Getting frustrated with N64

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thebigcheese
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Getting frustrated with N64

Post by thebigcheese »

I installed Tim's N64 RGB mod in my N64 a while back and put together a comparison video. Looking more closely at it, I noticed a lot more noise and flickering in the RGB signal than either composite or s-video. I tried using a nicer, better-shielded cable, switching between sync on luma and c-sync, and have now tried the new step of including a shorter ground wire, but nothing seems to eliminate that flicker. This is the video I originally recorded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK-JdsBtJV8

I would ideally like to stick with RGB output for the N64 since I will be getting a gscart switch at some point and everything runs into a PVM, but it's getting really frustrating that I can't get rid of that flicker. I am less concerned about the de-blur and other such things as, again, it is being played on a PVM where that isn't as noticeable anyway. Is there something I am missing? Something I am doing wrong? Please help me enjoy my games again :(
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bobrocks95
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by bobrocks95 »

People have recently been reporting that shortening the included ribbon cable has helped with some video problems.

Some have also said they removed the pin adapter if you have one of the smaller video encoders, but that doesn't make sense to me and I think is just related to overall data line length.
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thebigcheese
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by thebigcheese »

bobrocks95 wrote:People have recently been reporting that shortening the included ribbon cable has helped with some video problems.

Some have also said they removed the pin adapter if you have one of the smaller video encoders, but that doesn't make sense to me and I think is just related to overall data line length.
I made it about as short as I could. I also used a super nice, shielded Mogami wire to go from the board to the output, which I forgot to mention, in an effort to reduce the possibility of interference.
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citrus3000psi
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by citrus3000psi »

thebigcheese wrote:
bobrocks95 wrote:People have recently been reporting that shortening the included ribbon cable has helped with some video problems.

Some have also said they removed the pin adapter if you have one of the smaller video encoders, but that doesn't make sense to me and I think is just related to overall data line length.
I made it about as short as I could. I also used a super nice, shielded Mogami wire to go from the board to the output, which I forgot to mention, in an effort to reduce the possibility of interference.
The data lines and clock signal are the culprit. I have some ideas, but I need to confirm the fitment of Tim's board. I'll do some checking tonight.
philexile
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by philexile »

I'd be interested in hearing about those ideas! Has anyone reached out to Tim regarding this?
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citrus3000psi
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by citrus3000psi »

philexile wrote:I'd be interested in hearing about those ideas! Has anyone reached out to Tim regarding this?
Check out my post in this thread. I was able to shorten the datalines up quite a bit.

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... &start=780
thebigcheese
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by thebigcheese »

Any of you have experience with Voultar's N64 board? I didn't realize it at the time, but my N64 is an NS1 and could just use that, which looks to have extremely short and tidy wiring, so that might be a better option for me.
pyroman512
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by pyroman512 »

thebigcheese wrote:Any of you have experience with Voultar's N64 board? I didn't realize it at the time, but my N64 is an NS1 and could just use that, which looks to have extremely short and tidy wiring, so that might be a better option for me.
I use his old 7374 board with sync stripper and I love it. Zero complaints zero problems. His newer boards are probably better in my opinion.
thebigcheese
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by thebigcheese »

pyroman512 wrote:
thebigcheese wrote:Any of you have experience with Voultar's N64 board? I didn't realize it at the time, but my N64 is an NS1 and could just use that, which looks to have extremely short and tidy wiring, so that might be a better option for me.
I use his old 7374 board with sync stripper and I love it. Zero complaints zero problems. His newer boards are probably better in my opinion.
Good to know! I use his kit on my SNES Mini and that has been working great. Might give it a go. Thanks!
speedlolita
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by speedlolita »

This thread doesn't make me feel too confident in my recent N64RGB purchase...

As I have a NUS-CPU-01 coming in the post maybe I should just get a Voultar board too. :/
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citrus3000psi
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by citrus3000psi »

thebigcheese wrote:Any of you have experience with Voultar's N64 board? I didn't realize it at the time, but my N64 is an NS1 and could just use that, which looks to have extremely short and tidy wiring, so that might be a better option for me.
You just won't have any deblur function with Voultar's board.
thebigcheese
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by thebigcheese »

speedlolita wrote:This thread doesn't make me feel too confident in my recent N64RGB purchase...

As I have a NUS-CPU-01 coming in the post maybe I should just get a Voultar board too. :/
I have an NESRGB that is fantastic, so I don't think it is anything wrong with the board per se. You also get the deblur with Tim's board, so, if you're going to be using it with an upscaler, that's nice. If you will be playing in a CRT, like me, less useful (as I understand it).
Ikaruga11
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by Ikaruga11 »

speedlolita wrote:This thread doesn't make me feel too confident in my recent N64RGB purchase...

As I have a NUS-CPU-01 coming in the post maybe I should just get a Voultar board too. :/
What made you decide to purchase an NUS-CPU-01 motherboard? NUS-CPU-02 and NUS-CPU-03 are far more common and also easily RGB moddable, along with still having the buffered pure sync signal wired to the Multi-AV Out.

Just curious.
speedlolita
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by speedlolita »

GeneraLight wrote:
speedlolita wrote:This thread doesn't make me feel too confident in my recent N64RGB purchase...

As I have a NUS-CPU-01 coming in the post maybe I should just get a Voultar board too. :/
What made you decide to purchase an NUS-CPU-01 motherboard? NUS-CPU-02 and NUS-CPU-03 are far more common and also easily RGB moddable, along with still having the buffered pure sync signal wired to the Multi-AV Out.

Just curious.
No particular reason, honestly. I was checking out serial numbers of some for sale on eBay and noticed one was very early and decided to pull the trigger. Anything before CPU-04 would have done me just fine.

Serial is: NUJ10117572.
Ikaruga11
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by Ikaruga11 »

speedlolita wrote:No particular reason, honestly. I was checking out serial numbers of some for sale on eBay and noticed one was very early and decided to pull the trigger. Anything before CPU-04 would have done me just fine.

Serial is: NUJ10117572.
Ah, thanks. I'm actually combing through N64 serial numbers on eBay right now and have found a few good ones.

Fun fact: You actually have the lowest serial number recorded. I added your system if that's fine with you.

http://nintendo64.wikia.com/wiki/Consol ... mber_Guide
speedlolita
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by speedlolita »

So it turned out that my N64 ended up being an 02 rev.

No matter, just seems strange when a higher serial would be an 01!
Ikaruga11
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by Ikaruga11 »

speedlolita wrote:So it turned out that my N64 ended up being an 02 rev.

No matter, just seems strange when a higher serial would be an 01!
:? That's strange, but not unheard of.

There are some USA N64s where the lower serial number would be an 08 rev. and the higher ones being a 05-1 rev. Both revisions were probably being manufactured at the same time.

Regardless, I don't think there's really any difference between an 01 rev. and an 02 rev., at least from what the documentation shows.
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Lawfer
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by Lawfer »

speedlolita wrote:So it turned out that my N64 ended up being an 02 rev.

No matter, just seems strange when a higher serial would be an 01!
GeneraLight wrote:
speedlolita wrote:No particular reason, honestly. I was checking out serial numbers of some for sale on eBay and noticed one was very early and decided to pull the trigger. Anything before CPU-04 would have done me just fine.

Serial is: NUJ10117572.
Ah, thanks. I'm actually combing through N64 serial numbers on eBay right now and have found a few good ones.

Fun fact: You actually have the lowest serial number recorded. I added your system if that's fine with you.

http://nintendo64.wikia.com/wiki/Consol ... mber_Guide
Actually I just got a japanese Nintendo 64, serial number is NUJ10052593 the earliest serial number on the list and according to the paperwork that came with it I think this is a launch unit from the 23rd June (japanese launch was 06/23/1996) and it's an NUS-CPU-02, which suggest that they already migrated from 01 to 02 before the console launch.

Also, I edited speedlolita entry because it said "NUS-CPU-02" but it was linking to the "NUS-CPU-01" page.
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Syntax
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by Syntax »

I've seen bennvenn recently make clock buffer/filters/amps by using a Schmitt trigger which cleans up the image for his gbc mods. I'm sure something similar could be implemented in the ribbon breakout.
neorichieb1971
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by neorichieb1971 »

Mine is a Japanese launch day model. I had it in hand on 25th March 1996 in London.

The serial is NUJ10473857
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Lawfer
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Re: Getting frustrated with N64

Post by Lawfer »

neorichieb1971 wrote:Mine is a Japanese launch day model. I had it in hand on 25th March 1996 in London.

The serial is NUJ10473857
What's the PCB revision? And wasn't the N64 only released in June 1996 in Japan?
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