Localization Legend "Supper the Subtitler" has "joined the club" in being targeted for CD-pressings by bootleg master Tobias/PCEWorks! His projects like Private Eyedol, Galaxy Fräulein Yuna 1 & 2, etc. are now being sold on Chinese factory-pressed CDROMs...
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Messages - Fidde_se

#2
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Can only confirm what other's already found, this cap the C301 (1000uF) always seems to leak and continue to give low volume problem even after a full recap if this isn't cleaned good.

The picture shows the under side where this line goes all the way to the separate audio board,
and it's under UV light and revealing the electrolyte as a dark/purple tone, the board is luckily not
damaged the blackness goes away when cleaned (if you're lucky) unlike when looking on battery leakage on Amiga 500 backup cap on the external memory board....

Look in the middle beside the two resistors, four vias.
#4
Toys'R'Us are unaffected in the Nordic countries for now, there it will live on for some time, stores are owned by TOP-TOY A/S (Denmark) and runs a license to be Toys'R'Us and that license seems to be valid even if the mother corporation goes under, it's only TRU and BR (Fætter BR, Danish too) that's left of all the big toy stores around here, but TRU also sells a lot online here.

Back in the 80 we had Big&Little that was THE toystore here back then, that has somehow
remerged online for being gone in like 20 years time, nostalgic for us...

That logo is for us what TRU are for Americans.
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#5
To pinpoint and guide where and why there is low sound on PC-Engine Duo (after re-cap)


Mostly suited for Duo and TurboDuo (Not Duo-R/RX)

For this guide i talked to Artemio and he kindly updated
his 240p Test Suite with new functions which can be used when also troubleshooting the audio on
Duo-R/RX, Super CD-Rom², CD-Rom²/IFU.

When you read this the updated 240p Test Suite will probably be released and/or you can try out the Beta.
http://junkerhq.net/xrgb/index.php?title=240p_test_suite
https://sourceforge.net/projects/testsuite240p/files/PCE-TG16-SCD/

Use the CD-ROM2 or the Super CDROM2 version (for now use "240pSuite_1.04_SuperCDROM-test.zip")

In there you could play a beep before, left, middle, right but now you can also play PSG (as before)
left, middle, right, but also CDDA (Stereo) going to each channel and ADPCM (Mono) going to both channels.




We all know about the bad capacitors plaguing the Duo and TurboDuo,
and after changing them it's very common to hear that there are still
problems, low audio, missing a channel, no voice sampling or cd-audio.

Common practice is while changing the caps to also clean parts of the
board around some of the more leaking caps, checking vias and also lifting
and cleaning underneath the op amps, the 4558, and that's what this is
mostly about the 4558 as there is many Duo's out there which these
problems after cap change, and it's time to put an end to that.


So first change the caps, clean, then read this when something is not
sounding correct.


First we have to explain what an OP-Amp is, or to some extent, it stands
for "OPerational AMPlifier", another word for it would simply be
Comparator as that's what it does, and this is actually already at the
heart of our problem, we see it as signal and ground in our heads but a
comparator see's two inputs and comparing them, usually these kinds of
circuits uses what's called a negative feedback, meaning a portion of
the amplified signal is sent back to keep the circuit in check, if one
of these two inputs has a rupture in it's signal path it's not amplifying
right, and to make it worse on the Duo they are cascaded with signals
from each audio source, one for ADPCM, CD-Audio, HuCard (DIN) and finally headphone amp.


Additional Info:
Headphone Potentiometer: (203B) Min->Max
Pin 1-2, 0-27K
Pin 1-3, 0-13.5K
Pin 1-4, 0-13.5K
Pin 1-5, 0-13.5K
Pin 2-3, 0-13.5K
Pin 2-4, 0-13.5K
Pin 2-5, 0-13.5K
Pin 3-4, 0-0 (GND)
Pin 3-5, 0-0 (GND)
Pin 4-5, 0-0 (GND)

Main OP-Amps in this discussion:
IC503 ADPCM
IC521 CD-Audio
IC506 DIN (if lifted then Headphone will still get PSG but no CDDA+ADPCM)
IC507 Headphone Amp


All 4558:
Check that pin 4 has ground connection.
Check that pin 8 has power (≈7.3V)
Power for all 4558 IC506, IC507, IC503, IC521 (also IC203 CD part and IC202 CD part but 4560) gets its regulated power from
Q304 (SMD Mark BR, located in the middle of the cap jungle beside the two main regulators) Japanese SOT-23 (SC-70) incoming
≈8.2V on pin 3, outgoing ≈7.3V on pin 2 and pin 1 should ≈8.0V, IC107 4558 (CD part) however does not get regulated voltage
from Q304 but is powered directly from the same source as Q304 is, meaning IC107 pin 8 will be directly connected to Q304
pin 3, and that pin gets it's voltage from the same pin as IC303 7805 (IN).


So PSG from HuC6280 goes up threw visas and under the HuCard slot comes back to the sec side beside the slot
each with a test point, then going towards IC506 going threw C879 (right) and C878 (left), after those capacitors
there is a new testpoint, then threw R611 (1K left) and R612 (1K right), then going threw R631 (15K Left) and R613 (15K Right) going threw the vias into IC506 but also getting signal from the CDDA/ADPCM.

IC502 OKI M5205 (ADPCM)
Should get ≈5V on pin 18.
On pin 10 the signal goes to pin 6 on IC503 but first threw C652, R657 (1K), R688 (270K).

IC503: ADPCM
Pin 1 ≈3.6V
Pin 2 ≈3.6V
Pin 3 ≈3.6V (connected with pin 5)
Pin 4 GND
Pin 5 ≈3.6V (connected with pin 3)
Pin 6 ≈3.6V
Pin 7 ≈3.6V
Pin 8 ≈7.3V

The signal goes from IC503 pin 3,5 to IC521 pin 3,5

IC521: CD-Audio
Pin 1 ≈3.6V
Pin 2 ≈3.6V
Pin 3 ≈3.6V (connected with pin 5)
Pin 4 GND
Pin 5 ≈3.6V (connected with pin 3)
Pin 6 ≈3.6V
Pin 7 ≈3.6V
Pin 8 ≈7.3V

IC506: DIN
Pin 1 ≈3.6V
Pin 2 ≈3.6V
Pin 3 ≈3.6V (connected with pin 5)
Pin 4 GND
Pin 5 ≈3.6V (connected with pin 3)
Pin 6 ≈3.6V
Pin 7 ≈3.6V
Pin 8 ≈7.3V

IC507: Headphone Amp
Pin 1 ≈3.98V
Pin 2 ≈3.98V
Pin 3 ≈3.6V
Pin 4 GND
Pin 5 ≈3.6V
Pin 6 ≈3.98V
Pin 7 ≈3.98V
Pin 8 ≈7.3V

Headphone Output:
Left channel comes from pin 1 on IC507 (threw C678, 100uF and R693, 120ohm, Right channel comes from pin 7 on IC507
(threw C679, 100uF and R694, 120ohm. If you get all the correct sound in both channels on the DIN then there is
something with or around IC507 focus on that.

You can have headphones on (max volume) and listan after a buzz when you touch pin 2 or 3 on IC507 with something
metallic (Left channel) and pin 5 or 6 (Right channel), if voltages are correct and you hear a buzz on each channel
that op-amp should be OK.

With the same headphone test you can try out IC506, pin 6 buzz to the right, pin 2 buzz to the left, if voltages and
buzzing on each channel then that op-amp should be OK.

Continuing headphone buzz test on IC521, touching pin 6 buzz right, touching pin 2 buzz left, and touching IC503 should
give buzz in both channels (adpcm mono) on pin 6 (loud), pin 2 (weaker), you can nearly with just the buzz test locate
where the problem is.

DIN: Audio
Left on pin 3, Right on pin 4.
Going threw L602 and L601 respectivly.
After that going threw R608, R610 (1K) respectivly.
Then passing threw C604 (10uF right), C610 (10uF left).
From C604 to IC506 pin 7, C610 to IC506 pin 1.

As these op-amps are cascading then if any voltage are wrong on one and making audio low it can be the previous one thats
not working correctly, you can try lifting one and see if some the sound become "loud" again usually when lifting IC506,
(they should be lifted at some point anyhow to remove excessive electrolyte fluid).



Signal into IC506 pin 6 (right) comes from R630 (15K) then to IC504 pin 1, and IC506 pin 2 (left) comes from R628 (15K) then to IC504 pin13.

There are several replacements for 4558 (SO-8), the original is made by JRC but RC4558 (Texas), NJM4558 (New JRC) or LM4558 (Diodes) should work fine.

The HuCard sound (PSG and Simple Voices) comes from HuC6280 pin 17 (Left) pin 18 right



With the 240p Test Suite you can test each channel individually or each soundtype separately,
different volume between left and right or different sound coloration, sometimes it's easier
with headphones and there you can also listen closer for different kinds of static and popping
sounds (that usually comes from leaked electrolyte charging and discharging on the board),
and if your laser is ok you can test the cd audio track to see that it sounds correct (stereo separation on some of the sounds, bongas to the left), and finally a final solution to test the
voice sampling (ADPCM) without the need to find a correct game a wait for the sound to heard,
just hit play and you'll know if it works and it should sound the same on both channels with
the same volume.


Duo 4558 HuC6280:
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Large: https://www.retrosampling.se/Temp/PCE%20DUO%204558/Duo%204558%20HuC6280.jpg

Duo 4558 PRI:
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Large: https://www.retrosampling.se/Temp/PCE%20DUO%204558/Duo%204558%20PRI.jpg

Duo 4558 SEC:
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Large: https://www.retrosampling.se/Temp/PCE%20DUO%204558/Duo%204558%20SEC.jpg

Duo 4558 Volume Knob:
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Large: https://www.retrosampling.se/Temp/PCE%20DUO%204558/Duo%204558%20Volume%20Knob.jpg

240p Test Suite:
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Large: https://www.retrosampling.se/Temp/PCE%20DUO%204558/240p_Test%20Suite.jpg



This values are taken from the Duo with serial: 21031541B
Pictures before recap.

Made by Fredrik Nyqvist 1-3/2018 SWEDEN
And many thanks to Artemio Urbina for updating
his 240p Test Suite with CDDA and ADPCM tests.
#7
The long awaited firmware with 4x and 5x linedoubling is here, (linequadrupling/linequintupling)

It's now gone from 720p to 1080p output with higher screen compability too, and presets were available in the firmware before it, it's gone from good to the best =)

Mario in 3x
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Mario in 5x
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Closeup in 5x, every retropixel is now 5 pixels high, razor sharp IRL, pictures can not do it justice.
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#9
The sync is known to be low in PCE.

And every connector you add into the equation lowers it a bit.
Connector Attenuation....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insertion_loss

Yeah you probably need the Sync amp, either build one form scratch.
Lower right: http://www.gamesx.com/grafx/pce_rgb.jpg
pce_rgb.jpg

Or you could probably use the unused channel on the circuit you already were into,
some good ol' mod needed there.
#10
Here's the Twitter from Micomsoft:
And it's mostly for Dreamcast that you would want VGA in, but yeah for old computers and Mame/Emulators/DOSbox it would be great for that too.

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Read somewhere that the cheap converters above are nothing more then a cable, and it's simply just that, and use some analog transfer from those few graphics cards that has supports that, don't even think analog through the HDMI is in the specifications.

So I bought one that looks like those but that definitely has a DAC built-in, and surprisingly it
works great, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181537095307

And yes the Framemeister does have some disturbance in the blacks some times or in certain types of grey areas.
#11
Buster Bros and the Atari Lynx battery pack both still unopened, that's very rare on this side of the ocean...

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#12
Been checking some more.

The standard sync outputs around 0.8v while with the LM1881 outputs nearly 5v

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Standard sync

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Bust3dstr8 sync cleaner

The boards are also very good soldered and the flux has been removed, top quality.
#14
Quote from: Medic_wheat on 01/19/2015, 11:42 PM
Quote from: Fidde_se on 01/19/2015, 05:32 PMGot this, CRT 14" for 5$, looks like it's hardly ever used, RGB Scart, Western made.... not asia.. lovely...

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and Dire Straits never sang "I want my MTV" they did sing "I want my RGB"
$5?  Nice.


How did you find it?
Back 10-25 years and they were very common here back then.
#15
Got this, CRT 14" for 5$, looks like it's hardly ever used, RGB Scart, Western made.... not asia.. lovely...

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and Dire Straits never sang "I want my MTV" they did sing "I want my RGB"
#16
Got this yesterday. They are for sale like.... never, when wanting them on the cheap.

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Been sold as "Buy It Now" non working for 600$ here for over a year.
Then around Christmas it was as an action beginning at 100$ (and Buy It Now), no else bid but me...
and when the seller tested it before shipping it worked flawlessly, the disc drive were suppose
to be banged up, he over charged the shipping by 3 times the amount but hey that suddenly didn't do a thing =)

Good deal approved by:
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#17
Been playing for 2 weeks now, it's great...

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#18
Not a single search on the forum about this old gem.

wayback.rgcd.co.uk/2011/05/super-star-shooter-advance-gba

Give it a try, gives me also a Star Soldier Series run for the money, if this was ever released on the GBA the PCE shmup gamer in me would buy it in a instance.

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#20
Super Bumping old stuff...

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#21
There probably are some good games out there for N64, but as it was more towards 3D and with a fuzzy way of doing that comparing to the Playstations more pixaleted sharpness the N64 usually falls behind, however... A guy here in Gothenburg got the rights from VileTim to continue the work of his RGB chip for it, as only a few Jap and US versions could be rebuilt for S-Video and the intentionally missing RGB, this on the other hand bypasses that and gives RGB from any region, model or revision.

Suddenly some of that fuzziness goes away and it becomes a little more playable.
LAB23 is the one making them.

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It's time to start enjoying N64 again... GoldenEye maybe, wait Perfect Dark, maybe even Star Wars Racer and Rogue Squadron
#22
Everything needed to know about the components when in need of repairing the CoreGrafx.

Components Text File:
*** Being Written ***

PDFs for circuits and special components:
*** Being Written ***

CoreGrafx PCB Secondary:
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Large: retrosampling.se/Coregrafx%20PCB%20Secondary%20Copper.png

CoreGrafx Components Secondary:
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Large: retrosampling.se/Coregrafx%20PCB%20Secondary%20Components.png

CoreGrafx PCB Secondary External Ground Plane:
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Large: retrosampling.se/Coregrafx%20PCB%20Secondary%20External%20Ground%20Plane.png

More will come in in the coming months.
#23
Ikea does make things out of solid wood that can take a lot of weight, the weight of the tv (flat glass 29") is 42kg and add 12kg just for the center channel, add some consoles and drawers filled with games probably another 20kg.

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#24
Seeing this movie the only thing I saw was GameParks old logo, anyone more then me?

Cherevin Logo:

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GamePark Logo:

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#25
Not really, most of it is already built into the regulators and needs a minimum of surrounding components.

So two regulators and a total of 4 capacitors.

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#27
This way!

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#28
The timekeeper IC in CDi:s have batteries in them too, but this one is as dry as a desert, a silicon chip bonded to the legs and pressed into a plastic body.

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It's more likely it's flux of some kind being dropped or even sprayed up or foamed up during the wave soldering process traveling up the legs as it goes threw the heating stage or even the solderwave itself.

Touching it with the tip of the solder iron would melt it, electrolytic fluid smells like old fish...
#29
Take a look at this one.

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2K: https://www.retrosampling.se/Temp/Imgp0514_mod.jpg

I guess nr 1 is not damaged.

But nr 2, I cant see where that goes under the capacitor, but you might see that better if looking closer. A fair guess the hole next to the other in the other end. you can swab the bad looking part with a cottonstick and some alcohol, and you can see better what kind of damage there is.
with a "beeper" you can check for continuity between that proposed hole and the end of that bad traces as when traces are off there is a tiny piece of copper visible, and if it's not visible then scratch some until it does.

some wire and 3 and 4 is easily fixed
#30
Sounds good oldschool
That midi player I talked about has been discussed here at the forum at some point but still it's very very uncommon:
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I guess it's a standard Turbografx CD, which mean it would also work with CD-ROM2

That PC-8801 Tower I mentioned can be seen here:
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Also when looking around I saw these two. so familiar but still.. probably a addon for
one of the necs computer systems, might even be compatible with CD-ROM2, there even existed a cable for the CD-ROM2 and software so you could use it on a normal PC, don't know if that ever got out in the open.
http://www.retrosampling.se/Temp/images6EDSWIOS.jpg
http://www.retrosampling.se/Temp/images7HUG9GKO.jpg

This is all a little off topic =) but hey
#31
Maybe someday this will be accepted instead of the usual "it never saw a European release".
As that was never really true.

Turbografx PAL.jpg
https://www.retrosampling.se/Temp/Turbografx%20PAL.jpg
#32
The first pic looks like when sync is not working correctly in RGB, the same probably goes for any S-Video or Composite as it's blended in, it's not completely missing, as if it would it be more distorted, this is more how it looks like when the syncing signal is getting to low and just nearly syncs, happens on long cables, certain tvs or monitors, or when something in the console componentry is no correct, missing white I have never seen though.

Theory, white is all colour channels on max values, if something is to low maybe it can't be produced. Capacitors are not just used for charging and releasing energy they are used for their filtering side effect too, highpass in serial and lowpass in parallel, if a newly replaced cap is backwards weird stuff can happen, the fluid leaking from them are conductive meaning they can make invisible traces to other components building new circuits with new functions, the vias surrounding it can be totally corroded giving the circuits that's left new functions too, and a new function can be sending all frequencies over a certain value directly to ground, meaning it might be shorting something and the values don't add up and if the values are to low white can't be produced.

Doing the Component mod might solve it if all colour channels are correct, if however something is bad with the sync, who knows... it's needed, but it can be taken from both sync and composite...
they probably comes from the same source within the HU6260 though.

If that would be the issue, another wildcard, professional monitors uses sync signal generators to sync an array of monitors and equipment, more simpler circuits should or could be built or even stealed from other sources and be used instead. meaning you could try taking just the sync or composite (or cleaned composite) from a megadrive or snes too see if that fixes it.

The sync might just need a boost to get over the needed value, it's not overly talked about but the PVM and BVM monitor folks out there discusses it sometimes.

The little amp here can be built with ease and great success for that (ignore the colour amps and audio caps) and the keep in mind of the NPN symbol is EBC and C1815 is ECB, switch those legs (B&C).
http://www.gamesx.com/rgbadd/duorgb.php
http://www.gamesx.com/grafx/pce_rgb.jpg
pce_rgb.jpg
#33
Hold the board against the light and look for those vias that don't let light shine threw.
they are usually the ones closest to the capacitors that are clogged, clean them with a small stick
and test them for continuity, some might have to be repaired.

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#34
Hey I saw this in a magazine here, Swedish Level nr 87 like Oct issue 2013.

They have an article going to Super Potato in Akihabara, and they actually got to take it out and took a photo, it's the exact same ones as Tatsujin saw.

The article says:

Kid's Station - Complete Collection
Price : Unknown
- This is the complete collection of the edutainment-series Kid's Station for PC-Engine Super CD-ROM2, the games never got released in usual stores, it was only for students who used the Kumon study method that could buy the games in the beginning of the 90's, Therefore the games also became unusually rare. They have gotten a bid on 130.000kr (20.000$) - and refused.

End Of Article.

The games are complete but as you all might say might be missing a specialized controller, no mention of that..

kidsstationsmall.jpg
#36
Hi all, I was fixing a Super CD-ROM² and it seemed to just need a pot adjustment. I searched the forum for any pot adjustment, but I wanted one with a resistance chart, ended up with nothing.

I found this japanese site http://pcerepair.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-87.html
and started from scratch.

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The pots had been tampered with wildly prior to my attempts and the site shows where they approximately should be when it's new, I then tuned it in, and measured it and made my own chart.

Following the usual chart tradition =)
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Borrowed from "Duo_R"

It would be nice if others would report their exact values as these are not the original even if they are working very good.

Values in K (Kilo Ohm)

Sometimes potentiometers crack with age and if so
All of them should be 20K (24J) except VR105 thats 1K (13J)
They are also top adjust and single turn and hole threw.
Example Kingtronics RKT-3329-H-203 and RKT-3329-H-102
#37
I just thought I should give you all a crash coarse in VIA fixin.

From the picture you seemed to fix it by just finding where it leads and then taking a simple wire, while it works terrific, when doing other stuff while it's open you might get stuck in the cable and rip something apart and the pro way is also so much nicer, anyway this is how, no astronaut stuff but here it goes.

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Heres a VIA thats not working

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Here it is again, a little closer =)

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Take a scalpel and scrape some of the pads surrounding it, do it on both sides.

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Take a single wire, theres lots of different diameters for vias, take one that fits.

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Bend the wire over the scraped part, on both sides.

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Solder it, both sides, DONE! check for continuity, it should now work.
Note that it may only work on PCBs 2000 and older as newer ones can have
like 16 layers and be connected at several places inside the via, but for PCE
stuff no worries. Take a cottonstick and some alcohol and take away some
of that flux.

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Here is just another PIC with a ballpen to get the feeling of how small
they can be, even if this was a fairly large via.
#38
Just thought I share a picture of a modded briefcase for you, I like modded things stock looking! What do you think?

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Full Size: http://retrosampling.se/Temp/PCE_RGB_SCART/DSC_0609.jpg


Also modded a Ten No Koe 2 for Japanspel www.tradera.com/butik/Japanspel

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Full Size: Full Size: http://retrosampling.se/Temp/PCE_RGB_SCART/DSC_0544.jpg
#39
Here are some pics, the photos don't make the picture justice, like shooting at the moon, a small white blurry uneven dot... the Composite looks washed out in comparance, and the RGB looks more crisp and sharper.

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http://retrosampling.se/Temp/PCE_RGB/IMGP9965.JPG Composite

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http://retrosampling.se/Temp/PCE_RGB/IMGP9966.JPG RGB

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http://retrosampling.se/Temp/PCE_RGB/IMGP9967.JPG Composite

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http://retrosampling.se/Temp/PCE_RGB/IMGP9968.JPG RGB

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http://retrosampling.se/Temp/PCE_RGB/IMGP9970.JPG Composite

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http://retrosampling.se/Temp/PCE_RGB/IMGP9971.JPG RGB
#40
I'm making a small batch of these.
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They will be pricey as the parts are not that cheap and making them are very time consuming, especially making the EXT Connector...
Probably they will only be interesting for Europeans as Scart for the rest of the world is non existing, and why not MOD the consoles instead you think as you won't be able to use the CD-ROM2 when this is connected, true but this is made for purists and collectors that don't want to mod their precious jewels.

For any PCE/TG16 with full 69Pin EXT connector.

If any one just want AV that works too... Any lengths too.
#41
I'm making a small batch of these.
IMG

They will be pricey as the parts are not that cheap and making them are very time consuming, especially making the EXT Connector...
Probably they will only be interesting for Europeans as Scart for the rest of the world is non existing, and why not MOD the consoles instead you think as you won't be able to use the CD-ROM2 when this is connected, true but this is made for purists and collectors that don't want to mod their precious jewels.

For any PCE/TG16 with full 69Pin EXT connector.

If any one just want AV that works too... Any lengths too.