Post everytime you get ANYTHING retro. We want to know (^v^)

[speedlolita]

While not quite on the same awesome making level as Mmmonkey, my second attempt at trying to get this famicom pad to USB. The first attempt was a plug in adapter that i bought but it was crap as it didn't work properly, so i bought a retro usb conversion kit instead. Bit of soldering later i now have a working USB original Famicom pad,, prefer a real pad than those fake Buffalo USB knockoffs.

Nice project there man. Hope the chip didn't cost too much!

[cenobite]

I recently bought some SEGA stuff:

1. Japanese MegaDrive with language switch and S-Video / Stereo Mod
   
   
   
2. Some MegaDrive games:
   
   (FZ Senki Axis came with a set of postcards)
   
   
3. Japanese Dreamcast with VGA-Box, Controllers, Guns, Fishing Rod and some games.
   

Now I just wish I had the time to play them all


ceno

PS: Click images to enlarge

[speedlolita]

Are you American by any chance?

I can't think of any reason anyone in the UK would want a Mega Drive with an S-Video mod.

[cenobite]

I'm from Germany, but why wouldn't I want S-Video out?
It's perfect, especially for recording, since most capture
devices (even those with Scart-Input, like the Terratec G3) don't
support RGB properly. And so far I did not see any major
difference between RGB and S-Video.


ceno

[Papercut]

Colors are normally more blurred, and less accurate. The chrominance signal has less bandwidth compared to the color information in RGB.

[cenobite]

There is a difference, yes, but we're not talking Composite<->RGB kind of different. For gaming only I still have my RGB cables. But for recording purposes S-Video is just way more convenient. You'd agree on that if you'd try to record some footage off your MegaDrive via RGB. I just don't know of any (affordable) capture device that supports RGB signals properly.

But as recording was my main reason to go for S-Video, I'm quite happy I found a modded MegaDrive (it's for providing videos to my planned beat 'em up database)


ceno

[mmmonkey]

I wonder why RGB capture devices are so expensive? I know some people have used DVD recorders to capture it to rewritable discs, then edited that on PCs.

Thanks for the kind comments on my scaler casing everyone :-) it's killing me waiting for the last 4 switches to be delivered hehe. Now I just need some more time to play games again :-(

Pete

[cenobite]

Just to further explain why I went for an S-Video modded MegaDrive, I made some screencaps using my Terratec G3 which has both, SCART and S-Video inputs. The screenshots are unaltered:

• Alien Storm RGB / S-Video Capture Comparison
• Bare Knuckle II RGB / S-Video Capture Comparison

You can clearly see the difference. RGB is very blurred, color channels are somewhat shifted (noticable on white text).
S-Video on the other hand is sharp but less saturated. Still I'd prefer this as saturation can be adjusted when cutting the video clips.

Note: This only applies to recording RGB-Video! On my TV everything's fine with RGB - but for recording purposes I'd still prefer S-Video.


ceno

[sj33]

I think these recording devices natively operate using YUV anyway, which would explain the quality difference.

[Yakumo]

Mega Drive S-Video is very good IMO. I know the joys of RGB being from the UK but in Japan the best we have is S-Video on our TVs for older stuff. I run the Mega Drive and Saturn through RGB in to a Micomsoft XRGB-2s box which takes the RGB in to S-Video with amazing results. The image is almost as good as a true RGB image. In fact, without being anal it's hard to tell the difference. True, my Toshiba TV has some amazing hardware in it that blows away my Sharp Aqos in the living room but even when I use this set up to capture video it brings some fantastic results.

[Fastware]

Japan does not have RGB scart? Never heard of that before, makes me wonder why they even had RGB scart support for many consoles when only(?) us Europeans could use it.

[speedlolita]

Japan has RGB-21, which is the same with a different pinout.

[importaku]

Nice project there man. Hope the chip didn't cost too much!

Thanks, nah the kit was pretty cheap just $17. You get the controller chip & a usb cable already presoldered to the chip, then you just have to solder the pad wires to the contacts on the board.

[Colin]

Big week.

This leaves me with only one fighter left to find. (Or at least at a price i'm willing to pay)



Some slug action at last!



And to top it off, a quality shmup. I wonder if i'll EVER manage to clock this, so hard.........



Also got this, but it's a conversion, not an original. Doubt i'll ever own an original AES one again now that the prices have went mental on them, and to think how much I let my genuine one go for a couple of years back.

[mmmonkey]

Thanks, nah the kit was pretty cheap just $17. You get the controller chip & a usb cable already presoldered to the chip, then you just have to solder the pad wires to the contacts on the board.

Always wondered how well those kits work. Your famicom usb pad looks ace