CrossBow

There is the OSSC though it isn't cheap either, but it isn't quite as expensive as the Framemeister. Also, the OSSC would require some additional adapters as it only has inputs for component, VGA, and SCART I believe. It is that reason alone that I haven't invested into the OSSC and still stick with my separate converters I use. Though the lag isn't too bad at like 4 to 6 fames per second according to 240p test suite. Even less when I do the manual lag test since over the years I've essentially become accustomed to it and just naturally compensate for it.

Good thing I went ahead and stood in line at this year's Pinfest in Texas then?! had her sign my Lynx Pinball Jam cart and manual as well. She signed one of them as Cassandra, and the other as Elvira. Awesome!

I am only a hobbyist and NOT an electrical engineer. As such I'm sure my terminology and explanations of things will be off or perhaps completely wrong. As such, please let me know in comments on such mistakes as it helps me and all others who might view this video to learn. With that, this is my basic intro to my BK 1474 O'scope that I got some time ago and some ways it can be used. This video is only meant for fun and not as instructional as most of my other videos are. Enjoy! View the full article

Been doing a few composite AV mods on client intellivisions. Though I would video the process I go through for doing a capacitor replacement. I'm working on trying to get the videos down to be more watchable in smaller amounts of time but perhaps too much compression on time is used in this video? Big special thanks to Adan Toledo for his permission to feature some of his music from the CollectorVision homebrew release of Sydney Hunter & the Sacred Tribe for the Intellivision! - Order your official OSTs for Sydney Hunter and Mecha 8 from Adan himself here: http://adan.eu5.net/europe.html - Order your copy of Sydney Hunter & the Sacred Tribe plus other homebrews from CollectorVision here: http://collectorvision.com/ Comments always welcome and much appreciated! View the full article

Thought about it but I already have a small collection of mini arcades forming with the bigfun ones from Wal-mart etc... And these are really small and not really practical for playing is my understanding. Also, if you didn't know it has been confirmed that all 4 games reside in each unit. You can attach a dip-switch to some jumper points inside the thing to switch games between power cycles.

There is a kit you can order for the Game Gear, but it isn't for the faint of heart either. Requires removal of several surface mount components and replacing them with other surface mount components. And then the other fun of attaching the video lines to very small traces on the PCB where the original LCD ribbon cable used to be stickered down onto.

With permission from Catskull Electronics, I present to you the YM2017 Music Album on a Genesis/MD cartridge. These went on pre-order/pre-sale a few months back and sold out pretty quickly I believe. This is a very cool cart because it not only contains 9 very high quality tracks from various talented chiptune artists, but also had a built in 8x8 LED matrix display programmed to go in time with the music. I received my cart in the mail yesterday and was blown away by this! I contacted Catskull Electonics who gave his permission to video and record the entire cart album for all to see it in action. No more of these are planned to be made again, so this is the only way to see and hear this excellent composition of work! Enjoy!

Today happens to be the last day that you can order up a YM2017 music cart from Catskull electronics. After midnight mountain time...no more will be made. They have already started to ship these out as well. I'm excited to get mine and will post a video of it once I do. Not sure if it would be okay to post a video of all the tracks in their entirety playing, but then again, if they aren't going to ever make any more...then...hmm. I also found out that no additional chips are in these YM2017 carts to produce the samples. It is all stock Genesis/MD hardware driving these tunes?! So I guess once i get the YM2017 cart in my hands, it will be the best audio heard from a Genesis without additional hardware. Now it could be said that I'm using additional hardware since I have a separate YM3438 piggybacked ontop of the 2612 in my Genesis. But all of the Model2 and later units actually used a build in cmos version of the ym3438 synth in them. So in that regards my Genesis is still basically stock in from a certain point of view?

Wonder if a similar technique can be used to get rid of the other dreaded smell I usually encounter from games I find or receive. That is the basement smell?! Yeap...that is just as bad if not worse because it can also mean that there might be mildew/mold in the paper fibres that you can't see. I have a Telly Turtle manual that came with a CIB Telly Turtle I found locally that had this heavy smell of basement mildew. I was able to use my citrus cleaner on the case the game came in to rid most of that. The cart for some odd reason didn't smell nearly as bad and cleaning the contacts and along in the inside with a q-tip and alcohol seemed to make that go away. But the manual?! It is better, but what I did was basically just fan open the manual and have it sitting on a shelf in the game room. After about 3 weeks I checked it and the smell was much less noticeable.

That is why Kristof created Vector Pilot!!!

This might be pricey for some, but I couldn't help but also order up one of these! The samples of the music are outstanding. I'm pretty sure they are using a separate audio chip to produce this since it sounds way too high quality for what the stock Genesis 2612 can produce. Still, I think it will be really neat to have in my collection! https://catskullelectronics.com/YM2017

Well...even then there are variants as the expansion port remained for a long time. It is usually considered that the va2 and v3 versions of the model 1 have the best overall unaltered audio from them. However, the audio from the headphone jack is a bit on the hot side. The audio you hear in this video I made was done from my va2 model 1 genesis. I added RCA jacks that come directly off the 1034 preamp inside so most of the extra filtering that goes to the headphone jack is skipped. The only way to get more pure sound would be to tap the audio directly off the YM2612 but then you don't have the PSG mixed in there if you do that. Would require additionally amplification as well regardless since the audio would be so low directly off the chip. Mine is modded with a separate YM3438 attached inside. Basically two synth chips. But the audio output of the original 2612 is disabled and only the 3438 audio out is used in my setup.

The strange thing is I seem to recall that I found Atari.IO through a thread posting originally at AA where there was some issue or another and both sites were referenced. But I don't care either way because as you stated, NSG we all have our opinions. And yes...AA is a much larger community than it was from the days of the 2600 Nexus and I'm sure it is difficult for all the Mods to Mod...all the time. For me I just ignore what I might not be interested in or agree with and continue on. Now as to Crystal Quest, what I did play of the pre-release ROM version, I also couldn't get past world 2. In fact, I was never able to beat the first boss on World 1 and could only get to world 2 by using the warp. I've seen postings that state the first boss is apparently the most difficult and that the others aren't as tough. I would have thought that would have been brought up in some official play testing? So once I do open my official release I'm curious to see what changes to the difficulty if any were made from what I had played of it before.

Except in the case of Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest, he hasn't publicly posted the final version of the rom, or even a near final version. The last one he posted didn't have Pokey audio in it and the one before that did, I believe wasn't a complete game yet. Having said that, there were ways to get a later version of the ROM though still not final that did have a completed game and pokey audio. That is how I was playing it on my Mateos flash cart before I bought the official release. Now, I have suspected there was some issues here between AA and Atari.IO though I'm not privy to the actual details. But I've never had an issue with AA not getting an order put through for me. The only time they didn't have an item I needed available was when they were sold out of AVox+ units for quite some time. The only item they haven't made available since initially offering them, are the redemption adapters for the 5200. All the games are available and even those they don't have listed, they will put to a cart and make a label for you if they have one. That is how I got my copy of the Atari 8-bit Satan's Hollow conversion. So I'm not sure why there would be doubt about them not offering or making Crystal Quest available again? The real issue with the availability of this particular game and Super Circus Atari, is the quickly dwindling sources for affordable Pokey chips. If they have to spend $15 - $20 on a pokey chip, that makes the games cost that much more and makes it much less appealing to have them on offer. My understanding is that the redemption's weren't being made due to a lack of available parts as well. Though not having looked inside one, I'm not sure what parts it would be. I know that Console5.com has extension cables for the 5200 and NeoGeo and even replacement joystick cables they have access too. If they work on the 5200 and NeoGeo, I don't see why those couldn't be made to work with redemption like adapters as well? But..ehh... Point is, I've no reason to believe that Bentley won't still be available as parts are available over the time to come.

Little bit of history on this... This was a demo featuring 5 songs composed by the great Sega Chiptune artist known as JRedd. It took place at the Datastorm demo party in 2014. There is only one other vid of this entire demo music cart on YT and it was done through an emulator. Well, with the generosity and my donation to Sigflup, I was able to get a cart of BlowFish made for my own enjoyment. I recorded the playback of the entire album using my actual model 1 va2 HDG Sega Genesis. This is quite possibly some of the best music heard on the Genesis technically at least until Paprium is released... Enjoy!

Not sure I would say I got it solved exactly. It is all theory and speculation and adding in higher amp output VRs is really more of a work around than a fix. Afterall, i didn't solve the issue causing whatever it happening, just put in higher tolerant stuff to counter it. Will have to see if it resolves the issue in time.

Well, I realized I hadn't updated this so wanted to point out a few more things I found out and what surprisingly seems to have corrected it, or at least worked around the issue: With more and more testing, I found that what triggers this is obviously heat related and kicks in once the CPU temp hits about 150°F and the ambient temp in the Genesis case is about 112 - 114°F. However, while triggered by temps, if it also requires that the 32x be attached and...be plugged in with its power adapter. So if you unplug the 32x the snow pattern would immediately go away regardless of the high temps in the case. Plug it in and the snow pattern would immediately come back. Now to add more lemon into this mystery, the 32x doesn't even have to be warm. In fact, I did a test where I took the 32x out and had the genesis playing VR Racing in demo mode for about 1.5 - 2 hours. I was curious if I could get the Genesis hot enough on its own to produce the effect. No such luck as the SegaCD bios screen looked just fine after this. Then I plugged the 32x into the Genesis and plugged the power to the 32x and turned it on and there was the snow pattern! Remember the 32x was just plugged into the genesis so it hadn't been powered on but seconds. So the 32x is a trigger, but apparently not the cause. I finally had a theory and from most of the temp measurements that the bulk of the heat in the genesis was coming off the original 7805C regulators. These are supposed to be +5 volt 1amp output regulators. But they did seem to be getting very hot. Not enough to shut them off, but so hot that the heatsink and AV out ground shield plug was too hot to touch. So...what did I do? I replaced both VRs with 78S05CV versions. These are modern +5 linear VRs with a 2amp output rating. My theory is that with the mods in my genesis, the genesis itself is pulling more current than the original VRs were really ever expected to generate. Add the 32x into the mix and now there is additional current being fed into the system that is causing an over current situation. Again not enough to fry anything or cause thermal shutdown on the VRs, but enough that it had to be given off as additional heat. So now with the new VRs in place the console doesn't quite as hot as before. It does get warm, but only slightly more than the other Genesis I tested with that does NOT produce these results. Either way, I was playing Star Cruiser last night and had it running from 6pm until after 1am nonstop and the Genesis no longer produces the snow pattern with the 32x in place from the SegaCD video side of things.

My first Atari experience was likely sometime during its initial release in the late 70s as friends of my parents had them and I can remember playing breakout and Freeway. We didn't get our own 2600 until Christmas '81 or maybe '82 when I would have been about 7 or 8 years old. But it didn't come from Santa (for a number of reasons..not the least of which, was because I already knew the truth about that since I was about 4 years old.) But it also wasn't much of a surprise, because my parents had wrapped it as it was in the normal box. So it was maddening to me for the last 2 weeks before Christmas because I knew what it was under that tree!!! Kept that 4 switcher until I finally gave it to my cousins about 5 years later.

I'm not sure I've seen much mentioned here about any of this...but get something to drink as there is some history to talk about first: As I'm sure those of you know who might be awesome enough to own a working Vectrex or know someone who does, they buzz...like...a lot! Well, the Vectrex I have was actually given to me back around 2010 as I recall and has always been a particularly noisy buzzing monster. So about 3 or 4 years ago, I decided I would try and get rid of the buzz on my Vectrex. So I hit up Console5.com and ordered the stuff needed to recap my Vectrex and build and install the de-buzz kit. It took over a day to get everything worked out with it. In the end the buzzing was much less but never quite totally gone. But gone enough to not be as big a deal. Now that leads up to this year and a fellow Vectrex enthusiast and electronics guru by the name of Charles Tweedy developed his own Buzz Off kit for the Veccy. Very simple installation that doesn't require modifying anything inside the Vectrex at all. Just three wires to solder on and that is pretty much it. Soon after this Charles began work on a new device he was calling the VAT. It stood for Vectrex Audio Tap. Basically it is a breakout audio amp that attaches directly off the Vectrex sound chip and provides an external audio line out, Headphone out, and an audio input designed for the AtariVox+ or VecVoice device and can mix that audio internally so you can hear them from the internal Vectrex speaker or from the lineout. Awesome stuff to be sure and like the Buzz Off, the installation is very minimal and only requires removing the sound chip off the Vectrex (Easy since it is socketed on most Vectrex units), and you place the sound chip onto a new socket onto a new daughter board. That daughter board in turn plugs back into the socket on the Vectrex where the sound chip originally was. The daughter board has a thin cable that comes off it and eventually routes outside the Vectrex and into the separate breakout audio box using RJ45 connections with the breakout box using standard 1/8" TRS audio and headphone cables. Well, I purchased both items and they arrive the other day. Last night I installed them and had quite a bit trouble with such a simple installation setup. Long story short, it required me to completely undo and reverse the old Console5 de-buzz modification, get the Vectrex back to factory audio and then everything was good to go. With that..I present to you... an audio demo of the Vectrex from the VAT line out. The VAT has one other feature that is pretty cool. Especially on games and audio that make good use of it... Enjoy!

Yes, the Never Ending Story was and has always been a large influence in my life. Look at my avatar pic? I even have a painting done by a local artist of Falkor from the movie that hangs above the door to my game room. Every single computer I've built that I use personally at home since I built my first PC back in '96 have been called Ivory Tower with my network domain named "Fantasia". I like the idea the movie presents wherein everyone's imagination and creativity forms the basis of the existence of a magic land. Or to put it another way, the creativity and imagination of every one of us, is what keeps creativity and imagination alive. Without these things we lose our uniqueness, invention, and ultimately...our humanity. Okay..that got way deeper than it should have and way off topic so my apologies.

As I hinted in my original thread with my initial thoughts on the game. Here is my completed video game play review for this really fun homebrew from OrionSoft.

I've posted this at AA and on the Sega-16 forums as well so if you already seen my praddle on about this I apologize and you can ignore. That said... I noticed about 2 weeks ago, something odd on my Genesis/32x/SegaCD combo setup. Basically after the system has been on for about 30min to an hour, there appears to be a great deal of heat built up inside the Genesis itself. I actually measured this with my Fluke temp probe and the ambient air temp in the Genesis reaches about 112°F around the AV port. That seems excessively hot to me but perhaps not? The specific issue this seems to cause is that video overlayed from the SegaCD itself will show up with a snowy like pattern on the screen. But only from the video from the SegaCD itself. I've posted a link below showing the effect. Basically at first when you power everything on and look at the SegaCD bios screen everything appears normal. Then after some time, it will produce a horrible graphics corruption issue as is shown second in the video. Then, if I remove the 32x completely from the system the video is normal again. Now I have found out that the 32x appears to be the cause. Not sure why, but it is. In the video, the actual video you see on my TV is using the AV out port on the Genesis itself and not from the 32x. However the same results appear from the 32x AV port as well. So the video corruption isn't from the 32x encoder but somehow from a combination of the 32x being attached along with the SegaCD. So far this graphics corruption isn't actually seen in games with the exception of those using FMV. As an example notice in the sega CD bios screen the graphics issue is only within the window frame of the bouncing Sega CD logo and doesn't affect the text graphics outside that? When I play Sonic CD with the system warmed up and doing this, the graphics glitches are present within the window showing the Sonic CD cartoon intro, but not outside the frame of the intro and do not appear at all within the actual game. Even on the bonus stages where the rotation and scaling effects are being used do not show this issue. Normal cart games are fine as well and if I remove the 32x, the Genesis doesn't seem to get as warm and of course the graphics issue from the Sega CD doesn't appear at all. Has anyone seen anything like this before? I'm trying to get ahold of another 32x base unit for cheap that works to see if it is the 32x actually causing the issue or something within my genesis somehow. https://youtu.be/LMS6E46EhUo

I've done quite a few mods on various systems. Pretty much all of my classic consoles have been AV modded in some way either with composite or composite and s-video. Rather than list pics of the ones I've done, here is a link to my YT playlist where I've documented a good portion of my mods or repairs. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLypzYHeVZt9mmepsDRL-2oBIemEfp0XdC

So these were back in stock over the weekend and I purchased one of the Genesis cables along with the model 1 to model 2 adapter. Gotta say the picture is excellent! I'm lucky to have a TV that appears to support the 240p off the Genesis, however, the info from the TV states the signal is 480i...but ehh it works and looks great! Now..having said that. I can't get the damn cable to work at all on my SMS at all. It is a launch release SMS. The AV out seems to work fine using a standard Genesis composite/audio cable from it. But using the HD retrovision cable gives me nothing for video on the composite. I checked the pins on the AV connector and have continuity to all the right pins on the video encoder itself. Odd thing is that if I connect up the SMS with the cables, and then switch my TV to composite. I get a black n white composite picture. So it sees something but this TV using a shared composite and green component jack just does NOT like the SMS. To be fair, I also have a scart to component converter and have a genesis scart cable. The SMS won't work with that either. I'm wondering..does anyone know if the early release SMS units require amps for the RGB outputs?

Hmm.. this is a tough one. But using the AA scale the following would be my rarest loose carts in my VCS collection: Master Builder Crazy Climber Boing! Chase the Chuckwagon However, I consider both of my Parker Bros. prototypes carts to be the most rare. Especially my WIP version of Star Wars: TAG. I also have a decent condition Activision Checkers....with the foam insert. I keep that in the glass case as well. It was the last Activision title I really needed for the collection (Loose of course), and to find it with the foam insert still completely in tact was even better.