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CollectorVision Phoenix Release Thread


Bmack36

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13 hours ago, Bmack36 said:

The menu should work with real carts. You just need to hold * or # when the core boots or during a reset. So when the system powers up and the LED turns off to load the core, then press and hold * or # until the menu comes up. You can also hold * or # and then hit the reset button while holding the button and it will bring up the menu.

 

The settings are not persistent so you would need to set them up each time. (This may not be the end goal solution, but will allow the games to be played properly in the mean time).

Thanks for the clarification.  Been testing this out more this morning and it works well - thanks to the team for this update.  There are a few niggles with it though that I'll add to GitHub later today.

  1. Pressing the keypad buttons 1 or 2 to toggle the settings will sometimes result in the setting being toggled twice, i.e. back to its original setting.  I tested this on three different original ColecoVision controllers and both of my Phoenix's.  It happens frequently enough to be irritating.
  2. It is possible to get confused with the flicker status when making changes at the SD loader menu.  You can toggle the flicker to ON (press 2) and then exit (press 9).  Now say you've changed your mind and you press * again to access the menu - it now show the flicker as being OFF (even though you just set it to ON).  Okay, so I really wanted it OFF, it's displaying OFF, so now I'll just exit by pressing 9.  The problem is that if I now play a game the flicker is actually still set to ON even though it was displayed as being OFF.

I really like the LED colour changes.  Now, when I power off my Phoenix I see a red light for about 5 seconds (indicating the HDMI power feedback).  All I now have to do is wait for the red light to go out before powering up my Phoenix.  So long as the Phoenix LED is off when powering it up, it starts perfectly every time.  Nice ?

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40 minutes ago, MMarcoux66 said:

With this new CV core, I am getting bad sound in Frogger. Going to test again on a different TV, but seems to be some issues.

 

Yep - I can hear the problem too.  The issue I hear is in the music - this sounded fine with the previous core version.

 

This may also be affecting QBIQS as the voice samples don't sound right either.

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I hope the new core version isn't based on the one that arrived in many of our Phoenix units which I had significant problems with...

 

The one that FIXED 90% all my issues (except for my Sony Bravia incompatibility) was the one in the first post a few days ago (before the update).

 

If this new one is based on the one that shipped that caused an issue in many units that was fixed by the older core, please make sure that's available. ;)

 

I'm backing my known working one up right now!

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9 minutes ago, Lil Alien said:

I hope the new core version isn't based on the one that arrived in many of our Phoenix units which I had significant problems with...

 

The one that FIXED 90% all my issues (except for my Sony Bravia incompatibility) was the one in the first post a few days ago (before the update).

 

If this new one is based on the one that shipped that caused an issue in many units that was fixed by the older core, please make sure that's available. ;)

 

I'm backing my known working one up right now!

Can you post the version you have here? Like an idiot, I copied over with the current version that has the sound issues with Frogger. 

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5 minutes ago, Oldschool80skid said:

Can you post the version you have here? Like an idiot, I copied over with the current version that has the sound issues with Frogger. 

Sure, these are the original files directly posted into the first post of the thread until this recent update... Of course it doesn't have any of the new enhancements made, but it doesn't have the audio issues either.

 

 

CORE01.PHX CORE02.PHX

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17 minutes ago, Lil Alien said:

Sure, these are the original files directly posted into the first post of the thread until this recent update... Of course it doesn't have any of the new enhancements made, but it doesn't have the audio issues either.

 

 

CORE01.PHX 460 kB · 1 download CORE02.PHX 460 kB · 0 downloads

Perfect!! Thanks!! I'll be sure to backup each core update separately going forward. 

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On 11/13/2019 at 5:19 PM, Ikrananka said:

Just squeezed in a quick test of the new core and the new scanlines/flicker menu.  Found some issues with it:

  1. With the menu displayed, pressing 1 on my controller would briefly switch to scanlines but would then immediately switch them off as I released the 1 on the controller keypad.  Seems rather temperamental to get the scanlines to toggle and land on the setting you want.
  2. The flicker menu item certainly toggles between ON and OFF nicely.  However, if I set it to ON, then press 9 to exit the menu, and then press * again to access it the menu shows flicker as being OFF even though I left set it to ON.
  3. This menu doesn't work if using real cartridges - or are these new menu settings now persistent?

1: Keyboard bounce... I didn't de-bounce it. Guess we can put that in the next version. Basically when you press or release the key, it's sending extra signals. This is a normal switch problem.

2: Ah, so it is. ;) Side effect of over optimization. 

3: Hold pound or star when turning on the real cartridge - this is what the menu was added for. ;) The menu is not available after the game has booted.

 

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On 11/14/2019 at 7:26 AM, Ikrananka said:
  1. Pressing the keypad buttons 1 or 2 to toggle the settings will sometimes result in the setting being toggled twice, i.e. back to its original setting.  I tested this on three different original ColecoVision controllers and both of my Phoenix's.  It happens frequently enough to be irritating.
  2. It is possible to get confused with the flicker status when making changes at the SD loader menu.  You can toggle the flicker to ON (press 2) and then exit (press 9).  Now say you've changed your mind and you press * again to access the menu - it now show the flicker as being OFF (even though you just set it to ON).  Okay, so I really wanted it OFF, it's displaying OFF, so now I'll just exit by pressing 9.  The problem is that if I now play a game the flicker is actually still set to ON even though it was displayed as being OFF.

1: Keyboard bounce. I can fix that.

2: Bad optimization. I can fix that. ;)

 

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13 hours ago, Tursi said:

1: Keyboard bounce... I didn't de-bounce it. Guess we can put that in the next version. Basically when you press or release the key, it's sending extra signals. This is a normal switch problem.

2: Ah, so it is. ;) Side effect of over optimization. 

3: Hold pound or star when turning on the real cartridge - this is what the menu was added for. ;) The menu is not available after the game has booted.

 

 

12 hours ago, Tursi said:

1: Keyboard bounce. I can fix that.

2: Bad optimization. I can fix that. ;)

 

Thank you ?  I'll add it to GitHub just so it's logged.

 

I got it to work with a cart - thanks ☺️

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So I took my Phoenix to a local game store to try it on his HDMI tv and we heard no background sound distortion as I posted a video about a couple weeks ago. This is good news as it seems to confirm that it's not the Phoenix itself. I'm still planning on buying an HDMI to composite adapter and play it on a CRT for the time being

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So I just got one of those HDMI to RCA adapters to use with the Phoenix and it works great. No noise distortion, it sounds great and if I'm being honest, I actually prefer running it to a crt tv. It seems more natural looking than HDMI. Having said that I will probably buy a small 30" or less HDMI tv just for my game room but bottom line, I can now enjoy my Phoenix for the first time since I got it over 2 weeks ago.

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On 11/13/2019 at 6:42 PM, Bmack36 said:

The background sound issues seems to be related to something related to specific TVs. This is something we are looking into, but don't have a solution yet. I am updating the first post soon with a new version. Try that one out and see if anything changes. Without having that sound issue on any of my TVs is tougher to fix.

 

Not that you need my help searching the internet for TVs, but I thought it might be helpful to point out that the specific TV I have that is producing the background noise is easy to find used.  Here is one example that you can get for relatively cheap:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/Toshiba-19AV500U-19-LCD-HDTV/183993083848?hash=item2ad6d7a7c8:g:ruYAAOSwm2pdomGD

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I received mine today and have not come across any of the audio issues.  I tested it on an older 32" Samsung and my newer 55" Samsung.  I added Colecovision and Atari ROMs to the SD card and was able to access and load from both cores without any issue.  I also tested a few actual carts (Frenzy, Donkey Kong and of course, Sydney Hunter). 

 

My thanks go out to all involved with making this system a reality.

 

Phoenix.jpg

 

 

Closeup.jpg

 

 

SerialNumber.jpg

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New core updates:

 

Updated CV Core (11/23/19) Rev 6

CORE01.PHX

Changes:

-Changed Keyboard detection fix from port 30 to 31 to fix issue with Courtney

-Changed back to Courtney sound chip from generic AY chip

-Speech in Wizard of Wor and QBIQS fixed

-still might need a few audio mixing tweaks

-Fixes to F18a settings menu

 

Service Menu (11/23/19)

SERVICE.PHX

Install by pressing # to go to service menu and then press 3 to install service.

Changes:

-Added core revision display on install and load core screens

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