FPGA Based Videogame System

[zetastrike]

5x240p is 1200p. Some consumer “1080p” TVs are actually 1200p but most 1080p TVs will cut off a tad more than the original CRT overscan would have cut off. Mine definitely does. Still, I prefer it for the perfect integer scale.

 

Hanspree/HansG makes a 27” 1200p TV sold as 1080p. They made a bunch of sports-themed kid TVs that were 27” 1200p too. You said you had trouble seeing a difference so could it happen to be one of those? What does the Mega Sg report as your output resolution? It can also detect what most TVs are capable of.

I have an LG 40 inch 4K TV. It does say it supports all the resolutions at 60 and 50 Hz.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J727AZ using Tapatalk

[jamon1567]

I wouldn’t take it personally when they are likely dealing with hundreds of small issues during a new product launch including many who really do just need to do something simple, like clean their games or update their system. It makes sense to put out that stuff first to knock down their workload before they give personal one-on-one assistance.

 

There’s a big hump to get over before things normalize here. It’s unfortunate that you have to deal with being treated like anything less than an informed, experienced, and capable enthusiast in the mean time but, knowing the circumstances, I would not take it personally.

 

I’m someone who waited years for the Wii only to get mine DOA at launch (crashed when you launched any channel... including Disc Channel). To add insult to injury, it was Thanksgiving and even a “Rush” replacement was delayed by the holiday. I watched the post-launch buzz/excitement as everyone else praised Nintendo and boldly claimed that Nintendo didn’t have any of the DOA issues like Sony and Microsoft. Even my replacement had a common issue that I dealt with later (video artifacting). I had just got finished getting replacements for two DS lite handhelds purchased at-launch that summer.

 

Point is, my personal experience was an isolated example that was hard to draw more broad conclusions from. In the long run, Nintendo proved themselves to me as they did with everyone else. It sounds like Analogue will too if you give them the chance.

 

I hear you and I can't really argue with what you're saying. I think the thing that just has me in an especially foul mood is that I was really looking forward to FINALLY (see a few posts back of mine) playing Wonder Boy III with FM sound, and then boom, no SMS....it just figures right?

[Kaide]

 

Well, I went ahead and took some pics but I can't figure out how to post them here. I uploaded to google drive and drop box and I keep getting an error when I try to either load the image via URL or just add a URL. Anyone have advice on how I can upload images?

 

Edit: I guess in the meantime I can just paste the URL to the pics here even if they won't be a clickable link.

Edit 2: I guess I don't need to actually use the link feature and can just paste the link in here....alrighty then

Edit 3: Forgot to point out what I'm seeing. In the first pic 7 from the left is the pin that isn't there anymore, or 90% of it anyway. Pic 2, 4 from the left is the one with what looks to be a not so great solder job.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T8grcXRNcf42hXlX6hpuvPsMOdx6myZh

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cLanJFS0pVUo2aThd573WOgraf0hDG1-

I guess I’m not seeing the pin issue you are describing? I may be missing it.

 

The solder job definitely looks like a somewhat wonky robotic job at temp settings that aren’t exact for the solder rather than a reflow or similar. The spikes from where the soldering iron lifted off the pad are on mine as well.

 

If it is the solder job that is the problem, it could be fixable by pretty much anyone with an iron to reflow the pins.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Kaide

[jamon1567]

I guess I’m not seeing the pin issue you are describing? I may be missing it.

 

The solder job definitely looks like a somewhat wonky robotic job at temp settings that aren’t exact for the solder rather than a reflow or similar. The spikes from where the soldering iron lifted off the pad are on mine as well.

 

On that first pic, 7 from the left you can see a bunch of solder and what not, but the pin looks like it was snapped off. You can see how all of the other pins are raised up, thats the pin actually resting on the board. For that one though, it isn't there. The second pic is from the other side of the adapter and just looks like the one pin wasn't soldered as well.

 

Or maybe you're saying the spikes aren't the actual pin? I don't know....I haven't soldered something in 20 years and don't really claim to know what I'm talking about, but just looking at this thing, those are the two anomalies.

Edited March 27, 2019 by jamon1567

[Andromeda Stardust]

I know which one Id pick since I wouldve picked the cheaper color from the start if they werent all the same price.

 

Now, why couldnt I have been one of the ones with the mixed up button color?!

If they send out the buttons, you could do a custom white/blue SMS scheme (PAL power button with JPN reset) Mega SG with a totally unique button combination. Unicorn rare! ?

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

My power base converter is older and had the back trimmed to work on a model 2 sega genesis. Using this power base converter I can confirm it does work on the mega sg. I tested the sega cards and that loaded as well.

Does the Mega NT provide FM sound with a stock converter? IE Powerbase or an older non-FM enabled Powerbase Mini?

 

Do you get FM sound by playing SMS games on an older Everdrive MD that doesn't support FM audio like the Mega ED?

 

I ask because I do not own a Master Everdrive or a Mega ED, so sans jailbreak firmware, I have no option for playing FM sound on games I do not own physically. Buying an additional Everdrive specifically for playing SMS ROMs with FM sound would be redundant, especially if Kevtris or an anonymous cohort drops jb firmware.

 

And yeah, totally getting the Game Gear adapter. That system is easy to collect for since 90% of the original unmodded units have capacitor plague, the pool of available games vastly outnumbers the available hardware. I have a stack of games with no system to play them on...

[CZroe]

 

I hear you and I can't really argue with what you're saying. I think the thing that just has me in an especially foul mood is that I was really looking forward to FINALLY (see a few posts back of mine) playing Wonder Boy III with FM sound, and then boom, no SMS....it just figures right?

Yeah, that’s gotta make it sting a bit worse.

 

No doubt they will sort this out. Hope it’s sooner rather than later but I understand the delays so far. If they keep giving you the run-around then, by all means, let us know. You’ve already convinced me to open/test my adapter which I was going to leave sealed since I have other ways to play MS games on it. I wouldn’t want to sell it off some time in the future only to find out that the adapter doesn’t work after disappointing some other buyer. Thanks for making me aware that it could be soldered/assembled incorrectly.

[CZroe]

I have an LG 40 inch 4K TV. It does say it supports all the resolutions at 60 and 50 Hz.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J727AZ using Tapatalk

Ah. Does the Mega Sg say it’s outputting 1080p or 1200p? If it does 1200p and the TV scales it you won’t see a size difference between 4.5 and 5x scale.

[AlexKunio]

Does anyone else use their Mega Sg with a Mega EverDrive? The save state menu doesn't work for me, and I wanted to see if anyone else has this issue. I thought maybe it was a problem with conflicting hotkeys (down + start) which is the default combination for both devices, so I tried changing the hotkey on Mega Sg, as well as disabling hotkeys completely but that didn't help.

 

Also, FWIW, I too ordered the JPN color and got EUR.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Im domestic (Georgia, USA) and still got slapped with a Foreign Transaction Fee when I ordered my two Super Nt systems last year. They fingered the bank and the bank fingered them. Made sure to use a card with no foreign transaction fees this time: Amazon Rewards VISA from Chase (my other Chase cards have the fee). Pretty sure my Toyota Rewards VISA from Comenity Bank also has no foreign transaction fees. Curious to know if anyone got a fee like that this time around.

There is no international transaction fee when I use my Chase Slate card, as long as the currency is specified in USD.

 

Many foreign sites that specialize in exports even let you chose the currency at checkout. If you pick the wrong currency and get slapped an exchange fee, it's your own fault.

 

For conversion to foreign currency, the fee is very reasonable, like a couple percents, much less than the sales tax I pay on domestic transactions either online or in my home town.

 

Still, I try to use Paypal whenever possible for foreign transactions, so my bank doesn't slap a hold on my card. You seem to be the only person with the transaction fee issues.

 

If it bothers you, talk to your bank and see if they can waiver it or adjust your account. If the say "no," feel free to close the account and put your money elsewhere. I have no loyalty to Chase but they have always been very good to me.

[Kaide]

 

On that first pic, 7 from the left you can see a bunch of solder and what not, but the pin looks like it was snapped off. You can see how all of the other pins are raised up, thats the pin actually resting on the board. For that one though, it isn't there. The second pic is from the other side of the adapter and just looks like the one pin wasn't soldered as well.

 

Or maybe you're saying the spikes aren't the actual pin? I don't know....I haven't soldered something in 20 years and don't really claim to know what I'm talking about, but just looking at this thing, those are the two anomalies.

 

 

Yeah, those spikes are just solder. It happens when the solder "sticks" to the iron when it is pulled away from the joint. These are just pretty pronounced, and probably happened because it was soldering on an assembly line. The pins for the connector are surface mount, and don't go through the board.

 

But that solder job is still noticeably worse than mine. So if you still have your iron, or know someone who does some soldering, it wouldn't hurt to reflow the pins.

[CZroe]

There is no international transaction fee when I use my Chase Slate card, as long as the currency is specified in USD.

 

Many foreign sites that specialize in exports even let you chose the currency at checkout. If you pick the wrong currency and get slapped an exchange fee, it's your own fault.

 

For conversion to foreign currency, the fee is very reasonable, like a couple percents, much less than the sales tax I pay on domestic transactions either online or in my home town.

 

Still, I try to use Paypal whenever possible for foreign transactions, so my bank doesn't slap a hold on my card. You seem to be the only person with the transaction fee issues.

 

If it bothers you, talk to your bank and see if they can waiver it or adjust your account. If the say "no," feel free to close the account and put your money elsewhere. I have no loyalty to Chase but they have always been very good to me.

...except it wasn’t just me. The other people who reported it last year were all Bank of America customers. The payments were processed through Causeway Bay (Hong Kong). The fee was something like $12-16 since I ordered two. Since shipping was already exorbitant (nearly twice as much as the typical $40 with barely any discount for buying two), I wasn’t happy with another surprise fee like that which could not be anticipated or avoided, but I don’t assume it’s Analogue’s fault. I assume Bank of America had (has?) some glitch where everything from that payment processor gets treated as a foreign transaction regardless of the currency selected.

 

Again:

US buyer (born and raised)

In the US (State of Georgia)

Buying a US-engineered product (Indiana; Kevin Horton)

From a US company (Analogue)

Founded by a US citizen (Chris Taber)

With headquarters in the US (Washington state)

Shipped from a US shipping partner (Nevada, IIRC)

Paid for with a US VISA Card (BofA check card)

From a US bank (Bank of America)

In US dollars ($280 + nearly $80 in shipping)

 

About the only thing ambiguous is that Analogue is not the US spelling and the “.co” is actually a Columbia top-level domain. No one mistakenly selected HKD. At no point was it possible to anticipate or avoid without selecting a card with not foreign transaction fees out of an unreasonable abundance of caution... which is what I did this year (suddenly reasonable after that experience).

 

PayPal charges for foreign currency conversions too but at least it’s impossible to pay and then hit the buyer with an extra charge later without even telling them.

 

My Chase Slate does have foreign transaction fees. Though I probably would have been fine if my hunch is correct about BofA or someone involved fixed the problem this year, I wasn’t going to risk it when I had the Amazon Rewards VISA from Chase with no foreign transaction fees and I could use the points earned on the 8BitDo controller. Only reason I haven’t ordered the controllers yet is because I’m still waiting for the points to credit.

[RetrogamerX]

Does anyone else use their Mega Sg with a Mega EverDrive? The save state menu doesn't work for me, and I wanted to see if anyone else has this issue. I thought maybe it was a problem with conflicting hotkeys (down + start) which is the default combination for both devices, so I tried changing the hotkey on Mega Sg, as well as disabling hotkeys completely but that didn't help.

 

 

 

My Mega Everdrive X7 with save states working great. I just set hotkeys on mega sg to left and start for menu.

Edited March 27, 2019 by RetrogamerX

[CZroe]

 

 

Yeah, those spikes are just solder. It happens when the solder "sticks" to the iron when it is pulled away from the joint. These are just pretty pronounced, and probably happened because it was soldering on an assembly line. The pins for the connector are surface mount, and don't go through the board.

 

But that solder job is still noticeably worse than mine. So if you still have your iron, or know someone who does some soldering, it wouldn't hurt to reflow the pins.

Not supposed to happen with the right temperatures and flux. Perhaps the temps were too high so the flux burned away before retraction. Could cause other issues too, like cold solder joints. Might explain a lot!

 

Edit: Looking at the pics myself, I’m not so sure those are solder spikes. It almost looks like the pins are bent/formed into springy terminals that slot onto the board with tension before they are soldered down with the tips of the pins pointing up off of the board.

Edited March 27, 2019 by CZroe

[ginoscope]

Does the Mega NT provide FM sound with a stock converter? IE Powerbase or an older non-FM enabled Powerbase Mini?

 

Do you get FM sound by playing SMS games on an older Everdrive MD that doesn't support FM audio like the Mega ED?

 

I ask because I do not own a Master Everdrive or a Mega ED, so sans jailbreak firmware, I have no option for playing FM sound on games I do not own physically. Buying an additional Everdrive specifically for playing SMS ROMs with FM sound would be redundant, especially if Kevtris or an anonymous cohort drops jb firmware.

 

And yeah, totally getting the Game Gear adapter. That system is easy to collect for since 90% of the original unmodded units have capacitor plague, the pool of available games vastly outnumbers the available hardware. I have a stack of games with no system to play them on...

 

I did not test the FM part on the power base converter. I can confirm my everdrive x7 with the FM turned off was putting out FM sound on the mega sg. I did have to turn off the sms bios on my everdrive as that caused the sms rom not to load.

[Kaide]

Not supposed to happen with the right temperatures and flux. Perhaps the temps were too high so the flux burned away before retraction. Could cause other issues too, like cold solder joints. Might explain a lot!

 

Edit: Looking at the pics myself, I’m not so sure those are solder spikes. It almost looks like the pins are bent/formed into springy terminals that slot onto the board with tension before they are soldered down with the tips of the pins pointing up off of the board.

 

 

I think you're right. Although in that case, I'd imagine that even if the tip of a pin breaks, it's still "good" as long as you get a good solder joint.

 

Knowing that, Pin 7 looks pretty suspect now that I get a better look at it. It looks a bit like a bodge.

[Toth]

For the people who got the wrong color and are going to wait to have it swapped out what is Analogue's process for that? Do you just have to hope they contact you when they get more in stock or do you get some sort of new order confirmation or something that is similar to when you preordered it? The preorders were paid for so long ago I am not even sure credit card companies would allow a dispute at this point if Analogue decides not to play ball.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Toth

[jamon1567]

Not supposed to happen with the right temperatures and flux. Perhaps the temps were too high so the flux burned away before retraction. Could cause other issues too, like cold solder joints. Might explain a lot!

 

Edit: Looking at the pics myself, I’m not so sure those are solder spikes. It almost looks like the pins are bent/formed into springy terminals that slot onto the board with tension before they are soldered down with the tips of the pins pointing up off of the board.

 

Yes, this. In the second pic the one that has less solder on it you can tell that the spike is indeed the pin. It's not easy to tell from the pic I provided, but take a closer look at your own. You can see where the solder ends and the rest of the pin is sticking up off the board. Which would mean that the pin I pointed out on my first pic is indeed snapped off and they just threw a bunch of solder on there in it's place.

[jamon1567]

 

 

I think you're right. Although in that case, I'd imagine that even if the tip of a pin breaks, it's still "good" as long as you get a good solder joint.

 

Knowing that, Pin 7 looks pretty suspect now that I get a better look at it. It looks a bit like a bodge.

 

I assume that the same pin on your adapter doesn't look like mine right?

[Kaide]

 

I assume that the same pin on your adapter doesn't look like mine right?

Not at all. Other than a little leftover flux on two pins, they are all poking up, with no damaged pins like yours has.

[jamon1567]

Not at all. Other than a little leftover flux on two pins, they are all poking up, with no damaged pins like yours has.

 

Well I went ahead and forwarded that pic to Analogue support as well. Seems pretty cut and dry to me. At the very least, the next step in troubleshooting this is using another adapter anyway, so I'd have to assume they'll be sending a new one....

[AtariNerd]

Welp, just got sumptin' in the mail - wrong button color (ordered the Japanese blue/red scheme, but got white/gray, instead), but I think, at least as far as I can tell, in person, I might like this just as well, compared to how I felt looking at it on the 'net. Anyways, it's such a small detail, which overall for the sysyem, is better in person than the pics on-line, attest to, that I'm not bothered in the least, and I can be picky. Won't get to play until later today, but yeah, it's here!

 

Cheers!

[jamon1567]

Welp, just got sumptin' in the mail - wrong button color (ordered the Japanese blue/red scheme, but got white/gray, instead), but I think, at least as far as I can tell, in person, I might like this just as well, compared to how I felt looking at it on the 'net. Anyways, it's such a small detail, which overall for the sysyem, is better in person than the pics on-line, attest to, that I'm not bothered in the least, and I can be picky. Won't get to play until later today, but yeah, it's here!

 

Cheers!

 

I'm a little surprised to hear that the EUR version was the one which they made the least of. I would have figured more people would like the look of that with all of their other TV/stereo/newer video game equipment. At least in my case the only game systems I have hooked up to my flatscreen using HDMI are my Nt Mini, Super Nt, Mega Sg and newer systems like PS4, Switch etc. I think the EUR version looks best next to all of those, but that's just my preference of course.

[derFunkenstein]

 

I'm a little surprised to hear that the EUR version was the one which they made the least of. I would have figured more people would like the look of that with all of their other TV/stereo/newer video game equipment. At least in my case the only game systems I have hooked up to my flatscreen using HDMI are my Nt Mini, Super Nt, Mega Sg and newer systems like PS4, Switch etc. I think the EUR version looks best next to all of those, but that's just my preference of course.

 

Nostalgia is a heavy burden to bear. The red/white model 1 is what everyone in NA thinks of when they think of the Genesis, unless for some reason (like me) the model 2 was their first Sega system. Even then I still got the US version. The only difference between the two is the color of the power button so I'm sure Analogue can make more very easily.

 

What surprised me is just how many people have white ones on Twitter. I thought about white but my goodness it would dirty up in a hurry.

[Jurai]

Welp, just got sumptin' in the mail - wrong button color (ordered the Japanese blue/red scheme, but got white/gray, instead), but I think, at least as far as I can tell, in person, I might like this just as well, compared to how I felt looking at it on the 'net. Anyways, it's such a small detail, which overall for the sysyem, is better in person than the pics on-line, attest to, that I'm not bothered in the least, and I can be picky. Won't get to play until later today, but yeah, it's here!

 

Cheers!

 

I've seen people suggesting that Analogue will give you some sort of small refund if you contact them about it, apparently a lot of people are getting the wrong button color