PCEngine-FX.com

Video signals come from the huc6260 chip

Revised circuit:

/pcenginesvideoandstereo2.jpg
/pcenginesvideoschematic2.jpg
/newpcengineports.jpg
/badasspcengine.jpg

New demo capture:

http://youtu.be/uoA_9Qmx_B8

We already have a write up on this here https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=10850.105. Your method is a bit different than the method that some of us here have been using. I wonder if there is a quality difference between the two?

Yeah I never found yours so when my pc engine showed up I just made my own.  Well the beauty of my circuit is the only parts needed are some wires and a s-video jack.  I just removed 1 resistor and straight wired and the picture looks perfect  8)

You certainly don't need a transistor to amp the luma once you disconnect that resistor.  The luma looks perfect straight from the chip when it's connected to nothing else.

Ah I see, so in doing so the RF jack no longer works? Does the composite out of the rear pin out still work?

no composite and RF are disabled by this mod
further the 6260 chip is overloaded






edited to correct chip number

Quote from: thesteve on 07/18/2012, 02:07 PMno composite and RF are disabled by this mod
further the 6280 chip is overloaded

Overloaded in what way?  It works fine wired like this.

the supply is drawn down as the 6260 was not designed to drive loads.
also the output from the chip has a significant voltage offset.
i am not denying that it worked for you, just it will depend greatly on the monitor.
as to the overload i cant say if the chip will fail from it or not.

well I wired in a single transistor amp / buffer and it was too bright.  So I straight wired it and the brightness is perfect.  I cleared all of street fighter 2 yesterday and no issues.

pictures:

/pcenginesvideo.jpg

use the transistor amp/buffer to protect the chip and add a resistor to bring down the brightness

Quote from: thesteve on 07/19/2012, 12:06 PMuse the transistor amp/buffer to protect the chip and add a resistor to bring down the brightness

For the sake of science I'll leave my system wired up the way it is and if it ever stops functioning or blows up I'll be sure to let people know about it.

Whoa you guys were totally right!  The picture looks much better with the 1 transistor amp and then a resistor.  Thanks a lot for correcting that.

not a problem

Wow awesome job here! That's crazy that it is that simple

Also I am wondering if one of those S-video to composite adapters would give a good picture for composite video....

should

Revised circuit:

/pcenginesvideoandstereo2.jpg
/pcenginesvideoschematic2.jpg
/newpcengineports.jpg
/badasspcengine.jpg

New demo capture:

http://youtu.be/uoA_9Qmx_B8

Question, since I disconnected luma from the composite video circuit is it still necessary to use a capacitor to "filter out" the chroma signal?

no its not

Damn.   I want this done now.

Quote from: Bernie on 07/27/2012, 10:37 AMDamn.   I want this done now.

It's really easy and the results are nothing but perfection.  You can hire myself or thesteve if he's up to it.  I'm posting this on a few places so it's more known.  I honestly didn't even know the mod even existed until after I followed some schematic of the video circuit and wired up something myself.

Ill get with one of yall soon.

Anybody know how the picture differs from an external S-video mod from D-Lite or grahf's improved version?

Those mods use a video encoder chip CXA1645 to convert RGB TO Svideo. This diagram uses existing signals and builds it to useable Svideo signal. This method if proven stable is a cheaper solution.

Also is RGB still useable after this mod?

yes, RGB will not be changed by this

Yep, I know about the board having an RGB amp then converted to S-Video with a CXA1645 or a CXA2075 in my case  :twisted:

Is the S-video picture quality the same is what I am wondering?

the quality may be the same, but the color space is different
this way preserves the PCE tuned color space, whereas RGB to S-Vid skips the tuning

ah sorry man misread what you wrote there. Yeah it would be nice to see a side by side comparison.

Quote from: SNKNostalgia on 07/27/2012, 10:51 PMYep, I know about the board having an RGB amp then converted to S-Video with a CXA1645 or a CXA2075 in my case  :twisted:

Is the S-video picture quality the same is what I am wondering?

The s-video generated by the console is absolutely beautiful I can pretty much gaurantee it looks better than externally encoding the rgb into s-video.

I find it funny how it took till now to just simply tap S-Video out of the system with just 2 parts. All these damn years, lol.

I remember saving up for region/S-video on my practically new US Duo and finally finding someone to do it (grahf) back in 2006. Glad I got 2 nice clean modded boards in there. Looks like manufactured quality parts instead of homemade pcb setups.

Having the circuit diagram of the video signals made this mod super easy so we should thank whoever bothered figuring it out.

Yeah that's pretty crazy, also not that long ago it was discovered some SNES units have built in component video, just needs to be wired to the jacks.

Quote from: SNKNostalgia on 07/28/2012, 01:55 PMI find it funny how it took till now to just simply tap S-Video out of the system with just 2 parts. All these damn years, lol.

I remember saving up for region/S-video on my practically new US Duo and finally finding someone to do it (grahf) back in 2006. Glad I got 2 nice clean modded boards in there. Looks like manufactured quality parts instead of homemade pcb setups.

Quote from: Duo_R on 07/28/2012, 04:15 PMYeah that's pretty crazy, also not that long ago it was discovered some SNES units have built in component video, just needs to be wired to the jacks.

You sir, are awesome! Your mentioning of built-in component video peaked my interest which led me to search around for info about it, and in a couple of hours I was able to implement it on my SNES! It works wonderfully on my 32" CRT in my entertainment room, but I tried it on my modern 22" 720p HDMI flat panel (my computer's monitor) and it doesn't there. I know from thesteve and others that newer TVs demand a 480p YPbPr Component signal or they will reject it, so one would need a resolution doubler to make it work in that case. Anyhow, seeing it perform on my CRT was truly a blast. I tried Chrono Trigger, Super Bonk, F-Zero, Donkey Kong 3 and was quite amazed at the difference! I did have to turn the color level up, though. The S-Video output is very Chroma heavy compared to it, so that was one difference, but aside from that the component signal is mostly ready-to-go just by tapping the proper contact points (I think technically, as some experts are saying, the Blue and Red signals probably do need to be amped a bit, that or turning up the color level). I followed these:

http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=22&threadid=71069
(?action=dlattach&topic=12339.0&attach=1134&image)
(?action=dlattach&topic=12339.0&attach=1136&image)

Tapping the luma (Y) from the Multi-AV out (which is used for s-video) is the better point instead of the chip. Now I just need to buy a Component RCA mount to install on the case and solder the wiring for good. But anyway, yeah, as it is a 240p signal, it might not work in newer TV sets without a resolution doubler...

Oh yes, fair warning, I thought I broke my SNES at first. After you solder the wires to the board, you'll really need to put it back together for testing - the sound module has to make contact with the heat sink mold and what not. I tried to quickly test before putting it all back together but no game would load and I wound up burning out the fuse near the power switch fucking around that way, so I had to solder a bypass wire unfortunately. Not good, but oh well. Also, newer revisions of the SNES board do not support Component - you can only do this if you got an early model with the S-ENC chip (mine is 1990) or that one in the image!

Quote from: Duo_R on 07/28/2012, 04:15 PMYeah that's pretty crazy, also not that long ago it was discovered some SNES units have built in component video, just needs to be wired to the jacks.

Quote from: SNKNostalgia on 07/28/2012, 01:55 PMI find it funny how it took till now to just simply tap S-Video out of the system with just 2 parts. All these damn years, lol.

I remember saving up for region/S-video on my practically new US Duo and finally finding someone to do it (grahf) back in 2006. Glad I got 2 nice clean modded boards in there. Looks like manufactured quality parts instead of homemade pcb setups.

Now, that just blew my mind. I thought there was some complicated mathmatical difference using a certain chip between red and blue to get component. It is setup to just work like that? Man.....

Quote from: SNKNostalgia on 07/28/2012, 11:42 PMNow, that just blew my mind. I thought there was some complicated mathmatical difference using a certain chip between red and blue to get component. It is setup to just work like that? Man.....

If your SNES model has the S-ENC chip like you see in the first image, then yeah (Mine looks different because it's a 1990 early release model, just says S-ENC on it, no 'BA65942AF' and it's in a different location, very close to the Multi-AV out). The story is that they found the datasheet on that video encoder chip (http://mikejmoffitt.com/BA6592F.pdf) which shows you on page 6 that pin 24 is Blue-Y and pin 1 is Red-Y and Luma (Y) is the same Luma that was being outputted for the S-Video which SNES always had (though I hear some newer models were fucked up and don't have it) hence you can tap it from the Multi-AV out. But yeah, newer revisions of the SNES removed this S-ENC apparently in favor of a S-RGB chip, so only raw RGB would be present in that case, thus you'd need the usual RGB->Component encoder... You still have the 240p problem not working with newer TVs of course.

Anyway, it's pretty cool, but it probably does need some amping. The color level has to be turned up, but other than that, it works beautifully on my 32" CRT. Compared to S-Video, (I would switch from s-video back to component during the testing) the message boxes had clear color, no fuzzy drawn sprites when there was movement, clearer drawn text, etc. Some fine tuning IS needed, but yeah, it might work well enough raw (as it does for me) with just soldering wires from the board to RCA jacks. I still have to research the fine tuning which I might as well do.

Screenshots from the guy whose mod images I used:

42" Plasma
(https://web.archive.org/web/20141108152339im_/http://nintendoagemedia.com/users/251/photobucket/742C6CFC-C41D-BEF6-72F85AF1DB1FAFD4.jpg)

35 inch CRT
(https://web.archive.org/web/20141108152337im_/http://nintendoagemedia.com/users/251/photobucket/742CEA9E-DD2B-F37C-20E798F79C900358.jpg)

So that's just tapping the signals raw like I just did today, no amps or anything. Color level of TV has to be turned up, maybe tint adjust too (according to him). That plasma looks beautiful!

those outputs do need a buffer amp.
a simple transistor amp will do

Can you provide any more specific details, steve, that would like, you know, actually be helpful such as which transistor to buy and wiring methods, etc.? Some are saying resistors are needed too. Pretend you're talking to someone that doesn't have ANY of your engineering background. ;) I wanna put an order in for female RCA jacks so in wanting to do it properly, I can buy the stuff from the same place (assuming digikey/mouser will have all that I need).

well it depends slightly on the voltage offsets from the chip.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CFIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmikejmoffitt.com%2FBA6592F.pdf&ei=6t8VUIDwCsS7qQHX-oDgCA&usg=AFQjCNGPG_XtoF_qZjhQ51G-9SHRtY7K3A&sig2=ax-tHwA3ImKeka2beQwFuw
using the circuit they used for the composite output should work

Hm, it seems there is a lot of confusion but I think understand better. One guy is reporting (https://www.sega-16.com/forum/printthread.php?t=20732&pp=40&page=2) that if you have an actual BA6592F chip, you need the amps. I have the S-ENC chip with only 4 useless numbers on it, which, since it worked right away without anything, means I don't need the amps in my case (duh, other guys were reporting dark colors, mine worked pretty great)! Oh, and in the images I posted above, that chip is a S-ENC BA6594AF, slightly different number and it's working for the guy, which means it is already amplifying the signals for near proper usage strength, etc. Many board revisions and changes here, so that is the deal.

But, there was talk of needing 1k Ohm "pull-down" resistors. What do you make of this image ?

(?action=dlattach&topic=12339.0&attach=1138&image)

I think that might be more applicable in my case, though I dunno what the heck they're wanting to do to the luma signal. I am betting that if I tap the luma from the chip, it's going to work fine. Think I'm gonna do that now actually. But as you can see, it suggests a 1K Ohm resistor to ground for R-Y (Output) and B-Y (Output) pins. Moreover, with the Y/Luma (Output), pin 23, it wants a complex circuit using the luma input signal that enters the chip from pin 9! Why are they wanting that done, what difference would it cause and really, isn't the S-Video Luma the same as what an analog component signal uses? I kinda suspect it'd be more proper to do it like that and that maybe it'd make the whole component signal more compatible, aside from the 240p issue.

So, what I think is the deal is, technically, seems like the the Component video signal is supposed to be nearly ready for use by default without amps, no? I got a great picture (though a little low colorwise), and it seems those that found they had to use amps were just getting a dark one with another type of chip, though similar, etc. I dunno... whatever, it works pretty good in my case without anything and it's been somewhat interesting modernizing my good ole SNES, so not entirely a waste of time!

EDIT: Yeah, here's what he said (Ace): "I don't get it: it works on the S-ENC, but it doesn't work correctly on the actual BA6592F  ......  I was right. You need an amp for the real BA6592F. With no amp on the B-Y and R-Y outputs, you won't get any color. You also shouldn't take Luminance straight from the encoder, but rather pin 7 of the multi-A/V out as it too needs an amp which is already present on the motherboard."

the 1K is the proper load for the chip
the transistor and resistors shown provides the 1K load to the chip, and keeps the 75Ohm load off it.
copy it for the other lines for better color

The modding continues. Instead of buying female RCA jacks, I used a triple Component RCA mount from a DVD player that broke. Using a wood-boring drill bit, the SNES plastic was easy to handle. It worked out nicely:

(http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff216/Sephiroth1975/General/IMG_1183.jpg)

My 1990 first generation SNES PCB board near the 9239 S-ENC chip:

(http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff216/Sephiroth1975/General/IMG_1180.jpg)

nice job Nightwolve, I have a jack exactly like that from an old broken DVD player. That turned out pretty nice!

I need to figure out where to mount a S-video connector on a CG unit, I suppose I could replace the 5 din connector with an 8 din and make two pins s-video (with a custom s-video cable). With the CD-unit that I have there really aren't that many options on locations to install. I assume s-video works fine in conjunction with CD-rom unit.

no clue what cg means.  If the cd rom unit has you get video from where you get video without the cd rom then yes it should work fine with this mod.

CoreGrafx - it is like what you have except it has a 5 din plug instead of RF only like your White PC Engine.

My SNES say S-RGB and BA6592F under that. So does that mean it still has component video with the same number?

If not, then what a shame. It doesn't have the known faded vertical bar in the middle of the screen like most SNES consoles.

Yeah, that chip outputs it - you have an early SNES unit, it's just newer than mine! You can do it!

sega-16.com/forum/?20732-Easy-SNES-SFC-YUV-component-video! (https://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?20732-Easy-SNES-SFC-YUV-component-video!)

Even if you just google BA6592F, the first search result shows you an image of the chip with the first pins 1 and 24 corresponding to Red-Y and Blue-Y. And Luma/Y should be tapped from the Multi-AV out since it's properly amplified for usage given the s-video support.

https://console5.com/wiki/BA6592F

*bump* added some new s-video demo action on youtube.  Here's my machine now:

/drakonpceod.jpg

Here's a capture with s-video and stereo sound:

http://youtu.be/aZ1sQSK5hXo

Looks good!

Thanks for this mod Drakon, and others who helped too of course! I just did this mod on my US TG16, worked flawlessly. The picture is AWESOME, it even fixes that horrible shimmering that is always there on composite when scrolling. Hyperdyne Sidearms looked like shit now it looks as sharp as on an emulator!

I figured the solder points with the schematic. I still need to hook up audio and fine tune the resistor value for optimal brightness.

Once im done ill make a diagram with a picture of the US motherboard, maybe it will help people wanting to mod their US TG16.

Quote from: EvilmaxWar on 10/25/2012, 12:58 AMThe picture is AWESOME, it even fixes that horrible shimmering that is always there on composite when scrolling. Hyperdyne Sidearms looked like shit now it looks as sharp as on an emulator!

Hm, that's kind of a good way to describe it, a "shimmering" effect when scrolling. I was actually trying to find a better way myself besides referring to it as dot crawl, which I think is mostly what's responsible for that (100% when it's a composite signal), but even with a S-video test on my Turbo Duo and my SNES, while it was greatly reduced, there was still some of this shimmering left. In the case of my SNES, after the component video mod was put into place, THEN it was beautiful, frankly, and that effect was practically eliminated! Clear coloring, no interference artifacts, good sharpness, contrast, scrolling, etc.

Quote from: EvilmaxWar on 10/25/2012, 12:58 AMThanks for this mod Drakon, and others who helped too of course! I just did this mod on my US TG16, worked flawlessly. The picture is AWESOME, it even fixes that horrible shimmering that is always there on composite when scrolling. Hyperdyne Sidearms looked like shit now it looks as sharp as on an emulator!

I figured the solder points with the schematic. I still need to hook up audio and fine tune the resistor value for optimal brightness.

Once im done ill make a diagram with a picture of the US motherboard, maybe it will help people wanting to mod their US TG16.

Svideo mod has already been covered here by a few members including myself. I posted one that showed what pins exactly to tap on the US TG-16 expansion port for composite and 5 volt, so another would not be needed in regards to that. https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=13044.0

Quote from: NightWolve on 10/25/2012, 02:52 AM

Quote from: EvilmaxWar on 10/25/2012, 12:58 AMThe picture is AWESOME, it even fixes that horrible shimmering that is always there on composite when scrolling. Hyperdyne Sidearms looked like shit now it looks as sharp as on an emulator!

Hm, that's kind of a good way to describe it, a "shimmering" effect when scrolling. I was actually trying to find a better way myself besides referring to it as dot crawl, which I think is mostly what's responsible for that (100% when it's a composite signal), but even with a S-video test on my Turbo Duo and my SNES, while it was greatly reduced, there was still some of this shimmering left. In the case of my SNES, after the component video mod was put into place, THEN it was beautiful, frankly, and that effect was practically eliminated! Clear coloring, no interference artifacts, good sharpness, contrast, scrolling, etc.

Im not sure this effect is all that much related to composite dot crawl. Even though dot crawl would seem to be a good name for it. True dot crawl will appear on a still image as well (Playstation splash screen).
This is different, it only happens by a noticeable amount on the NES, PCE and i think SMS has it too. It only happens on moving objects or scrolling and the severity depends of the scrolling speed. Im not sure exactly what causes it.

I even created a thread about it on assembler games and its pretty funny as everyone had a different explanation for it.
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?42005-NES-caracteristic-Dot-crawl-while-scrolling-shimmering-shifting-pixels

Yeah, I made this thread because the title makes it obvious this's where the information can be found.  Then you made another thread about the same thing, which could have just been posted in here.  I wasn't trying to claim I invented the mod, I just wanted to make a thread with a very clear title that this's where information on the s-video mod can be found.

Quote from: PCEngineHell on 10/25/2012, 09:45 AM

Quote from: EvilmaxWar on 10/25/2012, 12:58 AMThanks for this mod Drakon, and others who helped too of course! I just did this mod on my US TG16, worked flawlessly. The picture is AWESOME, it even fixes that horrible shimmering that is always there on composite when scrolling. Hyperdyne Sidearms looked like shit now it looks as sharp as on an emulator!

I figured the solder points with the schematic. I still need to hook up audio and fine tune the resistor value for optimal brightness.

Once im done ill make a diagram with a picture of the US motherboard, maybe it will help people wanting to mod their US TG16.

Svideo mod has already been covered here by a few members including myself. I posted one that showed what pins exactly to tap on the US TG-16 expansion port for composite and 5 volt, so another would not be needed in regards to that. https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=13044.0

Quote from: Drakon on 10/26/2012, 09:20 AMYeah, I made this thread because the title makes it obvious this's where the information can be found.  Then you made another thread about the same thing, which could have just been posted in here.  I wasn't trying to claim I invented the mod, I just wanted to make a thread with a very clear title that this's where information on the s-video mod can be found.

Quote from: PCEngineHell on 10/25/2012, 09:45 AM

Quote from: EvilmaxWar on 10/25/2012, 12:58 AMThanks for this mod Drakon, and others who helped too of course! I just did this mod on my US TG16, worked flawlessly. The picture is AWESOME, it even fixes that horrible shimmering that is always there on composite when scrolling. Hyperdyne Sidearms looked like shit now it looks as sharp as on an emulator!

I figured the solder points with the schematic. I still need to hook up audio and fine tune the resistor value for optimal brightness.

Once im done ill make a diagram with a picture of the US motherboard, maybe it will help people wanting to mod their US TG16.

Svideo mod has already been covered here by a few members including myself. I posted one that showed what pins exactly to tap on the US TG-16 expansion port for composite and 5 volt, so another would not be needed in regards to that. https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=13044.0

Your mod only covered the PC-Engine, not the TG-16 or Duo, etc, which mine did, and though I haven't looked back on it in awhile, because at the time it was kind of sloppy, it seemed like you removed components from the game system that did not need to be removed, to compensate for being afraid of soldering directly to a pin on the 6260. I have not bothered to look and see if you corrected that or not. Maybe if I get a white PC-E or Coregrafx sometime I will get around to doing it in detail myself if you have not done so by then, after I take a good solid look inside one, and add it to the thread I did to make it easier for some to read. I'd rather have a thread for my own schematics at any rate, instead of posting them in someone else's page way down the road, as they will get lost in the shuffle more easily.

Quote from: PCEngineHell on 10/26/2012, 11:40 AMI haven't looked back on it in awhile, because at the time it was kind of sloppy, it seemed like you removed components from the game system that did not need to be removed, to compensate for being afraid of soldering directly to a pin on the 6260. I have not bothered to look and see if you corrected that or not.

I Do not know if you are referring the the resistor, but i thought the point of removing it was to get a stronger Luma signal but also to prevent the luminance from being mixed with chrominance down the line, possibly resulting in a better image. Please correct me if i am wrong here.

I also do not like to solder directly on IC legs, especially when I do not have to do it. On my TG16 I certainly did not need to do that. Ill post picture of the solder points i used when i get back from job tonight.

What?  I didn't remove anything out of fear, I removed the resistor so luma and chroma wouldn't get mixed together producing a sharper image.  What you're saying makes zero sense, you don't need to remove a surface mount resistor to solder a wire to one side of it.  And you could have posted your stuff in this thread, I would be happy to update the first post with new information.

Evilmaxwar is correct, I'm all about getting the best quality image possible.

Yeah, and I posted a chart here as well. So basically the good news is that a lot of us here in the forums know how to do this now. Haha https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=10850.105

Quote from: Drakon on 10/26/2012, 02:05 PMWhat?  I didn't remove anything out of fear, I removed the resistor so luma and chroma wouldn't get mixed together producing a sharper image.  What you're saying makes zero sense, you don't need to remove a surface mount resistor to solder a wire to one side of it. 

To that I will just point back to your prior post, as that is what gave the indication that you may have some fear of soldering directly to the pins.

Quote from: Drakon on 09/13/2012, 06:19 PMNo need to solder straight to the ic pin.  I soldered to the surface mount resistor that the trace connects to you'll get a much bigger spot to solder with doing that.

Quote from: Drakon on 09/14/2012, 06:50 AMYeah I understand why you did it this way.  When I first posted my improved 32x s-video mod one guy was so non steady he took off the solder pad when removing the 0 ohm resistor and wasn't able to solder to the ic pin.  If he hadn't removed the solder pad he could have used that which would have been much easier, but it's certainly not impossible to solder to the pin on the ic, it's just more annoying.  Also if the duo doesn't have the expansion port maybe you should show which pin is 5v on something easy to show in a picture like the power regulator?

Quote from: Drakon on 10/26/2012, 02:05 PMAnd you could have posted your stuff in this thread, I would be happy to update the first post with new information.

Or not. I don't rely on others to post my own tech info. Why would I? And by this thought process, why didn't you just post this said info on the other thread done prior to yours? If it differs in some way then what is already present, and is original enough in some way to warrant it being posted, I am going to post it in my own thread, not piggyback my own work in vivid detail on someone else's, which I would consider to be slightly disrespectful. I would hope others do the same, unless people are all collaborating on one certain project together at once. Someone (Keranu, or Joe) could always make a thread that is stickied that refers to all of these threads, containing links to the actual mod content if they like, to make them easier to find. Otherwise, ALL of them eventually over time will float downriver and be harder to find without using the search engine.

Here are some pictures of how i did the mod on my US TG16. I did not bother remaking a full diagram, I just indicated the solder points and the resistor to remove on the board.
If someone wants to use or modify these pictures, i dont mind.  ( If you want to see larger version open picture in separate window and remove the "h" at the end of the file name. )

First i cut the lead from the resistor R130, to remove Luma from the mixing circuit.
(https://i.imgur.com/lWBx0h.jpg)

On the following picture you notice i made all the soldering on the underside.
I did not use the connector pins to grab my 5v or CVBS, instead I used points in the video mixing circuit. This allowed me to have all the wires in the same spot, hopefully making a more tidy mod.    I had also wired audio but ended up removing it and opted to keep using my TurboBooster instead. The signal from those pins is quite weak. I also felt that maybe it sounded a bit dry compared to the TurboBooster, even after I had raised the volume on my sound system to compensate.  The TB boosts the volume but i think it also adds some warmth to the sound.   

Also, I used a 2N4132 Transistor instead of the 2N3904, for the simple reason that i already had those. They seem to be similar enough for it not to matter. I used a trimpot to adjust the brightness and settled at 225 ohms.

(https://i.imgur.com/K5JiEh.jpg)

Quote from: PCEngineHell on 10/26/2012, 05:59 PM

Quote from: Drakon on 10/26/2012, 02:05 PMWhat?  I didn't remove anything out of fear, I removed the resistor so luma and chroma wouldn't get mixed together producing a sharper image.  What you're saying makes zero sense, you don't need to remove a surface mount resistor to solder a wire to one side of it.

To that I will just point back to your prior post, as that is what gave the indication that you may have some fear of soldering directly to the pins.

Quote from: Drakon on 09/13/2012, 06:19 PMNo need to solder straight to the ic pin.  I soldered to the surface mount resistor that the trace connects to you'll get a much bigger spot to solder with doing that.

I soldered to the surface mount resistor, I didn't say you have to desolder it, you can just solder to the one side of it which's still a lot bigger than the IC pin.  It's not a fear thing I'm just trying to make it easier for people.  The whole point of posting everyones guide in one easy to find thread is that people don't have to go looking everywhere for all info.  I'm not trying to be against everything you do I'm trying to work as a team.

Thanks for the great pictures eveilmaxwar!

Wanting to get dirty with some s-video on my Duo R, wondering if anyone has done the mod on their duo and taken photos of it? I assume that the R130 resistor should be easy to find, but I haven't opened it up yet to check. Too busy with blood gear. Also, if I remove the stock din and replace it with an s-video din I'm not sure how I would go about getting audio. I could always replace it with a din that has plenty of pins and make a cable that terminates in s-vid and stereo rca, but that's a pain. Anyone have a better idea? Would rather not drill holes to make room for new audio jacks.

Quote from: chipperkwah on 03/22/2013, 06:05 PMWanting to get dirty with some s-video on my Duo R, wondering if anyone has done the mod on their duo and taken photos of it? I assume that the R130 resistor should be easy to find, but I haven't opened it up yet to check. Too busy with blood gear. Also, if I remove the stock din and replace it with an s-video din I'm not sure how I would go about getting audio. I could always replace it with a din that has plenty of pins and make a cable that terminates in s-vid and stereo rca, but that's a pain. Anyone have a better idea? Would rather not drill holes to make room for new audio jacks.

Alternatively you could hit up this thread:

https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=13044.0

Drakons fled the scene so to speak, rather wishing to focus on trashing peoples efforts on his own forums and taking credit for others work elsewhere I was last told, so I don't think he would be able to help you out on his mod here. This is basically one of those threads better left to die. If you do want to discuss Drakons method and how to improve it, you can google his name and you should come up with some results showing what forums he is currently on or something so you can contact him directly. If you're really lucky too, he may offer to do the work for you for about 400 bucks or so. He may, or may not, include even drilled holes with the modwork. That might cost extra.

Ah I see. I had previously read through your thread as well and it seems that both circuits are almost identical, except that yours uses a cap as a filter while this mod opts to remove the resistor in order to get a clean chroma signal. I feel like both methods should yield very similar results, someone correct me if I'm wrong. I must say though that the schematic photo you made is much nicer looking. I would have to pass on his $400 mod fee :wink:, as I'm perfectly capable of doing this myself. Sorry to revive an old topic, seems as though there was some bad blood associated with this in the past.

alternately the cap is optional, as most displays should just ignore the luma on the chroma pin.
several DUO mods have been done, adding the connector to the back of the unit

Quote from: thesteve on 03/22/2013, 08:01 PMalternately the cap is optional, as most displays should just ignore the luma on the chroma pin.
several DUO mods have been done, adding the connector to the back of the unit

I know you're the resident video guru, so in your opinion would it be best to pull the resistor/cut the trace or use a cap on the chroma line? Just curious, since it seems like both ways work. I wasn't aware that most screens would ignore the luma anyways, good to know.

edit: I have no interest in using composite video again once I do the mod, so I'm not bothered if getting rid of the resistor gets rid of composite.

Quote from: chipperkwah on 03/22/2013, 08:25 PMI know you're the resident video guru, so in your opinion would it be best to pull the resistor/cut the trace or use a cap on the chroma line? Just curious, since it seems like both ways work. I wasn't aware that most screens would ignore the luma anyways, good to know.

edit: I have no interest in using composite video again once I do the mod, so I'm not bothered if getting rid of the resistor gets rid of composite.

There's a simple pro/con to it. A clean Chroma signal that isn't contaminated with Luma at all will be better than using a filter cap from a Composite signal where both have been mixed in. So yeah, if you disconnect the Luma (break resistor/trace) from the Composite amplifier, all you'll be getting out of the Composite output is a clean and properly amplified Chroma signal which will be perfect for S-Video use. The con here is that you're breaking default Composite support, so you can either build another circuit/mixer to maintain it or not care. Since you're indicating that you don't care, then I'd say do it this way. You'll get the best S-Video signal, but will break Composite support. If that trade-off is acceptable to you, then this is the best way.

Right on, thanks for the info guys. Very excited for some crisp s-video. Not that the duo composite is particularly horrible, but might as well have it looking as good as possible.

You know, I thought of something. You don't have to really break Composite support over this and there's a much better way than building another circuit. Back when I was inspecting new LCD TVs to see how many had S-Video (very few nowadays), I noticed a trick they did to save space in supporting both Composite and YPbPr Component signals:  Instead of 4 RCA jacks (yellow, green, blue, and red), they reduced it to 3, but the green jack for Luma was colored half green/half yellow to indicate that it accepted a Composite signal and thus would digitally switch to it if detected.

Based on that idea, when I did my SNES Component mod, I drilled the holes for a triple RCA jack mount (green, blue, red) but I also bought a little switch and later added that, so when the switch is on the Luma side, Component works, but when I flip the switch, the same green jack outputs a regular Composite signal. This way, I didn't have to drill a big 4th hole for a yellow RCA jack for Composite.

Anyhow, based on this idea, all you need is a simple switch. You'd find that resistor (or trace) that delivers Luma into the Composite mixer/amplifier, you'd solder off one end, then solder wires from and to, and those wires would go to the manual switch (placement would have to be determined, next to the S-Video jack perhaps), etc. OK, so idea is, when you're using S-Video, the switch is in the off position, disconnecting Luma from the Composite mixer, but say you get a new TV which doesn't have S-Video support, boom, just flip the switch and now default Composite support is restored.

I was asking steve something more complicated and needless (which I see now) in the other thread, which was what's the best way to build another circuit to maintain Composite support. But, that idea is totally replaceable by the switch idea and there's no possibility of contamination... If you don't mind buying the right switch and drilling another hole for it, it'll do the trick just fine!

I need to get my TG16 modded.

Quote from: NightWolve on 03/22/2013, 10:15 PMAnyhow, based on this idea, all you need is a simple switch. You'd find that resistor (or trace) that delivers Luma into the Composite mixer/amplifier, you'd solder off one end, then solder wires from and to, and those wires would go to the manual switch (placement would have to be determined, next to the S-Video jack perhaps), etc. OK, so idea is, when you're using S-Video, the switch is in the off position, disconnecting Luma from the Composite mixer, but say you get a new TV which doesn't have S-Video support, boom, just flip the switch and now default Composite support is restored.

That's an excellent idea, it would be ideal if I could have both. Looks like I'll be drilling an extra hole.

Quote from: Duo_R on 07/31/2012, 02:15 PMI need to figure out where to mount a S-video connector on a CG unit, I suppose I could replace the 5 din connector with an 8 din and make two pins s-video (with a custom s-video cable). With the CD-unit that I have there really aren't that many options on locations to install. I assume s-video works fine in conjunction with CD-rom unit.

I have been toying with the idea of using a female 3.5mm stereo plug and build a custom Svideo cable with a male 3.5mm on one end because the female jack is much smaller and easier to install ( the ones with the with the small ring screw).