S-Video For Atari 400

[reifsnyderb]

47 minutes ago, andymanone said:

Sorry,

stupid question: 

 

will this module be available for purchase for other users?

 

Thx and cheers,

andY

In the near future.  There's one more minor issue to resolve relating to some resistor values.

[reifsnyderb]

A big thank you to @mytek as he's been helping me troubleshoot this card.   

 

More testing and progress has been made.  I took some pictures but my camera doesn't do it justice.  S-Video is really nice and the colors look great. 

 

Composite video now lines up but has a "smeared" lumina after-effect.  While it would be nice to get composite video working, composite video is a compromise and not a huge priority here.  I'll look at it some more at some point.

 

Here's a couple pictures of the S-Video output.  This is NTSC as PAL isn't on the card.  Please keep in mind the camera really doesn't do it justice even with it's exposure turned all the way down.

 

  

 

 

 

[invisible kid]

Hi, I was curious about artifacting. Going by memory, s-video won't produce it, but composite does. Is that correct? Just curious, very cool looking!

[reifsnyderb]

Thanks again to a suggestion by @mytek, composite video will be possible in the next generation of boards.  I am going to use what I've learned to see if I can make this generation usable for S-Video only.

 

The composite video is what I'd term "adequate".  Everything lines up but it is slightly "fuzzy".  It would probably look ok on a tube TV.

 

[reifsnyderb]

1 hour ago, invisible kid said:

Hi, I was curious about artifacting. Going by memory, s-video won't produce it, but composite does. Is that correct? Just curious, very cool looking!

I am not sure about artifacting.  Hopefully someone can chime in with the answer.

[invisible kid]

Yeah, some games rely on it for color, if it doesn't support it they will appear black and white.

[reifsnyderb]

2 minutes ago, invisible kid said:

Yeah, some games rely on it for color, if it doesn't support it they will appear black and white.

Do you know of any?  If I can find or get a copy I'll test it.

[invisible kid]

Title screen From Ultima II is one. You might have to be careful, I think some of these types of titles were converted to gr.7. In BASIC you could do a gr.8:plot 0,0:drawto 1,100 and that should show it too.

 

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by invisible kid

[reifsnyderb]

I just ran the test here:  http://www.atarimania.com/faq-atari-400-800-xl-xe-what-is-artifacting_22.html

 

The pixels are the same color so the S-Video doesn't do the artifacting.

 

[+mytek]

11 hours ago, reifsnyderb said:

The pixels are the same color so the S-Video doesn't do the artifacting.

Nor should it, unless the TV doesn't actually have a true S-Video input signal path (I do own a Samsung TV/Monitor that cheaped out on it's S-Video input, and is not handled as S-Video internally, but instead is exactly the same as composite).

 

Anyway I think @Bryan said it best starting in this post...

 

 

Edited July 7, 2022 by mytek

[+scorpio_ny]

Hi @reifsnyderb,

 

I just checking in to see how it is going with the s-video card for the 400. Any new updates?

 

[reifsnyderb]

2 minutes ago, scorpio_ny said:

Hi @reifsnyderb,

 

I just checking in to see how it is going with the s-video card for the 400. Any new updates?

 

I've got 3 completed and a working cable.  I want to get more made before I put some up for sale.  (I've got to keep 2 for myself.  One for my "Special" Atari 400 with 1056k of RAM and one for my test Atari 400.)

 

Edit to add:  I am thinking I'll put a couple out on Tindie on Monday some time.

 

Edited July 16, 2022 by reifsnyderb

[reifsnyderb]

Also, I need to write up some decent installation instructions.  It will need one (Pokey) or two (w/SIO) wires connected to the main board, unfortunately.  Otherwise, it works great with S-Video.  I am really pleased with the outcome.  So far, it has the following:

 

1.  Adds S-Video to an Atari 400.

2.  Has an amplifier for Pokey and SIO sound to combine them and provide them along with S-Video.

3.  S-Video cable has a female DIN connector wired similar to an 800/XL/XE monitor port.  This cable supplies Luma, Chroma, Audio, and Ground.

4.  Board is 4 layers with 2nd layer being the ground layer to help reduce noise.

5.  Audio and Video sections have extra grounds between most traces to help reduce noise.

6.  Audio and Video +5VDC have extra filtering and are shielded by ground traces.

7.  Can be used with either a 6502B or a 6502C Sally CPU.  (Two jumpers are used to select the processor.)

8.  NTSC only.  (Sorry.)

9.  RF is disabled.

 

Edited July 16, 2022 by reifsnyderb

[+scorpio_ny]

That is great @reifsnyderb! I am looking forward to getting one. One question that came to mind: do we have to source the S-video cables ourselves or will it be included in the kit?

 

 

[reifsnyderb]

Several months ago I figured out how to get composite video working with this card and added it.  However, I didn't bother getting any boards made as I didn't find the addition of composite video to be that compelling.  However, since I just figured out how to use a W65C02 on one of these cards I figured I'd add the jumpers to make it easy to configure and came up with this card.  In addition to being able to add Composite and S-Video to an Atari 400, it now supports the 6502B, Sally, and the W65C02.  If somebody insists on having composite video, two jumpers on the left side will add the capability.  The CPU can be selected with 4 jumpers on the right.  I'll have to order some soon.   😎

 

While it's mainly a card for a 400, it will work in an 800 if somebody really wants to have a card that supports the W65C02 processor.  On an 800, however, the video will have to be connected to the outside by running the right wires to it's connector or using the external cable.  Personally, I think the 800's video is just fine...but this card will deliver better S-Video.