The RGB modded av famicom

[Drakon]

well rgb modding a nes toaster/nes 2/original famicom will give you video interference in your picture.  However the av famicom has a revised pcb where they mostly fixed this interference.  So it's with great pleasure that I present to you the rgb modded av famicom!





Basically you go from having a composite picture like this:



to this!



And if you're still not convinced then here's a couple of youtuve vids of megaman 2.  The first vid is from the composite video signal of an unmodded av famicom.  The second vid is from the rgb modded av famicom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X07Tv9-aWTc&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9HtdszZqto&feature=player_embedded

and lastly here's the worklog of how I built this thing:

http://moddedbybacteria.freeforums.org/the-rgb-av-famicom-t1174.html

enjoy!

[manuel]

I'm convinced by that 1 picture alone! Looks fantastic! 

[jpx72]

Great workblog! And a great mod! Thanks for sharing!
BTW any tips on where to get a playchoice PPU?

[Drakon]

I got the ppu from a playchoice arcade pcb that I won on ebay.  And it wasn't cheap.  And they seem to be getting harder and harder to find.  My only suggestion is to stick up "wtb" ads for the ppu on forums.  You could try neo-geo.com or the shmup forum and hope you don't get scammed.  There's a few different types of rgb ppus you can use but from what I've read it seems that the one I use (rp2c03b from a playchoice pcb) is the safest one.  I read that the rc ppus can have a row of garbled graphics on the one side of the screen.

Also thanks everyone for the nice comments.  It's hard to find people who can appreciate a famicom with nice beautiful rgb/s-video.  I must say this system has the most vibrant colours out of all my consoles and it looks quite amazing.

[Xious]

Nicely done mate!

I do want to say that a mod on a normal FC, or either NES can be done without distortion as well though. It's just a matter of ensuring that you isolate and protect against the address signal interference that causes the bars.

[Drakon]

Nicely done mate!

I do want to say that a mod on a normal FC, or either NES can be done without distortion as well though. It's just a matter of ensuring that you isolate and protect against the address signal interference that causes the bars.

okay...and how do you do that?  I've contacted a lot of nes/famicom modding experts and nobody had any solution.  Except for modding an av famicom.

[tappybot]

Wow!  Beautiful!

If I had any tech sense, I'd try to make one myself...    I'd love to have it. 

[Drakon]

Wow!  Beautiful!

If I had any tech sense, I'd try to make one myself...    I'd love to have it. 

thanks!  However this mod is extremely difficult.  I don't even think I'd want to do this mod as a commission until I find a safer way of doing it.  The AV famicom is a bit of a nightmare to remove the ppu chip from.

[jpx72]

Get a hot air gun for removing chips from PCBs. There's nothing easier than removing big chips using hot air.

[Drakon]

Get a hot air gun for removing chips from PCBs. There's nothing easier than removing big chips using hot air.

Thanks for the info.  Any particular heat rating/level that's good for safely desoldering?  Or should you just get a generic electronics hot air gun?  Another idea I thought of was to cut the legs from the original ppu.  Then use a solder sucker on the parts side of the pcb while heating up the soldered leg from underneath with a soldering iron.

[jpx72]

Hmm I can't help you there, because I got myself a homemade hot air gun, made from a compressor (for air blowing), a metal tube with a heating device inside. On one end is a small tip with a hole in the middle for directing the hot air to a single spot. Temperature is not very high, I would say no more than 200°C but I have really no idea. But I can tell you that by putting some oil on the PCB before blowing hot air on it will save you a lot of trouble getting rid of the excess tin (after desoldering you can remove the oil with any alcohol-based cleaning solution).

[Drakon]

Hmm I can't help you there, because I got myself a homemade hot air gun, made from a compressor (for air blowing), a metal tube with a heating device inside. On one end is a small tip with a hole in the middle for directing the hot air to a single spot. Temperature is not very high, I would say no more than 200°C but I have really no idea. But I can tell you that by putting some oil on the PCB before blowing hot air on it will save you a lot of trouble getting rid of the excess tin (after desoldering you can remove the oil with any alcohol-based cleaning solution).

sounds a lot better than the technique I used

[Xious]

Hot air station: I suggest Weller.s tools; I have one of their SMD stations and it.s awesome.

Video issues: I'm pretty certain that the 'toaster' NES is essentially immune to the jail bars issue with a Playchoice PPU. I don.t see why it would have them at all. I've seen mods of them that look crisp, clean and arcade-perfect. The NES2 and original Famicom suffer from signal contamination, but if you wire the PPU carefully and remove all possible sources of contamination (e.g. shielding them), you should be able to avert it; The Twin Famicom (Sharp) should be worry-free like the New Famicom.

I'm working on something for the vertical bars problem in general ... It may take some time, but I'm making headway (I think). A friend who's an expert in analogue video has given me some interesting suggestions and I'm looking into some different solutions.     I might have a follow-up report on one solution by the beginning of next week, if we're all lucky and I don.t get caught up with other stuff. I also have something new to offer...more on that later though. 

[Drakon]

uhm......okay........just so you know the toaster nes has huge jailbars.  I rgb modded a couple of toasters already.

[Xious]

This is a case where Expert(Modder) ≠ Expert(AnalogueVideo)   ...  Many modders use alternative parts, contrary to the suggestions of the people that devise the solutions, either because they're easier to get or cheaper. These almost always have different attributes; I saw this several times in the RGB threads, and it always causes problems.

If you're getting those bars on a NES (Toaster), then the problem is likely in your amp circuit I'd need a diagram of your amp; It's possibly a power issue, or a poor transistor choice and I'd need to know what transistors you are using to be able to help solve it.

Markus Brandel's design worked flawlessly, but his website has gone south: I'll see if I can locate him to ask what he used.

Edit:

Markus Brandel's AMP; use for each value (R,G,B) individually.


His explanation key for the NES (toaster) and NFC models.