The UAV Rev. D Video Upgrade Thread

[+MacRorie]

24 minutes ago, Blues76 said:

 

Hi. What is the difference between this and Sophia C? For the 1088 XEL, I see options for VBXE, Sophia B, Sophia C (two modes) ... but not this one... https://thebrewingacademy.com/products/mytek-1088xel

 

That's because the UAV is considered a daughterboard for the XEL.  It is in the components options section.  As seen below,

1088 & UAV.pdf

[Blues76]

1 minute ago, MacRorie said:

That's because the UAV is considered a daughterboard for the XEL.  It is in the components options section.  As seen below,

1088 & UAV.pdf 46.2 kB · 1 download

Yes, I just notice that as I was doing the other post.

[Sugarland]

On 10/28/2020 at 1:20 PM, Blues76 said:

 

Hi. What is the difference between this and Sophia C? For the 1088 XEL, I see options for VBXE, Sophia B, Sophia C (two modes) ... but not this one... https://thebrewingacademy.com/products/mytek-1088xel

 

Sophia C has DVI out and costs a lot more. UAV enhances the built in analog chroma+luma and composite video.

 

Sophia 2 offers:

- 100% compatible GTIA replacement

- PAL/NTSC encoding

- Independent RGB/YPbPr/VGA and DVI outputs

- eight selectable DVI modes

- 15 loadable 18-bit color palettes

 

[tocksin]

Can anyone share the schematic of the UAV board?  I'm not sure if the UAV is right for me.  I don't really want to completely replace the analog output of my 130XE.  I'd rather try to repair the existing design as much as possible, but I could use some of the UAV design to improve the output so that the quality is somewhere between the stock output and the UAV.  I feel like the UAV may take away some personality of the old Atari computers, but I'd still like a better output.  Maybe put some better power supply filtering in there and try to balance the S-video output better.

[+slx]

17 minutes ago, tocksin said:

Can anyone share the schematic of the UAV board?  I'm not sure if the UAV is right for me.  I don't really want to completely replace the analog output of my 130XE.  I'd rather try to repair the existing design as much as possible, but I could use some of the UAV design to improve the output so that the quality is somewhere between the stock output and the UAV.  I feel like the UAV may take away some personality of the old Atari computers, but I'd still like a better output.  Maybe put some better power supply filtering in there and try to balance the S-video output better.

Maybe not what you're looking after, but AFAIK you can install UAV as an extra video output, leaving the stock output unchanged and functional. I don't think it changes the "character" as it basically takes whatever signals are there from ANTIC/GTIA and just perfects the output side. That doesn't make it that different from the output of those machines considered to have a better output circuit design to start with.

 

Not an electronics expert but I'd imagine that trying to provide a more stable power supply for the on-board video would require a lot of trace cutting to insert your "stable" power instead of what's used now. 

 

 

[hueyjones70]

If you want to repair the existing video output you should check out the SuperVideo 2.1 modification.

[moonlight_mile]

I finally got to install my UAV into my 800xl.

I had a lot of fun doing it. There were some oddities that were not covered in the instructions that I was wondering about.

I got mine from the Brewing Academy.

Installed everything and that went fine. I also did part of the 800xl s-video mod.

I was getting a real bad moire pattern when it was installed per the instructions. I was able to get this cleared up by NOT connecting the color in wire to the uav and not lifting the c54 capacitor. (From the 800xl s-video mod). Everything is outputting via s-video on the regular monitor connector.

If looks awesome I was just wondering if not connecting the color in wire to the uav is going to cause issues down the line?

Also, I have a cheaper de-soldering station. It worked pretty well. What is the optimal desoldering temp to not damage the component or board?

Thanks!

[_The Doctor__]

To find out if there is an issue, run a normal gtia full color game, then choose an artifact color game.

if they both look like they should, there shouldn't be any real issues

 

[+DrVenkman]

2 hours ago, moonlight_mile said:

If looks awesome I was just wondering if not connecting the color in wire to the uav is going to cause issues down the line?

I’m not really sure how the UAV can output color properly without the Color signal when all you’ve got on the 4050 itself are the LUM signals. Photos of your install and the output would help figure out if you’re likely to experience any issues in the future. Search this thread for “ACP.XEX” or “acp.xex” for Bryan’s Atari Color Program and then take a pic of the output.

[+MacRorie]

10 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

I’m not really sure how the UAV can output color properly without the Color signal when all you’ve got on the 4050 itself are the LUM signals. Photos of your install and the output would help figure out if you’re likely to experience any issues in the future. Search this thread for “ACP.XEX” or “acp.xex” for Bryan’s Atari Color Program and then take a pic of the output.

That file can always be found here:  https://www.thebrewingacademy.net/uav_xex.zip

 

Also, I would tend to agree that you are not getting all of the colors you really can without the color in line being connected.  It won't harm anything if it is not connected, but you should get a better picture with it connected.

[moonlight_mile]

Here is the output from the uav.xex.

It seems like all the colors are present. You tell me.

The reason I tried disconnecting the color in was I was getting vertical lines through everything when it was connected.

[+DrVenkman]

24 minutes ago, moonlight_mile said:

t seems like all the colors are present. You tell me

Yeah that’s not right at all. You should see this, or a close facsimile: 

 

 

EDIT: I just realized you’re not using ACP. I don’t know what that program is but the colors seem off.

Edited February 15, 2021 by DrVenkman

[+MacRorie]

27 minutes ago, moonlight_mile said:

Here is the output from the uav.xex.

It seems like all the colors are present. You tell me.

The reason I tried disconnecting the color in was I was getting vertical lines through everything when it was connected.

That's not precisely what you should be getting (see last pages of the manual for comparisons).  However, if it looks good to you and you have no complaints, then as far as I am concerned, it's perfect and you can tell me, "Tell your story walking!" 

 

 

[moonlight_mile]

I just so happen to be flipping around YouTube and came across flashjazzcat’s recent uav video.

The one he was working in was displaying the same symptoms as mine when the color line was connected. He determined that the composite and Luma wires were switched in the terminal block. I switched mine plugged the color in back in and wala perfect screen.

I am still going to search for that apc.xex and test it but at least I know all the lines are now connected.

Thanks again for the help.

[+Stephen]

4 minutes ago, moonlight_mile said:

I just so happen to be flipping around YouTube and came across flashjazzcat’s recent uav video.

The one he was working in was displaying the same symptoms as mine when the color line was connected. He determined that the composite and Luma wires were switched in the terminal block. I switched mine plugged the color in back in and wala perfect screen.

I am still going to search for that apc.xex and test it but at least I know all the lines are now connected.

Thanks again for the help.

Here ya go - acp.xex

[+MacRorie]

5 minutes ago, moonlight_mile said:

I just so happen to be flipping around YouTube and came across flashjazzcat’s recent uav video.

The one he was working in was displaying the same symptoms as mine when the color line was connected. He determined that the composite and Luma wires were switched in the terminal block. I switched mine plugged the color in back in and wala perfect screen.

I am still going to search for that apc.xex and test it but at least I know all the lines are now connected.

Thanks again for the help.

ACP.XEX is in the link I put in message #1185.

 

4 hours ago, MacRorie said:

That file can always be found here:  https://www.thebrewingacademy.net/uav_xex.zip

 

Can you please tell me which lines you have Chroma and Luma connected? I have flipped them back and forth countless times because people keep saying they are reversed in the manual.

[+DrVenkman]

28 minutes ago, MacRorie said:

I have flipped them back and forth countless times because people keep saying they are reversed in the manual.

Just look at a bare board - the silkscreen shows them (invisible when the terminal block is soldered on).

 

 

(L-R) Col In; Ground; Chroma; Luma; Composite; Ground

[+MacRorie]

9 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

Just look at a bare board - the silkscreen shows them (invisible when the terminal block is soldered on).

 

 

(L-R) Col In; Ground; Chroma; Luma; Composite; Ground

Yes, I know.  I happen to have "a couple" of them to look at.

 

However, I was referring to L7 & L9.  I did not want to have to open my 800XL again to see where I installed them so I could correct the manual for the 5th time.

[+DrVenkman]

16 minutes ago, MacRorie said:

However, I was referring to L7 & L9.  

Well, the OP referred to reversing them in the terminal block. Somewhere I've got pics of a UAV install I did years ago (the rev C from Bryan) in an 800XL. Should be easy to find  if no one pipes up sooner.

 

EDIT AGAIN: my original photos are garbage, but it looks like L9 (the one closer to the RF modulator) is connected to Composite Luma; L7 therefore goes to Luma Composite. Chroma is wired straight to pin 5 on the back of the DIN or the pin on the bottom of the board. As I said, my pics are trash and I used the same color wire, making it hard to trace. D'oh.

Edited February 15, 2021 by DrVenkman

[moonlight_mile]

I followed the manual word for word. A great manual it is. So originally I had it set up how manual indicated and I just now flipped them.

Funny thing I was playing around with the terminals yesterday but never flipped the composite and luma (or was it chroma.).

But is it all working now even know I nuked two pins on the uav. It doesn’t seem to affect anything but I am going to order some pin headers and replace them.

[BillC]

15 minutes ago, moonlight_mile said:

I followed the manual word for word. A great manual it is. So originally I had it set up how manual indicated and I just now flipped them.

Funny thing I was playing around with the terminals yesterday but never flipped the composite and luma (or was it chroma.).

But is it all working now even know I nuked two pins on the uav. It doesn’t seem to affect anything but I am going to order some pin headers and replace them.

The UAV connects to the 4050 socket for power/ground and GTIA output/4050 input signals, it doesn't need to connect to the pins used for 4050 output. As long as the broken pins are among these 4050 outputs(pins 2/4/6/10/12/15) there is no need to replace the headers. Even if the power/ground header pins are broken the UAV has separate pads to connect these.

[moonlight_mile]

Yeah that’s not right at all. You should see this, or a close facsimile: 
 

 
EDIT: I just realized you’re not using ACP. I don’t know what that program is but the colors seem off.

Looks pretty close! Thanks!

[_The Doctor__]

just adjust your red drive or lower the green and blue drive and your set.

[moonlight_mile]

just adjust your red drive or lower the green and blue drive and your set.

Real dumb question. How would I do that?

[+DrVenkman]

Turn down the brightness as well - the background should be black rather than gray. Since you're on an LCD, there will be differences in green/gold (see the second row of my photo as compared to you). But yeah, you're in the ballpark. If you were in on a CRT, you'd be closer still to my own photo. Adjust the Atari color potentiometer (not the little one on the UAV) to get the closest match in ACP and your favorite game(s) and you'll be good to go.