70 replies to this topic

[Stephen]

@w1k - I also have the dreaded vertical banding problem with several (as in all that I have tested) of my machines. Most are stock, one has a super video mod as well as the RF modulator removed. I still cannot get a decent picture on any LCD screen I try, and even my newish Toshiba widescreen HD CRT has the lines. My trusty old Commodore 1084S and Capehart 13" dial tuner TV from 1985 displays the Atari image crystal clear.

[w1k]

Stephen, on Fri Mar 4, 2011 7:48 AM, said:

@w1k - I also have the dreaded vertical banding problem with several (as in all that I have tested) of my machines. Most are stock, one has a super video mod as well as the RF modulator removed. I still cannot get a decent picture on any LCD screen I try, and even my newish Toshiba widescreen HD CRT has the lines. My trusty old Commodore 1084S and Capehart 13" dial tuner TV from 1985 displays the Atari image crystal clear.

hm, thats a problem in TV, yes?

[Stephen]

w1k, on Fri Mar 4, 2011 9:47 AM, said:

Stephen, on Fri Mar 4, 2011 7:48 AM, said:

@w1k - I also have the dreaded vertical banding problem with several (as in all that I have tested) of my machines. Most are stock, one has a super video mod as well as the RF modulator removed. I still cannot get a decent picture on any LCD screen I try, and even my newish Toshiba widescreen HD CRT has the lines. My trusty old Commodore 1084S and Capehart 13" dial tuner TV from 1985 displays the Atari image crystal clear.

hm, thats a problem in TV, yes?

Well, it would seem to be a problem with all TVs I have tried which are newer than 10 or 15 years old. New TVs do not like the way out of spec signal the Atari generates. I don't know anything about hardware design or video signals, so I never attempted to fix the issue.

[Marius1976]

Is there still support for this video upgrade?

I was wondering: will this also fix image on Composite Video when I leave the RF modulator installed, or is this fix not possible with the RF modulator in it's place?

Is that KJMANN solution fixing the vertical lines on Composite Video? A lot of my screens do not have SVIDEO, and I'm really interested.

Greetz
M.

[flashjazzcat]

I've more or less abandoned this upgrade, since the electrical approach KJMann's s-video upgrade employs bypasses the circuitry I was trying to fix up and thus gets rid of all the problems. I've seen nothing better on the XL, although I haven't implemented his method on the XE yet. I too would be interested to know if Sal's method helps the vertical line problem.

[flashjazzcat]

Just done a "KJMann s-video mod" on an 800XL, using about 5p worth of parts and some wire. Luma is picked up from the top leg of Q3 and run through a 75 ohm resistor to the jack, and chroma from the bottom of C52, running through a 22uf cap to the jack. It's that simple. Results are great:









I also disconnected R56, R57 and C56.

Edited by flashjazzcat, Thu Nov 3, 2011 7:07 AM.

[thgill]

Looks good.


Would this be easily adaptable to the 130XE? Mine has some vertical lines in the picture. Oddly enough mostly on the left side.

[flashjazzcat]

thgill, on Thu Nov 3, 2011 7:24 AM, said:

Would this be easily adaptable to the 130XE? Mine has some vertical lines in the picture. Oddly enough mostly on the left side.

I'll give it a try on a 130XE and post the results. I tried the same mod on a 1200XL and it was vertical line hell.

[GoodByteXL]

flashjazzcat, on Thu Nov 3, 2011 7:29 AM, said:

thgill, on Thu Nov 3, 2011 7:24 AM, said:

Would this be easily adaptable to the 130XE? Mine has some vertical lines in the picture. Oddly enough mostly on the left side.

I'll give it a try on a 130XE and post the results. I tried the same mod on a 1200XL and it was vertical line hell.

Will be curious to see the results. The only way to overcome this vertical banding I found so far was de-soldering the video scrap in the XE and add a pcb with the XL video circuitry with added video mod. The chance is good to kill this "feature" when setting the background color to e.g. 4 (POKE 710,4) nearly or totally wipes out the banding. If it was still there in distinguished grey I didn't manage to kill that. All this is valid for CRT monitors. TFT screens is a totally different issue. But I saw some good results on meetings with Atarians using a Grand Video Console converter for their RGB-TFT.

[Stephen]

I posted some screenshots of my modded 130XE here. It would be really nice to fix this. The other problem I have when using the s-video port on the TV is losing the color every few seconds. Because of this, I have to use the VGA convertor.

[AtariGeezer]

flashjazzcat, on Thu Nov 3, 2011 7:05 AM, said:

Just done a "KJMann s-video mod" on an 800XL, using about 5p worth of parts and some wire. Luma is picked up from the top leg of Q3 and run through a 75 ohm resistor to the jack, and chroma from the bottom of C52, running through a 22uf cap to the jack. It's that simple. Results are great:

I also disconnected R56, R57 and C56.

Care to post the complete parts list, instructions & schematic of this updated mod? Looks like all the old pics have been deleted

Thanks,
Jay

[flashjazzcat]

AtariGeezer, on Fri Nov 4, 2011 9:16 AM, said:

Care to post the complete parts list, instructions & schematic of this updated mod? Looks like all the old pics have been deleted

No problem - I had intended to do so, but I need to get back to Sal first - it appears he wishes to host his own "DIY" s-video mod page.

[flashjazzcat]

Look here for Sal's latest instructions, in the downloads section of the hardware upgrades page.

Click the stop button on the media player to make the music stop.

[AtariGeezer]

Cool, thanks for posting the link

[bob1200xl]

Try ExpressPCB. They have very simple layout s/w - I use it, so it can't be too difficult!

You have to let them make the board, though. Not so bad, really.

Bob

tregare, on Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:16 PM, said:

puppetmark, on Tue Feb 16, 2010 3:22 PM, said:

flashjazzcat, on Tue Feb 16, 2010 12:13 PM, said:

Turning up the noise reduction and sharpness on the unceasingly awesome LG M226WD really improves things even more:

Looks great. I am glad I could contribute a little. tregare makes a good point about the HCT, ACT devices. I had HC parts on hand, so that's what I used but HCT or ACT would probably be a better choice but IMHO, I don't think the loads will kill the HC4050. Time will tell I am sure.

I have been re-educating myself on circuit design lately. eventually I will be making a xf551 clone controller but am currently designing a SRAM based indus ramcharger circuit board (the learning curve on some of the PCB software out there is a little steep). but I am no longer patient enough or steady of hand enough to lay out a double-sided circuit board by hand.

[_The Doctor__]

I just checked this out, bob1200xl
this is a nice set up... it has schematic designer, board designer and the price is not bad free software helps quite a bit. It is simple and meets the needs. I like it!

[sloopy]

i use gEDA for schematics and PCB's... works pretty good...

sloopy.

[w1k]

tommorow i go test my atari with some LCDs (s-video), if this stupid lines is problem TV or what..

[rdea6]

w1k, on Sun Dec 4, 2011 3:06 PM, said:

tommorow i go test my atari with some LCDs (s-video), if this stupid lines is problem TV or what..

Some of those lines could be the fault of your cable from Atari to TV. Check with another cable, also...
I have an old cable that does this but then I made myself another cable, and now my lines are much less.

[w1k]

I trying this cable with other atari computers - different screens.. i have another 800xe (without UV1.0XE) for sale and screen is clean

[w1k]

today i test my atari on another CRT, but i see that lines again..