I have seen a comparison video on Youtube, and they look very similar. One thing I don't understand is how the expansion audio chips work on both? I know a resistor needs to be soldered to the board on RGBNES, but do you still need to do it on the NES HDMI mod? Does the NES HDMI mod do a better job with the expansion audio chips in comparison to the NESRGB mod? I am considering both mods since I'm gonna mod mine soon. Is one easier to install than the other? I'm leaning towards NESRGB since my setup for everything else is RGB, but if the NES HDMI does a better job with the expansion audio chips, and is an overall easier install than I think I will take that route instead...............What's the gamers?
The HDMI mod will provide the best picture possible out of the NES hardware. RGB still looks amazing though and I recommend it if your setup is for RGB. An advantage the NESRGB has over the Hi Def NES is light guns still work if you use a CRT with a 15KHz RGB input like a PVM. The NESRGB only requires desoldering the PPU, socketing it, and installing a new A/V connector in the back. Hi Def NES requires doing the desoldering and socketing but with both the PPU and CPU this time. After that you should just need to mount the board internally and cut a hole for the HDMI connector. It might require an extra step though. I'm going to put the Hi Def NES mod in my Famicom and then I'll put NESRGB in a twin Famicom or an NES, depends on which one I get.
@Olschoolgamer NES HDMI does expansion audio internally through emulation. Based on the install videos they posted in the past, it seems like you don't have to do anything special since as MonkeyBoyJoey mentioned, you need to tap into the CPU through the interposer and that appears to take care of the audio out. As installation goes, NES HDMI requires the removal of the CPU in addition to PPU, so you are using desoldering braid and manual desoldering pump that obviously will take twice as long and more chance of lifting traces if not careful. If you got one of those powered Hakko tool then this should be a non issue. @MonkeyBoyJoey NES HDMI is probably not a good candidate for Famicom as they mentioned a numerous time that there is limited space inside the Famicom housing. If it's do-able, it will probably involve in heavy cutting/modding of the case.
Maybe I should swap that around then. Put the NESHD in the Twin and the NESRGB in the Famicom. Thanks for the heads up.
Twin is also not easy with HDMI, although it will still be doable. Easier than with plain Famicom, but more pain than with NES. In the end, I ordered an Analogue NT because of that, I didn't want the trouble and I felt bad cutting a Twin.
So I have done the snes rgb mod and the N64 rgb mod myself. I like the satisfaction of doing them myself. How much harder do you guys think the NESRGB mod is in comparison? I have desoldering braid, but no solder sucker. Can it be done with just braid? I would really like to do it myself, but don't wanna destroy my nes.
I did my first NESRGB using just braid and a solder sucker. It took a bit of patience, but it was manageable. If you feel like you are going to be doing a lot more work in the future, you could go ahead an invest in a desoldering pump to make the job easier.
If you don't have a solder sucker, get one of those desoldering irons with the bulb from Radio Shack or online. They work great for taking out ICs, better than the solder sucker IMO. Pretty cheap too.
The fine line you walk with a job like this is between not getting all of the solder out of the hole and lifting the pads/traces. If you're going to invest in a desoldering pump, the community standard is the Hakko FR-300, but that's a ~$250-300USD tool. I personally spent the money on the Hakko before my first NESRGB install, and I don't regret spending what I did.
