Super Video 2.0 vs 2.1...

[DavidMil]

I've done a lot of Super Video 2.0 upgrades to XL machines over a long period of time. I've never done a 2.1 upgrade.

My question is about the quality difference between the two and is it enough to open up my XL's and do the upgrade?

I understand that the 2.1 upgrade builds on the 2.0 upgrade. Has anyone done the 2.1 upgrade? Or is there a better

video upgrade? Please tell me what you think.

 

Thanks,

DavidMil

[ACML]

I've not done the Super Video upgrades, but I have done many ClearPic 2002 upgrades on 1200XLs. I think it does a fine job, but I was really amazed at the UAV rev D. Color and brightness are the same as ClearPic, but the sharpness of pixel edges was amazing. You can see perfect right angles of the pixel on a 46" Samsumg. I've heard many on here post that the Super Video 2.1 is very good. I wish someone would do a back to back comparison.

[DavidMil]

I've not done the Super Video upgrades, but I have done many ClearPic 2002 upgrades on 1200XLs. I think it does a fine job, but I was really amazed at the UAV rev D. Color and brightness are the same as ClearPic, but the sharpness of pixel edges was amazing. You can see perfect right angles of the pixel on a 46" Samsumg. I've heard many on here post that the Super Video 2.1 is very good. I wish someone would do a back to back comparison.

 

There is an old thread from 2012 (Quick and Easy Video Upgrade...) about this same topic. But after reading it and seeing the way information about the various upgrades

has been hashed and mangled; I'm still not certain which is best. I'm not looking to add any boards inside my Atari. So let me put it to a vote.

Clear Pic 2002 or Super Video 2.1?

 

DavidMil

Edited July 17, 2018 by DavidMil

[gozar]

 

There is an old thread from 2012 (Quick and Easy Video Upgrade...) about this same topic. But after reading it and seeing the way information about the various upgrades

has been hashed and mangled; I'm still not certain which is best. I'm not looking to add any boards inside my Atari. So let me put it to a vote.

Clear Pic 2002 or Super Video 2.1?

 

DavidMil

 

The quick and easy video upgrade will get you 80-90% of the way of Clear Pic or Super Video upgrade. The UAV blows everything else away, and is a lot easier to install than either the Clear pic or Super Video.

[SS]

The UAV blows everything else away, and is a lot easier to install than either the Clear pic or Super Video.

Is the UAV still being made? I was under the impression that it was out of production or at least on hiatus.

[+DrVenkman]

Is the UAV still being made? I was under the impression that it was out of production or at least on hiatus.

 

Bryan is currently out of boards with no immediate plans to produce more. From what I've read posted by those who've inquired, he hopes to incorporate a couple changes and perhaps integrate the audio mixing functionality of his little audio companion board so people will have an all-in-one solution no matter what machine they want to install in

[SS]

he hopes to incorporate a couple changes and perhaps integrate the audio mixing functionality of his little audio companion board so people will have an all-in-one solution no matter what machine they want to install in

I hope that this comes to pass; I was unfortunately late to the party on the UAV board. My 600XL has a nice monitor port installed but still kind of a muddy video signal. It would be nice to give it an upgrade and still be able to use the port that it already has installed.

[Frankie]

There is the Sophia boards. They are plug and play. Not a single wire to solder. The latest has DVI output. I thinks its noticably better then UAV, and they are still being made.

[SS]

There is the Sophia boards. They are plug and play. Not a single wire to solder. The latest has DVI output. I thinks its noticably better then UAV, and they are still being made.

I was thinking about a Sophia board but I really need to do some reading up on it.

Edited August 3, 2018 by SS

[+DrVenkman]

There is the Sophia boards. They are plug and play. Not a single wire to solder. The latest has DVI output. I thinks its noticably better then UAV, and they are still being made.

 

That's fine if you want DVI or RGB, but there are caveats: in a number of cases, Sophia won't fit under a keyboard in an XL model unless you remove the neighboring chip's socket and resolder that chip directly to the board (UGH!). Further, RGB is not at all common on the US/NTSC side of the world so if you like CRT displays, you're going to be out of luck unless you can track down a relatively rare monitor. Conversely, early 00's S-video consumer TV's are dirt cheap over here. Just two weeks ago someone gave me a 32" 2005 Toshiba S-video TV (to go along with the 2003 27" S-video Toshiba someone else gave me 2 years ago). Those both make excellent gaming displays for retro systems.

[Gunstar]

Personally, I strongly recommend Supervideo 2.1 (I never tried 2.0) for the 1200XL only, as it utilizes (and fixes) it's special chroma-boost circuit, but other than that one computer, Clearpic or UAV or Sophia are probably the way to go.

Edited August 4, 2018 by Gunstar

[rockdoc2010]

I had two monitors. One avid and the other not. I did the avid mod on an 800xl. Not my favorite A8 computer but the video was crisp and the colors were very clean. Text was sharp and edge ghosting was reduced. But the 800xl went way of parts.

Btw. Dont work on computers in uber dry desert in winter with two cats living in your every while going to college

[rockdoc2010]

Damn autocorrect. My RV

[hueyjones70]

I found a way to mess this mod up. I performed this mod on an 800XL and mistakenly used a 2.2k ohm resistor instead of the 2.2 ohm. The result was a blank screen. Examined the resistors one by one to find the error.

[Panther]

1 hour ago, hueyjones70 said:

I found a way to mess this mod up. I performed this mod on an 800XL and mistakenly used a 2.2k ohm resistor instead of the 2.2 ohm. The result was a blank screen. Examined the resistors one by one to find the error.

What?  More ohms isn't better??  ?

[hueyjones70]

I guess that in this situation less is more.

[+Larry]

Supervideo's day has come and gone. IMO, just a bunch of XL/XE modifications. (Although reversible with extra work.) "Quick and Easy" gets you 90% there with way less work if you want to spend just a little; UAV is the best bet for quality and ease of installation (on socketed systems). 

https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/ultimate-atari-video-uav/products/tba-ultimate-atari-video-uav-board-for-400-800-xl-xe

 

Where a lot of these mods fail is lack of a good quality A/V cable.  Contact the owner -- I believe he still makes these on-demand.  Here's the real deal:

http://herculesworkshop.com/cgi-bin/p/awtp-product.cgi?d=hercules-workshop&item=80304

 

Note: I have both of these products, although my UAVs are earlier Rev C (IIRC).  I was a beta tester for Bryan during development, and I was amazed at how much improvement these gave over most other mods.

 

 

[Beeblebrox]

There are financial considerations regarding the UAV given you can only buy them from the States (AFAIK). (Not complaining BTW - it's a USA made upgrade after all ) 

 

Whilst I agree UAV is very good, (I was luckly enough have a rev D UAV included when I got my driver 800XL), location really makes a difference when weighing up the cost compared with the previously mentioned DIY mods.

 

If you are based outside of the US, in the UK for example as I am, there are the shipping costs and import duties on top of the very reasonable price for the built up unit of £27 ($35 USD). It's these which really ramp up the costs IIRC. 

It's a pity that resellers like Retrolemon over here in the UK don't sell UAV. (Although the latter are a reseller for Lotharek from what I understand).

 

The passive components for the DIY mods such as Supervideo 2.1XL and Clearpic2002 are peanuts and easy to come by.

 

BTW I also have the Hercules double shielded S-video cables and they are amazing. The shipping was pretty cheap from Canada and no import duties thankfully. I had ordered 2 of them last year and wish I'd ordered more. No other Atari S-video cable comes close, (mainly because they either are only single sheilded but more often the case they have no shielding at all!).

Edited April 7, 2022 by Beeblebrox

[+Larry]

Agreed that the SuperVideo mods are cheap, but my other point was that "Quick and Easy" gets you 90% of the way there. It is even cheaper!  It is pleasing to the eye -- at least on NTSC computers!  I believe that it was also developed by Byran who did the UAV.  Also, here is (I believe) a slightly later mod update in Apache Open Office format.  I never saw this extended to the NTSC 600XL.  If you have that, you will need to go another route.

 

Quick and Easy Update.odt

 

Here's the original (really good!) thread:

 

 

[Beeblebrox]

11 minutes ago, Larry said:

Agreed that the SuperVideo mods are cheap, but my other point was that "Quick and Easy" gets you 90% of the way there. It is even cheaper!  It is pleasing to the eye -- at least on NTSC computers!  I believe that it was also developed by Byran who did the UAV.  Also, here is (I believe) a slightly later mod update in Apache Open Office format.  I never saw this extended to the NTSC 600XL.  If you have that, you will need to go another route.

 

Quick and Easy Update.odt 121.85 kB · 2 downloads

 

Here's the original (really good!) thread:

 

 

@Larry  Thanks. I've seen the quick any easy mod and implemented the Chroma hook up element of it many times on 800XLs.  You have reminded me posting this about the other little tweaks Bryan has there so thanks - might check them an the updated doc instructions out and try it on one of my 800XLs.

 

UAV is likely better overall. I suppose my point was just the cost consideration for users outside of the US being a deciding factor. I think if I lived in the US I'd likely go for the UAV 99% of the time for mosts A8s, (with the exception of the 1200XL where I'd favour the Supervideo 2.1XL over UAV as recommended by others).