NESRGB board available now

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RGB32E
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by RGB32E »

lettuce wrote:So grabbing the audio from the NESRGB board (not expansion audio) is no benefit than using just the AV Famicom audio?, i believe the NESRGB audio was better than that found in the front loader systems but wasnt sure about the AV famicom
The problem I encountered with the AV Famicom when using the NESRGB for audio was that the resulting audio quality was not improved, even without wiring expansion audio. The output using the NESRGB was a little quieter, but still somewhat noisy like stock output. I suspect the circuit board design of the AV Famicom results in noise at the CPU audio output pins. So, unless there is a "fix" for noise on the CPU output pins, I've found it's better to just use stock audio on the AV Famicom.

Then again, if you want to customize the CPU and expansion audio mixing, the NESRGB could be utilized, but you'd likely need to follow the switch circuit suggestion from Tim.

The OG Famicom is another matter, as you use the PA board for audio mixing and not the NESRGB!
pidipajt
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by pidipajt »

Installed my nesrgb in my famicom and got a really nice picture. One problem though is that my capture card gets a solid white signal. It's a Terratec Grabby, more or less the same as an EZcap. I am using PPUV as sync.

One more thing, a can cycle through three different palettes but was expecting to be able to also choose composite as a fourth. How do you turn rgb-mode off if want to temporarily?
pidipajt
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by pidipajt »

By the way.. I connect my famicom by scart to a powered scart splitter. Therefore I assumed that the capture card would be satisfied with the PPUV.

AlsoI don't have a palette switch installed on the famicom. I'm switching with the controller.
viletim
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by viletim »

pidipajt wrote:Installed my nesrgb in my famicom and got a really nice picture. One problem though is that my capture card gets a solid white signal. It's a Terratec Grabby, more or less the same as an EZcap. I am using PPUV as sync.

One more thing, a can cycle through three different palettes but was expecting to be able to also choose composite as a fourth. How do you turn rgb-mode off if want to temporarily?

The Famicom PA board only cycles through the three RGB palettes, it doesn't have a fourth 'off' state.

I suggest you use the generated composite video (V) for sync . It's active at the same time as RGB.
Ripthorn
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Ripthorn »

pidipajt wrote:By the way.. I connect my famicom by scart to a powered scart splitter. Therefore I assumed that the capture card would be satisfied with the PPUV.

AlsoI don't have a palette switch installed on the famicom. I'm switching with the controller.
How do you change with the controller?
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darcagn
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by darcagn »

Ripthorn wrote:
pidipajt wrote:By the way.. I connect my famicom by scart to a powered scart splitter. Therefore I assumed that the capture card would be satisfied with the PPUV.

AlsoI don't have a palette switch installed on the famicom. I'm switching with the controller.
How do you change with the controller?
Start+Select+Right, but ONLY on the NESRGB for original Famicom.
Redmagnusx
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Redmagnusx »

Accidental double post
Last edited by Redmagnusx on Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
kcsims
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by kcsims »

I have AV famicom system that I want to install a nesrgb in. I'm just trying to figure out which cable I should get. I am looking on www.retrogamingcables.co.uk to order all my cable, but I do not see an option there.

Anyone have any experience / advice?
Redmagnusx
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Redmagnusx »

Hey guys. I'm new to the forum, but I'm not new to modding. I have been having a heck of a time trying to get my NESRGB to work in my Top Loader. I am not getting any picture and instead I am getting streaks over a black background.

It's running on my setup which is a component video switch box connected to my XRGB3 through D-terminal, which in turn is connected to my Gefen VGA to DVI upscaler and then to my tv which is in game mode. I know the set up isn't the issue however because my Toaster modded with the NESRGB board is working perfectly through the same setup.

Here's the things I've tried so far;
1. Cleaning the cartridge slot
2. Cleaning the motherboard
3. Switched DC adapters twice, both of which work well with my toaster, no dice.
4. Checked every trace of the PPU for continuity, everything checks out.
5. Checked every trace of the CPU for continuity, everything checks out.
6. Replaced the PPU with a tested working one, same result.
7. Replaced the CPU with a tested working one, same result.
8. Re-flowed the solder for the CPU, PPU and on the NESRGB, same result.
8. Swapped in another NESRGB board, same result.
9. Installed the first NESRGB board into a toaster I had, it works fine in it.

Here are some pictures of the issue on display as well as some pictures of my install.

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Image

Image

Image
Ripthorn
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Ripthorn »

kcsims wrote:I have AV famicom system that I want to install a nesrgb in. I'm just trying to figure out which cable I should get. I am looking on http://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk to order all my cable, but I do not see an option there.

Anyone have any experience / advice?
If you plan to follow Tim's website instructions, you should buy a NTSC SNES cart cable with composite as sync.
But I do recommend you wire up csync too, so it would be possible to use cables with csync as well.
kcsims
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by kcsims »

Ripthorn wrote:
kcsims wrote:I have AV famicom system that I want to install a nesrgb in. I'm just trying to figure out which cable I should get. I am looking on http://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk to order all my cable, but I do not see an option there.

Anyone have any experience / advice?
If you plan to follow Tim's website instructions, you should buy a NTSC SNES cart cable with composite as sync.
But I do recommend you wire up csync too, so it would be possible to use cables with csync as well.

I thought I read that the scart cable would need the resistors removed?
Ripthorn
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Ripthorn »

kcsims wrote:
Ripthorn wrote:
kcsims wrote:I have AV famicom system that I want to install a nesrgb in. I'm just trying to figure out which cable I should get. I am looking on http://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk to order all my cable, but I do not see an option there.

Anyone have any experience / advice?
If you plan to follow Tim's website instructions, you should buy a NTSC SNES cart cable with composite as sync.
But I do recommend you wire up csync too, so it would be possible to use cables with csync as well.

I thought I read that the scart cable would need the resistors removed?
Not really, tried two NTSC SNES scart cables on my av famicom RGB modded, both worked very well.
Last edited by Ripthorn on Mon Oct 26, 2015 10:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
Redmagnusx
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Redmagnusx »

Okay, so here's an update to my current situation. I decided to revert everything back to stock form for the sake of seeing if my top loader would even work with RF. All I'm getting from RF and black and white static. With that being said, does anyone have any idea what the cause can be?
leonk
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by leonk »

Redmagnusx wrote:Okay, so here's an update to my current situation. I decided to revert everything back to stock form for the sake of seeing if my top loader would even work with RF. All I'm getting from RF and black and white static. With that being said, does anyone have any idea what the cause can be?
Sorry to hear you're having so many issues. I bet the problems has to do with your 40 pin PPU socket. One of the traces must be broken or not fully soldered.

Top loader PCB's are not as forgiving as the front loader or NES carts. Those pins are TINY an delaminate from the PCB very easily with too much heat.

Did you test the top loader to make sure it's good before you started?? I would probably lift pin 22, connect it to a simple AV amp and see if you get composite video coming out of the PPU. If not, then I would start component swapping. Something went bad on you.
Redmagnusx
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Redmagnusx »

leonk wrote:
Redmagnusx wrote:Okay, so here's an update to my current situation. I decided to revert everything back to stock form for the sake of seeing if my top loader would even work with RF. All I'm getting from RF and black and white static. With that being said, does anyone have any idea what the cause can be?
Sorry to hear you're having so many issues. I bet the problems has to do with your 40 pin PPU socket. One of the traces must be broken or not fully soldered.

Top loader PCB's are not as forgiving as the front loader or NES carts. Those pins are TINY an delaminate from the PCB very easily with too much heat.

Did you test the top loader to make sure it's good before you started?? I would probably lift pin 22, connect it to a simple AV amp and see if you get composite video coming out of the PPU. If not, then I would start component swapping. Something went bad on you.
Thank you for your response and advice. I will try the composite test next. The thing is that I'm getting continuity from every pin from the ppu socket to the next connection point on the motherboard. It's bizarre. o_0 I do know the ppu and cpu are good at least as I have tested both in my test NES. If it does turn out to be a bad trace, that should be an easy fix once I figure out which one(s) is (are) bad exactly.

Yea, the Top Loader was working before I attempted the mod.
viletim
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by viletim »

Redmagnusx,

It's possible to break the plated through hoes of the motherboard if you are too rough with the PPU removal. This beaks a connection between the top an bottom layer of the motherboard. The solution is to solder the socket on top side of the motherboard as well as the bottom.

It seems you either have a bad connection or a blown component (probably either the CPU or PPU). The usual way to test if the NES is alive is to listen to the audio from the CPU. It's usually not possible to isolate the problem further than that without swapping parts.
viletim
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by viletim »

kcsims wrote:I have AV famicom system that I want to install a nesrgb in. I'm just trying to figure out which cable I should get. I am looking on http://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk to order all my cable, but I do not see an option there.

Anyone have any experience / advice?

Gamecube SCART
Redmagnusx
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Redmagnusx »

viletim wrote:Redmagnusx,

It's possible to break the plated through hoes of the motherboard if you are too rough with the PPU removal. This beaks a connection between the top an bottom layer of the motherboard. The solution is to solder the socket on top side of the motherboard as well as the bottom.

It seems you either have a bad connection or a blown component (probably either the CPU or PPU). The usual way to test if the NES is alive is to listen to the audio from the CPU. It's usually not possible to isolate the problem further than that without swapping parts.
Okay, I'm embarrassed to admit that I had thought about soldering the socket to the top side of the motherboard as well, but I had earlier dismissed doing so due to the fact that my meter showed that I had continuity between the ppu leads and the next jump on their respective circuits. Since you mentioned doing so, I decided to do that before the composite test. Afterwards I plugged it up via RFU with both the ppu and cpu in and... IT FIRED RIGHT UP TO CONTRA'S TITLE SCREEN!!!

So next I reinstalled the NESRGB board and my AV Multi out connector and palette switch, made sure everything was in its proper place and... TADA!!!!! I'm happy to report that everything is working perfectly now and I couldn't be happier with the results! The pictures of the screen do not give the video quality justice whatsoever. Thank you so much Viletim and Leonk for the help! Now here are some pictures. :)

Image

Image

Pic of Installation
Image

All closed up!
Image

Rear shot of the 3d printed plate that I designed and printed myself.
Image
leonk
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by leonk »

Glad it worked out for you. That 3D back panel looks AWESOME!!!
Ripthorn
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Ripthorn »

Yeah... tried to play Madara, but the expansion audio is too loud. The funny thing is I did not notice this problem in Lagrange Point.
So what the easiest method to solve this problem?
cfx
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by cfx »

leonk wrote:Glad it worked out for you. That 3D back panel looks AWESOME!!!
It does, though I wish it was the right color. :?
Skips
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Skips »

I finished an RGB NES for myself today. I tend to do pretty basic/minimalist RGB mods on most systems I do but on this one I tried to go for the obnoxiously premium look and feel and hooked up everything. The RGB port and connector are screw on amphenol connectors just because I could and they looked good. I also put a Famicom PA board inside the system so it could change palettes with the controller and have the audio separation mod with the mixing pot. Sure I could build a circuit to do the same thing but I am lazy and the 20 something dollars sounded more appealing than ordering parts and doing it myself.

Image

Image
I am no longer taking free or paid modding projects, please do not contact me asking for my services. Thanks :).
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CkRtech
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by CkRtech »

Skips wrote:I finished an RGB NES for myself today. I tend to do pretty basic/minimalist RGB mods on most systems I do but on this one I tried to go for the obnoxiously premium look and feel and hooked up everything.
Nice, Skips. This is really one of the better ways to go about doing this mod on a NES, in my opinion. There is so much real estate on the back of the NES, it makes sense to treat it like a DVD player or the like and just make all of the connections available - It makes it especially portable if you like to hook it up to other sets or take it to a friends house. I like that you put the time in to put all the connections on it and also line them up well rather than hodge podge.

I would probably adopt this configuration if I do a NESRGB mod as a gift for a friend or family - although I imagine I will try to go HDMI for them if that kit hits before too long.

Anyway - Good job!
Ripthorn
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Ripthorn »

Skips wrote:I finished an RGB NES for myself today. I tend to do pretty basic/minimalist RGB mods on most systems I do but on this one I tried to go for the obnoxiously premium look and feel and hooked up everything. The RGB port and connector are screw on amphenol connectors just because I could and they looked good. I also put a Famicom PA board inside the system so it could change palettes with the controller and have the audio separation mod with the mixing pot. Sure I could build a circuit to do the same thing but I am lazy and the 20 something dollars sounded more appealing than ordering parts and doing it myself.
This is a hell of a job, congrats.
How did you manage to use the PA board on NES?
Skips
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Skips »

You simply solder the switch, caps, and pot to the pa board then solder everything up to the correct labels on the pa board. I'm not using it for power in this, just its other features.
I am no longer taking free or paid modding projects, please do not contact me asking for my services. Thanks :).
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darcagn
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by darcagn »

Very nice work, Skips! Looks clean and not cluttered like I would expect.

Interestingly, though, I just did an NES with the exact opposite approach.

A couple years ago an ex-gf gave me an NES she found in her attic when she moved out into a new apartment. The case was covered in stickers and caked with dirt, so I just kind of shelved it.

The other day I was bored and decided to clean it up and do an NESRGB install on it. I removed all the stickers with Goo Gone, but now where the stickers were it was clean and where the stickers weren't it was browned and dirty. I couldn't scrub the dirt off so I just said fuck it and took it completely apart, threw all the plastic in the dishwasher, and hoped for the best. It came out extremely clean and looking brand new!

I decided to do an NESRGB install that looked as stock as possibly can be. For this installation, I decided to use the NESRGB-IGR I/O board (NESRGB In Game Routines, Input/Output). This board replaces the NES's RF metal box with a new board designed to complement the NESRGB. Luckily, borti4938, the designer of this board, had assembled a few of them and had one left pre-assembled and sold it to me, complete with an SNES multiout already included.

The picture makes the NES look yellowed, but it's really just my lighting.

Image

Now the RF output and channel switch are gone and replaced with a multiout. The RCA connectors on the side output a standard composite connection from the NESRGB's encoder, along with mono audio.

The only complaints I would have about the board is that it doesn't have pads for chroma (no big deal, I just soldered chroma directly to the pins of the multiout connector) and that it's wired for a PAL style multiout (12V where c-sync would be), also no big deal as I just cut the 12V trace and connected c-sync manually).

The board also controls the LED of the NES, and came with a tri-color LED that changes depending on the palette selected.

Image
Red = Standard Palette
Green = Improved Palette
Yellow = PlayChoice Palette

The board also allows you to control the system from the player 1 controller.

Start+Select+L or Start+Select+R = switch between palettes
Start+Select+A+B = Short reset the NES (on Everdrive, this resets the ROM)
Start+Select+A+B (hold) = Long reset the NES (on Everdrive, this returns to the Everdrive main menu)
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CkRtech
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by CkRtech »

Sweet. Always fun to see variants on the install. I am sure everyone here that has shared has provided new ideas for those that read the thread and do the mods. Thanks, darcagn.
daskrabs
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by daskrabs »

Can anyone PM me the email of the US Distributor? I was missing a part from an NESRGB kit I bought and haven't gotten a hold of Tim. Thanks.
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Triple Lei
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Triple Lei »

Just popping in to say that if I had my NES frontloader modded, I'd want it looking like Skips'. I want the works: composite, s-video, component, and RGB, with no proprietary connector nonsense. And besides, how's a guy supposed to get component out of the Nintendo multi-out anyway?

It does make that "no more mods" sig of his hurt even more, though...
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Guspaz
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Re: NESRGB board available now

Post by Guspaz »

And besides, how's a guy supposed to get component out of the Nintendo multi-out anyway?
http://www.hdretrovision.com/snes/

Not yet available, hopefully soon.
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