of SMB2. This is quite annoying. There is also the less annoying glitch on the top right whilst rendering new screens on SMB1."

Also, to maybe help with your noise issue, on page 7 I mentioned that "I temporarily touched the flying lead from SCART Green Ground onto NES PCB in the very corner of the NES PCB (3 large corner stripes of metal where the controller connectors are, on the solder side of PCB) picture went MUCH better, wavy curved interference went and blacks were black. Also happened when I touched Composite Sync Ground flying lead from SCART onto NES PCB in same place.

So I connected Green Ground from SCART and Composite Sync Ground from SCART together and then connected them onto the Moosmann RGB amp. PCB ground and the picture went terrible  (wavy curved lines interference to the max, black went verrry grey). Seems as if the interference source was the Moosmann amp PCB!"

Are you grounding your video RGB amp in the same place that I am? I am still using the Moosmann RGB amp, just grounding the Green Ground and Comp. Sync ground on the NES PCB instead of at the amp. PCB.

Also I finally cracked the weak audio problem when you do the "stereo" mod. by making an audio amp PCB and it works great and causes no interference on the RGB picture, see ;-

http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=28534&p=467312#p467312

Regards,

Alistair G.

Live_Steam_Mad

#362
Quote from: Salamander on August 11, 2012, 08:40:56 AM
@Live_Steam_Mad:

Have you tried a different PPU?  Of the ones I've gotten my hands on (RP2C03B, RC2C03B) both show the same glitching when not using overscan.  I built one of those Japanese kits for the AV Famicom a few months ago and it shows them as well.  The PPU I was trying to track down to test, RC2Co3C, allegedly does not show these.  It appears to be a slightly harder to find version packaged with Vs. Duck Hunt.  My current setup on a Sony PVM allows overscan to hide the problem but I can certainly understand your frustration.

All 5 of my PPU's were RP2C03B, I haven't tried any others yet. All 5 showed the same glitches in SMB1 and SMB2. Markus said on page 8 that "The Graphic problem in SMB2 is normal. You don`t see them on a crt with overscan. If you use the 2C03 "C" PPUs or the PPU from FC Titler, they don`t have them."

So now I need to look for an RC2C03C which is from one of the 2 Vs. Duck Hunt (MDS-DH) games ( http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/154922-s-video-for-nes/#entry1899891 ) / RP2C03C (the PPU from the Sharp C1 Famicom Television), or an RC2C05-99 (Famicom Titler) LOL

And rt9342 says  here http://nesdev.parodius.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?p=16119&sid=87ab44f9a7d2257dffc05eb970340123 "I recommend trying to find an RP2C03C, as opposed to the RC2C03B that usually comes with dual-monitor Playchoice boards. The "RC" version appears to have distortion in the last column of pixels, apparently sprite-related (at least mine does). Also I had some problems with the "RC" version in the top-loader NES, which I fixed by adding a pullup resistor." However my 5 x PlayChoice 10 boards all came with only RP2C03B, so I think he means that.  The RC2C03B is from VS. Tennis / Vs. Battle City
Vs. Mahjang / Vs. Pinball (JAPAN) / Vs. Star Luster / Vs. Golf (Japan) / Vs. Duck Hunt (MDS-DH) / Vs. Tetris.  

http://www.johnsarcade.com/nintendo_vs_ppu_info.php

Regards,

Alistair G.

Live_Steam_Mad

Seem to remember seeing that there was a web page showing the 2 different revisions of the NES 2 (top loader) where an early one had 2 chips (can't remember which ones) and a later one only had one, it's driving me mad trying to remember, I think Drakon mentioned it?   Anyone have a link to it?

Cheers,

Alistair G.

Game-Tech.us

Quote from: Live_Steam_Mad on August 11, 2012, 03:16:41 PM
my NES is using the RF box for amping the Sync,
Not sure its an issue on the front loader, but on the top loader you have to lift pin 21 (csync on a rgb ppu) to keep it from picking up data line interference. I did not have to amp sync on the rgb nes's i've done, but I did lift the pin and use a .1uF cap and route it directly to composite pin of the scart cable or csync in of the Jrok.
So maybe you should try it and see.

Quote from: Live_Steam_Mad on August 11, 2012, 03:16:41 PM
Also I finally cracked the weak audio problem when you do the "stereo" mod. by making an audio amp PCB and it works great and causes no interference on the RGB picture, see ;-
Which circuit did you use exactly? HunterZ's preamp circuit or the NES circuit?

Quote from: Live_Steam_Mad on August 11, 2012, 03:16:41 PM
Seem to remember seeing that there was a web page showing the 2 different revisions of the NES 2 (top loader) where an early one had 2 chips (can't remember which ones) and a later one only had one,
Not sure if you're thinking of my page, but sounds more like you're thinking of the sns-101 where they combined the two ppus and cpu to one chip, they never did this with the top loader. Although the revised boards are missing one chip, the 139, and have a custom nintendo chip which is prolly combined 74hc368's etc at the controller input.
I show that off a bit in the PAL top loader teardown video.

Live_Steam_Mad

#365
Quote from: akaviolence on August 12, 2012, 01:27:11 AM
Which circuit did you use exactly? HunterZ's preamp circuit or the NES circuit?
I am using the "NES circuit" (a copy of what is in the NES RF box). I am using the exact schematic here (originally from Kevtris i.e. Kevin Horton) ;-

http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?p=340162&sid=f950113efd2c12115d966fffc0a7be18#p340162

I copied all the components onto a perf. board and used the same ones as the schematic including the Philips 74HCU04N that I got from www.quarndon.co.uk with a precision IC socket. The Transistor that I used was the 2SC1740 in TO92 package, NPN, hFE about 550, labelled "C1740   E N" (E= Emitter, N=NPN) that I got from www.littlediode.com via Ebay.

It now has the "Triangle wave / Samples / White Noise" channel (only managed to solder up one circuit yet) just as loud as the mono audio. BTW there is no overmodulation distortion with this circuit, the audio sounds great through headphones.

Best of all I get NO video noise or picture interference or jail bars at all on my 14" TV or IN76 projector, even with the new audio perf. board working. So now audio and video are perfect as they can be made.

Quote from: akaviolence on August 12, 2012, 01:27:11 AM
Not sure if you're thinking of my page. Although the revised boards are missing one chip, the 139, and have a custom nintendo chip which is prolly combined 74hc368's etc at the controller input.

It was a picture very much like the one on your web page of the NES 2, and Drakon (I think) was mentioning it. Your web page is very good indeed though, and will do nicely! Thanks!

Regards,

Alistair G.

Salamander

There is no real fix for jailbars except to obscure them by making the image less sharp which is really a cosmetic trade off.  S-video depending on your encoder might actually produce better looking video than pure RGB for this reason.  It's also worth noting that the AV Famicom also produces them in spite of claims made by some users here to the contrary.

If you have a stable image then the problem isn't going to be with how your sync is processed before the encoder.  Think you can get a good photo of the interference you are seeing?

Salamander

My original setup used an AD725 though while soldering all the components I somehow damaged the crystal producing a good picture but with noticeable diagonal interference.  It was the most noticeable in the red powerup orbs in Ninja Gaiden 2 which sure sounds a lot like your issue.

Salamander

You don't need to pull ground near the cart slot if it's inconvenient.  You can take it anywhere along the perimeter of the board or inside the RF box, just test for continuity.   I wound up soldering right at the original regulator for vcc/ground in my first toaster since it was closer to other points of interest.   The ground point in your photo is one of the legs of that large electrolytic capacitor.  Shouldn't hurt anything to use it but you do have other grounds available.

You may find that you don't need that cap on the sync line when the new encoder shows up.

I always put a 68pf ceramic cap between pin 24 and pin 20 (gnd) of the PPU so you may want to consider that if you haven't done so already.  The original arcade hardware contains it.

Live_Steam_Mad

#369
On my NES using the Moosmann RGB amp, I have the ground for the amp going to the ground of the NES PCB (not in the RF box), and the +5V for the amp coming from the +5V on the NES PCB on the far right pin of the NES's Cartridge slot very close to the RF box, like you have skips, as I mentioned above.

BUT the ground for the Composite Sync Ground (i.e. pin 17 of my SCART that plugs into my TV, which is "Composite video ground" (i.e. SCART pin 20's ground) is connected to NES ground, NOT to the amp. ground (since the Moosmann amp is a noisy source for ground). That give me a picture with no noise. However when I connected Comp Video Ground into the Moosmann amp ground it was interference crazy on the picture (wavy lines, poor contast, etc).

So since you are using an encoder skips, that would be the equivalent of (I suppose) running just one wire (i.e. NOT phono lead with 2 conductors) from your amp to your Encoder (for Composite Sync) and then using the NES ground for the Composite Sync Ground, i.e. a single wire connecting the JROK  Comp. Sync Ground (inside the JROK) to the NES ground!

And the same for the Green Ground (since I have Green Ground on my SCART plug connected to NES ground, NOT to the Moosmann amp. ground (since again the Moosmann amp is a noisy source for ground). So again you would have to run just one wire from your amp to your Encoder (for Green) and then using the NES ground for the Green Ground, i.e. a single wire connecting the JROK  Green Ground (inside the JROK) to the NES ground!

A little daft maybe but might solve the interference problem? Just a thought!

Or wire it like I did and then use an RGB SCART to S-Video / Component converter! And maybe use a revision 4 NTSC NESC like I did? Since I have absolutely no picture noise.

BTW I am using the RF box to amplify Composite Sync from pin 21 of my PPU, my pin 21 of PPU is NOT lifted, the Composite Video (now Composite Sync instead) output from the RF box goes direct to pin 20 on the SCART plug of the NES (Composite Video In to TV). My PPU is RP2C03B.

I have Green Ground (pin 9) of NES SCART plug (i.e. the SCART plug I have wired up to my NES temporarily for these tests) going direct to NES PCB ground. Also I wired up the PPU Green to the amp. IN (green), and Green OUT of amp. directly to pin 11 of SCART plug (Green UP to TV).

All my connections are direct, no resistors or capacitors. Only my RGB switching pin on my SCART plug has a resistor going into it.

I need to give pin 16 of my NES's SCART plug at least 1V in order to switch my 14" TV to RGB mode (then you get 3 green dots on the OSD briefly, indicating RGB mode). So I have +5V coming from amp going into 75 Ohm resistor then into SCART pin 16 of SCART plug.

I haven't seen any jail bars or white borders yet on this 14" TV. Sharpness on the TV seems to be disabled (set at medium) in RGB mode. Colors are vibrant, whites are bright white, blacks are black.

On an RP2C03B (batch no. 8L4 18, with heatsink present, I just sold it to Martin Larsen in Denmark, one of two I had with this same batch number), this chip showed faint jail bars on blues and oranges in SMB1 but only on my IN76 projector, but none on black backgrounds when contrast was 50 per cent and brightness at 64 per cent, and with lamp on high power mode.

My PPU socket has a 68pF cap between ground and pin 24 PPU.

The background hiss on the mono sound isn't perfect but it's really pretty good and there's no buzzing. Background hiss on CPU channel (only done one audio amp circuit yet) is a bit more but I just realised today that I have wired the audio amp's ground into the Moosmann amp ground (it was convenient) and forgot about the Moosmann amp's Ground noise also may be affecting the audio background slight noise!

BTW I had a Sony PSX (model 7500, UK PS1, a chipped console and I play only NTSC USA games on it) with a herringbone pattern problem on the colors on the screen but only on the RGB and S-Video connections, composite seems to be  entirely free of it, when viewed on my Infocus IN76 projector.  For RGB I had two third-party PSX RGB cables and for S-Video I was trying an RGB SCART to S-Video converter and I had three standard S-Video to S-Video cables.
     So I went andbought a genuine Sony PS3 to S-Video cable and it gave me a perfect NTSC S-Video picture on my PSX (PS1) when viewed on my IN76 projector . I threw away the two bad RGB cables LOL Needless to say the non-genuine Sony brand cables were all the ones at fault!

Then I discovered 2 out of 3 of my cheap S-Video to S-Video cables were bad (again herringbone patterns on the colors on S-Video input) but one was perfect, so I threw the bad ones away.

So also watch out for bad cables causing diagonal interference patterns / noise.

I have the same diagonal lines on S-Video problem on my early NTSC SNES and just tore apart my cheap 3rd party cable last night to see if I can solder up directly to the sockets with my own thicker wire, shielded with turkey foil, and see if the picture is perfect on my pj. My NTSC SNES mini (JR) has a way sharper Composite picture than my large SNES, both have no noise on Composite Video. I know my pj can give a perfect picture without any diagonal lines on colors on NTSC S-Video as it now does with my PSX and my Pioneer DVR-LX60D HDD/DVD recorder (now that I threw away the cheap bad cables).

UPDATE: OK I got to the bottom of the problem with the diagonal lines on S-Video... Found out that the LX60D and PSX both give black and white picture on Composite input when using S-Video, which is correct, BUT MY OLD LARGE NTSC SNES DOES NOT, it has color on the Composite input and diaginal lines on the S-Video (Color). Conclusion - my SNES revision is a bad design and perfect S-Video is NOT possible from it (model 001 (full sized / old SNES) (SNS-CPU-RGB-01, Copyright 1994, this is a USA model Super NES) (genuine Nintendo). The chip in it that is the RGB / SVideo encoder is the Rohm "S-RGB A BA6596F" with "507 179" date / batch code on it. BTW I'm currently modding my SNES JR for S-Video. UPDATE just done it and darn it the SNES JR has exactly the same bad diagonal lines in S-Video, and appears in color in Composite when the TV only has the S-Video lead into it, exactly the same as my large SNES.

Regards,

Alistair G.

Game-Tech.us

SKIPS: Your tv may be different, but I had to use a sync cleaner to get the Jrok to work properly on my lcd tv.
Here's a vid I did on how I put one together:
http://youtu.be/gc9t04GMUeQ

Game-Tech.us

What encoder are you using?
Sound comes from the CPU, but it is still a good sign since its normal to not get vid without an amp.

Europemodder

Hi, I have A/V Famicom with PlayChoise 10 chip and now I like to solder RGB cable to my console. So can you tell me the best cable, which I solder to famicom and cable at the other end would have a scart.

And what is good quality SCART to Component converter?
XRGB 3 is very expensive and I think if something cheaper converter make same quality?

Where I can buy best quality 40-pin IC socket?
Can I just cut RGB Pins out of socket, so they arent then connected to my PCB?
I dont like to make stereo mod, so how I can sync video and audio, if I use some RGB to Component transcoder? I think then video have some lag, versus audio?

Live_Steam_Mad

#373
Quote from: Europemodder on August 17, 2012, 09:39:22 AM
[ ]Where I can buy best quality 40-pin IC socket?
[ ]
I dont like to make stereo mod, so how I can sync video and audio, if I use some RGB to Component transcoder? I think then video have some lag, versus audio?

For the "best" 40-pin socket, you need a "Precision" IC socket, also known as "Turned Pin" socket, I bought mine from Ebay, get the ones with Gold plated Beryllium Copper Alloy pins like I did. Make sure the PPU legs are ALL dead straight and parallel to the pins before pushing the PPU into the socket.

If you want to connect through a HDTV there will be a 40+ ms lag from the video processing IC's. The TV compensates for this in it's audio processing circuitry. However if you go through a Transcoder without audio inputs then the video will lag and the audio will be ahead. So you can use an AV amplifier with "Audio Delay" setting to compensate for this if needed. To be honest I don't think the delay is really that noticeable (when I go through an RGB SCART to S-Video converter using my SNES anyway).

Regards,

Alistair G.


skips

yup Europemodder that will work.

Live_Steam_Mad

#376
Quote from: Europemodder on August 17, 2012, 08:03:43 PM
http://www.partco.biz/verkkokauppa/images/tuotekuvat/p/p40l-large.jpg

I think this looks good, what you think?

Looks very like the one I used. You can see the Gold plated inner part on the Beryllium Copper Alloy pins. Should work perfectly for the NES RGB mod. The PPU will be a nice press fit without being too easy or too hard to press in (not loose or tight). At least it is in my Turned (Round) Pin (Precision) socket. Very strong socket pins, easy to solder. 40 pins, 1/10 inch spacing, and a good number of heat resistant plastic cross braces for strength (rigidity).

Regards,

Alistair G.

Europemodder

Now I need to get my pc10's video output to amplified and I like to use the ncs2553 chip.
Can somebody send building schematic to me?
There is very limited place to get needed component, so I like to ask if somebody have any woking extra RGB amp available, then I can buy complete circuit to me, if somebody can ship it to Finland.
Then I can just solder it to my famicom.

Game-Tech.us

There's a couple application diagrams in the datasheet.

Live_Steam_Mad

#379
Quote from: Europemodder on August 18, 2012, 05:21:17 AM
Now I need to get my pc10's video output to amplified and I like to use the ncs2553 chip.

That chip, according to the datasheet posted by akaviolence, is SOIC (i.e. Surface Mount) only. Good luck in soldering such a small chip with such closely spaced legs. I find it a hassle. So I like to solder only to discrete components and DIL chips unless forced to. Would you consider making the Moosmann amplifier like I am using? I made mine on a PCB 1 inch x 3 inches, for all 3 amp's. Works wonderfully, no noise or jail bars, basically, at least in my experience with NES Rev. 4 (NTSC) and RP2C03B. Full instructions and pictures on making it are here ;-

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fplayoffline.wordpress.com%2Fmod%2Fnesrgb%2F

http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=1592.msg30775#msg30775

...see earlier pages of this topic for complete explanations on the whole RGB modification. Just about every possible info. is in this topic.

Regards,

Alistair G.

Europemodder

Thanks Alistair.
I just readed whole topic.
Is anybody here tryed IC CXA2075 Encoder on RGB NES?

Game-Tech.us

Quote from: Europemodder on August 18, 2012, 10:31:48 AM
Thanks Alistair.
I just readed whole topic.
Is anybody here tryed IC CXA2075 Encoder on RGB NES?
Yup, here is my comparison video with that chip.
The big surprise was power draw, 100mA! Too much extra draw for the NES if you ask me...

Europemodder

#382
Hi akaviolence,

I check your video, but you have nes-101 top loader and my version is rev. 2 AV Famicom.
If I understand right, there can be very different result on different revision and models of NES.
Drakon told that cxa1645 is very good picture and cxa2075 is  the best, if I like to make good picture, without  jailbars.
About Power draws, if I play long time using  cxa2075, is there too much heat?
I can understand written English much better than in the video.

Salamander

Choice of encoder is not going to change the jailbars but choice of video output will.  Drakon uses additional components to blur the video obscuring the jailbar interference combined with s-video which already shows it significantly less than pure RGB.  AV Famicom shows jailbars just like any toaster does.

Game-Tech.us

I thought the console was going to turn off on me when testing the cxa2075m, it was acting weird, but the only thing I could blame was power draw of that chip. I was only going to use it for an rgb amp, but since I found the njm2667 and ncs2553 amps were cheaper and drew much less power I didn't use the Sony. I may use it on a different console if I ever want to output svideo, but it's not likely since component is so much better.

I think Salamander is right and the jailbars are just a problem with the ppu itself and everything done to get rid of them has really only been a way to mask or hide them. That's not to say it doesn't work, if I had svid out then i'd mask them if I could as well.

Europemodder

#385
Maybe I just make Moosmann amplifier then. I check schematic and it seems to be easy to solder.

Jrok's V4.1 Encoders NTSC price is $81.00 and Shipping and handling to Europe $41.00, so Total is $122.00 USD.
If there is somebody from Europe with available extra Jrok Encoder, please told me, so I dont need to buy it from USA.

Salamander

If you're in Europe you have easy access to SCART so you should really be considering RGB over Component.  That being said, for about the same amount of money you could buy one of these...

http://homepage3.nifty.com/F-LABO/ProductsList.html

I use one in my AV Fami and it's an extremely nice kit.


Europemodder

#387
Salamander, I like to capture my playing and there is no European SCART on capture card devices, thats why I need component to my Famicom.
How easily this F-LABO is to install? If I order it with Multi AV and use it with Wii Multi AV to Component cable then.

Salamander

The hardest thing to do is really desoldering the stock PPU.  If you lift a trace on the AV Fami you could do some serious damage to the board.  The kit itself is very straightforward with the left hand side being responsible for sound and the right for video.  You could just skip the sound portion entirely and cut down the number of components you need to worry about.  If you take your time and have decent soldering skills it should not be difficult at all.

Game-Tech.us

The full f-labo kit, shown by salamander, is great if you want svid and composite, but using the sony chip especially the 2075 will increase power draw too much for little to no gain. An external rgb to component converter will most likely hide any jailbars and the ncs2553 amp can be made and installed for cheap if you do it yourself. I know its SMD, but really soic-8 is much easier than you think, I have plenty of experience with them of course, but I can easily use a 2mm flat tip and push solder to two legs at a time and never bridge them, the key is a clean board and lots of flux. The njm2667 amp, mooseman as you call it, can be made with all through hole components, and some ppl will sell you a bare pcb designed for the circuit, including me. I've heard the 2667 is not longer available at Mouser, may be the case in other retailers too, but I think the 2668 is basically the same thing and would work fine, but I haven't tried it since I switched to the 2553 with much less components.
As far as PPU removal:
I recently found a super easy way to get DIP chips out.
I use a cheap weller soldering iron with a 2mm chisel tip <- important, trust.
When desoldering I turn it all the way up.
My solder sucker is the cheapest POS you can import on ebay, like $3, you can see it in a bunch of my youtube vids.
Watch this one @ 1:50 minutes, that's exactly how I do all DIP chips.
It's super easy and quite fast and not too hard on the hands and fingers once you get used to it.
Just don't yank 'em out till you're sure the pins move freely, I use the soldering iron to make sure they are free and they usually either move freely right away or 'click' off that last little bit of solder and then are free.
If it still needs coaxing i'll add more solder and try it again.
Watch out for the power and grounded pins, they usually aren't thermal pads and require more heating time to melt the solder, but you'll see it happen or if you have enough force on the iron the pin will move.
Also, you're not likely to encounter lead free solder on any NES stuff but if you do add some leaded to the mix, it will help greatly when working with it!
BTW those power and grounded pins are the reason hot air can ruin a board, it takes too much time to melt them and by that time the board has warped badly and if you're unlucky like me, a whole quarter sized area will lift and possibly explode in to your eye balls! Yeah it happened!
Too bad I wasn't recording at the time, epic 'oh shit' throw stuff and run away reaction!!
And you will start burning and lifting traces etc and you don't want that.
So, to get around that I started sucking the solder out of the pwr and gnd pins before I used the hot air, worked better and faster. But to instal a socket or eprom I had to drill out each pad because using hot air to do it is even harder!

Europemodder

#390
If I remove PC10 Chip using heat gun, I got chip nicely removed and PlayChoice motherboard maybe get ruin. But its not problem, because I dont need PlayChoice motherboard anywhere.
Then I cut all original PPU legs off and I can heat the legs off one by one, using Hakko 936 Soldering Station and cheap POS.
I only need to order good chisel tip, never used this tip previously.
There is 1,2mm and 2,4mm tips, but I dont see any 2mm, its better if its too small or big?
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=900m%20chisel%20tip&_sop=15&_clu=2&_fcid=70&_localstpos&_stpos&gbr=1

And I found same POS which you use, so I order this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Portable-Antistatic-Desoldering-Pump-Sucker-Solder-Irons-Removal-Remover-Tool-/221052532667?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3377c1f7bb

I ask my local store, if they can found any BC33725 transistor to me.
Mooseman maded good schematic, so I can easily solder BC33725 myself, if they can find one to me.
Can you compare  ncs2553 amp and njm2667. I checked many of your videos, but I understand text better, because Im not learned english so much time.

little offtopic:
I have EasyCap, and I got clear picture on PS1, PS3, Xbox 360 using composite, but when I connect NTSC Famicom, NTSC or PAL NES, I got little  vertical lines on normal and golden RCA cables,
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/8186/linesod.png
You guys maybe know why only NES consoles make this lines?
I don't see this lines on my TV, only if I capture NES, but my other consoles doesnt do that.
I try to change Color settings, but brightness, contrast, hue or saturation doesnt remove them.

Salamander

@akaviolence - I agree the 2075 is not worth messing with.  The kit comes (came?) with a 1645 which should draw significantly less current.  I thought your comparison video was well done by the way.

Just putting out there that THS7314 is yet another option for an amp.


Game-Tech.us

Yeah from what I could tell the ths7314 is almost identical to the 2553, but 3x more expensive.
Maybe it can be found in a DIP package? Mouser has only soic8 of each.

Europemodder

#393
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TEXAS-INSTRUMENTS-THS7314DG4-AMP-VIDEO-3CH-SDTV-SMD-SOIC8-/260963868229?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item3cc2a89e45

Its not very expensive, only £3.95

Quote from: akaviolence on August 21, 2012, 01:08:58 AM
The njm2667 amp, mooseman as you call it, can be made with all through hole components, and some ppl will sell you a bare pcb designed for the circuit, including me.

Moosmann AMP doesnt use any njm2667 chip, or did I understand something wrong?
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fplayoffline.wordpress.com%2Fmod%2Fnesrgb%2F

If I use ncs2553 chip, is the LM1881 still needed?

Game-Tech.us

Sorry, yeah the mooseman is the transistor amp, I was thinking of the 'n64' amp.
All I know is I needed a sync cleaner to get the pc10 to work with the Jrok.
I haven't tested with other encoders, but I don't think different rgb amps with make any difference.

Live_Steam_Mad

#395
Quote from: Europemodder on August 17, 2012, 09:39:22 AM
Hi, I have A/V Famicom with PlayChoise 10 chip and now I like to solder RGB cable to my console. So can you tell me the best cable, which I solder to famicom and cable at the other end would have a scart.

For RGB video cable I just used some cheap PVC covered wire off Ebay made from 7 strands of 0.2mm, tin coated copper. No shielding on any of my video or power or ground wires. I have about 1 metre length coming out of my NES on several wires, for R,G,B, Composite Sync, +5V (for pin 16, via 75 Ohm resistor, for switching TV to RGB mode, and also for Moosman amp), Ground (for Moosman amp), they all go to a SCART plug for my NES (that I am using from a cheap SNES RGB SCART cable that I ripped apart). Then I plug the SCART plug into my SCART socket on my 14" Sony TV.

For Composite Sync Ground, a wire comes out of my SCART plug, and goes to NES Ground (NOT to Moosman amp. ground, the amp. has a noisy ground).

For Green Ground, a wire comes out of my SCART plug, and goes to NES Ground (again NOT to Moosman amp. ground, the amp. has a noisy ground).

I am not grounding Red or Blue.

Picture is perfect, basically. No noise, no jailbars, whichever room I am in, or whether I connect it to my 29" Sony, or IN76 projector.

The only shielded cable I used so far was a double one for my 2 CPU sound channels.

It's my non-modded SNES and modded SNES JR that I have the picture problems with (S-Video, diagonal lines). My Sony PSX UK model 7500 and Pioneer LX60D give me a perfect S-Video picture (on NTSC and PAL respectively, since my PSX is chipped and I play exclusively NTSC USA games on it).

Quote from: Europemodder on August 17, 2012, 09:39:22 AM
Can I just cut RGB Pins out of socket, so they arent then connected to my PCB?
I dont like to make stereo mod, so how I can sync video and audio, if I use some RGB to Component transcoder? I think then video have some lag, versus audio?

You cut the Composite PPU out by cutting the legs at the tops of the legs close to where the legs meet the PPU body. Use a Tamiya Modeller's Side Cutter or similar, like I did. That leaves a load of legs sticking out of the PCB. Now heat the rear of the PCB, at the bottom of the leg where the join is to the PCB, with a 2mm single oval faced bit with a little fresh solder on it, and a 50W iron (I use Antex TCS50 and this bit). Then grab hold of the top of the leg on the component side of the board, with pliers and pull gently. Legs will come out easily. Except the ones in a group that are all grounded together like the RGB etc. which take more attempts. Do not heat for more than about 10 seconds. If it doesn't come out, let it cool and then try again. Waggle the pliers if needed, when pulling.

Then use a 0.7mm drill (cheapest ones, pack of 10 on Ebay) in a Swivel Head Pin Vice and drill out the hole that gets filled in by the solder, where the leg used to be. Drill all 40 holes. Now you are ready to install the new PPU socket. Make sure to remember to insulate holes 14,15,16 (and any others like pin 21 if you are going to lift it from the PCB), and remember to cut short pins 14,15,16 on the bottom of the PPU socket and solder wires to each of them for the RGB output to the amp.

Why don't you like the stereo mod?

Regards,

Alistair G.

Europemodder

#396
Quote from: Live_Steam_Mad on August 22, 2012, 05:37:07 AM
Why don't you like the stereo mod?

I downloaded NES Stereo mod sample music, but it doesnt feel so nice on my headphones. Hard to explain, but this is just my opinion.


Quote from: Live_Steam_Mad on August 22, 2012, 05:37:07 AM
Make sure to remember to insulate holes 14,15,16 (and any others like pin 21 if you are going to lift it from the PCB), and remember to cut short pins 14,15,16 on the bottom of the PPU socket and solder wires to each of them for the RGB output to the amp.

I will lift 21 from the PCB and use .1uF cap between 21 pin and Jrok Sync input. This can not be a bad idea  ::)
But akaviolence needed a sync cleaner to get the pc10 to work with the Jrok.
I just get all needed parts to make Moosmann AMP, but maybe I still need to get LM1881, becauseI  like to use Jrok.
I got a little contradictory information...


Game-Tech.us

Today I got an RGB modded top loader to work perfect with the ba6594af component encoder, same chip used in some snes consoles, this is awesome news for me since the Jrok is too expensive and too big.
Video

Europemodder

Hi,

This  BA6594AF + LM1881 + NCS2553 set looks perfect and its very small overall.
Is there any way to make clear schematic to me?
I mean like this,

Game-Tech.us

I thought you wanted to stay away from surface mount chips?
Anyway, the circuit is posted on the sega-16 forum thread about the chip, here.

I plan to layout a pcb just for installing into to nes front and top loaders. It will have a socket for the rgb ppu and headers to insert into a socket where the composite ppu was.
Any interest?