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Atari 5200 Composite Mod kit


bszarek001

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Hey everyone, Ive done a few UAV Mods on some four ports and they work perfectly, however, I understand Bryan is away from the hobby currently. I did some digging for alternatives around here and found Crossbows reference to http://electronicsentimentalities.com/Assembled%20Mods.html, however it appears he is also going through a rough patch and is no longer providing kits. Does anyone know of anyone else making 5200 mod kits?

 

Thanks all!

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I still hope Bryan gets back to making UAV's in the next couple months - my 4 port desperately needs to dump RF!

 

If worse comes to worse, once I get my second unit working again, I'll research the simple transistor composite mod for the 2600/7800 and try to adapt it to the 5200. If I can get it working on a breadboard, I'll buy some perfboard and put it inside the case and call it good enough til UAV's are available again. Let's face it, it can't be that hard. The signals are all there coming off the board. Just gotta figure out where to pick them up from the schematic, probably right near the 4050 chip or out of the socket pins, just like the UAV does.

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No kits, but I do have some pcboards for a composite mod that sits between the GTIA and its socket. This was based on low_budget's design in one of the threads here.

 

post-65374-0-44007500-1541956820_thumb.jpg

 

I believe Shawn has built one of my video mods here, and might have some experience to share with it.

 

Scott

Edited by smbaker
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No kits, but I do have some pcboards for a composite mod that sits between the GTIA and its socket. This was based on low_budget's design in one of the threads here.

 

attachicon.gifatari_5200_videomod.JPG

 

I believe Shawn has built one of my video mods here, and might have some experience to share with it.

 

Scott

 

But this is composite only? Would be awesome if s-video could be added as that is my preferred method for these old consoles. I actually preferred the budget kit for the 5200 as I never experienced any jail bars as seem to be present on the UAVs I installed. Also while the UAV was supposed to be easier, I found it just as time consuming as other kits because I always had to find a way to get the 4050 back in circuit in order to any picture at all form the 5200. I did a video a while back documenting this and how I basically rebuilt the UAV to make it all work and still be low profile for the RF shield to attach.

 

Bryan's redesign for the UAV is supposed to have a 4050 included for just this situation along with other changes I know he was wanting to implement. But...yeah... he is on a vaca from this currently so hopefully he comes back soon with UAVs and maybe other options as well!

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No kits, but I do have some pcboards for a composite mod that sits between the GTIA and its socket. This was based on low_budget's design in one of the threads here.

 

atari_5200_videomod.JPG

 

I believe Shawn has built one of my video mods here, and might have some experience to share with it.

 

Scott

Hey Scott - just PMd you. Thanks.

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But this is composite only? Would be awesome if s-video could be added as that is my preferred method for these old consoles.

 

It should support both composite and s-video. The s-video pins are brought out to the header. I just have never tried the s-video output as I don't have an s-video capable TV anymore.

 

Scott

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It should support both composite and s-video. The s-video pins are brought out to the header. I just have never tried the s-video output as I don't have an s-video capable TV anymore.

 

Scott

 

I would love to do this mod, but unfortunately I have time constraints with my job and family, etc. Have you thought about possibly manufacturing these (or building these) with all the components already soldered on? I'm obviously not familiar with how you've had these built, but with no other 5200 mods currently on market (i did some digging, there aren't), I bet they would sell like hotcakes (if you wanted them to). I would certainly pay more for that work already done, mainly because I don't have every single component in my tool chest here at home and would take forever and a day to source everything. I'm sure most people would feel the same. Just a thought. :)

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It should support both composite and s-video. The s-video pins are brought out to the header. I just have never tried the s-video output as I don't have an s-video capable TV anymore.

 

Scott

Ah...so they are part of the unused pins off the header to the left then? I see four pins? What are they all? I can see 1 for Chroma, Luma, and ground possibly, but you wouldn't need a separate ground for each of them. So..the fourth pin?

 

Also how tall does this PCB sandwich stand? My concern would be that you couldn't attach the RF shield back on afterwards. Lots of people may not care and just toss it after doing an AV mod, but the RF shield also prevents unwanted interference from affecting the new AV mod as well, so I always try and keep the shielding intact as much as possible.

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I had a similar issue with the 5200 uav mod I did, however, I was able to get it to go. It was tight, esp doing the power mod at the same time. My 5200 performs well and I dont mind composite. Only one of my TVs has an s-video input anyway. icon_wink.gif

 

Which part was tight? You mean having room for everything?

 

I install the s-video on the side with the power jack that gets installed, but due to how thick the actual plastic is there, I've been moving all of that over to the expansion plate instead. Plus there is already an opening through the RF shielding there to route the wiring without having to cut it up.

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Thats exactly what I did. The expansion plate is tricky, though, as its some of the only free space available for ports but obviously moves around a lot. For mine, I put the power there and the AV next to it. Ill have to find some pics from when I did it. It was a while ago.

 

But yes, it was tight putting the case back on after soldering the uav to the 4050. The first time I only soldered a few pins but I didnt like how unstable it was. The second time I basically soldered the whole thing on. Lol.

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yeah if you've seen my video on what I did I ended up cutting all the jumper pins off. Then soldered on the bottom of the UAV where the jumpers would have normally gone. I then soldered the socket to the top of the UAV and inserted the 4050 there. Removing the jumper pins allowed just enough clearance for everything to fit with about 1mm of space between the top of the green terminal block and the RF shielding. Luckily nothing conductive would be grounding against it to worry about with the way it was all put together.

 

that is why Brian told me the new design for the UAV would include a small 4050 IC on it that could be jumper enabled as needed for better compatibility with the 5200.

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Yes, I saw that on his response on the UAV thread (which needs to broken up, because DAMN it's long). At any rate, in my opinion, he's doing the Lords work by creating relatively simple solutions for the archaic machines. He seems to be the only one. I hope he and his situation improve soon.

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Ah...so they are part of the unused pins off the header to the left then? I see four pins? What are they all? I can see 1 for Chroma, Luma, and ground possibly, but you wouldn't need a separate ground for each of them. So..the fourth pin?

 

Also how tall does this PCB sandwich stand? My concern would be that you couldn't attach the RF shield back on afterwards. Lots of people may not care and just toss it after doing an AV mod, but the RF shield also prevents unwanted interference from affecting the new AV mod as well, so I always try and keep the shielding intact as much as possible.

 

I have a ground for each pin, so the pinout is:

GND

COMP

GND

CHROMA

GND

LUMA

 

I figured if someone wants to run individual coaxial cables for chroma and luma, it's easier if the grounds terminate separately than having to tie them together. I haven't checked the overall height, and I never reinstalled my original RF shield.

 

 

 

I would love to do this mod, but unfortunately I have time constraints with my job and family, etc. Have you thought about possibly manufacturing these (or building these) with all the components already soldered on? I'm obviously not familiar with how you've had these built, but with no other 5200 mods currently on market (i did some digging, there aren't), I bet they would sell like hotcakes (if you wanted them to). I would certainly pay more for that work already done, mainly because I don't have every single component in my tool chest here at home and would take forever and a day to source everything. I'm sure most people would feel the same. Just a thought. :)

 

Unfortunately, I just don't have the time. Typically I make things for myself and sell off the spare pcboards.

 

If I was to start manufacturing something, it would probably be my handheld controller, from a risk standpoint (much more could go wrong with people opening up their consoles).

 

Scott

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I have a ground for each pin, so the pinout is:

GND

COMP

GND

CHROMA

GND

LUMA

But those grounds all ping together anyway so...there really isn't a difference. Heck the last UAV mod I did I actually just took ground right off one of the anchor points where the RF modulator used to be. No problems and even though there are two grounds marked on the UAV output pins, they have continuity to each other so you could again tie all the grounds to one point.

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But those grounds all ping together anyway so...there really isn't a difference.

 

Electrically it makes no difference, but mechanically I find it easier to terminate one wire per pin on a 0.100" header. My general policy is that having extra grounds usually doesn't hurt, it gives the builder options.

 

Scott

Edited by smbaker
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  • 3 months later...

No kits, but I do have some pcboards for a composite mod that sits between the GTIA and its socket. This was based on low_budget's design in one of the threads here.

 

attachicon.gifatari_5200_videomod.JPG

 

I believe Shawn has built one of my video mods here, and might have some experience to share with it.

 

Scott

 

The S-Video off Scott's board is crystal clear.

 

post-7107-0-47952200-1550523577.png

 

post-7107-0-80786800-1550523605.jpg

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I just installed another UAV this weekend into a client's 5200. This one took some work due to the fact the original 5200 arrived shattered in the mail. I sourced a replacement junker and went from there. Just finished it last night... Uses a UAV that I got in separate kit form to build up as needed. I decided to make it tiny bit easier by just soldering the 4050 directly to the header pins for the original socket. Was easier to do this way as well in the end. Used small leads on the bottom of the board to replicate the jumper settings instead of installing the jumper headers to also again, save space on the height of it.

 

The s-video from the UAV has never shown the jail bars that I've seen. They only really show up when using the composite video and only on games that use blue as the background it seems. But on S-video it looks as good as the older Electronic Sentimentalities board kit.

post-6-0-68366000-1550528611_thumb.jpg

post-6-0-20695300-1550528623_thumb.jpg

post-6-0-04296600-1550528778_thumb.jpg

Edited by -^Cro§Bow^-
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  • 3 months later...

 

The S-Video off Scott's board is crystal clear.

 

post-7107-0-47952200-1550523577.png

 

post-7107-0-80786800-1550523605.jpg

 

 

 

I've toyed with getting this done in the past, but did not go through with it. I figure it must have been either due to the price, or the fear that an HDMI version was "just around the corner"... (I cannot remember which).

 

With my memory, I do not even remember what the ball park figure is on getting on installed. Can anyone clue me in?

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Not that exact model but I did use a decent composite and s-video to HDMI converter. Even if you don't have an s-video input on your TV, if you plan to use a converter like this, then you should look at getting an s-video mod done and have that get converted to HDMI instead as it will look better than just composite converted to HDMI.

 

Also be advised that most of these devices do not have a selector for the aspect ratio so all the video is stretched from the HDMI side. Some of these converters do have aspect selectors on them but if you TV also allows you to change the aspect back to 4:3 on digital inputs like HDMI then you can do it that way as well. That is what I did with my semi cheap converter I was using for several years. Last...far as I know, all of these devices add lag to video and that can effect game play if you aren't used to it or unable to compensate for it when playing.

 

I was playing all of my retro consoles with s-video mods using a similar device for like 7 years. It wasn't until this summer that I invested in my Extron 7SC to handle my composite and s-video modded consoles to send them to the OSSC.

 

Also forgot to mention that I've received word that ElectronicSentimentalities has his AV mod boards back in stock and you can order them up again. So for those that aren't happy with the UAV setup, you might look into that. I do think the composite looked better through the ES board solution but the s-video was identical between the UAV and the ES boards that I've seen. The UAV is a simpler install to a point as I do advise lifting the GTIA pins and soldering them directly to the ES board setup. But that will totally kill the RF video out if you go that route. UAV keeps the RF intact should you still want to use it and the UAV is more easily undone should you want to take the system back to stock.

Edited by -^Cro§Bow^-
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  • 1 month later...
1 hour ago, Krispy3371 said:

Hi!

Is it possible to get s-video out of a 2-port Atari 5200? I don't feel comfortable in modding it myself.

Yes all models of the 5200 can be modded with both composite and s-video. Keep in mind that thus far AV modding a 5200 tends to break the VCS adapter compatibility in the process so if you don't plan to use a VCS adapter with it (I personally just use my 7800 for all 2600 and 7800 games), then it can certainly be modded pretty easily. Both the UAV and the kit from eletronicsentimentalities are available again and both produce excellent results. I find the UAV to be a little better from an installer point of view as it makes it easier to reverse everything back to stock if you wished to later.

 

Depending on where you live, there are several of us here who can offer to mod your 5200 for you. I would simply choose whomever is closest to you for shipping reasons as the 5200 is a delicate beast to ship and can cost quite a bit to send cross country.

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