25 replies to this topic

[Drakon]

There's many advantages to the AV famicom. The AV famicom is the only known model of the nes that doesn't have video interference when you modify it to use a rgb ppu chip. Also the av famicom is a top loader meaning that games will always work on it. The av famicom has controller ports for standard nes controllers and it's small and looks nice. Here's what I did to my av famicom:





Here's how the system looks when everything's been put back together:



As you can see, this av famicom has been modified almost as much as humanly possible. Here's the features of it:

This av famicom outputs true rgb, s-video, and composite video from the multi av port at the back. This multi av port is the same video port as you find on a snes, my system is wired the same way as the snes so all you need to do is buy snes rgb/s-video/composite video cables to get the video signals out to your tv. Here's some comparison screenshots between the s-video on my av famicom vs the composite video from a standard non-modified nes:





























That takes care of the eye candy. My av famicom also features a very nice custom audio circuit. This audio circuit increases the bass, and it also does a better job mixing in all the audio than the default circuit on the famicom/nes. This audio circuit also does psuedo stereo sound seperation. And this audio circuit fully supports famicom games that use advanced audio chips. Here's a youtube video I made showing the difference in audio before/after I applied the audio mod:



The last mod I did to the av famicom system itself was I swapped out a chip with another chip that makes the system compatible with the nintendo powerpak compact flash cartridge. Here's screenshots showing that happens to the video before and after you replace the chip:





And since the powerpak outputs extended audio found in certain games and the famicom disk system I modified my nes to famicom adapter to mix that advanced audio into the system audio circuit:



If you're looking for any more information regarding my work it's easiest to contact me through my small forum here:

My link

I hope you people enjoy my work

Edited by Drakon, Sun Jun 5, 2011 1:54 PM.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

Wow very impressive!

[PsychoKittyNet]

Eh, the picture quality doesent seem that much better than composite to me, esspescially considering the cost and effort of the set up.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

PsychoKittyNet, on Mon Jun 6, 2011 11:07 AM, said:

Eh, the picture quality doesent seem that much better than composite to me, esspescially considering the cost and effort of the set up.

To each his own but there is clearly a significant difference, well worth the effort and satisfying I am sure with every game he loads.

[keilbaca]

I had a chance to get ahold of an AV Famicom when I was in japan... but I was too broke at the time. The place didn't have anymore when I went again... so mad I passed that up.

That's an amazing set of mods, and everything looks super clean. Do you have a tutorial on everything that you did?

[thgill]

Excellent looking mod with clearly superior video results.

[Drakon]

keilbaca, on Mon Jun 6, 2011 11:35 AM, said:

I had a chance to get ahold of an AV Famicom when I was in japan... but I was too broke at the time. The place didn't have anymore when I went again... so mad I passed that up.

That's an amazing set of mods, and everything looks super clean. Do you have a tutorial on everything that you did?

I'm not going to make a tutorial for a couple of reasons. This mod is done by building a kit I ordered from japan. The instructions for the kit are all in japanese. And the other reason is that this mod is nowhere near beginner level.

Here's where I bought my kit from:

My link

good luck

[ApolloBoy]

Drakon, on Sun Jun 5, 2011 1:40 PM, said:

The last mod I did to the av famicom system itself was I swapped out a chip with another chip that makes the system compatible with the nintendo powerpak compact flash cartridge.

What chip is this? I plan on RGB modding my Twin Famicom and I use my Powerpak a lot, so having this info would be great.

[Drakon]

ApolloBoy, on Wed Jun 8, 2011 9:08 PM, said:

Drakon, on Sun Jun 5, 2011 1:40 PM, said:

The last mod I did to the av famicom system itself was I swapped out a chip with another chip that makes the system compatible with the nintendo powerpak compact flash cartridge.

What chip is this? I plan on RGB modding my Twin Famicom and I use my Powerpak a lot, so having this info would be great.

you need to replace the "HD74LS373P" with a "TC74HC373P"

The chip that you need to replace it with is usually labelled as just "74HC373AP"

Edited by Drakon, Wed Jun 8, 2011 9:39 PM.

[DarthCloud]

Funny I managed to order this kit too 2 week ago, waiting to receive it!.

Currently I'm using NJM2267 videos amp for the RGB mod of my AV Famicom. I'm using this with my XRGB3 to output it on my TV via VGA.
But I'm see some small "jailbar" effet on my TV.


Are you using an XRGB3 too, or you wired directly to your monitor?


Do you see any "jailbar" with this???


Thank you, can wait to receive the part and mod mine too!!

[NightSprinter]

From what I remember, these systems modified with a PC-10 or Titler's PPU chip do not have full compatibility (some games, like even the crappy Dragon's Lair" wouldn't work at all due to lack of color emphasis bits).

[Drakon]

DarthCloud, on Wed Jun 8, 2011 9:52 PM, said:

Funny I managed to order this kit too 2 week ago, waiting to receive it!.

Currently I'm using NJM2267 videos amp for the RGB mod of my AV Famicom. I'm using this with my XRGB3 to output it on my TV via VGA.
But I'm see some small "jailbar" effet on my TV.


Are you using an XRGB3 too, or you wired directly to your monitor?


Do you see any "jailbar" with this???


Thank you, can wait to receive the part and mod mine too!!

Oh hi cloud nice to see you again. I have this system plugged straight into my crt tv using the s-video that the kit internally generates. I hope you ordered the version of the kit with the parts for the audio circuit because it sounds really amazing. I have very very very faint jailbars on the powerpak where I have to be right next to the tv to even notice them. The jailbars on this system are still 10x better than the jailbars from my rgb nes. I built the njm amp a long time ago I still have it somewhere. Also before I ordered this kit I had the background flickering anytime I had a game with a solid blue background (like the bosses in mario 2 us) which was super annoying. This kit fixes that problem. I also discovered from this kit that when I was using the njm amp having the rgb signals travel over a rgb cable and then get converted to s-video the longer the cable was the more blurry the picture became. So if you're like me and you just want s-video then using this kit is a lot better because it gives you a much sharper picture.

NightSprinter, on Wed Jun 8, 2011 9:58 PM, said:

From what I remember, these systems modified with a PC-10 or Titler's PPU chip do not have full compatibility (some games, like even the crappy Dragon's Lair" wouldn't work at all due to lack of color emphasis bits).

Yes that's right a handful of really crappy games no longer work. Big deal.

[NightSprinter]

It's not just crappy games, that was a big thing about the console stuff. Even some of the good European titles won't work, because quite a few of 'em relied heavily on the color emphasis bits.

[horseboy]

NightSprinter, on Thu Jun 9, 2011 11:46 AM, said:

It's not just crappy games, that was a big thing about the console stuff. Even some of the good European titles won't work, because quite a few of 'em relied heavily on the color emphasis bits.

Is there a list somewhere?

[Drakon]

horseboy, on Thu Jun 9, 2011 12:25 PM, said:

NightSprinter, on Thu Jun 9, 2011 11:46 AM, said:

It's not just crappy games, that was a big thing about the console stuff. Even some of the good European titles won't work, because quite a few of 'em relied heavily on the color emphasis bits.

Is there a list somewhere?

here's the only list I ever found. I havn't tried any of these games myself. So far every game I've tried has worked perfectly.

"Paperboy 1/2
Just Breed
Magician
Totally Rad
Airwolf
Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy
Super Spy Hunter
Immortal
"

and here's a picture of totally rad working with a rgb ppu:



so maybe even this list is wrong.

Edited by Drakon, Thu Jun 9, 2011 4:24 PM.

[NightSprinter]

Asterix also has rendering issues on RGB (gray background instead of black as a start).

[Drakon]

NightSprinter, on Thu Jun 9, 2011 7:43 PM, said:

Asterix also has rendering issues on RGB (gray background instead of black as a start).

just because something has a one different colour doesn't mean that the game is ruined and therefore becomes unplayable.

[NightSprinter]

I never said it was ruined, just pointing out another game that's affected in some way due to the RC2C05-99 and RP2C03B's lack of color emphasis bits.

[Drakon]

NightSprinter, on Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:21 AM, said:

I never said it was ruined, just pointing out another game that's affected in some way due to the RC2C05-99 and RP2C03B's lack of color emphasis bits.

I mean I think every game on the rgb system will have one or two colours that're either slightly off or different. Still everything works great

[NightSprinter]

Oh I agree, even Chris Covell on his "I Want My RGB" site stated that certain games on the NES actually had better colors on composite. But again, it's up to the user to decide which they prefer.

[Drakon]

NightSprinter, on Fri Jun 10, 2011 6:41 PM, said:

Oh I agree, even Chris Covell on his "I Want My RGB" site stated that certain games on the NES actually had better colors on composite. But again, it's up to the user to decide which they prefer.

Well here's a little tip for you. The colours on the rgb system are WAY more vibrant. The colours are a lot stronger. In fact everytime I play a composite system everything looks dull and washed out. Having everything so bright and colourful makes me not care when one colour is a little off now and then. Also having everything being crystal clear helps too.

Edited by Drakon, Fri Jun 10, 2011 8:56 PM.

[NightSprinter]

I'm just going to say this and drop it: no need to lecture me on anything. I already know what you've said. I'm done on this thread.

[Drakon]

NightSprinter, on Sat Jun 11, 2011 12:48 PM, said:

I'm just going to say this and drop it: no need to lecture me on anything. I already know what you've said. I'm done on this thread.

My point is the positive effects of these mods far outweight the negative effects. So if you like it then fine, please post elsewhere.

Edited by Drakon, Sat Jun 11, 2011 3:49 PM.

[Drakon]

I made a video comparing the video and audio quality difference between the a regular nes and one of my upgraded av famicoms. When I uploaded the vid to youtube the quality wasn't that great so here's the link to download the video from megaupload:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IBWBZCBX

[Drakon]