Sharp Famicom Titler

[Doc]

Continue discussion from there:
http://famicomworld.proboards58.com/index.cgi?board=famicom&action=display&thread=1152114666

to here.

[Josh]

Man, that thing looks awesome!  Well, at least only for the S-Video output.  Besides modding for RGB, this is the highest quality video output there is on a Famicom, right?

Let's see, I only just now really learned what this thing was after seeing Japan-Games.com's new eBay auction for one of them:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nintendo-Sharp-Famicom-Titler-AN-510-Japan-Only-Console_W0QQitemZ300086061216QQihZ020QQcategoryZ62054QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It seems he sold at least one more of these last year, too, for $350.  Man, that thing is in such good condition and for such a good price compared to other online stores.  If only I had the money!  It's the ultimate Famicom system!

I found another one on YHJ, here:

http://page6.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/f55827385

It's only ￥３，０００ so far, but that's because it's missing a PPU, and may not be working for other reasons, either.  It also doesn't look so great and it doesn't included anything but the system itself. 

Man, if only I could get the money to buy one of these...

[kite200]

Its model number is AN 510. The sharp twin are an 500 and an 505.

it has svideo output. it is the only famicom to have anything better than composite.
it can make title screens for home movies, and can be hooked up to a vhs player to save them on a vhs tape.
it has two controllers that are exactaly the same as a standard twin famicom an 500 black.
it has a touchpad for use with some sort of pen.
it has a switch to toggle between the two modes.
it can be modded for RGB out.
its original price was 43,000 yen, which by todays exchange rate is about 370 dollars.

Thats all I know for now, maybe I'll get one sometime and find out more. It is very hard to find information about it.

[Flash1087]

I'm still curious as to whose idea it was to add a Famicom to a video subtitling machine.

[Doc]

Thanks! We'll make sure to add that info.

[Josh]

I did some more research on the Sharp Famicom Titler, and found its PPU is actually an RGB one, so the color palette is different from a regular NES/Famicom PPU.  My question is this:  Is the color palette the same as the PlayChoice-10 color palette, or is it something else entirely?

Also, does the Nintendo Vs. System have a different color palette from the PlayChoice-10 color palette?

[133MHz]

I did some more research on the Sharp Famicom Titler, and found its PPU is actually an RGB one, so the color palette is different from a regular NES/Famicom PPU.  My question is this:  Is the color palette the same as the PlayChoice-10 color palette, or is it something else entirely?

Also, does the Nintendo Vs. System have a different color palette from the PlayChoice-10 color palette?

The Titler's PPU has the same palette as the normal NES/FC PPU, since it plays Famicom games.

The VS. Systems used different color palettes between games, to prevent operators from just swapping the ROMs on the boards to get different games for cheap. That way if you do a ROM swap, the game's colors look screwed, forcing the operators to buy the whole boards for their machines (or at least swapping the PPU in conjunction with the ROMs, but that renders the whole idea pointless anyway).

[Josh]

Thanks for explaining the differences in the Vs. Series.

As for the Titler, have you tested its PPU Titler personally? This person actually modded a Titler for RGB output and found the palette to be different from a regular Famicom's:

The Famicom Titler's composite is made differently, since it is encoded from RGB originally. Thus, it is of very high quality. Some people don't like the colours the RGB PPU generates, since they're not exactly the same, especially for browns, dark greens, etc. But I think the increase in picture sharpness more than makes up for it.

[Phosphora]

Thanks for explaining the differences in the Vs. Series.

As for the Titler, have you tested its PPU Titler personally? This person actually modded a Titler for RGB output and found the palette to be different from a regular Famicom's:

The Famicom Titler's composite is made differently, since it is encoded from RGB originally. Thus, it is of very high quality. Some people don't like the colours the RGB PPU generates, since they're not exactly the same, especially for browns, dark greens, etc. But I think the increase in picture sharpness more than makes up for it.

It's easy to adjust the Red, Greens & Blues on the Famicom Titler. There are 3 variable resistors for each color that you can adjust with a small flathead screwdriver or even just twist them with your fingers.

Here's a pic comparing Super Mario Bros on my Toaster NES (composite) VS my Famicom Titler (S-Video) on my LCD HDTV:


I'm sure I could dial in the colors a little better, but I don't think the Titler looks bad at all.