Macross_VF1

Thank you, that was exactly what I needed!

The problem is that I have already bought a set but got the wrong one so in order for the seller to supply me with the correct one he needs the correct dimensions.

Yeah, as the title says, I need to know the size, or rather length, of the flat drive belt for the Hong Kong BPA7YJ Atari 1010 cassette deck. I know the width, it's about 2.8mm, but my belt is so old and stretchy that it has been lengthened quite a bit and is on the very verge of falling apart.

That would likely work as well, though I think I have found an easier solution, should I ever want to try it out in the future. I have spent some time looking into the schematic of the PAL SC-3000 and it solves the clock exactly as I suspected it could be solved. It features a TMS9929 (PAL version of the TMS9928) and has a separate crystal 3.58 MHz crystal and a 74HC04 chip to generate the clock for the CPU and sound chip. It should be easy to copy that part of the SC-3000 and insert it into an SG-1000. However I do find it a bit odd that the PAL SC-3000 runs on 3.58 MHz, same as the NTSC SC-3000, as that was primarily an NTSC frequency if I have understood it correctly.

The SG-1000 does have an RF modulator and I did try to get the composite and audio signals from there but again, I wasn't happy with the result. Now it should be possible to get RGB from this system. As stated earlier the VDP is the TMS9918 and it can only do composite but the later TMS9928 outputs a set of signals that can be converted to RGB. However they are not completely pin compatible, the 9918 provides both the CPU and sound chip with the clock signal on pin 38, something that the 9928 does not. In fact, pin 38 on the 9928 outputs one of the video signals necessary for RGB. It should therefore be possible to build a separate clock circuit for the CPU and sound chip and swap the 9918 for a 9928, isolate the necessary pins on the 9928 and get RGB that way. However I don't know how to build a clock circuit with the proper MHz.

I recently added Segas first home console to my connection. I had a hell of a time getting it to work properly, though that turned out to be two broken traces to the cartridge connector. Anyway, I figured I should add composite to it but the very few references I found on the subject was to add a 470 ohm pulldown resistor to pin 36 on the TMS 9918 and then pull the video signal directly from the same pin. This works but the picture quality was quite frankly worse than the RF-signal. Instead I looked to the sister system, the Sega SC-3000 home computer, which was released at the same time and was pretty much the same system. It featured composite out as standard so I dug up the schematics for it and straight up copied both the composite video and audio circuitry and this made a big improvement to the picture and sound output on my SG-1000. I'm pretty sure this will work with any system using the same SN76489 and TMS9918 chips though I haven't rested it yet. I've included a cobbled together schematic and the red marks are the parts I had to substitute due to lack of components. Now it's still only composite but when run trough a Retrotink 2X the picture quality is certainly decent. At the very least I hope this will stand as a better alternative to the crappy 470 ohm pulldown resistor method.

That one looks promising. Thanks! I hadn't really considered that angle but you are of course correct. Now to be clear I don't really collect games, but rather systems, and I do own a fair amount of systems that would be considered quite rare. I obviously have lots of games as well, but that's not my aim with the collection.

Aww, you make me sound so noble. Anyway, I know most would consider it a bit early to start thinking about this stuff at the age of 40, but I like to plan ahead and I really don't want my collection to end up in the 'wrong' hands.

I'm not sure this is exactly the right category but I figured it can't be completely off topic. Anyway, serious question time, I'm currently thinking about writing my will and testament and since I have a rather large collection of video games, consoles, computers and other related stuff, I need to give that special consideration. Ideally someone could inherit the collection and continue it but I have no children of my own and my sister's children might not be interested. Not that I'm planning to die anytime soon, I plan to celebrate my 40th birthday this year and continue at least 40 more years. One viable option would to donate to museums but I know very little of the museums around the world that would want this stuff. So this is my question to you guys. Are there any really good museums, preferably in Europe, that deal with these items? I mean I can google as well as any one but that doesn't truly help me narrow it down a whole lot.

Yup, that's exactly the site I have been using. Thanks for confirming!

So I might be able to score a pal Atari 800 computer in just a few days but it is missing the power supply. I have a pal Atari 400 with PSU and from my research it would seem that it should work with the 800 as well, but just to be on the safe side I figured I should confirm that it actually is compatible?

If the specs I can find for the Adam are correct it does feature the same TMS9928A video chip as the standard Coleco. That means it should be no problem fitting a TMS-RGB to it. The mod chip pulls the necessary signals directly from the VDP, without any other inputs necessary, making it independent of the rest of the computer/console. The only reason I can think this wouldn't work is if the VDP itself aren't supplied with all the signals necessary for the TMS-RGB to function but that does seem unlikely.

OSSC firmware updated and unfortunately no difference. Next I started fiddling around with the TV settings and I found that the right mix of the 'sharpness', MPEG-artifact reduction' and 'noise reduction' settings on my TV can pretty much eliminate the jailbars. The overall picture quality does become a bit blurrier as a result but it's a compromise I can live with. I'm usually a bit hesitant to fiddle too much with these kinds of settings as they can introduce strange artifacts and lag but this time it proved to be necessary. As for the TMS-RGB itself, I can really recommend it to any owners of a system which feature the TMS992xA video chip. While it isn't exactly something a complete novice can install, it doesn't require too much in the way of equipment and skills. And it's hard to beat the price. I was prepared to buy and solder the necessary components myself as I have both the tools and skills to do so but for $30 it's just not worth the effort.

Aw crap, that's an old photo from before I attached the shield wire (I think that's what it's called) to the DIN socket . With it attached the ringing is gone. As for the offset controls I have tried those and experienced no difference, but I did just realize that my OSSC has never been updated. Maybe it's time to do so?

So I got myself some of the new TMS-RGB mod chips intended for any system equipped with a TMS992xA video chip. I first installed one in one of my MSX computers and next I did it in my Colecovision. Pics below to prove it because we all know it didn't happen other wise. Some notes on the install, I first mounted the chip the wrong way around so the length of the wires were measured from that position. This of course meant that when I turned it around the other way, the wires were longer than necessary but I cut them down somewhat and changed the placement of the DIN socket. The second picture shows where I pulled the sound from and picture three shows how I placed the wires inside the case. Finally, I know I'm going to catch some flack for the hole I drilled in the case for the DIN socket but I honestly don't think it's a big deal. So how's the picture quality? On an old CRT and an old flatscreen TV (2006) it looks bloody awesome (picture 5), however my current flat screen behave really strangely if I connect to it directly, as if it has trouble locking onto the signal (attached video). Now this isn't much of a problem as I plan to run it through an OSSC first but then I run into what looks like vertical scan lines. Picture six shows them though they are much more noticeable in real life. It's not the worst problem though somewhat irritating. Of note is that I see the same lines on my TMS-RGB modded MSX, and other than sharing the same video chip, they only share that they are both PAL machines and the Scart cable so the cable might very well be the culprit. VID_20200928_205850.mp4