RGB NES Thread

[Skips]

I get lots of questions regarding the installation of Tim Worthington's new RGB NES kit everyday in my email box (go here if you have not heard of it) and decided to make this thread to kinda show it off and make a place on site to ask questions regarding it. I know there is the shmups thread but I am not a participant in that community and would rather see a thread here as well.


I redid my own front loader this weekend and this time I wired up all the options so I could take different pictures of them all.

I have all palette options wired (including the off setting that turns the system back into a stock NES) and even connected expanded Famicom audio channels. So this system will let you choose between the original NES color palette, the Playchoice 10 Palette (my personal Favorite), and an "improved palette" from one of the NES emulators. The NES outputs RGB, S-Video, Composite Video (from the RGB kit's encoder), and has the option to turn off the kit in order to use the NES as if it has not been modded. I have audio going through both the din connector and the headphone jack and the encoder composite video is also going through the din port.


Here are some pictures of my current install













Well how does this kit perform you might ask? Pretty fucking amazingly. Honestly this is probably the best $90 I have spent when it comes to modding a system. I have taken some comparison shots however they are done with my cell phone so my apologies. The RGB quality is far better than this, my camera is just shit.

These screens were taken with the play choice 10 color palette. These screens will look bad if you don't view them full size. Click on them to view the full picture.

RGB!






S-Video






Composite (Off the kit's encoder)






Stock NES mode (composite)








Now that the comparisons have been shown here is the different palettes in action! (All these are in RGB)

Original NES Palette




Playchoice 10 Palette




"Improved" Palette




And just to show off the differences some more here is another game


Original NES Palette



Playchoice 10 Palette



"Improved" Palette





Just as a heads up, please do not register just to ask if I will do this mod for you. The answer is no. I am closed at the moment and only do them for established members on this site (in other words people that are actively contributing to this community). Feel free to ask questions though, I don't sequester the stuff I do know like a specific "modder" we all know and love does. I also don't mind snapping pics of any particular games you might want to see.

 

[Fox1]

Question, if the additional famicom audio channels are connected, how can it take advantage of it without a FDD?

 

[Viewpoint]

It's so nice to see a modded system not covered in Man-jizz. Very nice Skips.

 

[Skips]

Question, if the additional famicom audio channels are connected, how can it take advantage of it without a FDD?

Because Famicom carts output the extra sound channels from pin 45 on the cart slot. In the front loader you connect pin 45 in your cart converter to pin 54 on the converter. Next you connect pin 9 on the expansion port to a 47kohm resistor then mix that into your sound circuit (that's what the little white wire soldered to the kit is). Here are some pictures of the converter I use. I soldered it to the wrong pin so there is text showing the correction.

 

[theMot]

Looks good.

I never owned a NES but even back in the day the colours always looked washed out to me. The RGB mod makes it look like a Sega Master System. Bright vibrant colours.

 

[Skips]

And here is the Phonedork AV Famicom install for those that have not seen it. I found this to be the cleanest way to install it in the AV Famicom.

 

[SNKorSWM]

Interesting. Never realized that picture from a playchoice 10 looks different from an actual NES.

 

[Neodogg]

I agree, nice clean mod without hot goo ever where! Now I just need to get to the "established member" level...

 

[ballzdeepx]

Nice write up Skips, I will have to consider this in the near future. Even the Svideo looks amazing.

 

[Yodd]

I'm digging that rotary palette switch.

One critique: That 8 pin din socket that you used for RGB, I would rear mount it on the back side of the plastic shell to clean it up some more. But that's really a personal aesthetic. Ultra clean install regardless!



edit: While I am thinking about it, if I was installing one of these boards in my personal NES, I would just remove the RF modulator and slightly enlarge the hole (if needed) where it was and install a 8 or 9 pin micro din connector. Would look virtually stock then. Then install a palette switch where the channel selector was. hmmmmm...

 

[Neodogg]

who uses a saw with a 1" arbor, exp with a 7" blade?

 

[Teddy KGB]

Looks really good Skips. I need this business done to my front loader. I'll probably have a couple questions.

 

[Mac91]

Nice write up Skips, I will have to consider this in the near future. Even the Svideo looks amazing.

I was thinking this too. Why is that? I can't tell the difference.

 

[DonBurgundy]

I'm digging that rotary palette switch.

One critique: That 8 pin din socket that you used for RGB, I would rear mount it on the back side of the plastic shell to clean it up some more. But that's really a personal aesthetic. Ultra clean install regardless!



edit: While I am thinking about it, if I was installing one of these boards in my personal NES, I would just remove the RF modulator and slightly enlarge the hole (if needed) where it was and install a 8 or 9 pin micro din connector. Would look virtually stock then. Then install a palette switch where the channel selector was. hmmmmm...

That what I expected when I first took a look at the back. I found the s-video to be very comparable to the RGB capture as well. Good work on both of them. The Famicom looks hella clean and stock tho with the multi out.

 

[shadowkn55]

Is it me or do those s-video pictures look better than RGB?

 

[Skips]

I'm digging that rotary palette switch.

One critique: That 8 pin din socket that you used for RGB, I would rear mount it on the back side of the plastic shell to clean it up some more. But that's really a personal aesthetic. Ultra clean install regardless!



edit: While I am thinking about it, if I was installing one of these boards in my personal NES, I would just remove the RF modulator and slightly enlarge the hole (if needed) where it was and install a 8 or 9 pin micro din connector. Would look virtually stock then. Then install a palette switch where the channel selector was. hmmmmm...

I would remove the RF box however I have it set up to where it can still be used as a stock NES. When the kit is in the off position the system will function as a stock NES still. If you have an On - On - On - Off switch turning it to the off position turns off the kit.

 

[GhostSeed]

Nice write up. I hope I still have my top loader somewhere so I can mod it with this.

 

[Skips]

Is it me or do those s-video pictures look better than RGB?

S-Video looks really good on the kit however it looks worse in person than in the pictures. The RGB is still a good deal better than it. Its a shit camera.

 

[shadowkn55]

S-Video looks really good on the kit however it looks worse in person than in the pictures. The RGB is still a good deal better than it. Its a shit camera.

A well-respected veteran modder told me that RGB is unnecessary because s-video is just as good. He also recommends using copious amounts of hot glue to maintain stable mechanical integrity of all the solder joints.

 

[Nickrb]

Is it me or do those s-video pictures look better than RGB?

Drakon, is that you?!

 

[ki_atsushi]

If the retron 5 doesn't live up to my expectations I'm all over this.

 

[Kiel]

How is the jail bar situation? I playchoice ppu modded my nes and unless I'm playing on my PVM the jail bars are pretty bad.

 

[Skips]

How is the jail bar situation? I playchoice ppu modded my nes and unless I'm playing on my PVM the jail bars are pretty bad.

The new kit uses FPGA to get RGB, there are no jailbars or any sort of interference. It is a super clean video signal.

Also on the old mod try wrapping the PPU in copper tape and putting a .1uf cap between VCC and ground on the CPU. Make sure you ground the foil with a wire and that it does not touch any of the legs. These two things combined should reduce jailbars a good deal.

 

[Kiel]

Iirc vcc is pin 40 right?

 

[Skips]

Iirc vcc is pin 40 right?

Yes, on both the PPU and CPU. Putting one on the PPU helps with some revisions of the PPU as well if you have one there already. I used 220 on the PPU whenever I did the mod.