Messages

[Buy/Sell/Trade / WTB: Duo R switch]

My Duo R has been apart through 2 moves, and somewhere along the way my front switch got lost. If anyone has a Duo R shell, or just the plastic switch ideally from a broken one or a parts console, I will happily send you money for it! I've been loathe to put it back together without a switch.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: WTB: Duo R switch]

Word up. If a mod wants to kill this thread I'd be obliged.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Clean briefcase RGB A/V mod]

I thought about doing RGB output for my briefcase at one point, but I never bothered to track down a standard PC Engine and the CD drive to fill it with. It now sits in a bottom drawer, forlorn and unused.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / WTB: Duo R switch]

My Duo R has been apart through 2 moves, and somewhere along the way my front switch got lost. If anyone has a Duo R shell, or just the plastic switch ideally from a broken one or a parts console, I will happily send you money for it! I've been loathe to put it back together without a switch.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: S-Video mod with lots of photos! Also, a little help needed..]

Everything is definitely hooked up correctly, it must be the transistor. I'll go pick up a pack tomorrow. This has taken my duo out of commission for way too long.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: S-Video mod with lots of photos! Also, a little help needed..]

By the way, this is the exact transistor that I am using.
http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?WT.z_header=search_go&lang=en&site=us&keywords=SS8050CBU-ND&x=0&y=0&formaction=on

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: S-Video mod with lots of photos! Also, a little help needed..]

Just got my duo out of storage, got new parts, and tried this mod again. Everything is DEFINITELY wired up properly, but if only luma is connected I get a blurry black and white image that rolls after a while. Could it be that I am using the SS8050 instead of the 2n3904? I know they are similar but I've double checked everything and I can't think of anything else. My monitor is working properly with s-video from my saturn, and I reconnected the cut trace temporarily to make sure that composite was still working properly. It was.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: S-Video mod with lots of photos! Also, a little help needed..]

If you amplified the Luma correctly and connected it to the right pin on the S-Video jack, you should be getting a perfect black'n'white picture. Where many mess up is with the right and left transistor leads (power versus output). The middle lead is the signal input, so that's easy enough, but make sure the +5 V and the signal output were hooked up correctly. When facing the flat side of the transistor, the right pin is the power. Here's another guide I made to illustrate it.

No color would be due to no Chroma signal hooked up at all, but sounds like you have syncing issues, so you got a problem with the Luma to fix first. Even if you connected the Composite directly with no cap or what we're trying here, you still would get color, just wouldn't blend in as good and it's known that this idea works since Drakon and a recent modder did it who reported it was the only way it'd work on his monitor/TV. If that pin 40 trace led right to the resistor that they broke off, then you should be good on that front.

Totally, thanks for all the help dude. I must have just hooked something up incorrectly to the transistor or have a cold joint somewhere. I used all black kynar so it's way too easy to lose track of what's what. I'll pull it apart and wire it back up in a few days after I visit my family. The monitor I'm using is a Sony PVM-14M4U HR, so I'm sure that the issue lies with my wiring rather than the monitor not being able to lock sync. I'll make sure to post as soon as I get it resolved, shouldn't take more than a few minutes now that I know exactly where everything is going.

P.S. I ordered the black plastic s-video jack from digikey that I had talked about in the other s-video thread as a back-up when I was getting some other parts. It came with the nut, but just to be safe I ordered an extra nut. I'm not using it, so if you need one I can throw it in an envelope and send it your way. I know you had mentioned that you had to rig up another nut to work, but if you want it to be extra clean just let me know so I can get it to you.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: S-Video mod with lots of photos! Also, a little help needed..]

Well, got everything wired up last night but something is up. I'm just getting a rolling b&w picture. Sometime this week I'll pull the whole thing and do it over, double triple checking all my connections.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: S-Video mod with lots of photos! Also, a little help needed..]

edit: So once I've cut the trace and soldered in my switch, the best place to tap for chroma would just be the AV jack?

Exactly, just like the full S-Video guide, just that now you don't need a capacitor. Your switch stays in the off position, the internal Composite Mixer/Amp is only being fed Red-Y, Blue-Y and Chroma Burst, so that leaves only a perfectly amplified Chroma signal at the output end. If you ever need to go back to Composite, flip the switch, and back to normal. New TVs are phasing out S-Video, so you don't see it as much as you used to. You'll find Composite/Component and on to the digital age with HDMI, etc.

Perfect, the only thing left to do is cut the trace and tap chroma and ground. I forgot to order a switch, so I'll wire up the trace from pin 40 and the via and tape the wires up in a little bundle until I have a chance to order a switch and drill a hole. I'll post pictures of how it looks on my PVM. Composite already looked pretty decent, so I'm sure it will be very nice.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: S-Video mod with lots of photos! Also, a little help needed..]

edit: So once I've cut the trace and soldered in my switch, the best place to tap for chroma would just be the AV jack? Just making sure I'm understanding everything correctly.

NightWolve, I had a feeling you would come through with the goods. I really appreciate the help. So, I've hooked my amp up to pin 40 and tapped 5v according to the guide here: https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=13044.0

Here are a few more pictures. When I get home from work and finish it up I'll take a couple more.

Pin 40. Thought it might be a little iffy getting this tacked down without bridging any pins, but I tinned the wire and all it took was a tap with the iron, really solid connection.



S-Video jack. Drilling this made me a little nervous but I just used a nice 7/16 bit and all was well. If anyone is looking to use this jack I found it here http://console5.com/store/parts/av-jacks/s-video-jack-gold.html. It's a really nice part.



5V tapped from the AV port.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: S-Video mod with lots of photos! Also, a little help needed..]

Just use composite video for your chroma, put it through a 0.001 uF cap and bang, you've got chroma.

I'm aware that this method exists, but I'm wanting to do it the other way. Thanks for your reply though!

[Console Repair/Mod Center / S-Video mod with lots of photos! Also, a little help needed..]

Alright! just got my Duo R apart to start the mod. However, I ran into a little issue right away. My board looks different than other boards I've seen in the pictures people posted of their s-vid mods. I was going to cut the R130 resistor and solder in a switch so that I can keep composite support. In the photos I've seen, the resistor is through-hole and right next to the HuC6260 chip. On my board, all the resistors are surface mount and the R130 resistor is far away from the C6260 chip and on the bottom of the board. If one of you guys can point me in the right direction that would be awesome, and I can get this sucker done. I took some pics.

Here's my C6260 chip.



And here's the bottom of my board, where I found the R130



If anyone can tell me where I need to solder to get chroma I will be eternally grateful.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: S-video mod schematic for the schematic illiterate (For TG-16/Duo etc)]

Going to be doing the s-video mod here in the next couple days, whenever my new iron shows up. I'll be taking nice high-res photos throughout the process, and I was wondering if it would be preferable to post them in this thread or start a new one? If PCEngineHell wants I can just send him the photos and he can add them to the first post. Or, anyone that wants to use them can use them in a guide.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Turbo Grafx 16 / PC Engine / Express / GT Region Mod Chips for sale!]

BlueBMW, I'm wondering if there have been any new developments with the RGB amp. Just curious.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: S-video mod schematic for the schematic illiterate (For TG-16/Duo etc)]

Right on, thanks for the info. Here are the digikey part numbers for what I'll be using in case people don't feel like digging through their catalog. I think it should be fine to use 30awg wire to get the 5v from the expansion port to the SS8050, someone correct me if I should use thicker wire or stranded wire.

S-video jack - CP-2840-ND
SS8050 transistor - SS8050CBU-ND
220 ohm resistor - CF18JT220KCT-ND
SPDT rocker switch (if you want to retain composite) - 450-1016-ND

Other Stuff:

Wire wrap 30 AWG that I like from sparkfun - https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8031
Solder from sparkfun - https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10240
S-video cable from monoprice - http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10207&cs_id=1020701&p_id=2896&seq=1&format=2

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: S-video mod schematic for the schematic illiterate (For TG-16/Duo etc)]

For the 220 ohm resistor, what do you recommend? 1w? 1/4w?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PC Engine / Turbografx16 s-video mod]

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.

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

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PC Engine / Turbografx16 s-video mod]

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.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PC Engine / Turbografx16 s-video mod]

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

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.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PC Engine / Turbografx16 s-video mod]

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 , 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.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PC Engine / Turbografx16 s-video mod]

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.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Tengai Makyou]

I'll look for a link to my near complete walkthrough and Englsh manual after I get home from work today. You normally save at an Inn and in Jipang they usually have the same sign on the building. After doing it once it should be no problem for the rest of the game.

Justin, I believe I am already using your guide from gamefaqs. It is very helpful, and to be honest I read through the walkthrough again just now and I see that you do mention saving at various points in the guide. Good to know that saving is done at the inn. The menus have been a little bit tricky but I figured them out after some trial and error. If you were to amend your walkthrough with a small section at the beginning explaining the various menus in the game as well as a small aside regarding saving, I'm sure that would be helpful for others starting the game for the first time. No worries if you don't have time though.

edit: I see that the guide was last updated in 2004, sorry if this is like ancient history for you man.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Tengai Makyou]

I've stayed at the inns but this didn't seem to save. Maybe I'm missing something.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Tengai Makyou]

Seems like a cool series so I picked up a copy of Kabuki-den for cheap. Been using the walkthrough on gamefaqs with no issues, but cannot figure out how to save my game. I'm sure it's incredibly simple, can anyone help me out? Feel free to ridicule me for my inability to figure this out.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Turbo Grafx 16 / PC Engine / Express / GT Region Mod Chips for sale!]

As soon as they're done I'll take one of those and a region board as well. How much do you charge to install a region board and the rgb board w/din? I have a duo r.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: Turbo Grafx 16 / PC Engine / Express / GT Region Mod Chips for sale!]

Thinking about getting one of the region mod boards. I'm also very interested in the RGB amp you were working on, has any progress been made? I'm good for one if you get a few made.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What Turbo game are you currently playing?]

I finally got ahold of a working duo this weekend, but have nothing to play on it. It's sitting on my shelf, taunting me. Cruel.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: FT/FS: Japanese PC-Engine games (Mr. Heli, Ys 4, etc)]

PM sent! Those photos are so crisp