fucked up N64 mod off from ebay

Is there even much point buying a RGB moddable n64 seeing as you can mod any console for a little extra?

http://etim.net.au/n64rgb/



Heck there is a HDMI version coming out from another guy soon

http://retroactive.be/tech_n64_hdmi.php

 

i did remove all of the stuff but its pointless cause the RCP-NUS is dead

 

What the eff.

 

It must be one of his vintage mods, because Last I checked he finally figured out how to melt solder. Disclosure, his work is still repugnant as ever.

That mod board has issues with colors, so I would stay away and find a rgb mod-able model. I am also very excited about marshall hdmi board, Been waiting 4 years for this. I'm glad he ditched the idea for vga and decided to go all out with hdmi.

 

Can you provide a bit more detail about that?

 

You sure he can solder at all?

 

My bad unseen I confuse the otaku board for this one, I don't know what I was thinking.

 

Why would you even think of using glue? Soldering is easier to do than that mess looks. Would there even be a proper join? The glue might form a barrier between the wire and leg of the chip.

 

How is that even possible?

 

You mean this one?
https://youtu.be/-QMH-xp-WtI?t=157

Last time I saw him he was trying to sell 'overclocked' SuperFX games and killing many a Winter Gold in the process, as he thought the 'SuperFX2 overclocked better'. I'm pretty sure it was a big ruse for him to be able to sell repros for extortionate prices.

 

Really sad to see this. Always solder these mods no exceptions. I only use hot glue if I want to keep cables neat in a certain area of an enclosure because I'm OCD with neatness. That is only if there are a lot of wires to deal with. Any other uses like in the original post is so unprofessional. To charge even a dime for that kind of crap is theft. Nothing beats a soldering gun and if you don't know how to use one then stay out of this kind of stuff or LEARN.

 

In most cases if you need to use heaps of glue you haven't soldered the wires correctly

 

Yep. In this case I don't think he even tried to solder the wires.

 

Soldering is pretty easy as long as you have a steady hand, so there is no excuse to use glue for anything apart from securing cables onto a board to stop them moving or getting yanked in error.

As to RGB modding an N64, there is a good board made by Otakus, which enables any N64 console to output in RGB. It works; and far cheaper than getting a rare French console that has RGB built into the chip.

 

I think it's similar to the one I posted, I dare say there is only a limited number of ways to pull RGB from the RCP

 

Yes, looks similar.

Yes, there is an HDMI mod in development from Marshall, it will be interesting to see if the output looks any different in reality to using an RGB board on the N64 and then the upscaler unit from SCART > HDMI. Tapping directly off the chip may or may not in reality make any difference, then it comes down to price and also availability. You can buy a PAL N64 console for a few pounds, then the RGB board and HDMI converter for about another £40 + £25; so in other words, for about £75 you can have a complete N64 console with HDMI output if you do it yourself - all parts will fit into an original N64 case too. Marshall's mod requires high soldering skills and I suspect, will cost a fair bit more - time will tell.

 

That otakus mod is Tim's first design I think. Tim resdesigned it to be better and started selling them just recently. He never sold his first design, but has it on his site for anyone to use.

 

I can guarantee you that the HDMI mod will look a lot better than your method. To simplify things, the HDMI mod will keep everything digital through and through. Whereas your method goes digital (from the videochip) to analog (RGB), to digital (RGB to HDMI converter) again. And honestly I'm very skeptical about that no-name RGB to HDMI converter you use. It's unlikely to handle 240p resolutions properly without deinterlacing. Which will results in a less than ideal picture. This should not be the case with the HDMI mod.
Using Tim's DAC to convert the digital signals to RGB gives a really nice picture, on a CRT. But you would have to upscale it using a XRGB-mini to get get a really nice result on a HDTV.

 

Technically tapping off the chip directly like Marshall is doing has to be the best quality as it's the crispest method, however the N64 had a top resolution of 640x480 and some games only 320x240. So, with resolution being low, the conversion method might in reality look the same; or as "near as matters". In other words, if you don't see a difference it doesn't matter in reality. Let's see.

Over the next days I will be rigging up the gadget to my UK PAL N64 console; so can then see directly on my 32" television how RGB (SCART) compares to HDMI; and can then test the HDMI on my large 65" television (which doesn't have SCART input). Will be interesting. I'm curious myself what the results will be - i'll post the results when i've done the work.

 

There will be a huge difference, I'm sure. It's not that the resolution is low, it's that most upscalers handles 240p incorrectly. They will usually see this resolution as 480i and apply deinterlacing where it's not needed. This will usually result in messed up drop-shadows, and add interpolation (which looks terrible) and of course it will add more lag, because deinterlacing takes time.

You should give this a read:
http://retrogaming.hazard-city.de/framemeister.html
- It does a great job explaining how 240p is handled properly by the XRGB-mini.

EDIT: You can also take a look here:
http://retrogaming.hazard-city.de/

And do a search for "interpolation" and you can see some examples of video-processors doing it wrong.