A1000 S-Video Hack video now on Google Video

[da9000]

Olecranon wrote:
I dont know about the rest of the Amiga community, but I would much rather purchase a neobitz board and a small LCD HDTV instead of an Amiga Flicker Fixer and a LCD computer monitor.  LCD TV's have multiple inputes, so I could keep all my gaming systems connected to one display.

True, but if you already have invested a decent amount in big LCDs.. and don't have a big TV... Anyways, whatever works best for each one of us

[da9000]

adric22 wrote:
... quality.  but there will always be somebody to criticize, like the guy who was insulting my soldering skills.  What he may not realize is that soldering while trying to keep a camera zoomed in on a small section, keeping the lights on the board, staying in the focal range, and keeping obects out of the way of the shot like hands, soldering irons, etc... is far more difficult than it looks.  A 30-second soldering job can take 10 minutes when you are trying to video it.

I think he was joking, as he atested after the fact.  But anyways, some do notice/realize They were pretty clean shots for doing it all with 2 human hands. You and I also need to get one of those vice/clamps for holding the boards :-)

[Vlabguy1]

da9000 wrote:

adric22 wrote:
... quality.  but there will always be somebody to criticize, like the guy who was insulting my soldering skills.  What he may not realize is that soldering while trying to keep a camera zoomed in on a small section, keeping the lights on the board, staying in the focal range, and keeping obects out of the way of the shot like hands, soldering irons, etc... is far more difficult than it looks.  A 30-second soldering job can take 10 minutes when you are trying to video it.

 yes..those were tips/hints and food for thought
for the next time..  :-)

Could have also hooked up a TV..to use as preview..monitor..mmmm...
Oh and I gots mad soldering skill..fyi.. :-)

[adric22]

>> Could have also hooked up a TV..to use as
>> preview..monitor..mmmm

Actually.. I do most of my video with a security camera.  it is a really nice one that outputs S-Video and goes to my video capture card in my PC.  And yes, it is mounted on a tripod.  I used to use a camcorder but I can't find a camcorder that does a good job with inside lighting conditions (without being grainy) and also have features like manual color balance, exposure, focus,etc.. without spending $2,000.  But a $300 security camera with S-video out does the job just fine.  If you notice the green wall behind that desk it is because I do a lot of video recording in that room and a lot of it is "green-screen" work..  Another nice thing about the security camera is that it is very small compared to a camcorder so it doesn't get in my way as much when trying to do things like solder.

Anyway.. back to your original comment, I am watching the preview on a monitor because that is the only way I can see the preview as a CCTV camera has no viewfinder.

[nagaflas]

You've inspired me. I've got an old A1000 in storage. I'm going to do this mod.

[Vlabguy1]

very creative use for a security cam..hehe..:-)

[da9000]

Vlabguy1 wrote:
 yes..those were tips/hints and food for thought
for the next time..  :-)

Could have also hooked up a TV..to use as preview..monitor..mmmm...
Oh and I gots mad soldering skill..fyi.. :-)

Heh, no, I get it. In fact I should take some hints too because my old solder looks like adrics too :-)

But I've got some mad soldering skillz as well: I might photograph my A3000 Chip RAM desolder/re-solder job one day, or when I hacked a Celery 300A to make it seem like a P2 for my various SMP motherboards, or when I revived a dead Celery 266 with a busted SMD resistor by hijacking power from some other source. Bah, whatever... the fact still remains that I suck at electronics theory and practice and I need to learn so much more! I still can't get my dead A3000 to come back to life :-(

As for adric's security camera, I use a similar one too! One reason is that exactly for the same reasons: great performance under limited lighting, but also mine has some mad mad focus skillz! I can zoom in on a human hair and have it take up the full screen while still being in focus!

Cheers to all the hardware hackers keeping the Amigas alive! And one day we must all form an online coalition and get everyones brain interconnected and design a mighty, new "open source" chipset/accelerator board!!! (if that's ever possible)  I still don't understand why some of these companies that created accelerator boards for either Amigas, or Macs, or Ataris, or other 68k machines (so many of them!) didn't ever work out a unified design to cover all those platforms, instead of just one platform.. Gah, what do I know...

[Vlabguy1]

interesting regarding the fact that you also use a security cam..huh..
Camcorders are soo cheap these days....I should talk..I use a Canon L2
Hi8..with changeable lenses..which does a great job..although no view
finder either..hehe..

I could use my miniDV cam..but I like to keep things retro..I get great quality from my Canon..more realistic colors etc..with macro..

[da9000]

Well, I had it for years, and got it back when the first web cams were the craze and got stuck with it. Also, didn't have the money for a true camera at the time, and haven't really needed one since, so that's more or less why.. So don't worry, you're doing things properly, we're just oddballs :-)

[TheGoose]

Damn they just took down the video! And I just got mine today. I saw it just days ago and now I can't review SOB!

 :madashell:  :getmad:  :evil:


---------------------------------
EDIT
---------------------------------

Ok, found it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDP8cvIXtFY

Crisis averted...  :lol:

[abbub]

TheGoose: Did you get the Component/SVideo/Composite model, or just the SVideo/Composite model??

I have the one with Component installed in my A2000, but haven't been able to get component working on my 46" Samsung TV.  I'm not sure whether it's something in the Neobitz (like the lack of sync cleaner) or something in the TV.  I'm waiting to upgrade Denise/Agnus later this week, then I'm going to try it on a buddies TV to see if it works.  If it doesn't, I'll get the sync cleaning circuit parts and try that.  The SVideo looks amazing, and the color composite is a welcome addition (and looks better than the mono composite...)

[TheGoose]

Just the SVideo / Composite model one. I also have the assembled version. Just got the hole drilled tonight and realized I need to get some different solder after playing around with the iron.

I don't get the 2 grounds and this board though. S-Video has two matching grounds but the neobitz has just one ground and then the composite (yellow) lead?

Is there something I don't know about the s-video ?
Didn't plan on using the composite anyway...

[redrumloa]

Great video, bravo!  :-D

[Damion]

abbub wrote:
TheGoose: Did you get the Component/SVideo/Composite model, or just the SVideo/Composite model??

I have the one with Component installed in my A2000, but haven't been able to get component working on my 46" Samsung TV.  I'm not sure whether it's something in the Neobitz (like the lack of sync cleaner) or something in the TV.  I'm waiting to upgrade Denise/Agnus later this week, then I'm going to try it on a buddies TV to see if it works.  If it doesn't, I'll get the sync cleaning circuit parts and try that.  The SVideo looks amazing, and the color composite is a welcome addition (and looks better than the mono composite...)

FWIW -- On my JROK component project, I tried both CRT and LCD TVs with and without homebrew sync-cleaner, and it made no difference. Definitely easy and worth a shot, though.

edit -- Actually, I tried the JROK "sync cleaner" (no difference), the "homebrew" aspect was an IC to combine separate H and V syncs into a known "good" csync signal for both the sync-cleaner and standalone JROK. (Was desperate to try and get a good picture somehow...) Anyway, no difference regardless of sync used.

[abbub]

The Goose:

You can use the one ground coming off of the Neobitz for all of your grounds.

I drilled holes in one of the back plate and mounted Composite, Chroma, Luma, SVideo, and the three component connections.  Since the backplate was metal, I ran the ground to it and all of the metal connectors except the SVideo got their ground from it.  Since Chroma/Luma and SVideo are the same thing, I used the 'ground rings' that came with those RCA connectors to run to the SVideo connector.  (I wanted Chroma/Luma RCA connectors for my 1702 Monitor)

This is a completely solderless install on the A2000, by the way.  I managed to connect to all of the needed signals through the video port.  (It's a complete hack, but it works...)

Here are some pix:


^^
This is the Neobitz mounted to the side of the power supply (double sided tape...a temporary solution...)  That was the best place to put it within reach of the video slot and the backplate I wanted to use.



^^
This shot kind of shows you how I connected it.  Essentially I found the correct locations on the card slot, tinned the wires heavily to give them more contact area, and made a plastic shim to insert into the slot to press the card connections out.  In a perfect world, I'd love to find a card edge to solder these connections to.  It looks like the 16-bit extension on an ISA card would do the trick, but I didn't have any down in the basement to hack apart.


^^
This shows the back of the Amiga now.  From bottom to top, it's one RCA for composite, two RCAs for Chroma and Luma, SVideo, and three RCAs for component.

[abbub]

-D-

Yeah, I figured I'd give it a shot, since it's really not going to be that difficult to implement.  If it works, it works, if not, C'est le vie.