Favorite/best RGB amp?

[D-Lite]

I usually pull it off the S-Video circuit when I do that, but I'm going to do a Duo without S-Video, but RGB.  Thoughts, opinions?

[offsidewing]

Not to hijack your thread, but how much better is the video quality with an RGB mod?  Could you hook it up to component inputs, or just a 15-pin monitor input?

Anyways, I'm ignint when it come to RGB and the PCE/Turbo, but curious (like a 19 year old co-ed on spring break in Cancun).

[D-Lite]

Not to hijack your thread, but how much better is the video quality with an RGB mod?  Could you hook it up to component inputs, or just a 15-pin monitor input?

Anyways, I'm ignint when it come to RGB and the PCE/Turbo, but curious (like a 19 year old co-ed on spring break in Cancun).

It's definitely better than pretty much anything else in terms of signal and can be converted to component externally.  And you could put it through SCART or any other format plug, just what you choose.  But the signal needs amping from the Turbo.

[Duo_R]

I tried the "full amp" and then a very simple amp, both hooked up to a RGB to component YUV box I CANNOT tell the difference. So I would go with the simple amp (same one that mmonkey does on his website) with the 3 transistors.

[papa_november]

I tried the simple amp and it was so blurry it looked almost as bad as composite.

And this was with an XRGB-2.

I really wish there was a blank PCB available for the full amp because it is murder to do it on breadboard.

[masaruh]

By "full amp" I assume you mean the one on Gamesx? Or is there another one?

I'm fairly fond of the one on the Gamesx website, it gives a decent image and is easy to build :-)

Have built a few of those, I built this one today. Though, it is nothing short of a Lie to get one of these inside a Core Grafx... Or has anyone been able to fit a decent amp into a Core Grafx?

Amp front and back:

[CGQuarterly]

I am about to build an RGB Amp for my TG16, and am planning on giving this one a try:

http://www.gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:n64rgb-amp

This amp is interesting to me because it uses ICs instead of transistors.  It was originally designed for the N64 but has also been shown to work well with the TG16/PCE and the NES.  My NES has an older amp design in it that produces some faint vertical lines on the screen.  Not a big deal, but if this amp works better, then I am going to switch it out.  So I'm going to go ahead and order the parts to make two of them.

Chris

[Necromancer]

Welcome aboard, Jibbajaba.  That sounds like a good plan; please take some before and after screen shots to show how big of an improvement the new amp makes.

[CGQuarterly]

Thanks!  I definitely will.  I haven't even ordered the parts yet, though, so it's going to be a couple of weeks.

Chris

[SNKNostalgia]

I just wish there was a way to get rid of the slight vertical bars in solid backgrounds along with the mild RF like interference on say a solid blue background. The vertical bars show the worst on solid white screens or the green BG graphics in Bonks Adventure for example. The mild RF like interference shows in the BG graphics of games like the sky in Blood Gear. This just has to do with the RGB that comes out of the HuC6270. Even my system uses the better CXA2075 with S-video modded by grahf here and it shows. Still, the resolution and colors are great though.

Maybe some filter could fix it?

[masaruh]

I've not seen any vertical lines in the PC Engines RGB output after being amped. If you start a PC Engine without a Hu-card in it, the PCE will display a solid white image, are the vertical bars visible there?

Do you know which amp your PC Engine uses?

The one I posted previously is the same as this one: http://www.gamesx.com/grafx/pce_rgb.jpg found on here on the gamesx wiki: http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:pcergb

I think it is good but it does make the image a slight bit softer, very slight.

The new ic amp design is interesting, would like to see the results. I'm not very fond of it though :-) It'll be a very dark day when I use ICs instead of transistors(as long as it is still reasonable of course) and it is more expensive. The Transistor amp has the plus of having components that can be had for about a $.

Jibbajaba: What NES do you own? The american NES2? I have worked with the Famicom a bit and it has close to disgusting vertical lines, especially in blue colours. But those are not from the amp, they are in the video and comes from interference from the data lines on the board. Although Nintendo didn't do that mistake with the NES and I would be suprised if they had made it again on the NES2... Although we are talking about Nintendo...

[CGQuarterly]

Jibbajaba: What NES do you own? The american NES2? I have worked with the Famicom a bit and it has close to disgusting vertical lines, especially in blue colours. But those are not from the amp, they are in the video and comes from interference from the data lines on the board. Although Nintendo didn't do that mistake with the NES and I would be suprised if they had made it again on the NES2... Although we are talking about Nintendo...

No.  I have an American model 1 NES that I modded for RGB output.  The vertical lines that I'm talking about are not the ones that plague the model 2.  I suspect that the lines are caused by the RGB amp that I built when I did the mod.  I could swear I read something about it in the RGB forum in NFGames, but I can't seem to find it.  The lines are faint and don't really bother me, but if I can build a better amp that will improve my mod, then of course I'm going to do it.

I ordered the parts last night from Mouser.  As an amusing aside, I could not pick Priority Mail as a shipping option because among the things that I ordered was one CR2032 battery.  Apparently batteries are a regulated substance and can not be transported on a plane, so now I have to wait for UPS ground.  Sucks because I was hoping to build the amp this weekend.  I am getting REALLY tired of playing my TG16 in composite video.  I play every other system I have in RGB so I'm used to it, which makes playing something in composite look really bad.

Chris

[D-Lite]

Jibbajaba: What NES do you own? The american NES2? I have worked with the Famicom a bit and it has close to disgusting vertical lines, especially in blue colours. But those are not from the amp, they are in the video and comes from interference from the data lines on the board. Although Nintendo didn't do that mistake with the NES and I would be suprised if they had made it again on the NES2... Although we are talking about Nintendo...

No.  I have an American model 1 NES that I modded for RGB output.  The vertical lines that I'm talking about are not the ones that plague the model 2.  I suspect that the lines are caused by the RGB amp that I built when I did the mod.  I could swear I read something about it in the RGB forum in NFGames, but I can't seem to find it.  The lines are faint and don't really bother me, but if I can build a better amp that will improve my mod, then of course I'm going to do it.

I ordered the parts last night from Mouser.  As an amusing aside, I could not pick Priority Mail as a shipping option because among the things that I ordered was one CR2032 battery.  Apparently batteries are a regulated substance and can not be transported on a plane, so now I have to wait for UPS ground.  Sucks because I was hoping to build the amp this weekend.  I am getting REALLY tired of playing my TG16 in composite video.  I play every other system I have in RGB so I'm used to it, which makes playing something in composite look really bad.

Chris

The CR2032 is probably the only thing RadioShack is good for these days. 

[CGQuarterly]

Yeah but they overcharge for stuff like that.  I can get medical grade CR2032's at the local electronics shop for less than RS charges for their brand.  The battery that I ordered from Mouser has solder tabs attached, which is why I am interested in it.  I am having problems finding a coin battery holder that is flat enough to fit into a SNES cartridge.  Obviously if I can find batteries that have the solder tabs already attached then I won't have to worry about the holder in the first place.  Basically I am trying to find the best way to replace dead batteries in cartridge games that use battery back-up for game saves.

OT, how's it going, man?  I remember meeting you at CGE 2k5.  Man that was a long time ago.

Chris

[SNKNostalgia]

I've not seen any vertical lines in the PC Engines RGB output after being amped. If you start a PC Engine without a Hu-card in it, the PCE will display a solid white image, are the vertical bars visible there?

Do you know which amp your PC Engine uses?

The one I posted previously is the same as this one: http://www.gamesx.com/grafx/pce_rgb.jpg found on here on the gamesx wiki: http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:pcergb

I think it is good but it does make the image a slight bit softer, very slight.

The new ic amp design is interesting, would like to see the results. I'm not very fond of it though :-) It'll be a very dark day when I use ICs instead of transistors(as long as it is still reasonable of course) and it is more expensive. The Transistor amp has the plus of having components that can be had for about a $.

I am not sure what the actual amp is. grahf on these forums in one of the S-video mod thread's did it and there are pics of the board. It is very small and professionally done, all on a custom board with traces. Same thing with his region IC mod the size of a quarter just about.

Right now, I am at my parents visiting so can't open it and tell you yet. My system is a US Duo so it just goes to the CD start screen with no card in it. When there is a solid color the bars aren't like what you see in a NES 2 or Genesis 2. It is more like every 10% distance of the whole screen from left to right the color is little darker, lighter, darker, lighter, etc... It is subtle overall, but very noticeable on certain solid color backgrounds.