Retro_Game_Lover96 Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 Hey, all. I have a working light 6er Atari console that has a composite mod, a power led, and a pause switch mod. Is is really possible to RGB mod my console? Here are the pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bcombee Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 Looking at the TIA chip pin out (from http://atarihq.com/danb/tia.shtml), there are no RGB signals to use. The TIA directly outputs a color signal and three luma signals, so S-Video is the best video quality you can get out of it. Any RGB circuit would be decoding the baseband video signal in much the same way that a monitor would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_q_atari Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 You should be able to mod it: https://etim.net.au/2600rgb/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Game_Lover96 Posted September 9, 2019 Author Share Posted September 9, 2019 5 minutes ago, bcombee said: Looking at the TIA chip pin out (from http://atarihq.com/danb/tia.shtml), there are no RGB signals to use. The TIA directly outputs a color signal and three luma signals, so S-Video is the best video quality you can get out of it. Any RGB circuit would be decoding the baseband video signal in much the same way that a monitor would. Uh, I meant the installation of the RGB board by Tim Wothington. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Game_Lover96 Posted September 9, 2019 Author Share Posted September 9, 2019 1 minute ago, john_q_atari said: You should be able to mod it: https://etim.net.au/2600rgb/ I wish they should start selling the RGB boards on eBay and Amazon, but you only buy that board from the etim shop site. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_79 Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 I guess you'd need to remove at least the pause mod (the 2600 rgb mod provides a pause feature). The installation of the pause mod requires to cut a trace and remove a resistor: you'd have to revert those modifications by fixing the trace and putting the resistor back in place. You can reuse the hole left by the pause switch to install the "palette" button of the rgb mod (which is also used to pause the console) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Game_Lover96 Posted September 9, 2019 Author Share Posted September 9, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, alex_79 said: I guess you'd need to remove at least the pause mod (the 2600 rgb mod provides a pause feature). The installation of the pause mod requires to cut a trace and remove a resistor: you'd have to revert those modifications by fixing the trace and putting the resistor back in place. You can reuse the hole left by the pause switch to install the "palette" button of the rgb mod (which is also used to pause the console) Crap, I threw out the resistor while working on that mod, but I wonder what kind of the resistor. Basically, the resistor is 4.7K (Yellow-Purple-Red). I just looked it up on https://vintagegamingandmore.com/pause-installation-guide-6-switch/ That is the guide I used to install the pause mod. Edited September 10, 2019 by Retro_Game_Lover96 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Game_Lover96 Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 If I added the new resistor and fix the cut trace while removing the pause mod kit, I can install the RGB mod board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Game_Lover96 Posted September 11, 2019 Author Share Posted September 11, 2019 Can anyone start selling the etim RGB boards for 2600 on eBay and Amazon? Otherwise, I have to buy one from etim shop. Mine was the 6 switch NTSC Atari console. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
root42 Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 0711spiele sells HDMI modded 2600 consoles. You may want to contact them if they are selling mod kits as well: http://www.0711spiele.de/de/atari-2600-jr-black-edition-mit-hdmi-stereo-und-switchless-pause-in-verpackung.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Game_Lover96 Posted September 11, 2019 Author Share Posted September 11, 2019 30 minutes ago, root42 said: 0711spiele sells HDMI modded 2600 consoles. You may want to contact them if they are selling mod kits as well: http://www.0711spiele.de/de/atari-2600-jr-black-edition-mit-hdmi-stereo-und-switchless-pause-in-verpackung.html That is the German site, so I'd rather buy stuff from the USA because I live here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
root42 Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 Oh ok, sure. Thought you were based in Europe. Doesn't etim have US distributors? I thought only Europe and rest of the world had the problem of shipping from Australia... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Game_Lover96 Posted September 11, 2019 Author Share Posted September 11, 2019 2 minutes ago, root42 said: Oh ok, sure. Thought you were based in Europe. Doesn't etim have US distributors? I thought only Europe and rest of the world had the problem of shipping from Australia... Yes, but it costs Australian money, but not the US money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juansolo Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 I've fitted the eTim RGB mod to my six switch and it really is staggering in terms of the jump in quality even from the UAV. Not cheap, but not unreasonable either considering what it's doing. Now I just need him to do one for the 7800, which has probably the poorest picture of all my consoles now. But I know there are gonna be issues with that one given there are essentially two outputs on the thing (internally). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Game_Lover96 Posted September 11, 2019 Author Share Posted September 11, 2019 If only those RGB boards are sold with the US money (like they sold on eBay and Amazon) rather than the AU money from the etim site because it was an Australian site. At least it has the US distributors, but they cost Australian money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 28 minutes ago, Retro_Game_Lover96 said: If only those RGB boards are sold with the US money (like they sold on eBay and Amazon) rather than the AU money from the etim site because it was an Australian site. At least it has the US distributors, but they cost Australian money. These days, credit cards and payment services do the foreign money exchange seamlessly. So, I'm not sure why this is such a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApolloBoy Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 37 minutes ago, Retro_Game_Lover96 said: If only those RGB boards are sold with the US money (like they sold on eBay and Amazon) rather than the AU money from the etim site because it was an Australian site. At least it has the US distributors, but they cost Australian money. PayPal and pretty much every payment processing service will automatically convert the currency for you so that’s a total non-factor. Also, Yurkie here is the American distributor for the 2600RGB so you don’t have to pay extra for international shipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Game_Lover96 Posted September 12, 2019 Author Share Posted September 12, 2019 I assume it is possible to order the RGB board from the etim shop site without having an account. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bcombee Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Wow! I had no idea someone had done this circuit. Very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Game_Lover96 Posted September 12, 2019 Author Share Posted September 12, 2019 If I am installing the etim RGB board on my Atari, do I have to leave the composite mod? Basically, the RGB board takes composite, S-Video, & RGB. Also, there was an add on you can install component as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 4 hours ago, Retro_Game_Lover96 said: I assume it is possible to order the RGB board from the etim shop site without having an account. It seems to be. I went a few clicks in as if I were ordering, and it gave me an option to skip creating an account. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_79 Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 9 hours ago, Retro_Game_Lover96 said: If I am installing the etim RGB board on my Atari, do I have to leave the composite mod? I'd just remove it and wire the existing rca connectors to the composite and audio pins of the RGB mod. The composite output from the RGB board is probably way better than what you can achieve with the simple transistor mod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Game_Lover96 Posted September 12, 2019 Author Share Posted September 12, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, alex_79 said: I'd just remove it and wire the existing rca connectors to the composite and audio pins of the RGB mod. The composite output from the RGB board is probably way better than what you can achieve with the simple transistor mod. Simply remove the composite mod board and leave the RCA connectors for audio from the RGB board instead of using the headphone jack that came with? By the way, the RGB board does come with the controller extra button parts, so is it possible to install it on a Sega Genesis controller? Edited September 12, 2019 by Retro_Game_Lover96 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juansolo Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 (edited) Personally I'm outputting mine over SCART so I connected the audio to the RGB out (bottom two pins of the DIN socket). It's the only socket I installed. You can do others but I didn't see the point. As for the extra joystick functionality. I don't use it, so I just put a switch on the back of the console to allow you to select the default palette (it auto-selecting isn't always great, so setting a default is nice). I rarely ever change it, but the option is there. Also you essentially end up with a true multi-region console doing this, which is a nice side effect. Edited September 12, 2019 by juansolo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Game_Lover96 Posted September 12, 2019 Author Share Posted September 12, 2019 11 minutes ago, juansolo said: Personally I'm outputting mine over SCART so I connected the audio to the RGB out (bottom two pins of the DIN socket). It's the only socket I installed. You can do others but I didn't see the point. As for the extra joystick functionality. I don't use it, so I just put a switch on the back of the console to allow you to select the default palette (it auto-selecting isn't always great, so setting a default is nice). I rarely ever change it, but the option is there. Also you essentially end up with a true multi-region console doing this, which is a nice side effect. That sounds familiar and reasonable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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