SNES/Famicon PCB Revisions and RGB Video

[RGB0b]

If they are interchangeable between revisions then I have one.

Does anyone know if there are different revisions of the sound board? I only remember seeing one type, but I could be mistaken.

[Blair]

I really wish there was some way I could fix that Super Famicom, any ideas?

There's no fix I know of for the SNS-CPU-RGB-01/02 and SNS-CPU-APU-01 consoles. Even a THS7314 won't fix it.

Ah, I wish I had known that. ( has anyone ever tried the component output mod to see if that clears up video by tapping directly from the VPU?)

[CkRtech]

Well, you could try Tavatri's SNES Sharp Pixel mod. I think Borti was working on a PCB for it last year. Not sure what came of it. The prototyping nature of the circuit has a ton of stacked components if you try to "float it" without a PCB. Results for those that tried it have been mixed.

[RGB32E]

I don't think there's any capture card that can perfectly capture a 256x240 signal without any issues. Maybe an oscilloscope would be the best way to see how sharp a picture is. An easy way to get a good result would be to use the OSSC with a capture card that captures in 4:4:4.

I think if we wanted to go crazy, a combination of both would be the best method: Use an oscilloscope to test each motherboard revision and post that for the technical results, like what was done with the GC/Wii comparisons. Then also post zoomed screen caps, so the average person can see just by looking at it. Maybe OSSC/4:4:4 capture card is a better idea for this then, but you'd be lacking the zoom mode.

Scope data sounds like an objective way to compare RGB output from the various 1CHIP systems and their mods/stock output. Zooming in on the image with the XRGB-mini really doesn't help, as the multiple chroma resamples from the mini and the capture device masks details that can be useful when making objective comparisons. Hence, a ~10X scale by the mini is more of a hindrance, than any real benefit when comparing RGB output, as it blurs/obscures the differences between outputs. It's like comparing apple varieties by eating apple pies each made with a different variety of apple.

But really these pics are plenty fine enough. Just look at the GPU versus the 1CHIPs in your package. It becomes pretty obvious the difference in quality without having to go ape on the capture method being used.

SMH. As much as you pride yourself on making profiles, zooming with the mini only makes the blur worse. You're kinda making a strawman argument given that the differences between the output from 1CHIP and all other revs earlier are much easier to spot, and the part of the impetus of the captures was to compare 1CHIP mods/output qualty. Even using S-video directly to a capture card would show obvious differences between 1CHIP and non-1CHIP revs. Any sort of capture will work for that comparison, not so much for comparing 1CHIP RGB variations. Also, I found that a few rows of pixels in the captures aren't the same height!

Either way, I love discussions like this. Even if we decide I should throw out the screen caps I took and start again, it was NOT a waste of time, just another step in the right direction!

Yes, getting a sound capture pipeline is tough when 4:4:4 capable cards are extremely expensive. That said, I created a simple filter that is effective for de-chroma subsampling captures. It works with square pixels only (doesn't de-gunk AR stretching).


Comics San is the greatest font ever, huh?

[FinalBaton]

Finally snagged a 1CHIP Super Famicom for under $100 US on Ebay

Jeeeeeesus Christ, that was hard. It took me almost 2 years, checking the newly listed consoles once a week
They truly are in HIGH demand nowadays, and almost always snagged as soon as they show up, it looks like

[FBX]

Finally snagged a 1CHIP Super Famicom for under $100 US on Ebay

Jeeeeeesus Christ, that was hard. It took me almost 2 years, checking the newly listed consoles once a week
They truly are in HIGH demand nowadays, and almost always snagged as soon as they show up, it looks like

Wow that's nuts!

What I did was go by serial number. I started with a base of about 1,000 SNES auctions, then narrowed those down to ones with photos, then narrowed those down to ones with photos of the serial number, then narrowed those down to potential 1CHIP numbers. That resulted in 5 remaining auctions, and I sniped the most promising one, which is how I got my 1CHIP-03.

[FinalBaton]

Wow that's nuts!

What I did was go by serial number. I started with a base of about 1,000 SNES auctions, then narrowed those down to ones with photos, then narrowed those down to ones with photos of the serial number, then narrowed those down to potential 1CHIP numbers. That resulted in 5 remaining auctions, and I sniped the most promising one, which is how I got my 1CHIP-03.

I make it a point to never spend more than like 5 minutes by weekly search, don't want to invest more time than that into it.
So what I would do is click on the consoles listing that have pics, and check the serial if it's there. And by checking only the newly listed ones each week I can actually get around to see pretty much all SFC that come through ebay (the ones older, I've seen the week prior).

I also wanted one in pristine condition for that price, so that makes it even harder. I paid $80 US for this one and it looks mint, so I'm a happy camper.

Note that I am not a Nintendo super fan (I'm way more interested in Sega hardware and software), so I was in no rush to get a SFC, and therefore there was no way I was gonna get trigger happy and buy one ASAP. I had no problem waiting as long as needed to get one that meet my criterias. But I'm happy to have picked one up now.

[Blair]

I pretty much found my one chip like FinalBaton did, somebody had one available on eBay that was in relatively good condition and was actually advertising it as a "one chip system", and I wanted to know what all the fuss was about and if the quality difference really was revelatory as I had been hearing about. 90 bucks was a bit of a steep price to satiate my curiosity, but I'm glad I have one now.

Well, you could try Tavatri's SNES Sharp Pixel mod. I think Borti was working on a PCB for it last year. Not sure what came of it. The prototyping nature of the circuit has a ton of stacked components if you try to "float it" without a PCB. Results for those that tried it have been mixed.

I saw a tweet about the PCB being finished recently, although I'm not adept at soldering so I would need somebody to install that for me. how exactly does it work though? Do you think it would solve the image quality issues of my Super Famicom?

(I almost wonder if it would be more worthwhile having my one chip recapped and digital audio modded. is there anybody around here that does that kind of work?)

on a side note (and relatively off-topic) does anybody know if the mega amp sound mod can be installed into a SEGA CDX?

[Chocograph]

I'm probably the only one here that installed the RGB amp to my 1chip-01 only to find the image quality to be worse (more noise) and went back to stock 1chip. I even tried once more with different settings but nope - stock 1chip had a cleaner image. Some kind of unfiltered grainy noise.

[ZellSF]

On how I got my 1CHIP, I emailed sellers that didn't have pictures of the serial. Probably cheaper that way and not that time consuming.

[Thomago]

I guess I have to consider myself lucky: I found a US 1-CHIP-01 on german (!) eBay first try by looking for matching serial numbers.

[FinalBaton]

I guess I have to consider myself lucky: I found a US 1-CHIP-01 on german (!) eBay first try by looking for matching serial numbers.

There's always one up on Ebay.com. The problem is that they're always $100 US and up.

I wanted one for $80 max(and mint, on top of that)so that's why it took a while

[FinalBaton]

Also, if you bought your 1chip SNES/SFC 3 years ago or prior, you had way bettere odds than I did, of finding one cheap-ish :

Back then only a few people knew about non-1chip consoles having a blurry picture. Now everyone and their mom knows to look for a 1chip specifically.

[AndehX]

I got my PAL 1-CHIP pretty much the first time I went on ebay looking for one. Checked the auctions with pics, looked through the ones that had serial numbers, and bought the first one that matched what I was looking for. Scored mine for £45

[Spyke]

Hi,

Just wondering who I contact to add my SN and board to the list? (SFC)
I just got a SHVC-CPU-01 with SN S10926739.

Got it as "spare or repair" off ebay - and it works just fine!

It's had some funky RGB SCART mod done to it with a cable hard-wired to the board. Hardly any pins in the SCART plug itself - but the image quality is really nice to my eyes. Sharp and clear. Nice console.

[Thomago]

here's always one up on Ebay.com. The problem is that they're always $100 US and up.

I wanted one for $80 max(and mint, on top of that)so that's why it took a while

Okay, that was was the beauty of it - I just had to pay €70.00, including two original controllers.

[mvsfan]

I bought quite a few 1-chips on ebay up until about a year ago, just by looking at the number on the bottom. got some good deals that way, but they are getting scarce now. most of the ones on ebay now are junk, and the good ones are already listed as 1-chips with the price to match.

Im glad i made the descision to keep the 1-chip-03. its the only one i still have.

[Einzelherz]

Hi,

Just wondering who I contact to add my SN and board to the list? (SFC)
I just got a SHVC-CPU-01 with SN S10926739.

Got it as "spare or repair" off ebay - and it works just fine!

It's had some funky RGB SCART mod done to it with a cable hard-wired to the board. Hardly any pins in the SCART plug itself - but the image quality is really nice to my eyes. Sharp and clear. Nice console.

The list is defunct, afaik.

[FinalBaton]

most of the ones on ebay now are junk, and the good ones are already listed as 1-chips with the price to match.

This is exactly the message I was trying to convey. You worded it better than I did, lol.

[FinalBaton]

here's always one up on Ebay.com. The problem is that they're always $100 US and up.

I wanted one for $80 max(and mint, on top of that)so that's why it took a while

Okay, that was was the beauty of it - I just had to pay €70.00, including two original controllers.

got 2 controllers and power supply with mine too. very happy to find this lot now

[Ikaruga11]

Is the Mini or 1-CHIP better at RGB?

[Guspaz]

The modded mini is considered to have marginally sharper RGB, but I believe they're both using the same chip? The thing is that every mini is essentially a 1chip, so it makes it easy to find a 1chip console. But it does require the mod.

[FBX]

Is the Mini or 1-CHIP better at RGB?

It's very close, and the jury is still out on that one. I've seen examples where my 1CHIP-03 looked slightly better than a 3-wire mini. However, the 7374 mod with the filter turned off looks to be the best I've seen yet. Likely not going to get any better than that until an HDMI digital mod comes out.

[Einzelherz]

Everything I see re: Mini vs original 1chip tells me they're identical and any differences (due to how minute they are) can be explained through age and batch tolerances.

[FinalBaton]

That said, I created a simple filter that is effective for de-chroma subsampling captures. It works with square pixels only (doesn't de-gunk AR stretching).


Comics San is the greatest font ever, huh?

RGB32E, that filter seem to work wonders! Good job

I also use the USB3HDCAP and I get the same unwanted color gradients that can be seen on the left picture, so that is of interest to me

[mvsfan]

A recapped 1-chip-03 looks almost identical to a mini i think.

Ive read that they have identical hardware and really nothing was changed except the board layout.

[gojira54]

I just RGB modded a sfc jr using the 1.2kΩ resistors on the input to ground & 220µF + 75Ω on the output channels of the S-RGB IC. Looks mint, definitely better than the 2 chip console I was using before =]

[FinalBaton]

Just got my 1CHIP Super Famicom

Jesus Christ that console looks beautiful through RGB.
The NEC might not have razor sharp scanlines and blanked lines, but it has rich and balanced colours and the SFC looks insane on it. I have a hard time satying focused when playing SF2T cause I keep marveling at the picture

Count me out for modding this one (adding a THS7374) : the signal looks pristine as it is. a mod wouldn't be worth the hassle for me.

Also I don't see any vertical bar on the NEC ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I only have SF2T at the moment though, and there are not a lot of black screens in that game(there are between fights, but they last 2 seconds or so). Maybe when I get FF6 again I'll get to spot the vertical bar. but it must be pretty faint, since I can't see it right now

[Blair]

that's fantastic news FinalBaton! glad it worked out. so it's a Super Famicom? (the Japanese system?) (did it come with the original power supply?)

I was just playing Super Street fighter 2 Turbo, lol

here's some pictures I took (SNES-02) (PVM20L5)

I haven't seen the vertical bar on any of my systems either (think I might've seen a faint glimpse of it during the intro of super Castlelvania 4)


[album link: https://imgur.com/a/hyrjF]

Spoiler

Spoiler

[FinalBaton]

@Blair Yes it came with an original power supply.

I'll try to take some pics. I only have my phone as a camera though, so it's not gonna do it justice