NESRGB board available now

[Vigormortis]

Just a couple questions that weren't clearly answered:

In what scenario for programming would I need to power on the console?

If you are using a stock USB Blaster, the console needs to be powered. If you're using a USB Blaster sent from Tim, you shouldn't need to power the NESRGB board because Tim modded his USB Blasters to provide 3.3v out of pin 4.

When would I need to connect pin 4 from the USB Blaster to Pin 1 of the PCB?

That needs to be connected whether the the board is being powered by the NES or by a modded USB Blaster. All 6 of those pins on the NESRGB need to be connected to the USB Blaster

Do all grounds need connected on the JTAG connector on the USB blaster?

I just used one and it worked fine.

[XianXi]

Just a couple questions that weren't clearly answered:

In what scenario for programming would I need to power on the console?

If you are using a stock USB Blaster, the console needs to be powered. If you're using a USB Blaster sent from Tim, you shouldn't need to power the NESRGB board because Tim modded his USB Blasters to provide 3.3v out of pin 4.

When would I need to connect pin 4 from the USB Blaster to Pin 1 of the PCB?

That needs to be connected whether the the board is being powered by the NES or by a modded USB Blaster. All 6 of those pins on the NESRGB need to be connected to the USB Blaster

Do all grounds need connected on the JTAG connector on the USB blaster?

I just used one and it worked fine.

Damn, I don't know what to do then as I tried all that and even confirmed that the board was getting voltage. Strangely the +5v line is getting 5.66v which is scary but the JTAG pin 1 is getting the 3.3v. I tried it with pin 1 connected and without and I get the same error. Did Tim by chance flash any himself? I noticed on the static bag is came in it said "OK".

[Vigormortis]

I guess just double check your connections and make sure you didn't number the USB Blaster's pinout backwards (I did that at first ). The error 44 that you described is the same exact error I get when I try to run the USB Blaster without connecting it to anything at all. The problem has to lie somewhere between your NESRGB and USB Blaster. I'm pretty sure you can rule out Windows Vista driver issues because you've at least hit error 44. In Mccracken's description, error 44 occured after he had solved his software/driver issues and only needed the final step of powering the board.

NESRGB Pin --> USB Blaster Pin
1 4
2 2
3 3
4 1
5 9
6 5

[evil_ash_xero]

Retro Gaming Cables...hmmm....Not a fan. No shielding.

Why on earth would they not use shielding? Bummer, I was planning to buy from them :/

I don't know. I bought a Genesis cable from them a long while back, and every time I turned up the brightness on my TV, it just started buzzing louder.

I had a fellow on Ebay sell me an official SNES cable, and he had some dealings with them before. He said that the guy said that shielding wasn't necessary for cables
under a certain length. He thought RGC was wrong, and he said his cables were crap. And I hadn't even mentioned the cruddy cord I had from them.

There's always the chance they've changed their ways, but I wouldn't know.

I've been very please with the cables I've gotten from Retro Console Accessories. They're shielded well.
There's not a zillion options for cables out there, so I would mark them down.

[yxkalle]

An update to my switchless palette mod again. This time I have added a status LED to the mod. Only for PIC12F629 this time.

Code: Select all

; Switchless palette changer by Rikard Bengtsson 2014
;
;                           _______   _______
;                          |       `-'       |
;              Vdd (+5V) --+ 1      P      8 +-- Vss (GND)
;                          |        1        |
;             Status LED <-+ GPIO5  2  GPIO0 +-> NESRGB palette 3 (composite)
;                          |        F        |
; Reset signal to NES/FC <-+ GPIO4  6  GPIO1 +-> NESRGB palette 2 (improved)
;                          |        2        |
;    NES/FC reset button --> GPIO3  9  GPIO2 +-> NESRGB palette 1 (garish)
;                          |_________________|

Only picture of AV Famicom, sorry.

No passthrough: Only cycles the three RGB palettes, no passthrough mode/unmodified video signal on PPUV
Powerpak: Release reset button after 1 second to send a three second reset pulse to the console, this makes it possible to enter the menu (hopefully)

DOWNLOAD:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kcl4jrzecwk56 ... 12f629.zip

[XianXi]

I guess just double check your connections and make sure you didn't number the USB Blaster's pinout backwards (I did that at first ). The error 44 that you described is the same exact error I get when I try to run the USB Blaster without connecting it to anything at all. The problem has to lie somewhere between your NESRGB and USB Blaster. I'm pretty sure you can rule out Windows Vista driver issues because you've at least hit error 44. In Mccracken's description, error 44 occured after he had solved his software/driver issues and only needed the final step of powering the board.

NESRGB Pin --> USB Blaster Pin
1 4
2 2
3 3
4 1
5 9
6 5

Thanks for the help. I figured it out right after I posted. I tested the JTAG chain and had no results so I probed the ribbon connector and wasn't getting any continuity so I ended up making my own cable and 1st try it worked.

[keropi]

@yxkalle

MEGA thanks for the new info!!!! will add it to my setup for sure this time

[Ed Oscuro]

Retro Gaming Cables vs. Retro Console Accessories

The fuck is that about? People are paying a premium for a properly done job, don't cut corners like this, jesus. Thanks for the heads up. I don't think I looked at any RGC cables, but so long as that's the case I will keep in mind to look out for this.

[opt2not]

Retro Gaming Cables vs. Retro Console Accessories

Now, I could have used this info a while back. I've already bought multiple cables from RGC, my whole set-up has their cables actually.
I haven't had any noticeable problems, the closest thing I noticed was the hissing from my SNES' audio. But I figured that's standard since my SNES wasn't modded for digital audio output.

Is there anything in particular that would be affected by a lack of shielded cables? I would assume audio is the biggest culprit, but video noise perhaps?

[eightbitminiboss]

Retro Gaming Cables vs. Retro Console Accessories

Now, I could have used this info a while back. I've already bought multiple cables from RGC, my whole set-up has their cables actually.
I haven't had any noticeable problems, the closest thing I noticed was the hissing from my SNES' audio. But I figured that's standard since my SNES wasn't modded for digital audio output.

Is there anything in particular that would be affected by a lack of shielded cables? I would assume audio is the biggest culprit, but video noise perhaps?

Ghosting is another common symptom with improper/non-existant shielding.

[Ed Oscuro]

I wonder if the audio hiss is the result of audio cables going down the length of the cable in the same bundle (having separate coax cables under the outer sleeve is apparently not a problem, as we've had a thread about that recently).

[keropi]

...so which cables are better? RGC or RCA ???

[opt2not]

Ghosting is another common symptom with improper/non-existant shielding.

...so which cables are better? RGC or RCA ???

I haven't noticed any ghosting issues. I'll have to test it more, but here is a couple pics of it running on my 14" PVM using the a SNES->SCART cable from the latest batch from RGC, connected to a SCART->BNC cable:






I'll test my SCART->Framemeister cable more as well, but I haven't found any unusual noise or interference on the video lines so far, using retrogamingcables' products.

[Ed Oscuro]

If the cables are the same price, and one set of cables are shielded...well, I'll let you draw the conclusion there.

[Slymick]

Thought I'd share my switch mount location, hidden away, no damage to the visible housing and easy to change.

[evil_ash_xero]

...so which cables are better? RGC or RCA ???

Well, the one I got from RGC, I threw in the trash. So, you know...

[TheRetromancer]

...so which cables are better? RGC or RCA ???

Well, the one I got from RGC, I threw in the trash. So, you know...

The only difficulty with RCA is that she's currently having a bit of difficulty with her SNES connector supplier - to quote her email to me directly re: this matter:

retro_console_accessories wrote:

I'm still waiting on some plugs from the supplier and they don't know when they are in stock.

(My italics)

[RGB32E]

The next SNES style RGB cable I will be making for use with the NESRGB in my AV Famicom will be made from two SNES AV cables. This easily solves the problem of shielding, as each signal is on it's own coax. Since the NESRGB doesn't need 220uF caps in the cable, the RGBS lines can be terminated with a 8 pin mini din plug for direct connection to a XRGB-mini. The only real challenge is opening the SNES plug hood.

[CkRtech]

I didn't have good luck with my pick-up of 8 pin mini din male to 8 pin mini din male cables for NESRGB to Framemeister. It looks like they aren't all that common, and the ones out there don't really seem ready (properly shielded) for passing video. I sent a message to a seller that was out of 6 ft of md8 cables (auction was linked to me earlier in this thread or the framemeister thread).

Google hasn't really found me what I am looking for just yet, and I am wondering if I am going to have to just make my own cables. I call it "Going RGB32E."

[philexile]

Retro Gaming Cables...hmmm....Not a fan. No shielding.

Why on earth would they not use shielding? Bummer, I was planning to buy from them :/

I don't know. I bought a Genesis cable from them a long while back, and every time I turned up the brightness on my TV, it just started buzzing louder.

The cables I've gotten from Retro Console Accessories (retro_console_accessories on eBay) have been sub-par at best. I also had the Genesis cable and I noticed that there was a loud buzzing on the audio. I decided to open up the SCART hood and sure enough the person who made the cable didn't bother to wire audio ground. Once I wired that up, the buzzing was gone. (Imagine that!) That is a pretty standard thing NOT to wire up.

My most recent experience was with the PC-Engine cable with THS7314 RGB amp built in. I noticed that there was noise in the red channel, so I opened up the hood and it was a mess in there. After it was wired, they pour epoxy all over the amp and wires. Basically unworkable. I had cut all that crap out and wire in a new THS amp properly with heatshrink tubing for protection – that fixed the issue.

I've also encountered issues were the SCART hood was glued shut with epoxy and I've asked pretty basic questions via email that have gone unanswered.

I've since learned how to wire my own cables, so at least I got that out of these bad experiences.

[eightbitminiboss]

Wow, never had any problems with retro console accessories cables and definitely not to that extent.

[Vigormortis]

I have SNES and Genesis SCART cables from retro console accessories. The video quality on both of them is excellent, but the audio has the dreaded buzz due to being unshielded from the video signals. The whole cable is shielded from the outside, but the individual wires inside aren't shielded from each other. My cables are 3 years old, so I don't know if my descriptions are applicable to currently produced cables.

On my SNES cable, I solved the problem by running the audio down a second cable between the SNES connector and the SCART socket. I posted a picture of it on page 57 of this thread. The audio is now really clean. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to claim that my frankencable provides as good quality as an official Nintendo RGB cable.

My Genesis model 2 cable has amazing picture quality. It's the one with the sync booster circuit which claims to get rid of jailbars - and it really does. Unfortunately it also suffers from the buzzing audio - and I don't know how I can squeeze a second wire into the Genesis connector, unlike the SNES connector which had plenty of room. I think I should just cut the connector off and replace it with a Genesis model 1 connector. Then I can run a separate audio cable from the SCART connector to a 3.5mm plug for the model 1's headphone output.

[evil_ash_xero]

I have an official SNES SCART cable, and it still buzzes if you turn it up too loud. I'm using an RGB modded SNES mini.

That system has bees in it, I swear.

[TheRetromancer]

[XianXi]

I have an official SNES SCART cable, and it still buzzes if you turn it up too loud. I'm using an RGB modded SNES mini.

That system has bees in it, I swear.

If it buzzes then you might have a short to ground somewhere.

[evil_ash_xero]

I have an official SNES SCART cable, and it still buzzes if you turn it up too loud. I'm using an RGB modded SNES mini.

That system has bees in it, I swear.

If it buzzes then you might have a short to ground somewhere.

It's tolerable. I've heard of others that have modded minis that still have some buzz after getting an official cord.

People always say he can't act now. He was really good in Adaptation.

I try to forget 99 percent of his films past Leaving Las Vegas though.

[RGB32E]

It's tolerable. I've heard of others that have modded minis that still have some buzz after getting an official cord.

Never noticed buzzing with the SNES mini after RGB modding. The only way to completely eliminate noise from SNES audio is SPDIF output to a decent DAC or receiver. However, the performance of the sound system you're connecting a source to also plays a role in this, especially at higher volume levels.

The NESRGB can produce effectively buzz free audio on US front and top loaders, but only if installed correctly, and the right cables used.

[leonk]

I took got my SCART cable from retro console accessories on eBay. I modded my snes mini for RGB and swap cable between snes and NESRGB.

Good: excellent picture and audio quality. No buzz. I'm feeding from console to SCART to BNC cable I purchased from a seller over at NG forum.

Bad - for cost I would expected better material. The snes connector is good, SCART connector is average but the physical cable itself seems to be standard cat6 Ethernet cable. I prefer to use multi strand cables rather than single core wire. Multi strand is more flexible, able to suppress noise a tad better and able to deliver a bit more signal w/o loss (as taught in high school physics - electrons flow on the surface of the wire - not in the wire. Multi strand means more surface area)

If I knew were to source the snes connector I would have made my own cable for sure. I can purchase high end Svideo cable for a song from local supplier and reuse cable.

[mufunyo]

Bad - for cost I would expected better material. The snes connector is good, SCART connector is average but the physical cable itself seems to be standard cat6 Ethernet cable.

I hope they're at least using GND on the − wire for each of the pairs.

[RGB32E]

Bad - for cost I would expected better material. The snes connector is good, SCART connector is average but the physical cable itself seems to be standard cat6 Ethernet cable.

I hope they're at least using GND on the − wire for each of the pairs.

It would be nice to have a source of SNES connectors with solder terminals. I'd imagine if you can work with the right overseas parts manufacturer you could get them for < 50 cents each in high quantities (min order).

Cat6 is 4 pairs (8+1), so likely there are signals being twisted together. R, G, B, S/Cv, L, R, and possibly +5VDC, making 7, plus ground for 8. If sync or Cv is twisted on R, G, or B, noise will be induced on that channel. Same goes for Audio. Perhaps it's R&G on one twisted pair, B&5VDC on another, L&R, and S/Cv&Ground. Depending upon the cat6 there should be an additional drain wire so that two conductors can carry ground. In any case this isn't ideal, as you're going to get cross-talk.