quick question about rgb modding us n64's

[mmmonkey]

Apologies if this has been asked loads of times before! I've done a search on here and see that some people have a problem with the display flickering once they have done the RGB mod and the boost link.

I also have the same problem, I've tried an official PAL GC RGB lead, and a 3rd part RGB lead with the caps removed for my PAL SNES.

I've tried 2 different TV's, a Panasonic and a Toshiba. And this is my only console which "flickers".

I'm not sure if flicker is the correct term or not though. When the display in a game is very light (pale blue sky with clouds is a good example), there are thick and thin horizontal bands across the screen, the bands appear either darker or lighter (I haven't decided which yet) than the picture should be.

Is this the same problem as other people have had, or different?

Any help anyone?

Ta
Pete

[Rsdio]

Yeah, that's the same sort of flicker I've got on mine and I assume other people as well. I did find this: http://people.freenet.de/rgb/, which might solve the problem but I've yet to try it out (don't even know if I can follow those instructions with my limited skill tbh).

[mmmonkey]

thanks for the info...

i think i'll get some help!

pete

[gIzzE]

The mod in the link does work well, it has been around for a long time and has been done by alot of people with success.

[shortround]

i think the problem is that the link mod actually boosts the signal too much and a lot of tv's can't handle the strength of signal which causes the flicker.

i added a resistor between the two link points and it sorted out the problem, i was also using a tosh and a panny tv so this should work for you as well.

[mmmonkey]

I did try a resistor (can't remember the value now). any idea what resistor you used? Or even the colouring on it? It certainly would be easier than cramming a load of stuff in a scart plug!

Pete

[shortround]

i'm not sure how to work out the values but the colours from left to right are: brown, black, brown, gold. this is a resistor that i just took out of an old snes rgb lead (the one that bridges pins 8 and 16 for rgb switching).

to be honest, you may need a slightly stronger resistor than the one i'm using at the moment as although it greatly reduced th flicker it hasn't 100% sorted it, i just haven't got round to going to the shops and buying a stronger resistor yet. you may need to experiment a bit to find which strength works best.

[Yod@]

i'm not sure how to work out the values but the colours from left to right are: brown, black, brown, gold. this is a resistor that i just took out of an old snes rgb lead (the one that bridges pins 8 and 16 for rgb switching).

to be honest, you may need a slightly stronger resistor than the one i'm using at the moment as although it greatly reduced th flicker it hasn't 100% sorted it, i just haven't got round to going to the shops and buying a stronger resistor yet. you may need to experiment a bit to find which strength works best.

IMO a resistor won't sort the problem out completely - I used a variable resistor to see if I could find a good balance, but it ends up just being a trade-off between brightness and flickering.

[mmmonkey]

Hi, here's a copy of a post from over at rllmuk (where I also pleaded for help), thanks to everyone, I am very happy

At last, after over an hour at the kitchen table, I managed to squeeze the caps, resistors and extra wiring into the scart plug, spent ages trying to insulate everything and bending it to fit.

The result.... a beautiful perfect rgb picture, something I never thought possible from an N64. Definately worth persevering with. I had to use a 3rd party lead in the end, the official one has got a nice little circuit board in it and I didn't want to mess too much with that, I'll mod that one for my SNES - now that I pinched that lead to make this N64 one, thanks Nintendo!

Inside the plug isn't very tidy, I may re-do it one day and just make a little scart extension lead that contains this circuit.

Thanks for the pointers everybody.

UPDATED 8 Feb: It occured to me today that I should have just built this on a tiny piece of stripboard, so today i've designed the stripboard, and tomorrow I'll rebuild it. If it works okay then I'll happily help anyone who want's any pointers building it.

Pete