[Moon Patrol body shop !]

Can someone post a 32K version of "Moon Patrol Arcade.bin" ?

 

Thanks

[5200 S-Video Mod services?]

Intersting story here.

It started out as a request for a simple A/V mod until the U.S.P.S. sent in their 600 pound
elephant to sit on my box during transit.
No kidding, my box looked like an elephant sat on the corner and crushed it.
Unfortunately the shell to the 5200 was shattered into multiple pieces; even pins on the controller ports were bent.
Somehow the electronics survived; I don't know how.

Super-Tech Jesse Hardesty came up with a great idea to purchase a "used" 5200 shell from a local "retro" shop.
He was then able to transplant the electronics from the "old" 5200 into the "new".
Now with a solid 5200, he performed the Power mod followed by the A/V mod, installing a UAV Rev.-D.

Upon receiving my unit, I hooked it up to an S-Video input on my HDTV.
I was amazed at the clarity of the video; all the interference was gone.
Even the "dot crawl" was eliminated, replaced with greater contrast and detail.

So kudos to Jesse for resurecting this 5200 and all of the hard work to make it functional again.
Thanks Jesse!

Steven Petraglia
Senior Computer Scientist
DXC.technology

[Various Game Controller pics (& things that plug into a Joystick port)]

I had recently purchased a Wico A5200 Controller with the splitter cable, but was unable to locate the Keypad.

So, browsing the Internet I procurred these 3 parts:

 

Cable: https://console5.com/store/neo-geo-aes-atari-5200-pc-controller-joystick-repair-project-cables-4-1-2m.html
Keypad: https://www.ebay.com/itm/253937062984
Mounting Box: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ham-Radio-CB-Project-Box-Enclosure-Black-Plastic-1-X-2-5-X-3/163463229370?hash=item260f2aefba:g:kzkAAOSwSatbF0hf:rk:9:pf:0

 

After some drilling, soldering and some Plumber's Goop, I came up with this.

Sure, it's a "Frankenstein", but it works!

 

[Why don't a/v-modded 5200 units work with the VCS adapter?]

*UPDATE*

Last night I was playing "Super Breakout" and got annoyed at the "dots".

So I picked up the unit and gave it a shake.

Suprisingly about 90% of the "dots" went away.

(I believe I saw this in another post somewhere)

Is there a loose connection in the 5200 that we should know about?

[Why don't a/v-modded 5200 units work with the VCS adapter?]

 

More or less yes. My older JVC s700 AV selector had an automatic Y/C separator built into. Meaning, it could technically provide an s-video output from both s-video and composite only input sources. I never used it because it would always produce color artifacts that resembled a sort of rainbow shimmering from bright colors. Namely...white. But also on Reds it produced a horrible checkerboard pattern. I'd heard of others experiencing the same or similar results with other devices in the day. So I had both a composite and s-video out cables connected off the monitor section of my AV selector to the CVBS/S-vid to HDMI adapter I was using at the time. Served me quite well until I upgraded everything about 2 months back or so.

 

So I guess the only way to answer your question is that I didn't like the results from something similar so YMMV....

 

 

This weekend I finally got to hookup the Atari 5200 (RF Output) thru the 232-STS.

As you mentioned above, there were some artifacts expected. Interestingly enough when the ATARI boot image appears, it's crystal clear.

Alas when the game image appears, the dreaded moving "dots" appear.

 

I'm wondering, is there some sort of interference in the way this RF switch was designed?

[who would buy 5200 paddles?]

If you're still making them, put me in for one.

Thanks

[Why don't a/v-modded 5200 units work with the VCS adapter?]

While I'm waiting for new UAV boards to be produced, I thought I might (temporarily) find an alternate way to hookup the 5200 to an HDTV.

After a lot of research, I found this Tuner/DeModulator from Contemporary Research:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Contemporary-Research-232-STS-Stereo-TV-Tuner-w-rackmount-AC-adapter/223032441239?hash=item33edc4f997

 

Now what's different about this one, is that in addition to it's Stereo output (yeah I know the 5200 doesn't output stereo), it has an S-Video output.

Most DeModulators I found have only Composite video out. Unless of course you want to buy somebody's used SA3100 Cable box with an NTSC tuner.

 

So I plan to connect the original Atari 5200 Switch box RF cable to the 232-STS (tuned to ch 3) and the S-Video to my TV's S-Video input. I'm curious how the video quality will be.

Has anybody done this before?

[Why don't a/v-modded 5200 units work with the VCS adapter?]

You would need more than that because there are about 4 or 5 lines off the GTIA that are used for the video mods. So such a switch would requires all of those pins to be attached to the mainboard circuit again. It ins't just a single wire we are talking about here. At least not with the s-video and above type mods it isn't. I've not done just a composite mod on a 5200 as I've only been commissioned to install kits for s-video and composite and all of those actually required having to lift about 4 or 5 pins off the GTIA to attach to the AV mod board. It is basically all the LUM signals off the GTIA.

Then the only other way to restore the VCS functionality on a Modded system would be to (don't shoot me for saying this) run a separate line from the VCS composite output (that would have gone to the RF modulator) to a new composite output jack. Again, not very graceful.

[Why don't a/v-modded 5200 units work with the VCS adapter?]

To answer the original OP on this. The current mods we had/have in place for S-video, require you to intercept the video signals off the GTIA through a different video buffer circuit. As a result, you essentially kill the video signal to the RF modulator in the process. And because of that, there isn't anywhere for the VCS adapters video to go in order to be usable. It isn't that the video isn't working, it is that the video from the VCS isn't passing through the AV mod that has been installed.

 

At least that is how I understand it.

What if you installed a DPDT switch to select what feeds into the S-Video output jack?

Choose either your Mod's output or the VCS output?

Not an elegant fix though!