CatPix

Tuesday at 05:12 PM

I suggested inside because it would be invisible. It may not block all interferences but could do enough in this case.

A Faraday cage doesn't need to be made of thick metal. You're right on the grounding part tho, I forgot about that.

Monday at 12:41 PM

Never seen that kind of power strip, but; if its a plastic case, one solution is indeed to glue a layer of tinfoil inside to make a crude Faraday cage. which you'll ground to the power strip ground.

Else, slide a metal sheet between the power strip and the display.

May 15

On 5/14/2021 at 2:12 AM, Black_Tiger said:

Some games like Wonderboy III don't play their FM soundtracks when the hardware is present, even when the code is still in the rom.

I don't think this list is entirely accurate, but it might be the best one in English:

https://segaretro.org/FM_Sound_Unit#Compatibility

Yes, this is why the FM board from Tim (the same that does the NES RGB) has a setting for "FM Japan" so games that are in PAL version and won't play the FM soundtrack will play it.

April 30

Nothing outstanding here, so if you bought used/original SCART cable, you should be fine.

Chinese cables are often wired straight, without any resistor, capacitor and ground bridging of all the SCART pins (and that can cause problems, too).

If your cables are factory originals : they are most likely good.

If they are aftermarket old ones... probably good but can't hurt to check.

If they are recent eBay ones : check them. Pop the SCART shell and see if there are any missing resistors, caps. If they work, they work. If they don't, bridge the ground pins.

April 30

They changed the console in that on the motherboard, the whole RGB to composite and amplifier parts are depopulated (and the RF missing, but that's a given).

Basically they take the RGB unamplified signal straight to the A/V output and the amplification is made inside a separate box :

(you may notice that on the output part, you have "sync" but no "composite" and yes, French SMS and Megadrive I have no composite video out. Megadrive II aren't modified and output PAL. So the "SECAM" name is a technical lie 😛 )

But I agree with you, the "resistor" method is good enough for us and our hardware.

Also people at least in Germany (probably in other countries but the only few testimonies of people using SCART cables BITD I heard were from Germany) had SCART cables so most likely it was good enough outside of France.

April 30

1 hour ago, carlsson said:

Aha. So we're talking about two ends here:

1. What the console outputs through its own connector. It is mentioned that most systems have csync that is 75 ohm (i.e. 1 Vpp) but some of the mentioned ones have TTL level sync, just like CGA, C128, BBC Micro etc. I'm surprised that the (NTSC) SNES and all the Genesis have TTL sync. In that case I would expect TTL levels on RGB too but perhaps they're having two different voltages for powering some device through the sync signal.

Sega Genesis 1 / Mega Drive 1 / Master System – These consoles output TTL sync from pin 1 on the A/V connector.

Hmm so that might be why Sega made the French versions with a different cable output.... I heard they used a "different standard" but I never had the explanation of using TL sync. Maybe the "authorities" here deemed the resistor solution "not enough" and forced Sega to put all the amplification and sync in the "RVB" box we have.

The TTL RVB mgiht be because except for France that made SCART mandatory on all new color TVs made after 1981, almost nobody in Europe had SCART-equipped TV around the late 80's (and never in the US) so people that would use the RGB out would have owned TTL RGB/CGA monitors that usually accept TTL and analog RVB signals with either TTL sync and H/V sync but maybe not csync.

April 30

SCART doesn't support RGB TTL.

You need a converter or a device that support RGB TTL to use in on SCART-able devices.

If the system you use came with SCART natively (check if that's the case) then check the type of SCART input (A few converter devices use JP-21 that use a SCART connector but with an incompatible pinout that put the 12V in a color pin).

Or the opposite, if you got a system with a SCART cable from Japan, there's a chance it's a JP-21 cable.

April 23

It helped greatly! I did just the change you mentionned, and the audio from cart is noticeably stronger. Also, the TIA is also slightly more loud (usually I set up the volume on my TV around 20/25, and here, 15/20 was satisfying enough).

I only own Rikki&Vikky for now as "audio-improved carts", but I had the cart audio crancked up to the max; From the tests I did, I still have a slight imbalance, but if R&V is still "low" even with the loud+ internal volume pot to the max, carts with POKEY will certainly have louder POKEY audio. Either way it maks it much more enjoyable :

This is a video I make when I received my copy. And, yes, that is a video with the cart set up to the maximum sound output possible from the cart. I don't think having a POKEY chip would have been much more loud.

I may do a quick video to show the difference and share your solution for the benefits of Péritel 7800

April 23

On 4/3/2021 at 8:48 PM, juansolo said:

Also the audio from the TIA was unattenuated but the cart audio was, causing a mis-match. Fixed that.

Hello!

I own a French 7800 here and I would like to fix that audio issue, that is apparently a common issue with PAL 7800 as well?

The issue is : apparently, nobody cares. All the very rare mods I found for PAL 7800 just never mention that issue or just glance it aside as "Only a few games have POKEY so it's not important".

Word I heard around is that the R5 resistor is a 6.8K ohm and should be replaced by a 18 k ohm one.

Does that applies to French models too, and, where is R5? Or, what is the right solution?

FYI, pictures taken on a LCD; despite my best efforts my camera refuse to take a picture of a CRT without bleaching the colors and/or focusing.

Pictures are jsut there for your potential curiosity; I am satisfied enough with it - and I don't have enough 7800 games sadly.

Thanks in advance.

April 16

Well, I got an answer from Nicolas Bétoux (from Morphcat games) and it is an official partnership. Wait'n'see then.

April 16

I see Micro Mages. Does Morphcat games know about that "system"? They certainly must have heard of it at least.

April 10

I already find the regular GB SP too small!

If this was GBA-format then maybe it would be somewhat better; but as it is now, there's no way I'd want it. I yearn for LARGER consoles, not smaller

March 28

2 hours ago, Atariboy said:

Nintendo has no way though. All NES related patents that protected the hardware expired many years ago, leaving the NES internals in the public domain.

I mean, fair, I should have said "Famiclones pirated games". Plus, Famiclones appeared as early as 1990 (at least) when the patents were still protecting the Famicom design.

March 28

Which makes me think, last time I checked Krizzk site, "buying" would redirect to their European (for me) Amazon sellers, so, can you even still buy directly from Krizzk?

I did for my GB Everdrive and my MAster System ED, and it was all fine.

March 28

I was thinking moral as in "beneficial for retrogaming", but I get your point

And I get the financial side too, but since we mentionned pirates games, then I could counter-argue that going all emulation is entierely free.

Now I'm not going to say that one solution is better than the other. There's a limited supply of games and money doesn't come cheap.

For the moral side, I will expand on it : my point is more that buying Everdrives from the man who manufacture them (or authorised resellers) is beneficial for the retrogaming community as a whole.

If making cheap and good carts was easy, then we would see other "legitimate" SD carts maker popping all the time.

We don't see them. Either most people aren't interested in making them, or they won't because they think they can't recoup their losses in development and production time.

One reason is probably that many people only care about developing carts for their favourite system or brand. Another reason is that why would they compete in offering a similar product, if they can't price it much cheaper than Krizzk, knowing that people will prefer to get the clone products from the best-know maker?

The Harmony cart has been existing for about 10 years, and the price is still quite "high". I dunno about the parts used inside but the site does explain that there are irreductible costs that explain that such a low-production prodcut can't be made cheaper.

Same with the Carnivore2 cart. This one is interesting because it's an Open-Source project, so basically you can see everything that is used to produce it (and get the schematics, PCB files and ROM to make your own)... And 70% of the usual price (about 100€) is for hardware.

The 30% is what you can't see (shipping the parts, assembly time, etc, and marging ) so well, at least for the carnivore2 you can easily see that the price isn't some fat cat using their dominant position on the market to sell a 25€ cart with a huge bump in price.

My point is that, unlike pirated games that don't hurt anyone (Can you buy a NES cart from Nintendo?) piracy in homebrew does hurt the market.

Now, I don't personnaly care if you get a cloned Everdrive, and I might get one too (until I can get a legit one) at some point... but at least, be aware of the fact that it's not quite like buying a repro game from a Chinese seller.

March 28

As with anything from China, there are good or bad clones.

Also, One issue you might encounter is that most of those clones are first gen clones of Everdrive, meaning that functions that are supported in current Everdrive (Not having to reboot the system to write saves, use of Game Genie menu, etc) may be absent.

Also yes alot of the time updates won't work because the hardware is slightly different.

Of course you can argue that it's a minor inconvenience compared to paying 3 times more to get the real deal.

But then there's also a more moral issue : AFAIK, the Everdrives sales is Krikzz's business. If people buy clones of his carts (and if Nintendo can't crack down on Famiclones, do you think Krizzk has any chance of cracking down on fakeDrives?) then Krizzk will eventually give up on Everdrive development and sales.

Of course eventually other sellers will pop and replace him but for the retrogaming community, it will still be a loss of experience on developping SD carts.

March 14

Power for Amstrad machines, as long as you don't want/need the monitor is not a big issue, they use power transformers with generic connectors (using reverse polarity for the GX4000).

A bigger obstacle for you is the use of RGB on all machines except the British GX4000 (AFAIK, French GX4000 only output RGB and luma (black and white).

There have been US Amstrad CPC but they are probably rare and most software will probably not run properly on it... and those Amstrad are older than the Plus line so not compatible.

March 13

Maybe you could consider getting the computer version? From what I can see at first glance, they are priced about the same, and the computers are more versatile than the console, in addition to being much more robust.

A 464Plus would allow you to play all the Amstrad "classic" tape library in addition to the carts games, and a 6128Plus give you access to the floppy drive, which you can easily swap for a GoTek and just completely bypass the floppies.

Note that the 6128Plus can't play tapes, lacking the tape input, but most/all games that exist on tapes have been ported on floppies or in useable Gotek images.

March 13

16 hours ago, Rolo said:

inbuilt antenna switch, which cuts off the tv-yagi-antenna on your roof, that can be plugged right into the console, and connects the tv-set with the console output. Quite handy! No external switch needed. I can't remember another system which is offering this feature. 🤔

I should check out, but the Nordmende Teleplay does have antenna input. Maybe the switch also have the same function?

I never tested it, for I don't use RF for anything but a few Pongs and this system.

Great exploration of the system, and quite a sad thing that you oculdn't revive it. There's most likely a small but existing market for spare parts. I've seen the prices of those machines rise over time.

When I got my Teleplay, it was for a bit over 70€ and it was a "high" price at the time.

March 12

Impressive work on this unit.

I have one, as well as the (seemingly) better-made Nordmende Teleplay.

Mine has been dead, I should investigate the pwoer switch,as mine was stiff and each press felt like I was breaking something inside... maybe the pieces of spring being crunched?

I was told Saba videoplay have power supply failures as well, but it may be du to the switch....

March 11

The headphone jack sockets usually have a simple mechanism that switch from output to headphones when inserted :

If those consoles have been used extensively with headphones, or have been stored with headphones plugged in, the metal pieces might have been warped permanently into the "headphones" position.

Usually, wiggling inside the socked with a plastic or wood stick might move the bent pieces enough to reconnect the HP and confirm the diagnosis. If i'ts the case, there aren't many solutions aside from replacing the socket.

March 11

Note that from what I've read, power issues will fry the RAM chips, which, as bad of a design as it is, it a not so bad thing since they are very common RAM chip, unlike the specific gate array found in the CPC machines.

So a dead GX-4000 can be revived.

March 6

Percussive maintenance will always be a thing!

March 6

There have been "Gen I" PAL units but it seems that there is little relationship between the US models and the PAL ones. Most of them are probably Gen 2 but the only way to say for sure seems to check the CPU speed : it should be of 2 Mhtz on Versions 1 and 1.77 on versions 2 (but it's not written on them so...)

The first screen isn't highly significant as the Channel F tend to display garbage on screen until you refresh by pressing Reset. But it should stay on (BTW if you aren't aware, the console contain 2 built-in games so the screen will display a "G?" after resetting :

You press 1 or 2 to select it. I advise you to choose 1 because it's the famous Pong games that will allow to test all the contacts on your joysticks. Plus it's very fun to play with a friend

Saba Videoplay models are notorious for suffering from defective power supplies.

For the power supplies, odd voltages weren't unknow back then (a quick example, the Bally Astrocade use a dual power supply which is 7.5V AC and 11.5V AC).

Oh well, I was going to look for scematics of the Videoplay, but there are schematics of the Luxor!

http://channelf.se/veswiki/index.php?title=Schematics

If this is the right one, and that the "power supply" part is about the board, then part of the power supply part is on the motherboard

It says "heatsink" for one of the regulators. Since I see no regulator on the power board, it mean that the voltage you get out of the cable are normal, and I would look where you have two "transistors" bolted on the metallic shield, on the top right part of your picture. Those looks like voltage regulators to me! You should check here and see if you get 19V in one and 12V out. Then on the other you should have 9V in and 5V out. And check if the voltage is stable. Those are regulators so the output should be very stable. Check if they don't overheat, I would be very suspicious of both, those regulators are a common cause of failure.

Those are most likely cheap and generic parts (the 7805 sure is, it's the same than in an Atari 2600 and the NES for example) so you can probably get spares ones easily and replace them just in case.