NESRGB board available now

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ApolloBoy
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by ApolloBoy »

mvsfan wrote:Ive noticed that tims component board for the nesrgb is out now.
That and the original Famicom adapter are now available from the American distributor too, awesome.
mvsfan
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by mvsfan »

I also bought myself a toy. I bought a hakko FR-300. my review on it is this. It works so good it turned my 2 hour ppu removal into an 18 minute job and thats only because i had to add a bit of solder to all the pins first. Awesome. a smaller nozzle should fix that though and get the time down even further. It is very lightweight and it wont make you tired holding it.

Also it is all quick-change now theres no more threaded pieces holding the tip or nozzle on. It has a power switch now and a thumbwheel for temperature.

Another thing i noticed is that it heats up VERY quick. I havent timed it but i dont think i have to wait a minute or two and its ready to desolder.

This is now the only way i can reccomend desoldering if you do a lot of it. I am so glad i bought this.
TheRetromancer
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by TheRetromancer »

mvsfan wrote:I also bought myself a toy. I bought a hakko FR-300. my review on it is this. It works so good it turned my 2 hour ppu removal into an 18 minute job and thats only because i had to add a bit of solder to all the pins first. Awesome. a smaller nozzle should fix that though and get the time down even further. It is very lightweight and it wont make you tired holding it.

Also it is all quick-change now theres no more threaded pieces holding the tip or nozzle on. It has a power switch now and a thumbwheel for temperature.

Another thing i noticed is that it heats up VERY quick. I havent timed it but i dont think i have to wait a minute or two and its ready to desolder.

This is now the only way i can reccomend desoldering if you do a lot of it. I am so glad i bought this.
How's the construction? From the pictures I've seen, it looks a little...cheap. Maybe it's just me, but that blue and yellow plastic (aside from offending my sensibilities as an MSU fan) makes it look like a child's toy. I also wonder about the quality of that carrying case. The quick-change tool is pretty badass, though.
"Thanks for the nice reply. I do offer to do work without hot glue too if people prefer it that way." - Drakon
mvsfan
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by mvsfan »

i would say the plastic does seem a bit cheap but as long as your not dropping it all the time i dont think it will break.

i think to get the weight down from the 808 they mostly changed the pump from dual diaprahm to single and made the motor smaller.

the good thing is that all the parts for it are available from hakko should something break.

the carrying case is rather good. i think its better than the 808 case ive seen lots of those broken. the fr-300 carrying case is a soft pliable plastic not hard and brittle. it should last the life of the tool.

I also dont care for the blue and yellow at all i think the 808 looks so much better because of it. But if i didnt buy it because of that i wouldnt get any work done!

btw, im open to hearing about any other desoldering stations etc that really work great like the 808 and FR-300.

I dont own any others yet besides the fr-300.
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CkRtech
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by CkRtech »

TheRetromancer wrote:but that blue and yellow plastic (aside from offending my sensibilities as an MSU fan) makes it look like a child's toy.
I think those are the official "team colors" of Hakko, though. :mrgreen:
mvsfan
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by mvsfan »

i notice on the component board there is no trace for Y. I realize that the Y is on the nesrgb itself.

But what chip is that on the component board?

would it be possible to get Y from one of the pins on that chip so the board could mabeye be used in an snes?

Update: i thought about it a bit more and i think i could just get it off of the multiout since luma is already there.
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Pasky
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Pasky »

It's an OP amp.
LaC
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by LaC »

I installed a NESRGB with Helder's 3d printed av port into a NES front loader. It also has the true stereo mod installed with a mixer pot.
I am getting an audio buzz/hum related to the video signal. Brighter screens make it worse.
I'm using a shielded SNES scart cable from retroconsoleaccessories.

Is this just a general problem with the NESRGB? For other consoles I've modded, I always used a separate stereo phono jack for audio, and so it was never in the same cable as the video signal.
kamiboy
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by kamiboy »

It is a general problem with carrying the video and audio signal right next to each other. All my systems exhibit it to some degree.

As you guess separating the audio should reduce the problem.
Last edited by kamiboy on Sun Dec 28, 2014 8:44 am, edited 2 times in total.
LaC
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by LaC »

kamiboy wrote:It is general problem with carrying the video and audio signal right next each other. All my systems exhibit it to some degree.

As you guess separating the audio should reduce the problem.
Yeah I've only heard it on a SNES. My tg16, genesis, ps1, ps2, saturn, all sound fine.
This is way worse than on a SNES.

It would suck to have to separate the audio, as it is kind of the point of having the 3d printed AV port, is it simplifies the connection. I'll probably do it to get rid of the hum though if their is no other solution.
I know retroconsoleaccessories used to sell a coaxial cable for snes where each wire was separately shielded. I don't see them selling it anymore. I wonder if it helped or was just snake oil.
mvsfan
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by mvsfan »

ive been using tims mini din setup with the seperate audio jack. My nes's are quiet because of it.

my snes though sounds like it has bees living in it.
I need to make a scart cable with sheilded audio for it.
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bobrocks95
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by bobrocks95 »

LaC wrote:
kamiboy wrote:It is general problem with carrying the video and audio signal right next each other. All my systems exhibit it to some degree.

As you guess separating the audio should reduce the problem.
Yeah I've only heard it on a SNES. My tg16, genesis, ps1, ps2, saturn, all sound fine.
This is way worse than on a SNES.

It would suck to have to separate the audio, as it is kind of the point of having the 3d printed AV port, is it simplifies the connection. I'll probably do it to get rid of the hum though if their is no other solution.
I know retroconsoleaccessories used to sell a coaxial cable for snes where each wire was separately shielded. I don't see them selling it anymore. I wonder if it helped or was just snake oil.
I think it's offered as an add-on for any cable rather than a separate listing, though I haven't looked lately.
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Greg2600
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Greg2600 »

The audio buzzing on my NES RGB modded system was pretty bad with the cable I had. The cable was far too thin, not shielded. I bought a new cable from http://stores.ebay.com/Retro-Accessories, and the audio is fine.
LaC
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by LaC »

Greg2600 wrote:The audio buzzing on my NES RGB modded system was pretty bad with the cable I had. The cable was far too thin, not shielded. I bought a new cable from http://stores.ebay.com/Retro-Accessories, and the audio is fine.
Yeah thats one of the cables I am using.
So are using a snes style AV out?
viletim
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by viletim »

LaC wrote:I installed a NESRGB with Helder's 3d printed av port into a NES front loader. It also has the true stereo mod installed with a mixer pot.
I am getting an audio buzz/hum related to the video signal. Brighter screens make it worse.
I'm using a shielded SNES scart cable from retroconsoleaccessories.

Is this just a general problem with the NESRGB? For other consoles I've modded, I always used a separate stereo phono jack for audio, and so it was never in the same cable as the video signal.
What are you doing to the audio signal? You're not connecting the PPU audio pins straight to the AV port, are you?
LaC
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by LaC »

viletim wrote:
LaC wrote:I installed a NESRGB with Helder's 3d printed av port into a NES front loader. It also has the true stereo mod installed with a mixer pot.
I am getting an audio buzz/hum related to the video signal. Brighter screens make it worse.
I'm using a shielded SNES scart cable from retroconsoleaccessories.

Is this just a general problem with the NESRGB? For other consoles I've modded, I always used a separate stereo phono jack for audio, and so it was never in the same cable as the video signal.
What are you doing to the audio signal? You're not connecting the PPU audio pins straight to the AV port, are you?
Not straight to it. I am doing the true stereo mod. So there is a stereo mixing pot and 1uf caps.
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by viletim »

LaC wrote:Not straight to it. I am doing the true stereo mod. So there is a stereo mixing pot and 1uf caps.
And how is the pot wired?


This isn't anything to do with the NESRGB, by the way. A cable with four video signals traveling through it is a hostile environment for any audio signal. You need a low impedance/high amplitude signal, otherwise the video gets coupled into it through the parasitic cable capacitance between each wire. If you want to make an audio signal fudged together with pots and caps, you pretty much have to send it down a separate cable, unless you really know what you're doing.
LaC
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by LaC »

viletim wrote:
LaC wrote:Not straight to it. I am doing the true stereo mod. So there is a stereo mixing pot and 1uf caps.
And how is the pot wired?


This isn't anything to do with the NESRGB, by the way. A cable with four video signals traveling through it is a hostile environment for any audio signal. You need a low impedance/high amplitude signal, otherwise the video gets coupled into it through the parasitic cable capacitance between each wire. If you want to make an audio signal fudged together with pots and caps, you pretty much have to send it down a separate cable, unless you really know what you're doing.
It's wired like Jason does it here:
http://youtu.be/uG8387VFfYM

cpu snd1 ---) |+-- pot terminal 1 --- AV Right
cpu snd2 ---) |+- -pot terminal 2 --- AV Left

I can take the audio leads from the cpu and make sure they are as far away from the video leads as possible.
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ApolloBoy
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by ApolloBoy »

The negative leads of your capacitors should also be towards the output, not the input.
LaC
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by LaC »

ApolloBoy wrote:The negative leads of your capacitors should also be towards the output, not the input.
Yup woops, I just typed it backwards. They were correct in the actual circuit.
Re-routing the wires didn't help. I'm going to try the NESRGB's mixed audio directly to the AV port to just to rule out my circuit.
Jeppen
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Jeppen »

Can't wait for the Hi-Def NES kit by Kevtris, gonna be everything i ever dreamed of in a NES.. and more with minimum modding and not cables everywhere compared to NESRGB.
TheRetromancer
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by TheRetromancer »

Jeppen wrote:Can't wait for the Hi-Def NES kit by Kevtris, gonna be everything i ever dreamed of in a NES.. and more with minimum modding and not cables everywhere compared to NESRGB.
I'm actually hoping for an HDMI SNES board one of these days, but yeah - the Great God Kevtris has come up with the goods. I'm usually not one for anything but pixelated perfection, but is anyone else as excited about the hqx filter options on the Hi-Def NES board as I am?
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ApolloBoy
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by ApolloBoy »

TheRetromancer wrote:but is anyone else as excited about the hqx filter options on the Hi-Def NES board as I am?
Wow, this is the first time I've found someone who was actually hopped up about HQX filters.
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RGB32E
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by RGB32E »

Jeppen wrote:Can't wait for the Hi-Def NES kit by Kevtris, gonna be everything i ever dreamed of in a NES.. and more with minimum modding and not cables everywhere compared to NESRGB.
You know there's a separate thread for the HD NES kit, right? Considering that it requires socketing both the CPU and PPU with special PCB adapters to several ribbon cables to a larger PCB that doesn't easily fit in any of the top loading NES systems, it's shaping up to be a more complex install than the NESRGB. Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly interested in buying and installing a kit, but it certainly isn't what anyone who's installed NESRGBs would call "minimal" by any means! :lol:

Perhaps Tim can hotrod his N64RGB with a scaling engine for HDMI/DVI output! Add a digital audio sample rate converter and you could have something really special!
daskrabs
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by daskrabs »

I just finished installing the NESRGB on a top loader. I'm using one of Helder's 's 3D printed multi-outs, full panel. I'm using the AV Fami guide here:

http://etim.net.au/nesrgb/installation-famicomav/

I removed the RF unit and old AC connector. Everything should be wired correctly, but I'm getting a tan screen with audio buzz over RGB, and a black screen with buzz over PPUV. The unit was working before I modded it. I'm 99% sure I assembled the NESRGB correctly. My solder joints all looked great. J3 and J5 are set for NTSC. Improved palette is selected. The PPU desoldered cleanly. Is there anything else I need to remove in order to get the NESRGB working on a top loader?
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RGB32E
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by RGB32E »

daskrabs wrote:Is there anything else I need to remove in order to get the NESRGB working on a top loader?
Did you jumper or wire up a switch for the palette? Have you checked PPUV output without a palette being selected? Double check the wiring to the multi-av output? Wire up NESRGB outputs to different connectors to test?
mvsfan
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by mvsfan »

I still think the nesrgb on a professional crt will look the best.

but the hdmi kit is the future. theres going to come a point where crts are just old and will all need repair until eventually the tube goes.
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by leonk »

mvsfan wrote:I still think the nesrgb on a professional crt will look the best.

but the hdmi kit is the future. theres going to come a point where crts are just old and will all need repair until eventually the tube goes.
I totally agree. I had the opportunity to compare NESRGB feeding into XRGB on my HDTV vs my PVM and I'll take the pvm for authentic look any day. The HDTV looked too artificial - like playing mame on an pc lcd TV vs true crt monitor for you arcade collectors.
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andykara2003
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by andykara2003 »

I agree - I would be pretty certain that the NESRGB+CRT will look quite a bit nicer for my tastes. & I ended up just collected enough CRTs to cover me for life - takes up garage space though :)
LaC
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by LaC »

ApolloBoy wrote:The negative leads of your capacitors should also be towards the output, not the input.
Had a second look and my caps are actually the way I originally wrote. Positive going to the output. Every schematic I've seen online does it this way.

That being said, I completely removed the "true" stereo circuit and hooked up the cpu 1&2 pins to the nesrgb board for it to do the mixing and then just use the mono out from there right to the AV port.
The buzzing is still there exactly the same. So its not the stereo circuit.

I found once I plug the regular old NES audio from the side of the NES to another input on my RGB monitor, the buzzing is nearly gone. Even though I didn't have that input selected.
So I hooked up the phono jack and got the same results. Which is good. But it kind of defeats part of the point of having the 3d printed av port.

At this point I am gonna guess it's just the cable not having separately shielded audio from the video.

Strange though as my Sega Genesis and Tg16 don't have this problem.
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