The UAV Rev. D Video Upgrade Thread

[ratwell]

There is a very nice how-to-install your UAV in an 800XL by Jason Moore:

 

http://atariprojects.org/2021/01/02/purchase-and-install-an-ultimate-atari-video-uav-for-better-composite-video-from-an-800xl-1-3-hours/

In addition, the online manual from The Brewing Academy (Rev. 1.94) is a vital resource but it's taken me a while to comb through all the details in these threads to help clarify parts of the manual which are sourced from this forum.

 

Some feedback for @MacRorie and advice for others who will be installing their UAV in an 800XL:

 

1. The manual could use some larger photos from Bryan's earlier posts to highlight the issue regarding UAV Color Adjustment (page 48). Here’s his original:
 

The above image is from running Bryan's test app (uav.xex) and is essential to properly calibrate the UAV. While games look great right away because UAV Rev.D is so awesome, any colouring that depends on artifacts requires calibration for best results.

 

The dark blue noise in the painted area in the top right quadrant mandates an adjustment of the trim pot on the UAV!
 

2. It would be useful to include uav.xex in the TBA download package for the manuals. I realize that a URL is linked inside the manual on Page 48 but it’s a lengthy manual and you can finish the install without figuring out you need to run a game with artifacting to check your UAV's performance.

https://www.thebrewingacademy.net/uav_xex.zip

 

3. UAV Color Calibration would be a better title for that section in the manual (Page 48) and I would consolidate and expand this section to highlight that:

 

- the trim pot adjusts the phase between the chroma and luma signals

- this also causes the pixels to latch properly or drop out

- the artifact colour will shift (e.g. from purple to red) as a side effect of using the trim pot (which maybe undesired)

- the PCB jumper reverses the artifact colours only

Here's the UAV composite output from my HDMI capture stick before adjusting the trim pot.

 

Before:

Notice that the green vertical bars above that make up the wavy column on the far left are not visible in the top half but can be seen in the lower half.

 

After:

Now all red and green bars visible and the larger horizontal bars have had the noise dialed out.

 

Here's a comparison of the stock composite output vs. UAV after calibration:

 

First, you can see how much UAV has improved the composite image.

 

With my Rev.D 800XL, the chroma has shifted between the original artifact purple and artifact red when adjusting the trim pot to dial out the noise. This of course is going to change the way that games using artifacting look but there's no one standard across all the models anyway.

 

When viewed on my Sony CRT with default hue/color/brightness the artifacting look similar to my capture card:

 

S-Video: the same issue of unwanted noise in the same location before calibration:

After calibration (the noise has been dialed out and three new rows of pixels have fully latched):

Be sure to check S-Video to see that all the wavy lines on the left are visible. Sometimes you think you’re done with calibrating because the composite has filled them in but the adjustment can be just shy of proper calibration.

Calibration itself is a turn-and-watch process. Here’s how much mine needed to be adjusted (I've added orange to the dots so you can more easily see how much the trim pot moved):

 

 

4. The reason for all the kits on the TBA product page was somewhat confusing until I tried to fit the RF shield: they exist because of all the clearance issues experienced with different models. It's really great that this product is available in so many combinations to fit every Atari possible!
 

Bryan posted a photo of two types of shielding fitted to the 800XL and it would be good to include this image in the 800XL section of the manual:

I have the "low shield" and to cut it, I marked the affected area which was causing the RF shield to bulge (4x3 holes).

 

Drill holes using a 7/64" bit between the holes. Using a shop-grade chisel and mallet, cut through the middle of the holes. Hammer it flat to remove the deformations from the drill bits and chisel.

Then, kink it like so to clear the terminal strip and again to close it over the jumpers:

 

 

NOTE: While it is possible to install the RF shield without cutting you will warp your logic board and risk cracking a trace or worse.

 

5. The kit includes a 16-pin socket but it would be nice to include a lower profile socket to help with height issues. With the default socket you will need to cut or remove the RF shield. Perhaps a low enough profile one would allow the RF shield to fit without bulging? It appears so but I haven't tried it because I don't have such a socket on hand.
 

 

I’m not sure if you the keyboard will clear if you stack the UAV on top of the CD4050 with or without a socket but I chose to remove the CD4050 because I have no use for the RF output anymore and I like the idea of being able to undo the mod quickly for any reason by using a socket.

 

Just be very careful when you are desoldering anything from these old logic boards that you don't lift a pad or trace. I always use a small tipped iron and solder braid and take several passes.
 

6. I put kapton tape on the headers for the jumpers and terminal block so they don't accidentally short out on the RF shield (see trim pot photo above). Kapton tape is also useful for keeping wires in place.
 
7. Some monitor jacks like the one found on my Rev. D logic board can’t easily be soldered to on their backside in order to attach the chroma wire from the UAV so you will have to route the wires to the underside of the logic board. I passed two wires through a hole in the PCB to minimize the wire length.

 

 

The black wire to the right in this photo is not part of the UAV upgrade.

 

Care also has to be taken as to how you route the wires ahead of the reinstallation of the shield. I bent the shield in two places slightly right behind the cartridge slot where the shield screws go so as not to pinch the wires.
 
8. There are two separate pads on the UAV PCB for picking up power/ground from the socket.

 

Bryan recommends splitting the pads with an X-Acto knife and running ground directly to the UAV for best results.

 

Additionally he provided a split power pad just in case even though there is an on board power regulator. +5V is picked up through the socket by default and I prefer the pad method to cutting the power leg of the socket which is more permanent.

If you split the ground pad, then the UAV gets its ground from the either of the two G positions on the terminal block. The second G terminal is for a monitor jack which is not mounted on the PCB so this isn't needed for an 800XL. 

 

In this trace below from my oscilloscope, +5V (yellow) is measured from Vdd (power leg) on the U20 socket. Ground (pink) is taken from R66 where you wire the UAV to ground location as per the steps in the manual:

 

This trace is indicative of just the type of unwanted noisy signal that Bryan describes.
 

In this second trace, +5V (yellow) is taken at the power switch and ground (pink) at Pin 2 (canter) of the DIN-5 monitor jack. What a difference!

 

After cutting both pads and applying +5V from C3 and ground from Pin 2 on the monitor jack, this trace now displays a far better power supply being fed to the UAV:

 

I chose the positive end C3 to tap +5V rather that the top of C18 by the cartridge slot because I had already run a wire from C18 to Pin 47 of the 800XL PBI connector (the +5V patch for SysCheck 2.2 in earlier monitor jack photo).

 

C3 is VERY close to the screw (I've marked with a red "X") that secures the logic board to the bottom half of the case so you should to crawl up the leg of that capacitor to solder your connection and use a heat sink on the leg to protect the capacitor from damage (always a good idea if space permits). You can route the wire next to the RF modulator which will go through the opening in the RF shield.

9. There is a jumper position which is not silkscreened on the PCB and only seen in the manual in very tiny print. This jumper will reverse the artifact colour pairs (invert the chroma) from “red/blue” to "blue/red" on my 800XL and "green/purple" to “purple/green” on other models, etc.

 

See this post for all the model variations:

 

 

I’ve copied this image from Page 5 and highlighted the jumper position at the bottom that reverses the colours:



Composite artifacting:

Composite artifacting (reversed via additional jumper in last position):

 

I think rather than use a jumper it may be more useful to add a switch to reverse the artifacts instantly without having to open the case. I believe Bryan had talked about a Rev. E that would allow you to adjust the artifact colours...that would be cool!

 

 

S-Video:

It should look just like an emulator when it's adjusted properly (no artifact colours, just grayscale) :

10. The kit is lacking an extra small jumper (shunt) and all the other jumpers are required for the base UAV configuration. This should be included with the UAV kits for testing or for completing the installation.

 

The header pins on the UAV PCB have a 2mm pitch rather than the standard 2.54mm (0.1") pitch and so none of the jumpers I could locate fit properly.

 

Summary:

UAV Rev.D is an essential upgrade. Thanks to Bryan and @MacRorie for the upgrade and manual.

Enjoy.

Edited April 28, 2021 by ratwell
Correction for DIN 5 Monitor jack ground from Pin 3 to Pin 2.

[+slx]

Is the color adjustment app supposed to work on PAL 400/800s? I had no luck running it from cartridge on a 400 and wonder if I should try it with another storage device. 

[ratwell]

43 minutes ago, slx said:

Is the color adjustment app supposed to work on PAL 400/800s? I had no luck running it from cartridge on a 400 and wonder if I should try it with another storage device. 

It runs in the emulators when set to PAL and 400/800 CTIA/GTIA Artifacting:

 

However, when I tried Atari 800 (16K) to simulate an Atari 400 w/ 16K, it didn't load.

 

Do you have any way to boost the RAM?

 

I run it with AVGCART but sometimes it doesn't load for me (still trying to figure out what I've done wrong) so I ran FJC's s2loader3.car on AVGCART to run the executable:

https://atari8.co.uk/firmware/avg/

Edited April 12, 2021 by ratwell

[ratwell]

Here's an updated set of images comparing Stock vs. UAV vs. Sophia 2.

 

UAV composite and S-Video outputs have been calibrated using the trim pot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by ratwell
Updated to add Sophia 2 DVI comparisons

[ratwell]

16 hours ago, ratwell said:

In this second trace 5V (yellow) is taken at the power switch and ground (pink) at Pin 3 of the DIN-5 monitor jack. Big difference:

After cutting both pads and applying 5V from C3 and ground from Pin 3 on the monitor jack, this is a far better power supply being fed to the UAV:

This should be corrected to say PIN 2 (GND) not PIN 3 which is audio.

[jaybird3rd]

10 hours ago, ratwell said:

This should be corrected to say PIN 2 (GND) not PIN 3 which is audio.

I just granted edit permission to your post, so you should now be able to update it to reflect this correction.

[StickJock]

14 hours ago, ratwell said:

This should be corrected to say PIN 2 (GND) not PIN 3 which is audio.

Yeah, the 3rd pin is #2.

I bought a couple of DIN-5 to 4-RCA cables from AliExpress that were wired incorrectly.  I don't remember if I figured out that they someone spec'd them in sequential order and the manufacturer used the pin# order, or the other way around, but ground was either on the 2nd pin (pin #4 instead of pin #2) or on the 5th pin (which is pin #3).  Either way, the cables are useless.  I ordered a proper set from another vendor.  The 4 RCAs are then Composite, Chroma, Luma & Audio, each on their own shielded subcable.

[Faicuai]

On 4/12/2021 at 3:49 AM, ratwell said:

Composite artifacting:

From Stock 800, absolutely no mods. of any kind to on-board video generation and delivery (other than R189), with Blue/Orangish artifacing (true to original rendition,  around 1980-1982), which correctly renders hallmark Flight Simulator II instrument panel):

 

 

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by Faicuai

[leech]

2 hours ago, Faicuai said:

From Stock 800, absolutely no mods. of any kind to on-board video generation and delivery (other than R189), with Blue/Orangish artifacing (true to original rendition,  around 1980-1982), which correctly renders hallmark Flight Simulator II instrument panel):

 

 

 

Ha, we just need some way to emulate NTSC artifacting in the VBXE.  Or rewrite / enhance everything that uses it for the VBXE.  I would like to take the source for Ultima IV Remastered for the c64 and enhance it for the VBXE.  Anyone want to help?  (then we can maybe attack some of the other ones like Ultima III.)

[ratwell]

On 4/12/2021 at 12:49 AM, ratwell said:

I think rather than use a jumper it may be more useful to add a switch to reverse the artifacts instantly without having to open the case.

 

I was originally going to drill the case and add a switch but since I removed the RF modulator I realized that I already have a switch: the RF channel switch!

 

I decided it was safe to connect the UAV jumper rear pin to Terminal 3 of the RF channel switch because it appears to float. Now the rear pin will be grounded in the off/normal (Ch 2) position:

In the on position (Ch 3) the artifact colours are reversed.

 

The other header pin gets +4.5V UAV regulated power and can be connected to the normally unused Terminal 1. I think this is better than using any 5V source so that the wiring behaves more like a jumper.

 

The header pins are 2mm pitch (not 0.1") and I couldn't find such a connector at the local hobby shop but I did eventually find a battery connector with 6 in. pigtail at a battery shop which will suffice for now:

 

 

Connect the front pin (black) to Terminal 1 of the RF channel switch:

 

 

Rear pin (red) can be connected to the leftmost pad (which leads to Terminal 2) and is unused after the RF modulator has been removed.

 

I just passed the black wire through the slot in the logic board left behind by the RF modulator removal.

 

 

The NTSC logic board has a channel switch; PAL has a provision for one; SECAM a color switch that does what with UAV? Not sure...

 

Enjoy.

Edited April 28, 2021 by ratwell

[armedbushido]

These still available?

[+MacRorie]

9 minutes ago, armedbushido said:

These still available?

Indeed they are.

 

https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/ultimate-atari-video-uav

[MonsterMagnet]

Hi all - I'm a long time lurker turned user.  MiSTer lead me to rediscover my love for actual Atari 8-bits and I picked up a "lot" of Atari stuff.  I'm technically and mechanically proficient, but not specifically in the micro-computer/upgrade world, and not at all with video.  I want to try and keep my chain of questions simple and build up from there.

 

Background

Atari 400.  Out of the "box" it powers on, the keyboard works, and the Atari BASIC cart loads.  The RF signal is horrific.  Green, fuzzy, wavers in and out.  This might be a bad cable, this might be the adapter I have for my flat screen - it doesn't really matter because I knew I was going to do the UAV upgrade.

 

I cleaned and scrubbed the thing inside and out, and yesterday I recapped the power board.  Prior to starting the UAV upgrade I performed the same tests described above - the system powers on, the keyboard works, and cartridges load.  RF signal is horrific (who cares).

 

I purchased the UAV, the Internal Audio Board, and the A.V. BoBBy.  I started by patching everything to no avail, so I'm going back to basics and taking this step-wise starting with the UAV.

 

First Question

 

UAV: Soldered wire to left side of c187, then attached the other side to the first position (rightmost) on the UAV using the screw terminal.  I have familiarity with these and feel confident that I have wires patched to the terminal well.  I removed the video chip and replaced it with the UAV.

 

I sacrificed an RCA cable by snipping one end off.  I attached main lead from the RCA cable to the Composite port on the UAV (fourth from R-L).  Reassemble the A400, power it on, nothing.  No video signal.  I have power, and the keyboard beeps when I press buttons.

 

I've never worked with RCA cables in this way before and I wasn't sure about ground (this may be my question) - it seemed to me that what I want to do is take the copper braid, tighten it up, and insert it in the ground terminal on the UAV.  So I tried that.  Same result.

 

I have quadruple checked the jumpers against the manual I received (1.94) and videos on YT.

 

Any ideas?

 

And obviously, thanks in advance for trying to help!

 

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

Having now installed the UAV in both my 1200XL and (as of last night) 800XL, I feel that there's something that needs to be mentioned:

 

The instructions seem like they're written by hardware engineers, for hardware engineers.  Unfortunately, not being a hardware engineer myself, that made them somewhat non-intuitive.

 

Installation in the 1200XL was very straightforward, largely because I was able to follow Tony Cervo's instructions, which were linked to in the manual.  However, there was no such equivalent for the 800XL.  This left some guesswork during installation, and had I not already performed the 1200XL install, getting through the 800XL install would have been a lot more difficult.

 

By no means am I arguing against having information available for more advanced users; that's a good thing in my book.  But some accommodation for those of us who are comfortable using a soldering iron but not necessarily building circuits from scratch would definitely be appreciated.

 

And yep, the UAV's a brilliant device.  Dialled in the colour this morning and output (even on composite) looks great.  Looking forward to getting one in the 600XL in another few weeks.

 

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by x=usr(1536)

[MonsterMagnet]

21 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Having now installed the UAV in both my 1200XL and (as of last night) 800XL, I feel that there's something that needs to be mentioned:

 

The instructions seem like they're written by hardware engineers, for hardware engineers.  Unfortunately, not being a hardware engineer myself, that made them somewhat non-intuitive.

I have to agree.  It occurs to me that being "handy" and brave enough to make cables, solder, desolder, flash, change some config files (not author them), etc. are skills I have and have a track record of success with.  Skills I do not have are those of reading schematics, programming, or interpreting electrical drawings - nor do I have decades of prior experience with these devices.

 

This experience has taught me to really research an upgrade in advance before diving in to make sure that I feel like I have enough support (in the form of videos and other documentation) before pulling the trigger. 

 

The UAV is reasonably well covered and with some experimentation can be adapted for less described scenarios (even when I still can't get it to work, as with my Atari 400 scenario), some of the other upgrades I obtained leave me feeling like I'm left in the wilderness.

 

For what it's worth, there is what appears to be a reasonably good video on adding a UAW to an 800XL on YouTube (for posterity or a future person seeking advice) 

[+MacRorie]

On 5/27/2021 at 7:59 AM, x=usr(1536) said:

Having now installed the UAV in both my 1200XL and (as of last night) 800XL, I feel that there's something that needs to be mentioned:

 

The instructions seem like they're written by hardware engineers, for hardware engineers.  Unfortunately, not being a hardware engineer myself, that made them somewhat non-intuitive.

Well, since I wrote the majority of the manual, I can tell you I am not an engineer nor do I write for engineers. I thought I laid it out in easy step by step instructions. I will see what I can do about making it more accessible.

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

2 hours ago, MacRorie said:

Well, since I wrote the majority of the manual, I can tell you I am not an engineer nor do I write for engineers. I thought I laid it out in easy step by step instructions.

The step-by-step instructions are generally pretty good in terms of the sequence of events that they describe.  Where they can fall short is in the details, which are the critical pieces for installation.

 

Basically, the 'Bryan’s Notes from AtariAge' section conflicts with some of the information in the 'Step-by-Step for 800XL' section, but there are also items that aren't explained.

 

As an example: Bryan's notes say the following: "...lift the two ferrite beads (L7, L9) in the back...", but the step-by-step instructions state, "Clip the upper ends of L7&L9".  From the wording in both sections, it's not entirely clear as to what needs to happen, or which orientation either back or upper refer to.  I know this from having installed a UAV before, but for someone approaching it for the first time it's likely going to be a source of confusion for them.

 

There are a couple of other things that I found in that section, and would be happy to discuss them in PM for the sake of not overrunning the thread.

2 hours ago, MacRorie said:

I will see what I can do about making it more accessible.

This is something I'd be happy to help with if it would make things easier.  I do have a minor background in technical writing for both engineering and executive audiences, as well as copy writing and editing.

[+MacRorie]

3 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

There are a couple of other things that I found in that section, and would be happy to discuss them in PM for the sake of not overrunning the thread.

This is something I'd be happy to help with if it would make things easier.  I do have a minor background in technical writing for both engineering and executive audiences, as well as copy writing and editing.

Thank you for the offer.  I will just have to rely on the Ph.D. and 20 years of collegiate teaching in Communication.

[Peruchi]

Where can I find instructions to install the UAV board to a XEGS machine? I've read the manual and it covers the 130XE, but couldn't find specific instructions for the XEGS board. Thanks in advance!

[bfollowell]

On 5/27/2021 at 9:59 AM, x=usr(1536) said:

By no means am I arguing against having information available for more advanced users; that's a good thing in my book.  But some accommodation for those of us who are comfortable using a soldering iron but not necessarily building circuits from scratch would definitely be appreciated.

 

On 5/28/2021 at 11:02 AM, MacRorie said:

Well, since I wrote the majority of the manual, I can tell you I am not an engineer nor do I write for engineers. I thought I laid it out in easy step by step instructions. I will see what I can do about making it more accessible.

 

I'll start off by saying that I'm a hardware guy by hobby and interests, but am not an engineer by any stretch of the imagination, and I've never had any problem following any of Marlin's instructions. Granted, I've only installed UAVs in an 800XL and a 600XL, but both installs seemed fairly easy and straight-forward. I guess, being knowledgeable, I could be making logical leaps based on my knowledge, but I really can't think of anything that was missing and I certainly can't recall any instances where knowledge of building circuits from scratch was necessary.

 

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

3 hours ago, bfollowell said:

I'll start off by saying that I'm a hardware guy by hobby and interests, but am not an engineer by any stretch of the imagination, and I've never had any problem following any of Marlin's instructions. Granted, I've only installed UAVs in an 800XL and a 600XL, but both installs seemed fairly easy and straight-forward. I guess, being knowledgeable, I could be making logical leaps based on my knowledge, but I really can't think of anything that was missing and I certainly can't recall any instances where knowledge of building circuits from scratch was necessary.

See, that's the thing - the instructions make sense to a lot of people.  Marlin even noted that he has a PhD in Communication, so I'd expect them to.  But parts of it left me confused, and it's not like this is my first time at the soldering rodeo, either.  It also appears as though at least one other person has run into the same misunderstanding, so it's likely not just me.

 

Either way, writing for any audience guarantees that whatever you write will be interpreted differently by different readers, though likely with a common thread of understanding.  There's no way around it.

[bfollowell]

15 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

See, that's the thing - the instructions make sense to a lot of people.  Marlin even noted that he has a PhD in Communication, so I'd expect them to.  But parts of it left me confused, and it's not like this is my first time at the soldering rodeo, either.  It also appears as though at least one other person has run into the same misunderstanding, so it's likely not just me.

 

Either way, writing for any audience guarantees that whatever you write will be interpreted differently by different readers, though likely with a common thread of understanding.  There's no way around it.

 

Well, you've definitely got a point there. Tell three people a story and they'll all retell it differently.

 

[+DrVenkman]

25 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Either way, writing for any audience guarantees that whatever you write will be interpreted differently by different readers, though likely with a common thread of understanding.  There's no way around it.

That's true. But that's the joy of an active user-community and a solid A8 forum like, well, this one. Anyone can tail onto a long-running thread like this one and ask a few questions. Usually a post with a couple of decent, in-focus pics and an explanation of symptoms will get sorted out in a matter of hours, a day or two at most. Face it, there are probably THOUSANDS of UAV's in use, maybe the single most-successful hobby-upgrade board in A8 history. I've got at least 7 of them in use myself (2 x 1200XL's, 1088XEL, 1088XLD, 5200, 7800, 2600). And I still want to buy a SuperColor CPU card for my Incognito 800, which uses a license-made version of the same circuit. 

[+x=usr(1536)]

6 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

That's true. But that's the joy of an active user-community and a solid A8 forum like, well, this one. Anyone can tail onto a long-running thread like this one and ask a few questions. Usually a post with a couple of decent, in-focus pics and an explanation of symptoms will get sorted out in a matter of hours, a day or two at most. Face it, there are probably THOUSANDS of UAV's in use, maybe the single most-successful hobby-upgrade board in A8 history. I've got at least 7 of them in use myself (2 x 1200XL's, 1088XEL, 1088XLD, 5200, 7800, 2600). And I still want to buy a SuperColor CPU card for my Incognito 800, which uses a license-made version of the same circuit. 

Believe me, I'm not knocking the UAV by any means.  Currently running them in two machines with plans to make that four fairly soon; if I had an issue with the hardware itself, this would be a very different discussion.

 

That said, there's really no good way of knowing how many people may be having difficulty with the instructions because there's no good way to measure how many may come here to research their particular installation.  In my case, I didn't because I had already installed one in the 1200XL, so was able to figure it out from that experience.  But with the 1200XL, I still ended up using instructions other than ones in the manual (but which were linked to in the manual) rather than anything on AA.

 

I don't believe that there is a one-size fits all approach for these sorts of situations.  But they are worth mentioning when they're encountered because if no-one ever says anything, there's no way of knowing how effective they are.

[+MacRorie]

If anyone has questions, feel free to PM or email me.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by MacRorie
Edited