Welcome to our ebay store: retrospectives2000

[flucxore]

Hi, I'm about to pick up my first ever NES, however I'm in PAL territory and so it'll be 50Hz. I like to mod all my systems, and ideally I'd prefer this to output NTSC60.

As I understand it, replacing the CPU+PPU+Crystal is (roughly) sufficient to convert a PAL NES into an NTSC one.

Because I'm new to NESland, I'm not sure how mix&match the clone parts are - would the 'DIY-8-Bit NTSC Upgrade kit' available in this store be drop in replacements for the official PAL chips? Or are they sufficiently different to the official parts that this is nonsensical?

Thanks!

[Retrospectives]

I am by no means any expert on the NES ( I actually never owned one). But Yes, that should theoretically be possible if you also disable to lockout chip of the NES.

Here is a thread that jpx72 wrote about his success of doing basically the same thing as you are about to do. He seemed to have used the original chips from the Famicom but they are interchangeable with the UMC chips so in that sense it wouldn't be any problems. Thanks.

http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=6211.0

[number47]

You have to disable region lockout chip to play NTSC games.

[Retrospectives]

Hello and sorry for the slow updates. The new DIY-Product has been uploaded for a while, but i forgot to put it into a category which made it invisible for people to see. Anyway, now it is uploaded but we will be a bit busy this month, but if you want to get sure to get one of these boards, please order but be aware that the time frame will be a bit uncertain. Thanks for your understanding all. 

[prince tomato]

just placed an order for this behemoth (among other things)
can't wait to see what it can do!
i really like how you can personalize and mod this to suit your needs and taste.
it would be great if it fits in an original Famicom or close clone when all the ports are cut out.
otherwise i might cram it into an Atari 5200 or something 
no more drooling over the Analogue NT or other new consoles with original or cloned hardware that cost an arm and a leg.
as soon as it arrives i will post my findings in the techie part of FW  for those who are curious to see how this thing holds up compared to the original and subsequent clones.

Hello my friends!  

Spring festival is finally over and we are back to work!
All of your parcels will be sent during next week and for those of you who are waiting, we apologize for this but now everything should be up and running like it normally should.

....Or is it? We have aquired a VERY VERY interesting Famiclone board that we are going to upload on our webshop as soon as possible (the upcoming couple of days).  

Let met introduce it here:

What we basically have is  something that we really think that we are really proud to be available to provide you. And that is a Famiclone that has a custom built PPU which is a reversed engineered SMD chip which allows a LOT of different things. The CPU is the normal UMC-FC CPU, but the PPU is really something out of this universe.

For example, it outputs AV, S-VIDEO, VGA, AND RGB. It will be possible to upgrade this into HDMI, but not for the moment. It has 7(!) controller options. 4-flat 9-pin for your Famiclone controllers. 2 inputs in the front for the sub-9 controller so that you can use external controllers. 1 option for accessing your Famicom expansion port module.

And it DO utilizes the use of scanlines with a simple jumper switch as you can see on the pictures.

We expect these to be kind of high in demand and they will be assembled by hand just like the DIY-8-BIT. So if you place an order, it might take a while before we can ship it out due to high demand.

Finally, as you can understand this is really for the true enthusiasts. The hardcore gamers, and the price will probably knock some people off the chair, but please understand that we are a very small company and for me personally i can just say that a famiclone like this, is ten times worth the money that of a PS4 or something like that (Not that we are looking into those kind of prices, please don't worry hehe). This is a MODERN machine made for MODERN televisions.

Thank you. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  
PCB itself

Spoiler

[close]

Board

Spoiler

[close]

Jumpers

Spoiler

[close]

Normal mode

Spoiler

[close]

zoom in on scanlines

Spoiler

[close]

Scanlines

Spoiler

[close]

[daskrabs]

Can you please post pics and/or video of the AV Board replacement inside an original Famicom, preferably with extra hole cut in the case? Screenshots of a game or two would be great as well. If they look good, I'm sure people here including myself would be happy to upgrade our systems.

[prince tomato]

i will do that.
i already got a video capture thingie to display what it puts out in the video departement.
i will dedicate a post to what i did with this board and the other DIY 8-bit board with the AV output,
(which came out really well)
that is an awesome device already,
but i am really curious about this thing.
if it does away with (most) jailbars,
crunchy audio, and reversed duty cycles (and the sound and pitch issues they cause),
this is the thing i should have saved my cash for instead of buying the  Retron 5.
if only i knew then what i know now...
shortly before i heard of this board i was considering buying the NES rgb kit, which would cost about $90 plus $36 for the board needed to work with the Famicom or AV Famicom.
and then i would have to find an evil wizard to cram all of that into my Famicom, (i can do a lot of mods myself, but this is pretty tricky)
sell my soul to pay the man,
and live without the eject-slide.
so yeah, i think this board is well worth the money,
and a lot less hassle to work with.

stay tuned for more.
to be continued.

[daskrabs]

I was actually asking the Retrospects guy, but if you're gonna buy one, feel free to post a review. Note that I'm referring to this one:

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/AV-Module-for-your-8-Bit-system/138988_32287368288.html

i will do that.
i already got a video capture thingie to display what it puts out in the video departement.
i will dedicate a post to what i did with this board and the other DIY 8-bit board with the AV output,
(which came out really well)
that is an awesome device already,
but i am really curious about this thing.
if it does away with (most) jailbars,
crunchy audio, and reversed duty cycles (and the sound and pitch issues they cause),
this is the thing i should have saved my cash for instead of buying the  Retron 5.
if only i knew then what i know now...
shortly before i heard of this board i was considering buying the NES rgb kit, which would cost about $90 plus $36 for the board needed to work with the Famicom or AV Famicom.
and then i would have to find an evil wizard to cram all of that into my Famicom, (i can do a lot of mods myself, but this is pretty tricky)
sell my soul to pay the man,
and live without the eject-slide.
so yeah, i think this board is well worth the money,
and a lot less hassle to work with.

stay tuned for more.
to be continued.

[prince tomato]

ah, sorry.
i was too eager to realize.
i just happens that i bought thatAV board too and installed it in a Famicom.
the DC in plug is in the exact same place as the old one,
the rca socket for video comes out exactly where the rf used to be,
audio comes out of the hole where the channel switch was, you will need to cut this hole a little bit bigger, any hobby knife will do,
and there is a nifty recessed power led where the TV< >GAME switch was.
so you only need to cut one hole.
the board itself screws down exactly where the RF board sat,
using the same mounts and holes.
depending on which revision of Famicom board you have,
wiring it up is either straight wire-by-wire replacement,
or if you have the 4 wire revivision,
you may need to figure out where to find your Vcc, ground, audio and sound.
you can find all kinds of useful schematics and pin-outs for this on the infraweb, and the multimeter is your friend.
i would say the whole operation takes about 15 to 20 minutes.

[Retrospectives]

prince_tomato: If you already installed it into a Famicom with your AV-Board I sent to you, could you please take some photos of the setup? I am not home at this moment but i still wanted to reply and yes, everything prince_tomato is saying is absolutely correct. Although i never did this installation personally, i do own clone systems that are basically identical to the original Famicom in terms on physical plastic and screwholes etc. But yeah, a hobby knife / dremel or something like that would do, to cut out that little extra hole. That's pretty much all you need to do.

This boards are made of high quality components and will be an easy quick-fix for anyone who want's to have an AV Famicom. Picture quality is also great, but well, i hope prince_tomato could assist us on that one. Hehe 

[muckyfingers]

Does the AV kit fix the Jail Bar issue on the original Famicom?

[Retrospectives]

muckyfingers: It does not per se fix the jail bar issue since it is generally a question of bad capacitors on the motherboard itself. The picture quality is awesome though.

daskrab: I got some really really nice pictures from prince_tomato (big thanks!) who has installed this AV kit into a normal Famicom board and housing so please look at the pictures and see for yourself. Thanks

Spoiler

[close]

[daskrabs]

Thanks for the pics. Looks nice.

muckyfingers: It does not per se fix the jail bar issue since it is generally a question of bad capacitors on the motherboard itself. The picture quality is awesome though.

daskrab: I got some really really nice pictures from prince_tomato (big thanks!) who has installed this AV kit into a normal Famicom board and housing so please look at the pictures and see for yourself. Thanks

Spoiler

[close]

[prince tomato]

Hello my friends!  

Spring festival is finally over and we are back to work!
All of your parcels will be sent during next week and for those of you who are waiting, we apologize for this but now everything should be up and running like it normally should.

....Or is it? We have aquired a VERY VERY interesting Famiclone board that we are going to upload on our webshop as soon as possible (the upcoming couple of days).  

Let met introduce it here:

What we basically have is  something that we really think that we are really proud to be available to provide you. And that is a Famiclone that has a custom built PPU which is a reversed engineered SMD chip which allows a LOT of different things. The CPU is the normal UMC-FC CPU, but the PPU is really something out of this universe.

For example, it outputs AV, S-VIDEO, VGA, AND RGB. It will be possible to upgrade this into HDMI, but not for the moment. It has 7(!) controller options. 4-flat 9-pin for your Famiclone controllers. 2 inputs in the front for the sub-9 controller so that you can use external controllers. 1 option for accessing your Famicom expansion port module.

And it DO utilizes the use of scanlines with a simple jumper switch as you can see on the pictures.

We expect these to be kind of high in demand and they will be assembled by hand just like the DIY-8-BIT. So if you place an order, it might take a while before we can ship it out due to high demand.

Finally, as you can understand this is really for the true enthusiasts. The hardcore gamers, and the price will probably knock some people off the chair, but please understand that we are a very small company and for me personally i can just say that a famiclone like this, is ten times worth the money that of a PS4 or something like that (Not that we are looking into those kind of prices, please don't worry hehe). This is a MODERN machine made for MODERN televisions.

Thank you. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  
PCB itself

Spoiler

[close]

Board

Spoiler

[close]

Jumpers

Spoiler

[close]

Normal mode

Spoiler

[close]

zoom in on scanlines

Spoiler

[close]

Scanlines

Spoiler

[close]

i finally had a chance to try the RGB mode from this thing,
(it does require a special cable going from the vga out socket to the scart plug that goes into your tv, if you are using scart like me, and involves reintegrating the sync into the signal i believe, i didn't make the cable myself)
and the picture quality is simply stunning.
i have really tried to find jailbars or even the faintest distortion,
but it is flawless in my opinion.
at the moment i have no way of capturing images in a way that is worth displaying here,
but i will as soon as i can.
so for now you'll have to take my word for it.

[Lord-Raziel]

Hi Retrospectives,

Is there a way to include a 72 pin connector or maybe a dual 72 and 60 pins? that would be good for people that have NES games in their personal collection, I've already have an American NES Top Loader (besides my AV Famicom) but I can grab another NES Top Loader shell from a non working console for housing your board.