If you have a moment, I'm just about to launch a Kickstarter for something very cool to help me finish building The Cave and open it up to the public. If you're feeling kind enough to help out then check out www.kickstarter.com/projects/retroteabreaks/the-colouring-book-of-retro-computers - We go live later today. Thank you! Neil

@tiagopereirasantossilva556

2 жыл бұрын

the house is beautiful !!

@markpage2779

2 жыл бұрын

Can't wait to visit the Retro Computer & Console Exhibition. Exciting!

@nielshkristensen1815

2 жыл бұрын

worms do have fmv video to

@bobbus_74

2 жыл бұрын

backed.

@worldofretrogameplay6963

2 жыл бұрын

Someone ported the laserdisc game Time Gal to the CD32. Check it out, RMC: unofficial-cd32-ports.blogspot.com/2017/03/001-time-gal-reimagine.html?m=1

"Cleaning this stuff up is impossible without any chemical assistance." Hey, we've all be there, bro.

"I genuinely can't believe how much flux is on this" Somewhere, up in heaven, Louis Rossmann is smiling.

@HazewinDog

2 жыл бұрын

they killed him?!

@EasyMac308

2 жыл бұрын

@@HazewinDog Surprised Apple and John Deere haven't gone in together on a hit man.

@Grinder2112

2 жыл бұрын

@@HazewinDog He's just up there to re-flow St Peter's 2012 (BCE) MacBook.

I'm blown away at just what a dab hand you are at soldering and the PATIENCE you have. It's inspired me to practice a lot more with a soldering iron + your knowledge on "schematics" you've really done your homework and it shows. Going that extra mile has saved a valuable piece of history lads WELL DONE ! All that Flux though ! Crazy eh?

Ouch, what a state! Probably one of the coupling caps or perhaps one of the resistors that feeds the red or green out, or the resistors that terminate. I would suspect those 100uF AC coupling caps first if they havent already been swapped. You could bypass with a wire one at a time to rule them out, but that's just a temporary thing if you do that because they are blocking DC and you dont want a bias on there for any period of time. Nice work, you two seem joined at the hip recently lol

@tim_buck_too9126

2 жыл бұрын

I agree - check C250_2, C250_4, C250_6. Unlikely but still would check C250_1, C250_3 and C250_5. It is possible resistors R262,263 or 264 are not on their values of 470ohms. Same for R253, 255 and 257 which should be 75 ohm. I'd also check around CN1 for shorts. Pins 2,4 and 6 are ground. Pins 1,2 and 5 should not be shorted to the gnd. I would also check for continuity, shorts etc associated with signals AB, AG, AR, AB_EXT, AG_EXT and AR_EXT. These signals pass between the STV8438 DAC and to connections on the main bus connector that fits into the CD32 connection socket. Looking at the schematics I have, check pages 3 and 4 for detail of what I am referring to

@timballam3675

2 жыл бұрын

That soldering is making my eyes bleed....

"There's never enough flux!" I guess someone decided to challenge Louis Rossmann.

@berrieds

2 жыл бұрын

The bigger the blob, the better the job!

I was in Hong Kong late 2002and VCD's were everywhere. There was way more of a range of titles in the VCD format than DVD.I came back home with a heap of VCD's. There were a few scammers trying to sell bootleg copies of Dreamcast games for near full price, and a heap of annoying people trying to sell you watches or shirts.

Thanks for watching Neil and I mucking about with wires and old junk. I wanted to do a Back to the Future "Flux Capacitor" joke, but he said no. Thought I'd get that out there.

You can upgrade the mpeg rom from the v40.22 to v40.30 via a 27c400 erasable rom and then you can play philips CDi digital cds. Also the FMV is in case upside down,when you open the case you should see the bottom of the board and it is normally covered with a see through plastic insulation sheet held down by the four screws, but the owner must have threw it away and so it may now short on something,the giveaway is that you normally see the test points through the square cut out on the top cover. And yes check the ceramic decoupling caps they are known to go bad with hairline cracks.

@Dexter_GamingYTRoblox

6 ай бұрын

The games or the movies? As it was Green Book and white book mpeg standards

4:14 that's not flux, that's just golden syrup!

I had one briefly for my CD32 and watched Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat, I was amazed by the quality :)

The CD32 is such a lovely looking machine! Hope you'll get it working fully again.

I keep getting distracted by the 3do Road Rash playing in the background. Love that game.

First time seeing your channel- really enjoyed this. Great stuff

Thank you very much for repairing the CD32 Modul so far. I ever wanted one for my CD32 but its way too expensive and very rare.

I like how you did the narration like you were having a conversation about troubleshooting it while doing it.

@RMCRetro

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

I've found that using a single strand of wire from some flex can be used to do this kind of repair on fine pitch ICs too for anyone who dosen't have any varnished wire.

@RicoElectrico

2 жыл бұрын

For super fine bodge wires Rafał Bielawski (mostly iPhone repairs on his channel) uses single strands from micro coax shielding 😳

@kaitlyn__L

2 жыл бұрын

@@RicoElectrico hey that’s a great idea damn. Frayed shielding after you trim a piece is fairly plentiful if you’re not stretching a huge distance. Plus pulling a little bit out is a reasonable sacrifice if you’re using the coax for other things.

@EngineeringVignettes

2 жыл бұрын

I normally just use wire wrap wire... pre-tinned and strips easily, if you get the good stuff. A general tip for any wire really: Watch out for the copper coated aluminum "chineseum" stuff, that stuff is crap for soldering. Get your wire from a reputable dealer, not Aliexpress etc. Cheers,

Isn't it one of the voltages for a colour channel being low, ie, being dragged low or not connected. Adrian's Digital Basement is kind-of an expert in channel signals. The cans don't have the cross of electrolytic, but it is from that era of bad electro's.

Awesome episode!

Another great video guys

Always worth trying a different riser, some of these homemade ones do differ in quality, obviously the official riser that would have come with it originally would be ideal!

Great video, I bought a 2nd hand CD32 back in the 90's, didn't realise until I got it home had that same FMV module fitted inside. Due to being a teenager only had enough pocket money to buy one Video CD which I probably watched every other day, Top Gun.

TBH they were flakey from day 1 - I recall mine needed just the right amount of pressure on the edge connector/cart port to work sucessfully. My young self put up with it because FMV on a CD32 (Amiga fanboy) - was sooo cool. My today self has worked that out of my system - tech HAS to work now

You should contact Dave Haney of Commodore fame. He designed the module and might be able to give you some advice.

@cowbutt6

2 жыл бұрын

Dave Haynie is a regular on Quora: www.quora.com/profile/Dave-Haynie?ch=10&share=bdce27d7&srid=uqUn

I had one of those MPEG-1 hardware decoding modules in my Philips CD-I

Fantastic work saving a rare bit of Amiga Tech (especially late era Amiga stuff).

Maybe the cave should invest in an ultrasonic cleaning bath?

I was looking at the schematic for the device. There are some electrolytics and some ceramic caps in the output circuit from U210 that provides the AR_EXT, AG_EXT, and AB_EXT signals which are connected to CN1. The electrolytics are more likely to be a problem as they can go bad over time. It would be worth checking them with an ESR meter if you can or just go ahead and replace them.

4:38 Was that a Derek and Clive reference? 🤣

An ultrasonic cleaning tank would have been useful.

@RMCRetro

2 жыл бұрын

It really would. If we can get to the bottom of this I'll put it through the tank in part 2

I have an idea for a drinking game: take a shot when solder pad is torn from PCB

@Fuartianer

2 жыл бұрын

I think this would end in a loop: Pad is Torn -> Drinking -> Pad is Torn -> Drinking -> Pad is Torn (selfmade) -> Drinking ->....

@AppleReviews

2 жыл бұрын

.......and then 10 pads lifted and........ drink 10 vodka shots and......... SOLDER!

@wraithcadmus

2 жыл бұрын

I'm now drunk enough to think the CD32 was a good idea.

@DavePoo

2 жыл бұрын

Take a shot whenever anyone replaces a capacitor. Take another if the removed capacitor doesn't fix anything.

@trailersic

2 жыл бұрын

@@wraithcadmus The CD32 is the C64-GS mark II. Take a C64/Amiga, remove the keyboard & Tape/Disk drive. Release as a console.

I'd never seen the Cannon Fodder intro on my PC, I had no idea it had a FMV sequence to start like that. What a blast from the past!

great vid guys

I would be looking at C250_5 and C250_6 myself, also look at the possibility of a solder bridge to pin 5 of CN1 to a power rail (7:49) the 75R resister back to AR_EXT would give everything a red tinge.

I remember seeing a CD32 with the FMV add-on playing a Star Trek TNG movie at a “World of Amiga” show in London years ago. Great memories of those shows as a kid.

I brought a CD32 with some games at a car boot sale about 10 years ago for £17 (was raining and the guy just wanted to pack up and go home) low and behold it had an FMV card fitted inside, only after searching I realised how rare they were, listed just the card on ebay and got £170 ish pounds for it if I remember correctly.

Very generous Mr Elkington.

Really good video. The back and forth is definitely a lot more RMC-oriented. It looks like the Red/Green voltage isn't getting all the way through somewhere, meaning it's probably either those capacitors, resistors (if there's any on the R/G lines) or DAC. I'd desolder the caps while you're waiting for new ones and test them. If they're not duff it's probably not the problem.

4:39 "DOLLY! WILL YOU GET A POLAROID OF THAT?!"

@MarkFixesStuff

2 жыл бұрын

"I became the world's number 1... "

Backed. Good luck 🤞

I had the CD32 back in the day, though my biggest regret was selling it soon after Commodore went bust. I never had an FMV module for it. Though like Mark I did have an FMV module for the original Playstation. Great to see you got the FMV module working and really hope you sort out the colour issue.

I bought my CD32 on day of release in New Zealand. The shop is now a Spice shop. 😂 Just needs a bit of repair (cd not spinning) so I'll watch your other video.

Valerie, get the tape measure :P :P :P :P :P :P :P Superb. Another Derek and Clive fan there i see :)

We were using the CD32 for VanCity's Home Banking system (the first in North America). We had some FMV modules and got to play CD-Rom movies, which was a big thing in those days. The one thing I noticed is that they ran really hot, and you could smell the burning schmoo, which sort of detracted from the video experience.

Are there any buffer transistors on the output of the DAC, is it an RGB signal. One could possibly be leaky causing a shift in the dc level. Without seeing a circuit diagram it's difficult to know. It might be worth checking the dc voltages on the DAC pins as well.

A friend back then gave me Star Trek V on VCD because he couldn't play it. The Sega Saturn also had one of these MPEG cartridges but I didn't bother getting one. For something like this to get supported it would have had to be built into the system(s). Addon hardware doesn't work and even higher specced models of a system, like the Nintendo DSi and New 3DS were, didn't work out if the games had to specifically made for these systems and didn't simply offer extra functionality for the models like how PS4 Pro and XBox One X did. I can see the logic behind MS packing the Kinect with the XBox One but there the problem was, that only a relatively small number of people actually wanted to use something like this but had to pay for it anyway.

I bought a huge A4000 and random Amiga bundle back in 2019 and very nearly got myself an FMV unit. The bloke had either sold it or frustratingly lost it! I did get a huge pile of original VCD movies that he found though.

yeah ! love videos on my CD32 ! i will comment tomorrow !

I’d strongly recommend getting a ChipQuick kit. This uses a very low melting point solder that really helps lift chips and minimises the risk of lifting pads.

I loved my Amiga 500\1200 & the CD32, wished I still had a CD32.

Hi Neil. I am fortunate enough to own my original FMV module. I am not very technical with the insides but it's in full working order. I think I still have the original riser board still, but it works fine with my SX32 riser board which has multiple video out options on the back. I doubt either of these would be the cause of your loss of red signal but would be prepared to lend you both for diagnostic purposes (I am going to check for those missing screws too!)

Mmm CD32 goodness or in this case goeyness. Always wanted one when it first came out. Saw lots of potential, shame Commodore went to the wall not long after. Hopefully you and Mark will get the FMV up and running. Another little bit of history in the cave.

Fixing CD32 Mpeg Cards has never been so much fun! (I should know better.. I'll get me coat...) - Great video by the way! What a strange problem.

@CastleFamilyThe

2 жыл бұрын

Did you have to buy yours back in the day? I believe Millennium were annoyed as they wanted to use it for Robocod/James Pond 3 intros but never got sent a FMV board!

Re-Cap but if you haven't already make sure that boards squeaky clean of that flux, the amount of boards I’ve built that had odd issues or damn right refused to boot until I’d given them an isopro-bath

BTW, the CD32 Demo Disk has some video available (depending on the version) that is only present if you have the FMV card installed.

All collectors need a Mark. I sure do!

@RMCRetro

2 жыл бұрын

Wait until you meet Cathode Rob Tube...the man has changed my life

I have had two of these. I have had the fault you have with one of the cards, it turned out to be a ceramic cap. But I replaced the DAC as well whilst I was there. I sold that around 2005 then bought another around 2008 after massive regrets. The carts never have screws in the side (at least neither of mine have). TBH a full recap is wise now as my last one which was perfect developed all manner of faults during 10 years of dry temp controlled storage. A recap brought it back to life and I sold my whole boxed with instructions CD32 collection about 3 years ago. AFAIK there is only Cannon Fodder as a game that uses it (and only for the FMV intro), and also the amiga advert which was on many CD32 cover discs at the time. If you left the cart out you got a postage stamp size CDXL version to view, pop in the cart and it was full screen. IMHO the CDi had the better FMV cart and that is how I watched all my VCD's at the time

Mark makes miracles.

Never seen one of these before, only in magazines. Looks like its seen better days, much much better days. Hopefully the new chips solve the mystery of the evil pink.

Being colourblind I found I actually preferred Cannon Fodder with the FMV module inserted. When removed the trees looked really bad. However, I could see the red cast in the FMV intro itself. Outside of that I saw no real difference.

LOL at Neil 'reacting' in the thumbnail!

I wish I hadn't sold mine. Word was there were 13,000 of these things made ... The greatest thing they did was sneak PhilipsCDI movie compatibility just before release.

Hopefully the DAC itself is not shot, I have an A1200 board with blue signals going into the DAC but no blue signals coming out. Good thing replacement chips are still available.

Loved my cd 32. It was in the living room with my a1200 in the bedroom

the temptation to say 'flux capacitor' must have been overwhelming.. did road avengers come out on the amiga? wasnt that fmv?

Soon as I saw that output, knew it needed recapped

Assuming the DAC is OK (it likely isn’t), then it could be the outputs of the chip that generates the RGB signals that feed the DAC. Is there anyway you can generate & display a video test pattern (eg graduated colour bars). This would help determine if the problem is a “stuck” bit in the higher order bits of the red channel.

It's always the capacitors, I've seen this channel before! I always wanted a cd32 and mpeg board. I had a CD drive for my a1200 so could play some of the games, the basic ports without Akiko or mpeg support. I had to settle for that.

A very good video. A Very interesting product. Looking at the cd32 expansion pinout there’s pin to disable internal video, begs the question if the all RGB data is fed to the fmv card DAC. The expansion ports also have pins for analog RGB video which lead to me thoughts in the above. A Very interesting product indeed.

This is yet another one example of the blender that connects between marketing and Product Design

7:40 - Played all the way to level 3 to get that footage. War was too much fun to stop.

World record for the longest trail of flux. Your D&C reference is safe with me;)

@nikeymikey1008

2 жыл бұрын

I spotted it too!! :)

There was so much flux on there that you probably need to change the flux capacitor. That'll correct the colors.

Got a couple of Jackie Chan VCDs behind me. Got 'em in Chinatown when I was 17.

I would love to dig into this thing. I do surface mount soldering with a microscope all the time.

I wonder if they were new capacitors on there. I'd swap them out first. Then make sure the main port connectors are clean. You should invest in a little ultrasonic cleaner.

I was kinda hoping I'd see an RC boat go by on the exterior shot.

I have the same issue with the FMV module on the CD32. But, it only happens after about 10-20 mins of using it. So i have full colour for a while, then it turns red/pink. I did order a tray of the STV8438CV DAC chips years ago thinking it might be that. But i never got around to swapping it out, and it's more likely the caps anyway. If you need a DAC chip let me know and I can send a couple to you(I'm in Ireland). Worth mentioning that my module sure does get hot when playing back video cd's.

Hi. For demo purpose there is video creator cd32 software that can overlay pictures on mpeg stream.

Ooh... RMC-VCD's! Special edition compilations! Podcasts can go on vinyl, why not YT on VCD? Hell, I'll master it for ya - I used to be the guy you got your anime from in high school, lol.

Oeh, you’re a real KZreadr now with Squarespace and such. Congrats! Oh and yes, very nice video once again. :)

check C250_2, C250_4, C250_6. Unlikely but still would check C250_1, C250_3 and C250_5. It is possible resistors R262,263 or 264 are not on their values of 470ohms. Same for R253, 255 and 257 which should be 75 ohm. I'd also check around CN1 for shorts. Pins 2,4 and 6 are ground. Pins 1,2 and 5 should not be shorted to the gnd. I would also check for continuity, shorts etc associated with signals AB, AG, AR, AB_EXT, AG_EXT and AR_EXT. These signals pass between the STV8438 DAC and to connections on the main bus connector that fits into the CD32 connection socket. Looking at the schematics I have, check pages 3 and 4 for detail of what I am referring to

I thought FMV was sorcery when I first saw it in a shop window display. LOL

@plan7a

2 жыл бұрын

Television and cinema are sorcery too - aren't they?

I used to chip the OG Playstation back in the day and doing so let you view VCD's on them amongst other things 😉

Mark gets the soldering iron, you get the kettle on, thats the deal!

My a1200 had a similar problem, i sent it to mutant caterpiller who fixed it really quickly and said one of the resistors had blown.

You should be able to play CD-i discs on the Amiga CD32 with the FMV module in. Both use the MPEG-1 standard.

I wonder if any of those half-torn pads on the mpeg chip are not well connected. That board is pretty mangled, I would go and double check everything.

Amazing

I have absolutely no experience with the CD32 or the FMV module, but i think Mark´s hypothesis about the capacitors has a lot of merit; Certainly it can do no harm to replace them with known working ones. In any case, interesting video - as always :D

i used to play kate bush music disc on the cd32 find it was awesome. One Deadly Summer - MPEG Video for CDI PC Macintish Amiga CD32 VCD ADJANI 1983

If the part of the DAC related to red data was not connected, why would you have too much red? Should you disconnect the blue and green? ;) I look forward to seeing the solution.

Great job with the machines in the background, they are in sync and look great!

I think that this pretty much points out that soldering is not welding and flux needs not to be applied via fire hose. Having seen many repairs of amplifiers, computers and other such older gear I know dodgy capacitors (especially cheaper ones like Commodore bought) tend to cause problems down the road. As long as you get the values correct, it's not like you can make the problem worse by shot-gunning them after all.

I've seen it showing Star Trek VI in a computer shop.

Thanks for the vid 👍 and that’s a big cart, my Sega Saturn card is a lot smaller. I don’t think that it did well in games using it as well 🤔

@CastleFamilyThe

2 жыл бұрын

Came out a couple of years later for the Saturn and PSX so probably found a way to reduce chip size, also 3DO one is a huge brick on the side of the console!

VCD was very popular in Poland. The movies was relatively cheap and picture quality sufficient (for better quality you were buying 2CD edition). And there was dozens magazines included VCD (most of then porn). I remeber that card but it cost absurd money.

Can you tell us which microscope you have used for this repair?

I have never seen a cd32 here in the states. Looks pretty sweet

@NozomuYume

2 жыл бұрын

It was never released in the US due to the courts seizing the US-bound units in the Philippines due to Commodore's nonpayment of the XOR cursor patent to Cadtrak. The only North American/NTSC units that were sold by Commodore were a small number in Canada. A decade later the US units wound up somehow in China and were liquidated -- most NTSC CD32 units you find today are from this liquidation.

Decoupling caps are a very good guess. If the voltages on the analogue video colors aren't right, it can definitely cause this type of behavior.