I thought I'll give back something to this community so today I have taken pictures of how I do AV mod to the old Famicom, replacing RF with composite and adding a RCA connector for sound. Minimal case modifying so it looks nice and almost original. Please note, my way is not perfect considering jailbars. Every Famicom is different, some are nearly perfect while others have visible jailbars. Here I cover the older version - HVC-CPU-0X. There is minor differences in the RF boards between revisions, but nothing that requires pictures of every one. Tools required: Philips screwdriver Soldering iron Solder sucker Wire cutter Round file (Dremel) Parts required: 1x 200R Resistor 1x 120R Resistor 1x 220uF Capacitor 1x 47uF Capacitor 1x Red or White RCA connector ~8-10cm wire Unscrew the 6 screws and remove the bottom of your Famicom. Remove the screws holding the motherboard. If needed - disconnect the controllers. Top side of motherboard: Locate resistors R6 and R12 near the PPU. Remove both and replace R6 with the 200R resistor. Solder and cut the legs - save one. Jumper R12 with the leg you didn't throw away Bottom side of motherboard: Solder the 47uF capacitor between PPU pin #22 (+) and #20 (-). Next we are going to modify the RF board and use it to route composite video to the RF connector. Desolder the marked spots in the picture. I use a fine tip and push the legs through the hole. Also remove the CH1/CH2 switch to make room for the audio RCA connector. Then solder the 120R resistor and the 200uF capacitor like in the picture. Make sure the old components you desoldered is not stuck in any hole. Unscrew the RF board and clean up. Cut the legs of the new resistor and capacitor. Now we need to remove some metal to make room for the RCA connector. I use a Dremel for this, but a round file for metal should work to. When you are happy with the metal work, solder the wire to the RCA connector and tighten it hard to the RF shield. Tip: I use 2 washers that are slightly bigger the the RCA connector to make it sit nice and firm. Solder the wire to cartridge connector pin #46. The final step is to make room in the case for the RCA connector. Here I use a round file for wood and carefully remove material next to the "RF switch". I regularly try to fit the RF board and remove more material if needed. When it looks good, I tighten RF board and then begin to remove some plastic from the bottom cover. Be careful, it's very easy to remove to much. Better take a little at a time and make sure it looks good. Refit the bottom cover and your Famicom should look something like this. Hook it up to your TV and enjoy.
Yes, only mono sound from Famicom and NES. You can make it "pseudo-stereo" if you want but that involves some more work. This just covers the basic AV mod. Or you could split the signal from the audio RCA connector if 2 audio cables are important to you with this thing.
This looks like the mod I would do if that RF jack is just an RCA jack. Does this use the same circuit that's commonly used meaning that the original rf signal actually went straight to the jack in the back?
Well yes since it uses the same hardware as the NES, but it's fairly challenging considering the amount of space you have to work with inside.They come around fairly cheap on eBay, you just have to look around. Sometimes they'll be advertised as "junk" when they really just need minor repairs, so that's something else to look for as well.
Just don't get outbid by shill bidders. They are the worst. At work somebody bought a pretty expensive video game item but the buyer was 0 feedback in Brazil, so it's obviously a fake. eBay does little to protect either side from scammers, usually siding with a buyer. Best you can do as a seller is put some restrictions like "must have Paypal," and as a buyer wait for a second chance offer. Anyway, I hope Nintendium is as true as they say. How would one use this circuit: in regards to where the jumper is? I plan on using the circuit but don't really plan on drilling two holes into the system if that above method is cleaner. Or do I just cut some trace that connects to the jack closer to the end.
But I want to connect any of those circuits TO that port in the back with little mess as the guide above demonstrates so I can use that port instead of drilling an extra hole. And another thought. I'm very tempted in cutting the Famicom controllers and crimping into a RJ45 ethernet cable with coupler rather than buying actual NeoGeo extension cables. That way I can pick up some cheap SNES/NES extension cables and use my American controllers. Have other people done that? Besides if I want to continue using the original controllers I'd pick up a few extra cables and couplers.
There are two ways to do this. The old, inferior way is to find a replacement PPU from a Nintendo PlayChoice arcade board, install that in your NES/Famicom, and extract RGB from the appropriate pins. Some of the colours are off, and some games have visual bugs. The new awesome way is to buy a NESRGB board from viletim.
Cool, does the NESRGB board emulate the NES or is it essentially the same thing, like, would some games be incompatible with it?
NESRGB isn't a clone system, it's a mod for real NES/Famicoms that sits in between the PPU and the mainboard, and creates an RGB signal.
It's also the most delicious a stock Fami or NES will look from what I've seen. I'm planning on adding one to my Twin and NES, but need the monies
I like to cut out the RF plug and place a stereo jack input instead, that way you dont have to mod the shell and it still looks like its supposed to with a stereojack to RCA plugs.
I just wanna drop you a line and say thank you. I just used this method on my Famicom and it worked on the very first try. This is my first mod and I definitely did not have all the right equipment. I was pretty seriously delayed from finishing up the final plug on the back while I waited for some parts that got lost in the mail. However tonight I finally got it all finished and put back together and I got a gray screen on the first try. I cleaned the game and system and bam, perfect screen. Except the jailbars..but you did mention that could happen. Anyways, thanks again!! Excellent, clean method and beginner friendly.
I was getting some audio buzz in my AV modded Famicom, so I put in an 220uF electrolytic capacitor like so: Great tutorial "Da Bear"!