[Hojo_Norem]

I took a look inside the OSSC Pro’s enclosure.  Sure, there’s more than enough room to install the Legacy AV in board internally but no real way to tidily add the sockets.

So, I went vertical.

As you can see here, it works fine.

[Hojo_Norem]

Finally got all the bits together to make the extender…

But it doesn’t seem to be very effective.  Tested with a NTSC NES (To be more accurate, a PAL NES with NTSC PPU, CPU and crystal).  Colours initially were correct but degraded after a few seconds.  All the while with flickering green lines and generally unstable.

I’ve verified that all 50 pins are connected with no shorts.  This was not my first attempt, the previous one had a slightly longer cable and the result was there was practicality only green lines.

Works fine when plugged in normally, so I think I can rule out accidental damage but it’s not a deal breaker that it doesn’t work.  More a experiment than much else.  I may consider the possibility of mounting and connecting the AV in PCB internally in exchange for removing the expansion socket… but I think I’ll wait out my warranty before I think about doing that. ^_^

• This reply was modified 5 months, 3 weeks ago by Hojo_Norem.

[Hojo_Norem]

I’ve taken a glance at the RISC-V firmware source and it looks like the code that deals with loading / saving to the SD card could be re-written to work with text-based files in addition to the binary ones.

 

I’d take a shot at it myself but my attempts so far at setting up a build environment have failed.  That and I don’t have the licence to build for the de-interlacing IP for the core.  If there was a way to load the RISC-V firmware from SD card and maybe a simple UART, that may reduce the barrier of entry for some people wanting to experiment and contribute to the UI.

[Hojo_Norem]

Finally got my hands on a AV in module (ordered before I realised there were some RF enabled units available).  If I’m careful about it, is it safe to cut off the unpopulated section to the side of the S-Video socket?  Also, how necessary are the GND connections provided by the screw terminals?  Thanks.

 

[Hojo_Norem]

Nice.  I look forward to it.

[Hojo_Norem]

Just noticed that the non-RF version has just gone out of stock.  If the next batch is going to the RF model then I’m still down for one.

On a related note, does the decoding IC properly implement the delay line part of PAL decoding or is it something that is/will need to be simulated on the FPGA?

[Hojo_Norem]

Any news on the RF input version?  Going by eightbit’s reaction to the standard version it looks like it’s going to be worth the wait!

[Hojo_Norem]

Thanks. The price is at that point that I won’t mind putting a soldering iron to it to fit a local RF connector.
Do you have the rough dimensions of the module pcb? I might try to hunt down a suitable enclosure.

[Hojo_Norem]

Just a small update – Discovered that the advanced timing menus (at least for the scaler) maintain separate states for different video formats.  This means that a single profile can store manually zoomed settings for 50Hz (interlace and prog stored separately) and unzoomed for 60Hz.  Tested this with my modded PS1.

I’ve taken a look at the source code and if I can manage to get a toolchain setup (looks like it’ll be a Linux VM) then I might have a crack at adding the profile shortcut.  These one part I need a little clarification on:

NOTE: If you want to generate distributable bitstream and do not have Intel VIP license, disable alt_vip_* modules in Qsys before platform generation and comment out `define VIP at the top of rtl/ossc_pro.v. 

I’m assuming that is relation the the de-interlacer.  Does it mean that I can compile regardless of having the licence and it’s a (not)simple case of copyright violation if I distribute the binary (not that I would in that case) or is it a case that the licence is also a physical signed file and Quartus will stonewall me with a “Give Intel some money to continue” error?

 

Oh, one last thing, what RC protocol does the OSSC use?  I want to build a device to extend the OSSC’s front panel controls (daily driver functions like profile shortcuts, input select, etc) and rather than ask for a UART I could dangle a IR diode in front of the OSSC’s sensor.

[Hojo_Norem]

I can report that with the test firmware my Yamaha AVR now recognises 96 and 192 KHz audio from the OSSC Pro.  96KHz sounds slightly quieter than 48 and 192 is quieter still, nothing that bumping up the ADC gain doesn’t fix.  My model AVR is quite old, so it forces itself into ‘Straight’ mode when 192KHz is selected.

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Hojo_Norem.

[Hojo_Norem]

I have a Yamaha AVR (different model) myself and I also get the same rolling problem but only if I have the ‘VIDEO CONV’ setting turned ON. With my AVR, when VIDEO CONV is on it actively converts all input formats (Composite, s-video, component) and spits them out of the component and HDMI outputs.

Again, with my AVR, when VIDEO CONV is OFF, the video inputs act purely as switchers and the video enhancement mod comes through clean and stable. All the video formats are separated (IE, no cvbs>s-vid>ypbpr>hdmi conversion) and the AVR spits out the signal with no processing. I don’t normally make use of my AVR’s video conversion function (to minimise video lag) so I never knew that there was a incompatibility until I decided to see how good a job it would do converting the mod’s component to hdmi.

Turning the conversion off does mean a separate component connection from your AVR to your display is required.

[Hojo_Norem]

To paraphrase the enhancement mod’s GitHub page (can be considered the de-facto instruction manual):

“Before you can change the palette register contents, you need to switch the output mode switch to a different mode and back again (back is optional).”
https://github.com/c0pperdragon/C64-Video-Enhancement#details-on-color-signal-reprogramming

Switching between two modes/states/whatever can be referred to as ‘toggling’.

Your Ultimate Cart has no bearing on the issue (I have a first issue 1541U-II). Just toggle your mode select switch when instructed on screen and enjoy!

[Hojo_Norem]

Did you toggle your mode select switch as instructed on the palette editor’s first screen?

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