Uzebox DTV

Topics regarding the Uzebox hardware/AVCore/BaseBoard (i.e: PCB, resistors, connectors, part list, schematics, hardware issues, etc.) should go here.
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Artcfox
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Re: Uzebox DTV

Post by Artcfox »

I've already given you tons of feedback on the video and your kickstarter page as well.

What I would like to do is post some feedback on the DTV hardware itself, since it just arrived in my mailbox today! :D

I wasn't paying too close attention when I inserted my microSD card, and I managed to push it inside the slot, but not inside the microSD card holder, and it fell inside the controller. I had to open the controller to get it back out. :oops: That did allow me to catch a glimpse of the circuit board inside, and it looks wonderful! CunningFellow mentioned to me that he can shrink that slot so that won't be possible.

I prepared a microSD card with Bugz, and did a full playthrough of all 21 levels, no problems.

The cheap TRRS A/V cable that I purchased from my local electronics store had a right angle plug on it, so when I set the controller down the cable rotated a bit and I noticed a bit of static in the sound. When I rotated it back into place, I got a bit more static and it reset the Uzebox. That was easily solved by plugging it in, holding the whole unit upside down by its plug and spinning the controller around on it like a top. I'm guessing the TRRS plug had some high spots on it, because now I can rotate it to my heart's content and everything stays perfect. No more static in the sound if I rotate it, and no more resets. I guess these cheap cables need to be broken in a bit, so it might be a good idea to include the "spinning it like a top" in the instructions under a "Before you Begin" and/or "Troubleshooting" section.

One thing that stood out to me as compared to the Uzebox that I built from the kit was the picture quality. The picture from the DTV looks noticeably sharper than from the official kit, despite them both using composite video. I fired up both units to the same title screen and swapped the video cables back and forth while taking photos with a stationary camera to make sure my brain wasn't just playing tricks on me. My brain was correct! I can now see individual pixels in the blades of grass, rather than having everything smeared horizontally. The text is crisper, and I can discern the one-pixel wide features on the bugs. It looks much closer to the output of the emulator now; I didn't realize that composite could look this good! (If we can figure out why the picture on the DTV looks so much better, we should also make those changes to the circuit board of the official kit.)

My display has a USB port right near the A/V inputs, so I'm able to power the DTV directly from the display, making for an extremely clean install. :)
shockdesign
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Re: Uzebox DTV

Post by shockdesign »

Having received my prototype in the mail a couple of days ago I thought I better relay my feedback here too :)

Like Artcfox I had a moment where I too dropped the microsd card into the device and had to open it. And yes the circuit board is very nicely designed.. the whole setup/design of the board is quite well done.

Copying some games across to the microsd and firing it up and wow.. the graphics are quite sharp coming in from a composite cable.. on a 42" plasma. Works really well, and feels really good having everything bundled into the one controller.

My son had a go at it and now it's one of his favourite "video game" machines.. heh. I think this has the opportunity to be quite a great product to get the Uzebox out to more people.
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Jubatian
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Re: Uzebox DTV

Post by Jubatian »

Could you post some photo of it, I mean what could be expected? I mean the quality of the display. Maybe my television is neither something very good, even Mode 74 (which has slightly wider pixels than the commonly used Mode 3) is quite blurry. My PAL Commodore produces significantly better results, but that could also be a difference between PAL and NTSC or also could be that NTSC decoding is just atrocious on this TV.
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Re: Uzebox DTV

Post by CunningFellow »

Not a photo of a TV, but a capture from a BT484 card. So it has gone through the AD723 composite converter, then gets sampled in at 20ish MSPS and has software do the composite recovery. That is the way most modern TV sets would do it I think.

It was this BT848 card setup I used to test and fine tune the UzeDTV to get best results.
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Artcfox
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Re: Uzebox DTV

Post by Artcfox »

I set up a stationary camera and swapped the video cables from my original Uzebox Kit and that of the DTV while taking photos:
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Artcfox
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Re: Uzebox DTV

Post by Artcfox »

And here is a shot of the picture of the (almost) entire screen with the DTV. You can clearly see the individual pixels that make up the blades of grass, and the bugs' antennae.
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Jubatian
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Re: Uzebox DTV

Post by Jubatian »

Huh, that's definitely good quality! I clearly see the composite artifacts, but the picture is still very clear, and I see the notable difference as well. Although I wish if I had just half as good quality like the normal Uzebox kit produces on your television (my TV is definitely craptastic... :P ). The capture card results are amazing for sure (it's a pity televisions won't do it so well, they could!).
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Re: Uzebox DTV

Post by CunningFellow »

<quote>The capture card results are amazing for sure (it's a pity televisions won't do it so well, they could!).</quote>

They can. This is my 10 year old RPDLP television that I got for free. I can only shoot loderunner on it - as it needs a multi-second exposure to not look all weird from the camera. So any games like T2K that never pause the screen just look like a blur.

It looks perfect to your eyes moving, Just the camera sees rainbows.
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CunningFellow
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Re: Uzebox DTV

Post by CunningFellow »

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Artcfox
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Re: Uzebox DTV

Post by Artcfox »

Yay! I think I got a couple people hooked on the DTV already. :)

I clearly need to take more photos, because when I plugged it into my Dell monitor it looks much better, almost exactly like what your capture card looks like, except this monitor chops off the bottom half of the last tile row. I don't have my camera with me now though.
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