Xbox AVIP break out board

Discussion about Modding the XBOX, including hardware and software hacks.
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xman
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Re: Xbox AVIP break out board

Post by xman »

Just one simple thing you can try PJ. Power the converter off a battery and see if this helps. If it doesn't, you can eliminate noise in the power supply lines being the cause and look elsewhere. If it does help, it is possibly a result of cascading power supplies. I have had this issue before where the caps, usually on the input of the linear regulators, clashes with those used on the regulator they are getting there power from. The LM1117 data sheets state....

An input capacitor is recommended. A 10 μF tantalum on the input is a suitable input bypassing for almost all applications.

The key words being "almost all applications". You may need to "fine tune" the value of this cap to be better suited to the Xbox's 12vDC I'm presuming you are powering the converter off.
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Re: Xbox AVIP break out board

Post by catch_2030 »

Very nice work! Commenting for further developments :)
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Re: Xbox AVIP break out board

Post by professor_jonny »

So I have been doing some playing and have managed to now get a perfect output in all resolutions now if you turn sharpness up on my TV it introduces the dots seen on the display in the previous pictures.

I have taken my test box to a few places and tried it out on other TV's and it was perfect so I pulled out my sat decoder and the picture is flawless on the other socket and I found the sharpness on that input was maxed to 100% and that was the only difference, now all looks good.

I have also come up and decided after installing a few of these boards now and testing various things I'm going to change the RF cables to include one tail on one end and a plug on the other.

It makes it easy to direct solder onto a PCB of a hdmi converter or other plugs you may mount on the back of your Xbox console as it is relatively easy to solder the tail to something.

I will buy them twice as long and cut them in half and it will save quite a bit of cash in the manufacture of them.

I have noticed some in particular my TV is dark and you have to boost the brightness to look the same as it does on component.
other than that I think it all seems ok.
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professor_jonny
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Re: Xbox AVIP break out board

Post by professor_jonny »

So I have used a few of my samples up now and a few local friends have my boards and all seems well now.

I have done a little tweak to the PCB design taking into account the design of the case to clear things better I still want to make a few samples to test out before I start getting too serious.

I have placed a little notch in the centre of the PCB to clear the little plastic stand off in the centre of the AV port.
I have spread out the U.FL plugs on either side of the notch and moved them closer towards the centre of the PCB so you don't have to trim off the standoff any more to clear the plugs for the left and right audio, this also will make it easier to fit in the case because of the angle you lower it down at to fit the motherboard.

I have moved the mode select jumpers away from the post in the case and hopefully they will clear the shielding with out removing it now.

I have also included a component c2 to replace C5M2 on the 1.6 PCB the cap lies right in the spot where the Picaxe leads sits, I my self removed it and placed it on the top of the motherboard with a short jumper but it would be too fiddly for people to do.
I have also included a run jumper to save an extra wire during install.

I have also placed current limiting resistors on the mode select pins and the reset trace (thanks Psyko_chewbacca) this will avoid blowing up the Picaxe if a incorrectly wired AV pack is plugged in to the Xbox or the picaxe overloading the reset line on the motherboard.

I have increased the PCB component sizes from 0402 to 0603 and will make things easier to hand solder and I have also bumped up the text size on the silk screen and made it all in capitals so hopefully it will all be readable this time.
AVIP V2 fitted.jpg
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Re: Xbox AVIP break out board

Post by scroeffie »

any news on this ?
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Re: Xbox AVIP break out board

Post by professor_jonny »

nothing has happened for a while sorry it all works and I'm happy with it all I have sold a few to mates etc but I lack time, money and some necessary tools to really make them properly (reflow oven/ hot air rework station) to really seriously make them up for sale.

My mum recently brought a farm that we are working on and all my spare time is held up in working and fixing things on the farm, and currently our rental house is not tenanted that is making us poor.

There are the gerber files and all source code you could build it if you want, but one day I will get around it and build up a bunch.

I have the first edition of the pcb's that only fit 1-0-1.5 xbox consoles I could send people blank pcb's if they wish to play with and build their own would only cost a few dollars.
weinerschnitzel
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Re: Xbox AVIP break out board

Post by weinerschnitzel »

Hi professor_jonny,

I have been testing out one of N64 Freak's LMH1980 VGA mod, as well as the internal sync amplification mod. I really like the elegance of your breakout mod, but could you hook up the VGA H-Sync and V-Sync to pins 7 & 8 on the AVIP, respectively? One is supposedly used for SCART blanking but I haven't seen that used in the SCART cable mods. I'm unsure if this pin is actually unused or if there are components on it that should be cut. I like being able to use my own AV breakout box and keep my console free of dremeling and such.
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Re: Xbox AVIP break out board

Post by professor_jonny »

weinerschnitzel wrote:Hi professor_jonny,

I have been testing out one of N64 Freak's LMH1980 VGA mod, as well as the internal sync amplification mod. I really like the elegance of your breakout mod, but could you hook up the VGA H-Sync and V-Sync to pins 7 & 8 on the AVIP, respectively? One is supposedly used for SCART blanking but I haven't seen that used in the SCART cable mods. I'm unsure if this pin is actually unused or if there are components on it that should be cut. I like being able to use my own AV breakout box and keep my console free of dremeling and such.
In theory you could put the sync signals on the two pins but I would recommend you cut the traces there back to where ever they go so the normal signals are not routed there just for safety and to avoid any interference.
The lmh1980 just strips the sync signals from the green component the avip board buffers them to 5v and it a lot better idea and it will work with any vga monitor this way.
you risk damaging the xbox using the h and v sync signals directly with out a buffer.
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Re: Xbox AVIP break out board

Post by weinerschnitzel »

My VGA2HDMI PRO likes the internal syncs better than the LMH1980 and the LM1881. It doesn't look like anything goes to pins 7 & 8 on the underside of the motherboard. I haven't removed the avip connector to see it top side, and I don't have a multimeter either. So I can't say for sure that they do nothing.

Since the only pin that might be used, pin 8, is not necessary for SCART cables, what do you think about adding traces to connect the amplified H-Sync and V-Sync to pins 7 & 8 on your pcb?
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Re: Xbox AVIP break out board

Post by professor_jonny »

weinerschnitzel wrote:My VGA2HDMI PRO likes the internal syncs better than the LMH1980 and the LM1881. It doesn't look like anything goes to pins 7 & 8 on the underside of the motherboard. I haven't removed the avip connector to see it top side, and I don't have a multimeter either. So I can't say for sure that they do nothing.

Since the only pin that might be used, pin 8, is not necessary for SCART cables, what do you think about adding traces to connect the amplified H-Sync and V-Sync to pins 7 & 8 on your pcb?
The sync splitter signals are inverted that is why I believe the buffer inverts it the correct way around, it should have better compatibility with the buffer than the sync splitter, also it does not strip the sync signals from the green and this can cause compatibility issues with the actual screen but it should not as it is not part of the colour burst.

It would be simple to do your self if you wish as there are two pads available for the h and v sync as per the rough pic below, I don't think you will damage any thing on the AVIP board as it has a current limiting resistor that will protect the transistors just it may damage what ever is connected to those pins.

Don't quote me on the drawing either as I think I'm looking at from upside down and it is connected to the wrong pins but it gives you the idea.

if you wanted you could remove the shielding on the AVIP connector and you could cut them off the PCB and attach the wires to the port pins directly as the pin 8 is at the edge and pin 7 is underneath pin 8 in line.
A dab of solder on some kaynar wire would do that just nicely to make a short tail to the buffered sync pads.

I have a few dead pcb's for just this reason I will try to find where they go and, the sound pins are grounded when the Xbox is off hopefully these terminals do have the same issue I have not even looked at them.
pin 7 could be handy for a feed back or output.
AVIP%20V2%20fitted.jpg
AVIP%20V2%20fitted.jpg (56.87 KiB) Viewed 6431 times
weinerschnitzel
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Re: Xbox AVIP break out board

Post by weinerschnitzel »

Interesting about inverted signals. Can you think of a cheap circuit that can re-invert the sync signals using the sync splitter mod? I'm sure it's possible to filter the combined sync from the green line, but I also have not gotten very involved in electronics for years. Maybe it's also possible to extract the green signal and use that along with the inverted and split sync signals from the external mod.

Good idea about taking the shielding off. I'll go ahead and do that to wire my amplified internal sync signals.

Here's your mod with the right pins to wire, for the internet's reference.
AVIP V2 fitted.jpg
credit:
http://s.kaskus.id/images/2016/01/30/11 ... 082028.png
http://www.gamesx.com/avpinouts/xbox.htm
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Re: Xbox AVIP break out board

Post by professor_jonny »

weinerschnitzel wrote:Interesting about inverted signals. Can you think of a cheap circuit that can re-invert the sync signals using the sync splitter mod? I'm sure it's possible to filter the combined sync from the green line, but I also have not gotten very involved in electronics for years. Maybe it's also possible to extract the green signal and use that along with the inverted and split sync signals from the external mod.

Good idea about taking the shielding off. I'll go ahead and do that to wire my amplified internal sync signals.

Here's your mod with the right pins to wire, for the internet's reference.
AVIP V2 fitted.jpg
credit:
http://s.kaskus.id/images/2016/01/30/11 ... 082028.png
http://www.gamesx.com/avpinouts/xbox.htm
Any inverting buffer would do have a look here for a list:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_7 ... d_circuits
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Re: Xbox AVIP break out board

Post by professor_jonny »

I dumped all the info on github which i think is a better place to store such a project:

https://github.com/professor-jonny/Xbox-AVIP-mod
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