14 replies to this topic

[metzger130]

Reading about the XM project I think it is amazing and hope to get one sometime, but I do have a couple questions when it comes to it and the 7800

1. Everything I'm reading about the upcoming XM sounds great to me, but it is my understanding that it still uses the video/audio out of the original 7800, is this correct?

2. If so, are any of the mods that people do or that can be bought going to mess with the system at all that the XM will not work? I don't know much about the mods, but I just want to make sure that anything I would do to my 7800 would not cause it to become unusable with the upcoming XM.

3. I was looking at the Best Electronics mod since it is a good price and seems easy to do. I posted about it and someone said something about pokey problems with it? i'm not exactly sure what that person was talking about because I didn't know there was pokey on the 7800, thought that it did not have that chip and only had the TIA chip, thus the... less then great sound compared to the 5200.

4. Finally, which mod would be the best for the 7800 when it comes to ease of installing, I am not great at soldering but can do a bit, especially when it comes to the XM coming out and I want the best quality signal for my TV to use and audio is important too, I don't want the audio to be terrible and it look good.

Thanks

[The Usotsuki]

Far as I know it adds two sound chips, RAM, an i/o port and a keyboard port but doesn't have its own AV outputs. The Pokey wasn't on the mobo on the 78, it was in the carts, the XM integrates one into the system proper.

[HammR25]

The A/V mods only affect how the audio and video are output after they've gotten through the rest of the chain of circuits so they won't be affected by the XM. Knowing how talented the guys are that are making this thing they're probably already testing the XM on A/V modded 7800s due to ease of use.

[GroovyBee]

If the AV mod you install works with Ballblazer or Commando carts (or a POKEY enabled CC2) then the XM audio will function normally too.

[metzger130]

There are some mods that do not work for those games?

[mimo]

metzger130, on Sat Dec 10, 2011 10:05 AM, said:

There are some mods that do not work for those games?

Yes, the Best Electronics one, but there is a simple fix, just one wire to add.
The Best Electronics mod is ok, not the best by a long shot. As with all these mods they look good - great on CRT, but hit and miss on LCD/Plasma.

[AtariBrian]

does anyone do these services of modding the 7800? in the future i may want mine modded

[metzger130]

Well I plan on using it on a plasma, so if not the best electronics mod, which one should I do for the 7800. I will also use it on a CRT, but the main reason for the mod is so I can use it on the 50" plasma I have.

[Lynxpro]

Has anyone ever added a heatsink to the Maria chip? Yeah, I know, not exactly a big time mod but I thought I'd ask if that was ever successful at reducing the temperature of the console...

[mimo]

metzger130, on Sat Dec 10, 2011 2:56 PM, said:

Well I plan on using it on a plasma, so if not the best electronics mod, which one should I do for the 7800. I will also use it on a CRT, but the main reason for the mod is so I can use it on the 50" plasma I have.

Unfortunately that is not an easy question to answer as the picture quality very much depends on the decoding done by the tv. I have LG,Samsung,leowe Sony,Sharp and a non branded lcd/plasma tv at my disposal, and the best tv for Atari u have found is the cheap unbounded lcd. The other tvs vary from a fuzzy picture, wrong colours,no colour no picture. All using the same moded 7800.
Personally I have the best electronics mod,an 8bit domain mod and a v1 longhorn engineer mod. Out of the 3 I would say that the lhe mod is the better of the 3
I also have an rgb 7800 and the results on lcd tv are similar to the moded consoles

[JonnyBritish]

sometime in the future i hope for an XM modded 7800+perfect video out to vga for example...The 7800 is a great platform with stunning games especially from home brewers but I can never get decent video out.

I will certainly pony up for an FPGA 7800 if it includes at least XM+great video.

[metzger130]

So it sounds like no matter what MOD you get for you 7800 you might have a nice picture or.... not great picture. I use a CRT mostly, but it's only 19" so I liked the idea of using my 50" Samsung Plasma. Might just have to get one and see what it looks like. On the CRT the antenna input is fine, but not sure about what the plasma would look like.

[AtariBrian]

yeah, the 7800 can really put out some dull colors for alot of games. specially 2600 games... not sure what to do about a mod. none of them seem worth paying for. but if you have a modded coleco the 2600 games look awesome

[metzger130]

Coleco is on the list of systems I need to get yet.

[AtariBrian]

yeah, specially since side trak will be released for the coleco around may or june or so... great game