NESRGB Kit - Anyone Tried It?

[joestar3]

Hi, hopefully I'm not duping another thread - I can't seem to find it.

Has anyone here installed an NESRGB in their Famicom or NES? (http://etim.net.au/nesrgb/)  I'm late to the party and just noticed it was a thing yesterday, but wanted to hear people's opinions on it before taking the plunge.

Thanks!

[L___E___T]

I thought they were always out of stock...

[joestar3]

I thought they were always out of stock...

If that's the case...whoops .

[L___E___T]

No it appears they're back in from what I could tell!

I know Drakon has installed these but he's not one for helping for help's sake.

[joestar3]

No it appears they're back in from what I could tell!

I know Drakon has installed these but he's not one for helping for help's sake.

That's cool.  It's been ages since I've soldered though so I'm going to have to run through some articles and smaller projects to make sure I've got the right equipment, and don't screw this up.

I appreciate the responses!

[GohanX]

I ordered one, with the intention of installing it into a AV Fami. Friends who have installed it say it's awesome.

[joestar3]

Yeah, that's my plan too. Unfortunately I've soldered before, but never messed with de-soldering.  I'm going to have to do a lot of practicing on old junk boards before even thinking of doing the installation.

I guess while I'm at it, any recommendations on decent soldering irons / soldering stations for this type of work?  I was going to go with a Weller but apparently their quality is shit now.  Anyone use Hakko?  I've seen people mention the Hakko fx-888(D) as being pretty reliable. 

[GohanX]

I've got the non-digital 888, it puts everything else I've ever used to shame.

The Hakko desoldering gun makes quick work of desoldering chips, but it's pricey. Definitely practice in dead pcbs first, without a good desoldering tool removing chips is a pita.

[joestar3]

Thanks for the reply, I've been reading good things overall about their soldering/desoldering stuff but hadn't gotten any recommendations regarding them and retro consoles.

Also agreed - I'm going to mess around with some broken/old controllers I found at Goodwill before I even think of looking at the kit.

[leonk]

"THE" NESRGB thread on the internet can be found here: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=47617

Personally, I installed 2 in top loaders and 1 in a front loader. Once you go NESRGB (even with non rgb sets) you will never go back to regular nes composite or rf out. I'm now waiting for Tim to come out with V2 for the famicom which will be a direct replacement for the famicom power pcb with stereo mod to boot.

[GohanX]

I just got the AV Fami I'm going to use for the install yesterday, just waiting on my cable to come in and I'll be ready to rock.
Post Merge: June 21, 2014, 06:43:58 pm
I installed the kit into my AV Famicom today and have been playing it for the past few hours. This thing is glorious!

First, an install note. Even with my Hakko desoldering pump, getting the PPU out is a bitch. If you don't have a really good desoldering tool, consider having someone else do the mod for you. There are a few pins that are very stubborn. I don't think I'd even attempt it if I were still using the Radio Shack desoldering pump and desoldering wick. Aside from that, once you get the PPU out the rest of the install is pretty easy on the AV Fami, it's mostly just hooking wires up to the pins of the AV port.

I first tested it in composite, the kit uses it's own composite video encoder, and it's better than the regular Fami AV composite (which is already pretty good.) It puts my original AV modded Fami's composite to shame. I also like the audio quality a bit better, although most wouldn't notice the difference.

I then hooked up RGB and popped in Super Mario Brothers, and it looks better than I have ever seen it look on any system or emulator. Fantastic. I also played through some Megaman 3, Zelda 1, and Akumajou Densetsu, all look fantastic. Crystal clear video and audio, no interference or anything. If anything, the image is a little TOO sharp, I may set my XRGB Mini to blur it slightly. It's worth noting that the kid has a few different color palettes to choose from, and the default NES palette isn't that bright or colorful, but I left it there since it's the most accurate representation of the original games. I know others prefer the other palettes since they are more colorful.

The kit is expensive, getting someone to install it if you aren't a tech head is expensive, but if you want the ultimate way to play your NES/Famicom, this is it.

[famiac]

Most people don't know that reflowing the pins with new solder helps desoldering with a braid A LOT. It makes it really easy, at least for me... It's a good way to desolder anything. (it's also good to clean the area before resoldering a new component in)

[P]

You also need a good soldering iron. My iron can easilly desolder anything I've soldered myself but can't desolder anything from most comercial products. Piece of crap iron!

[L___E___T]

So, is this something you think an amateur solderer could realistically achieve first time?  I've been thinking of modding an AV Famicom for some time.

Even though I do prefer the composite for NES, my RGB MegaDrive makes me reconsider every time I play it, it's just so crisp and clean.

[P]

I think this is a very bad choice for a first time project. Especially since it involves desoldering the PPU.

You can do some practising on some throwaway board first after watching youtube videos of how to properly solder and desolder. You could go to your local waste sorting place and dig out some electronics to practise on. Desolder some random components and then solder them back at different holes.

For more fun try assemble a simple project that works. There are kits out there but even better would be to look for a small free project online and buy all the components yourself. It won't cost you much.