112 replies to this topic

[HammR25]

You have a choice between two different A/V mods now. The other one is by Longhornengineer.com

This mod isn't really that hard to install. The biggest PITA is getting off the RF shield. My only advice on that one is to make sure you get the board out of the case first and then it won't be as bad.

The only thing you'll need that doesn't come with the kit is a drill and 1/4 inch drill bit. A pocket knife would come in handy too.

The thing about the 8bitdomain.com mod is Mike can sometimes take a long time in shipping your board.

Edited by HammR25, Sun Dec 9, 2007 1:21 PM.

[HammR25]

I assume the 3 rings on the ground wire go around the yellow, purple and blue wires and is screwed tight?

[mimo]

HammR25, on Sun Dec 9, 2007 7:38 PM, said:

I assume the 3 rings on the ground wire go around the yellow, purple and blue wires and is screwed tight?

Yep, you are nearly done

[mimo]

HammR25, on Sun Dec 9, 2007 7:17 PM, said:

You have a choice between two different A/V mods now. The other one is by Longhornengineer.com

This mod isn't really that hard to install. The biggest PITA is getting off the RF shield. My only advice on that one is to make sure you get the board out of the case first and then it won't be as bad.

The only thing you'll need that doesn't come with the kit is a drill and 1/4 inch drill bit. A pocket knife would come in handy too.

The thing about the 8bitdomain.com mod is Mike can sometimes take a long time in shipping your board.

Both are good, but I think the Longhorn one gives a better depth of colour.
8bitdomain pros - no solder cons- need to buy/make an adapter to use s-video on a TV, not sure when you will receive it, limited fitting instructions
Longhorn Pros - quick delivery, correct s-video connector, well detailed and easy to follow instructions. Cons - 10 wires to solder, but this is real easy and I think that if you can get the blasted RF shield off then the soldering is a walk in the park.

[Jess Ragan]

My problem with the 8 Bit Domain mod is that it's tough to fit the GTIA chip into the slot built into the video board. There's no margin of error at all, so if the pins on the chip are bent, even a little bit, it simply won't fit into the board. I must have struggled for twenty minutes before I was able to get the chip on that board. No fun at all!

As for the RF shield, what's so hard about that? You just twist off the notches holding the shield to the board, then discard the shield. I don't even bother putting it back on my 5200... I mean, it's not like the FCC is going to use a battering ram to break into my apartment and cart me off to jail for RF interference.

[HammR25]

I just made sure all the pins were straight before I tried putting the GTIA on the board. What's so hard about that?

[Jess Ragan]

I tried that, and it didn't help. I actually had to bend the pins slightly inward before I could get them into those tiny holes. If the designers had used a more standard chip socket, I'm sure they could have prevented a lot of needless frustration.

[remowilliams]

Jess Ragan, on Sun Dec 9, 2007 10:46 PM, said:

I tried that, and it didn't help. I actually had to bend the pins slightly inward before I could get them into those tiny holes. If the designers had used a more standard chip socket, I'm sure they could have prevented a lot of needless frustration.

If he had used a standard wiper type DIP socket the chip wouldn't have fit in the underside space.

[Jess Ragan]

Maybe he could have raised the pins on the other side to accommodate a standard socket. I dunno, I'm not an engineer so maybe that wouldn't be feasible.

[HammR25]

woohoo, just tested it out and it works great. Some of the stuff blended together in countermeasure and now I can actually see the stuff with this mod..........plus a crystal clear picture.

The main reason I wanted to do this was so I didn't have the RF thing to the tv because it causes interference with some of the channels regardless of whether the 5200 is on all the time. I had the same problem with my 7800 before I had OSG do that mod for me.

[mimo]

congratulations, is this the first mod you have done?
Be careful it gets addictive

[HammR25]

mimo, on Mon Dec 10, 2007 6:22 PM, said:

congratulations, is this the first mod you have done?
Be careful it gets addictive

Yep it's the first mod I've done. I've already bought a soldering iron to attempt the power mod and to put a Pokey in my CC2 someday.

Edited by HammR25, Mon Dec 10, 2007 6:55 PM.

[Allan]

HammR25, on Mon Dec 10, 2007 9:55 PM, said:

mimo, on Mon Dec 10, 2007 6:22 PM, said:

congratulations, is this the first mod you have done?
Be careful it gets addictive

and to put a Pokey in my CC2 someday.

No soldering needed there. Just pop the cart open, line up the pins and push in the Pokey, and then close the cart and your done.

Allan