Early Hong Kong Micro Genius version with unusual encoder

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hacksquad
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Early Hong Kong Micro Genius version with unusual encoder

Post by hacksquad »

I recently got hold of this Micro Genius, it works fine with NTSC / PAL switch. It comes with UA6528 and UA6527 which supposed to be NTSC Compatible chip, crystal clock is unusual at 21.251461 MHz, 3 wires from the main board connected to an encoder IC marked as MK5060, it has its own clock of 17.734475 Mhz. i'm posting some pictures..
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vortexion
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Re: Early Hong Kong Micro Genius version with unusual encoder

Post by vortexion »

These are some of the earliest PAL Famicom clones. Those NTSC UMC chips are from 1988. I don’t think the PAL (Dendy) UMC chipset had been made yet.
hacksquad
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Re: Early Hong Kong Micro Genius version with unusual encoder

Post by hacksquad »

I've tested it, the colors are off but the CPU has some weird sound bug to it, especially DPCM, i tried to remove the CPU and PPU and insert it on another console, it runs at full NTSC mode but the colors are a bit off, something to do with NTSC tinting
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vortexion
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Re: Early Hong Kong Micro Genius version with unusual encoder

Post by vortexion »

NTSC NES colours are different from PAL NES colours. This machine is taking the NTSC PPU signal, decoding the NTSC and re-encoding it as PAL so what you’re getting is NTSC NES colours re-encoded as PAL (and then decoded by your TV).

I tend to notice the red colour in the NTSC NES palette, it’s closer to “pure” red than the PAL NES red colour, which looks a little bit purple to me.

Richard
hacksquad
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Re: Early Hong Kong Micro Genius version with unusual encoder

Post by hacksquad »

About the PAL / NTSC switch, when i switch it to PAL it switches to full PAL mode that runs slower with black bars on top and bottom, i feel like this console works like Hong Kong version of Famicom where it halt the clock in PAL mode
vortexion wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 2:38 am NTSC NES colours are different from PAL NES colours. This machine is taking the NTSC PPU signal, decoding the NTSC and re-encoding it as PAL so what you’re getting is NTSC NES colours re-encoded as PAL (and then decoded by your TV).

I tend to notice the red colour in the NTSC NES palette, it’s closer to “pure” red than the PAL NES red colour, which looks a little bit purple to me.

Richard
lidnariq
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Re: Early Hong Kong Micro Genius version with unusual encoder

Post by lidnariq »

Definitely! The MK5060 appears to be what's responsible for pausing the PPU after the visible field is drawn... I guess it has to move the vertical sync too.
hacksquad
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Re: Early Hong Kong Micro Genius version with unusual encoder

Post by hacksquad »

Yes, the MK5060 has to be the clone of official hong kong version of Famicom
lidnariq wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 11:20 am Definitely! The MK5060 appears to be what's responsible for pausing the PPU after the visible field is drawn... I guess it has to move the vertical sync too.
hacksquad
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Re: Early Hong Kong Micro Genius version with unusual encoder

Post by hacksquad »

I discovered that these 2 pins from this IC are disconnected
dev.jpg
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aquasnake
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Re: Early Hong Kong Micro Genius version with unusual encoder

Post by aquasnake »

50-60Hz视频编码.jpg
hacksquad
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Re: Early Hong Kong Micro Genius version with unusual encoder

Post by hacksquad »

Wow, looks like you found the original circuit, thank you!
aquasnake wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 6:39 am 50-60Hz视频编码.jpg
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