Faulty 1970s ACETRONIC MPU1000 Video Game Console with 1st Ever Analog Sticks - Can I FIX it?

Hi, here we have an early video game console from the 1970s. Apparently it was the first system to use analog sticks on the controllers. It is the ACETRONIC MPU 1000. This one was purchased faulty on eBay, the fault was listed as not displaying correctly on the TV. It turns out there are other faults. Can it be fixed and perform again 40+ years later???
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Remember that this is just for entertainment and I am not an expert in these repairs. The processes in the video may not be the best way, the correct way or the safest way to fix these things. I do love fault finding and trying to fix broken things, so I hope that comes across in this 'Trying to FIX' series. Many thanks, Vince.

[@Mymatevince]

Spoiler Saver Riddle.... What is it? - The one who makes it, sells it. The one who buys it, never uses it. The one who uses it, never knows that he/she is using it.

[@guystevens162]

A coffin

[@Mymatevince]

@@guystevens162 Well done 🥳👍👍👍

[@SLAiNTRAX]

@@Mymatevince sometimes I wish google didn't exist as it's too easy to find the right answer lol

[@pow9606]

A dream

[@jleditzig]

Not a sausage.

[@mymidschoollife8485]

I burst into tears watching this. I was born in 1974. My dad died in 1981. Because of the shock of that things before that are quite murky. Apart from my love for him of course. Any way, I remember him going to Dixons and getting us a game console thing on credit. I remember my mum wasn't pleased. From then on it becomes very fuzzy. I thought it was a Binatone, though when I looked for the Space Invaders game with the bendy bullets I could never find it. Nor what I recall of the controller. I am now 48, and for all of these years it has eluded me. Then you posted this video and I immediately knew. You didn't show the Invaders game, but a brief search of KZbin brought it up. And the memories, incredible and sad. And I just burst into tears. Might have to get one someday.

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks for commenting Zomb. Sorry to hear you had to grow up without your dad. I hope this has bought closure to the console mystery, and happy memories of playing the system with your dad 👍👍👍

[@mymidschoollife8485]

@@Mymatevince Thanks Vince.

[@carolineyoung5487]

York mix, Radio with a J

[@carolineyoung5487]

Jovic Radio with a J

[@johncrichton4341]

Great! My old Dad brought one of these home for "Consumer Testing Purposes..." when he worked for Currys in the late 70's - us kids thought it was bloody fantastic!

[@AcornElectron]

Christ, I thought I was old .. happy 50th belatedly

[@kins749]

My wife is Chinese, she says the writing means "the sound of explosions guaranteed to be great"

[@Mymatevince]

Wow, I wonder why that was written. Maybe they knew MMV would be working on it 40+ years later 🤣 Thank you for posting this...how interesting!!! 👍👍👍👍

[@mordokch]

I'm pretty sure it says 'help - I am being held against my will. please send food' lol

[@robertovers1863]

i thought it said " just had a shock of broody erectric "

[@HNedel]

That must have been the equivalent of „immersive sound effects“ back then 😅

[@mikehibbett3301]

I find it so therapeutic taking old tech apart to see how things were manufactured. And investigating how to fix them :)

[@TheCod3r]

Yes! Just what I need after a trip to London. A nice Vintage Vince Video 😁

[@Mymatevince]

Cheers Cod3r👍👍

[@oldguy9051]

The Radofin 1292 is a console design from 1978 built in Hong Kong and licensed by many companies and sold under their brands. I for example have an "Interton VC 4000. The consoles sometimes looked like twins but some were quite different. Grundig offered a version that only worked with their TVs but apparently didn't use the RF out and likely had stellar image quality. The games should be compatible but I don't know if the cartridges are. Chipset: This design uses the gaming chipset from Signetics, featuring a 2650A CPU (the ceramic chip shown here) and a 2636 PVI ("Programmable Video Interface"), a 2621 or 2622 USG ("Universal Sync Generator" - for PAL or NTSC video timings, respectively) plus some support chips. Cost was the main selling argument at the time so this was a "small solution". This chipset was not only developed but also freely sold by Signetics, at time owned by the Dutch multi Philips (as part of their Valvo semiconductor brand). In other words: These are off-the-shelf parts that everybody could buy and not custom IC designs like the TIA-chip in the Atari VCS or the famous SID in the C64 that you couldn't get in numbers. Interestingly, there also was a project by the electronics magazin "Elektor" in 1979(!), which uses the same chips but features additional RAM & ROM, a keyboard interface and loads software via a cassette interface. In other words: It really was more of a home computer and people actually built these things and programmed them (search for "Elektor TV Spielecomputer"). Years later the magazine made it more compatible to the Radofin design (especially the sound hardware) but then the much more powerful consoles were available and home computers became affordable... RAM: If you thought that the Atari VCS has a low amount of RAM (128 Bytes, contained in the RIOT chip), consider this: The 2636 PVI in the Radofin contains 37(!) bytes of "scratchpad" RAM - and that's all, folks: Like in the VCS there is NO RAM chip in this console. Memory was extremely expensive at the end of the 70ies and while prices came down fast the second generation of consoles was very limited. However, the system allows for extra RAM contained in cartridges. ROM: There's also NO dedicated ROM chip, either. And niether the CPU nor the PVI contain ROM space. So, sorry, NO built-in games. Cartridges: As shown this particular cartridge uses a 2816 ROM chip, which has a size of only 2 kilobytes (the 16 in the name means 16 kilobits). Not uncommon at the time. Some more complex games (chess) used 4 or 6 kilobytes of ROM, though. Initial screen: I'm not an expert by any means on that system/chips but I doubt that there is a "landing page" to help tuning the TV to it when there is no cart plugged in. If you see a score count when you power up the console without a cartridge it is *likely* the result of the 2636 video chip getting power and setting its register to random values. These registers for example control what is being shown on the display - and the score count is among it. Like the VCS this console doesn't have enough memory to map the whole screen but it works differently enough. It isn't as flexible as the VCS but this video chip unburdens the (less powerful) CPU with features like this and the (primitive) sprite engine.

[@dash8brj]

Interesting thing: the "landing page" differs slightly each boot - sometimes the lines to the left of 8080/bobo were horizontal, other times diagonal, and sometimes 8080/bobo would appear with a space i.e. 80 80 / bo bo.

[@senilyDeluxe]

The Grundig version had stellar image quality, but a drawback: It would only display 8 colors. The video IC has a foreground bit (so you can combine multiple video ICs and do sprite collision detection across the chips) which is used as some kind of intensity bit on all but the very early VC4000s. So this way, you can still see the blue plane going through the blue cloud, but it's a bit hard to make out and a lot harder to hit. I noticed that on my Canabalt port (yes there's homebrew), because the screen was entirely white. You could see the edges of the pixels as they scrolled, but it was unplayable. I then programmed the Game Select switch to switch between cyan and white backgrounds to enable Grundig Super Play Computer 4000 compatibility. Or you could just mod the console, 3 diodes and a resistor is all you need. The Interton joysticks are also self centering and are generally very reliable. The pots can get scratchy, but with some contact cleaner or a thorough clean can be restored. The initial screen differs from console to console, although most VC4000s default to just a black screen with a low tone playing. Sometimes you can get a bit of Garble on the screen (or 0000 in the score, it likes to do that from time to time). Is there any variant of the VC4000/Radofin family with a Power On Reset circuit?

[@oldguy9051]

@@senilyDeluxe Thanks for the detailed input! I wasn't aware that one could get more than the regular 8 colors out of the system - but then again it wasn't a system that was as exploited as, say, the VCS. Who knows what things are still hidden in the mist... Also: Kudos to you to make homebrew for it! I'm too old to learn a new assembly language now but I always found the "minor" CPUs of that time interesting enough to keep a "loose eye" on things containing them - just like this repair vid. In the few schematics I've seen of this 2650/2636 (or 2650/2637) combo there never was an automatic Power on Reset, like on other systems. Years ago I downloaded as much as I could from a web archive specialized on this chipset platform but I'm not aware of recent developments. I didn't know that people like you are doing homebrew for this rather exotic low-spec platform. But then again I'm not really surprised, either! ;-)

[@senilyDeluxe]

@@oldguy9051 I twice had the red color channel drop out and back in on Grand Prix, it did so in 7 steps or so, hinting at a 3 bit DAC per RGB channel, this is also in the datasheet, but there is absolutely no mention of any way of how to control it. I tried poking every address but couldn't get it to happen. If I do find a way, my next demo will have Amiga Copper Bars up the posterior as well as fade effects. Also the Crash/Bang generator has a few more little bits that I haven't exploited yet (nothing exciting though). Try searching for Interton VC4000 homebrew though.

[@Tass...]

I had one of these as a kid! My 1st gaming console. My dad was constantly fixing the sticks.

[@christopherdecorte1599]

When I worked on aircrafts we call the holes stop drilling. We use it on sheet metal that is cracking and it stopped cracks from continuing it is surprisingly effective.

[@Twenty_Six_Hundred]

Yep i was part of the fabrication team when i worked on semi truck repairs. We would get trucks come in with stress fractures riddled all over the chassis. We had to drill through holes at the final point of the cracks and bevel along the crack before running welds on them. It's the only way to stop the crack in its tracks

[@Mickwild562]

Can't beat the smell when you open the old consoles up, that's what takes me back to my childhood when I was always inquisitive about how things worked . Well done Vince for the repair, as always a pleasure to watch 👍

[@StezStixFix]

What a lovely looking machine! I've not seen one before. It definitely looks like there's a built in game but it's corrupt. The screen looked slightly different each time it came up. Hopefully one of your viewers will have this machine and be able to confirm! 👍

[@Mymatevince]

That's what I am hoping for Steve, to confirm if there is or isn't a game. I don't wan to chase a fault that isn't there 👍👍

[@sprint955st]

@@Mymatevince I don’t believe this had internal games, you got a cartridge with the system, might have been Circus.

[@chrisrobson8540]

send dave in for a quick shufty😂😂😂

[@peterjensen3162]

@@chrisrobson8540😂😂😂

[@andypandy4607]

Can’t beat a vince video

[@solveit1304]

I can see how kids in that era was amazed by this game console. Also that two big potentiometers inside controller I found funny :)

[@tkrichek]

I loved your reaction to the smell upon opening the back cover! If only you could share it. I thought I was the only one like that.

[@neuro_davinci]

Friend gave me one of these the other day, took me back to the childhood one I got at a bootsale in the 80s. Love this is on here.

[@Retro4u]

I had one of these as a kid. Remember playing invaders so much. I recently bought one in unknown condition so about to open it up soon and do a video for my KZbin. So getting some homework done by watching yours keep up the good work

[@daz41262010]

what a fantastic repair to watch all them faults fixed well done Vince :)

[@j0hnf_uk]

I used to have a Radofin 1292 back in the day, which was what these Acetronic, (and a few other brands), were marketed as in the 1970's and early 80's. Most of the cartridges I had were the Acetronic brand. I only had a couple that were Radofin. I seem to remember there's a video, (or two), on KZbin, (to do with the ZX81), that shows how to modernise the RF modulator so that it works much better on a modern day television. The picture of which is immaculate. From memory, when you switch the machine on without a cartridge, you get a fuzzy grey screen. You can't do anything as there's nothing to, 'load', in. Switching on with a cartridge has the same screen, however, when pressing the left button it, 'loads', the cartridge in to the system. The middle button increments the game number round and back to 1. The right button starts the game you choose. The joysticks are very old-school, as you'd expect, with 2 potentiometers controlling the X and Y axis. Analog city! The buttons are also what you'd expect having the same push onto a metal disc that connects the 2 contacts underneath. I'm surprised the stick parts of the joysticks are still intact. They're usually the first things to snap off. They did on mine, anyway. The, 'tank and plane battle', cartridge was the most fun, (and noisiest of the lot.) I also had a, 'maze', one that was real fun. Sometimes, I wish I still had that system. Edit: The 1292 version had an external power supply whereas the 1392 had an internal one. The former was cheaper, so was the more common of the 2. This system, with all it's variants, (Acetronic, Hanimex, Printztronic), were sold by a few high street electronic stores in the late 70's and early 80's. Dixons, Currys, etc. They snuck in during the craze for arcade games, particularly the, 'Invader', one, which everyone, (except me!),seemed to have. Weirdly enough, I remember one year at my school's Christmas Fayre that someone brought their system in and the school was charging 10p per game! Something I don't think was entirely legal, somehow!

[@Mymatevince]

Thank you John, I was hoping that some of the viewers would know about this system and also whether or not a game was built in. Cheers for the info 👍👍👍

[@SimonSideburns]

Oh, my family still has one of these systems. Pretty sure we had all available cartridges for it too, and while they were fun for the time, they would certainly show their age these days. Edit: The console is screaming out for a composite mod, and imagine sending the audio to a set of speakers or headphones.

[@MrPeteykins]

1st Generation hardware! A lot of people don't know that the proliferation of these "Pong clones" led to the first video game industry crash of 1977, less well known than the 1983 crash, but just as devastating..

[@greenaum]

It's not a Pong clone, it's a genuine console with a CPU and (limited) bitmap graphics that runs software off ROM cartridges. It's the same generation as the Atari 2600, just less succesful. Partly I think cos all the games were rushed out by just one company and they didn't put a lot of imagination into exploring the limits, or even proper gameplay. Although that said, the first dozen or so 2600 games available at launch weren't much better than these. Eventually 2600 games got better, but the Radofin didn't have that chance. Probably for economic reasons. But the hardware could do much better than the admittedly laughable driving game here. Though that said, check out Night Driver on the 2600, that's only ONE of the driving games this cartridge offers! This one also has a version of Sprint. The games on these are based mostly on '70s arcade games, that's what set the expectations. The same applies to Atari's early games. But this console could have done better. It was limited by it's palette admittedly, doing 128 colours with just a few extra transistors was a smart idea of Atari's. But many arcade games at the time didn't even have colour at all, they had black / white / grey. This console only came out in 1978 so it's probably not responsible for any sort of crash that happened in the USA in 1977. The 1983 crash was also purely an American thing.

[@greenaum]

@@_Clivey I wouldn't bother with a composite mod, how much better are the graphics gonna get?! There's authenticity in RF, and current TVs still support it, the graphics on Radofins were nice and chunky anyway. I got one of these as an adult collector, it was loads of fun, partly just how weird it was. I can imagine the amazements '70s kids must have had, I remember as a wee 'un being utterly mesmerised by my dad's Grandstand TV Tennis console under the telly, the few times I played on it (too young to really understand) were ecstatically exciting!

[@TwiLightVids]

This brought back memeries, when I was little, my friends dad had one at his house, good times

[@WhatAAARusH]

Love the smell-o-vision at the start 😂 i instantly felt the smell. Good ole 70's electronics!

[@andersmmvfc.8376]

Awsome looking forward for your stickdrifft Final fix video!

[@Mymatevince]

Cheers Anders 👍👍👍👍

[@oopsadaisy9323]

I owned this console from new, bought from John Lewis Liverpool. Remember the carts were 14.99 each and the space invaders cart was my fave even with a strange diagonal invader layout. Sorry to disappoint but there is no internal game. It came with one cartridge in the box but no internal game is in the rom

[@Mymatevince]

THANK YOU!!!!! I was hoping someone would remember. We'll I'm glad I didn't spend longer hunting down a faulty that didn't exist. Cheers for commenting👍👍👍👍👍

[@Ariannus]

That's not an erase window that is just the lid of the ceramic IC.

[@RetroTechRepair]

Great Video. like @old guy said. This console shared a chipset and many games with a few other consoles of the era, but with different mechanical parts. I tackled an Interton VC 4000, but it took me so long to repair and I had so much footage that I never put the video together. I might do that one day! Thanks for sharing and for saving a charming often forgotten retro console from landfill.

[@dragon940carp6]

Hi Vince, I've had success removing strain reliefs from their wires by putting the wire into boiling water for a minute then just pulling it off. It can then be slid back on after finding the break in the wire.

[@hemanse]

Great video as always and i love the highly collectable Virtual Vince Boy in the background 😄

[@skywarp727]

Absolutely brilliant system. I would love to have it. Thank you for an awesome video. Love your channel

[@virgildeklerk]

Wow i really enjoyed this video. Such an ols device and still working even with a broken pcb just amazing. The build quality is reaaly good considering that laptops and so for now die with only one cap or fuse broken. Thx for the nice one Vince 👍

[@jimmythecricket25]

Another great video and fix, thanks Vince.

[@Hounddoggy33]

I played a few games on the Interton VC4000 when I lived in Germany back in the early '80s. Those joysticks look to be about the same kind that came with it. Would be awesome to have one of these. Cheers, Vince!

[@sdjmchattie]

I wonder if the writing on the board translates to “Hi Vince, love your channel!”

[@ChUcHoX4F]

2:19 whaaaat? I am from Venezuela... Greetings Vince, I like your videos

[@minombredepila1580]

Very nice video. Really enjoyed watching it.

[@JasonSmith-tv2zw]

Great fix, thanks Vince

[@Electrodoc1968]

Dad had one of these. Takes me back.. :) 1 wire in the tuner will be composite video input. Excellent picture quality attained by fly a lead from that wire within the tuner to a chassis mounted phono socket. It may need a 100ish ohm resistor if the picture displays distortion, depending on internal circuitry. Same with the other wire which is the audio. Simple check to test 1 from the other is to signal inject 50hz by finger listening for the relevant hum through the tuned in television. Did you notice the slide in / out nature of the controller wires and PSU din socket at the console.? Pulling this separate plastic facia out of its guides would of made the buttons on the front / top of the console less hassle. It's a common quality of items from the "Repairable Era". :) Great fix Vince cheers, keep 'em coming.

[@RWL2012]

I was just thinking about the ColecoVision video earlier and then you uploaded this haha, nice :P

[@petew8014]

Excellent video and a trip down memory Lane. My first games console and pre my Vic20, sadly no internal game. Invaders (space invaders) is an absolute must for this console!. Some games had key overlays for the controllers, I remember this for a football game.

[@Mymatevince]

Thank you Pete 👍

[@mrcarrepairman]

Hi Vince, great video as always. I would glued a pcb-board on-top of the broken pcb. That have give the original pcb strength. Keep up the good work. Greetings from Sweden.

[@electronash]

This was the earliest console I ever saw. We owned one in the early 80s, but it didn't get taken out of the loft very often. (probably because my parents or older siblings had got bored of it by then, plus the fact they got a C64 shortly after. lol) For years, I kept forgetting which model this is. All I knew was how the joysticks looked, and that the main unit looked very similar to the Philips Videopac G7000 / Magnavox Odyssey 2, but without the keyboard. I found the Acetronic again on Google images about 6 months ago. For some reason, it's just a brand and model number that doesn't stick in my brain, yet I can remember so many other machines. I still miss that era of "TV game / pong clone" consoles, where each one had its own quirks, or features like light guns and steering wheels. The Acetronic must have been among the first to use a proper cartridge. Some good memories brought back by seeing this machine again. Thanks for the vid.

[@The_Real_DCT]

Fairchild channel F(1976) was the first system to use Rom carts

[@boyo3221]

Great Video. I have never heard of this system before and im 48...wow fascinating

[@mark-andrews]

Great video! So much appreciation from me to see this device being restored, or an attempt is being made. I note second individual's assistance was appreciated, as a part of the repair process. Hopefully it will be be possible for more than ONE player to enjoy playing the OLYMPICS game/ROM, which is available for this system but there are many other single player games available to play too, certainly the library of games is tiny compared to the Atari VCS but the games are fun and worth learning to play, and will reward reward the player for their effort, imo. Good luck with the repair,,, And possibly, happy gaming. Evidently the game you have is GRAND PRIX, not the best playing game for the system, definitely better games available but good as test cartridge. Don't think there is a built in game? Whilst there are are multiple builds from the same identical SIGNET design none have a built in game? The controllers for this system are considered to be good, in their original use?

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks for the info Mark and the kind words 👍👍👍👍

[@sharp1979as]

I'm sure everyone who watches you can't stop thinking about that smell ! Moments in time that turn up and take us back in time !!!! Next week Vince (legend) fixes a time machine. Ps thanks Ben ha

[@powercut68]

Had one as a kid when my uncle upgraded to atari 2600. There was 3 machines of differant cosmetic design. The acetronic mpu100 the princetronic and the radofin all used the same cartridges. a friwnd of mine had the radofin which had the power supply within the console and had a direct mains cable. I also got an adapter from a company called telegames which enabled you to play games from yet another games console of the era. Mine developed a fault which turned out to be a thermal fuse in the power adapter

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks Powercut 👍

[@oznewton867]

Now that is a nice save and blast from the past.

[@thedutchretrogamer]

nice fix mate have a great weekend

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks, you to!!!!

[@nm00169]

Those extra wires soldered to the board are normally fixes because the PCB board wasn’t designed correctly in the first place and they didn’t have the time/inclination to redesign the PCB board

[@mancavehobbies6213]

The Chinese writing says MY MATE VINCE KZbin CHANNEL IS AWESOME

[@Mymatevince]

🤣🤣👍👍

[@andym443]

Looking at the comments I'm surprised how many other people's dad's bought them one of these. I'm in the same club. I had one in the early 80s. We later got an Atari 2600, but we still went back to this from time to time. My brother and I pronounced it "ace-a-tronic" for some reason. I remember we had a blackjack game which came with little plastic overlays for the black keys on the controller so you knew what the buttons did without looking in the book. Sweet memories. We moved house in the early 90s and this went in the skip probably. Shame. Nice video, good to see it could be recovered. Let us know if you go ahead with the RF replacement! I might get one!

[@TechGorilla1987]

@34:45 - That is a painful but very useful lesson to learn!

[@enthusiasticgamer88]

Off Road is the arcade game with the infinite spinning wheel. God that was fun to play with friends!

[@r4dius]

Can't wait to see the custom joycon video :)

[@dreamcazman]

Great repair, never heard of this machine. RF is horrendous so definitely look into doing an AV mod, I'm pretty sure you're on the money where those wires are a simple composite/audio signal which feeds into the RF modulator, just may need a resistor on the output to adjust brightness.

[@kennethbarker852]

1st class video to watch thank you take care kind regards from me kenneth💖💖💖👍

[@venombob3364]

love the videos Vince keep it up man your awesome

[@TheSkaldenmettrunk]

Wow.. Pentiometers from the 70's how crazy is that? Very interesting.

[@mikeb1013]

Another great video! On your analogue sticks for a Switch idea, if you want self centering ones, any 4 or more channel radio control transmitter has the same dual potentiometer housings also with springs to pull the sticks back to centre, Many of these are now very cheap to buy. Cheers.

[@sonodrome]

Nice find!

[@6581punk]

From about 1978. The Channel F had quite interesting controllers. I have a binatone branded one I got faulty but it's working fine.

[@tommyhatcher3399]

Pong consoles don't have much to offer but appearance-wise they cream all other consoles and computers. No contest. They're absolutely stunning to look at. Funny enough, my two favorite full consoles to look at are the Odyssey 2 and the Colecovision, and the companies behind those two consoles were also responsible for most Pong consoles. Coleco, Magnavox, etc. They sure could make some eye-pleasing tech.

[@senilyDeluxe]

Philips G7200 (it's an Odyssey 2 variant). It's a looker. Until you turn it on and realise the internal screen is monochrome. And you can't even watch TV on it. Quite collectible though. And yes there were just over 1000 different versions of PONG consoles made with probably 100 different designs, some of which should've won a design award!

[@adelestevens]

Pity you didn't have the blackjack cart that used all the buttons for gameplay. This was great, little console for its time. I seem to remember you could put grandstand cartridges in it too.

[@jamiemason9548]

Hi nice job done 🎮

[@MrZooobaaa]

This machine is made in october 1980 or later. The ram chip was made in the 41st week of 1980!

[@batman8589]

That got weird fast. The smell sent Vince to the moon. Memberberries working overtime.

[@mrjsv4935]

Nice videogame console and fixes :) Never knew about this console at the time, altough Radofin name rings some bells, but only because more recently I've read about it from Wikipedia or somewhere else about videogame history.

[@SirCuddlesWorth]

Oh jeez, he's sniffing all the Electronics again. 🤣

[@Mymatevince]

🤣🤣

[@rosariodagosto6484]

HELLO VINCE KEEP UP VERY GOOD VIDEOS

[@finditfixitvlogit1990]

One of these was the first console I ever fixed. I was 6 at the time in 1990 and it was just some rubbish over the cart slot. I put it all back together and it worked. Had the bug ever since

[@abcsd1254]

Hey Vince, that leaky cap looks like a 70s/80s Matsushita capacitor. There’s an excellent amp repairer / KZbinr called Jordan Pier in the States who has found that they test good but like to leak electrolyte. In his customer repairs, he always replaces them. If the other purple caps are that same Matsushita cap, might be worth replacing the purple ones. Excellent videos!

[@AnonymousRepair]

awesome video 👍👍👍👍👍 thank you

[@Mymatevince]

Thank you AR 👍

[@rfr653]

good job mate.

[@marcellipovsky8222]

Hi Vince, just 2 tips: a) next time you can drill holes in the PCB and pull the wirer where they need to be b) when you put the epoxy on the board, use also either a fine wire mesh or just a piece of bandage to create a new layer within the epoxy. (like when concrete is done)

[@Mymatevince]

Both good tips, especially the mesh idea. I have some of that here as well. Thank you 👍👍👍👍

[@marcellipovsky8222]

@@Mymatevince You are welcome mate 😁

[@jezp1976]

The load game thing is quite a neat feature, presumably it would allow hot plugging of different games (assuming you had more cartridges).

[@senilyDeluxe]

that's just Marketing misleading to believe you the console has enough internal memory to hold a game (a complex game, I think I can write a game that fits the RAM, but it will suck big time - note that the sprites are R/W, the background generator as seen in the final racing course games is R/W and can be disabled so you won't be able to see I'm hiding code in there, do that brings us to about 80 Bytes that can be used for a program). They just saved money on a Power On Reset circuit (almost all other consoles have that, so when you turn those on, they automatically reset and start the game).

[@ThermionicValve]

I had one of these in the early 1980s. The sound control underneath the unit is to adjust the TV audio subcarrier. Also it has two sound generators, one of the bang noise and the other is for the bleeps, etc. If you do a composite mod, you might need to merge the two separate sound generators together.

[@techstuff7414]

Another quick thing you may want to do to improve the cosmetic appearance is tighten up the coils on the controller cables. If you flip each coil around so it turns in the opposite direction it will remove the slack/looseness from the cable and will look like new again.

[@binkman853]

Never seen this one. Thanks. Atari 5200 style controllers and VCS Night Driver - Awesome!! Gonna have to research this one. Thanks for all your content. Very much appreciated.

[@senilyDeluxe]

Only that these controllers don't break after an hour of gameplay. Some versions of this console (eg. the Interton VC4000) even have self-centering sticks.

[@GadgetUK164]

Great job Vince! I think there is a built in game, but it's crashing! It's perhaps a bad ROM or bad connection on that ROM. My thinking there is that when you let it power down for a minute and went back in, the graphics were corrupted (where it said 8080 or BOBO).

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks Chris, I noticed that whilst editing...the straight lines on the left of the 8080 (BOBO) turned into stairs. I just can't find any info on it whatsoever. I even looked up the RADOFIN 1292 instructions and there is no mention of a built in game????? I'm hoping someone watching might have had one and will know for sure. Perhaps a revisit may be in order if there is a game for sure. You wouldn't know or be able to have an educated guess at which chip would be the ROM would you Chris???

[@robqg]

I would think the chip with the small square sticker on is an EPROM, so could be an inbuilt game.

[@senilyDeluxe]

there is none. It's just the console has no Power On Reset circuit so whatever garbage's in the video chip's registers on power up gets sent to the screen. Also if you look, there's only 2 big ICs in the console, one being the CPU (2650), one being the video IC (2636).

[@amnril]

I’ve got one of these in my loft…. Insta watch, thanks for posting Vince 👍

[@MrTaz0079]

I have some useless information for you, Some of the components on the main board had manufacture dates from 1980 , ie 8021 , = 1980 Week 21 , Its fantastic to see these video's of electronics of my childhood that was built to last,

[@yadabub]

When taking measurements using clips, it's best not to handle the leads or clips while the measurement is being taken if possible. The moving clips will cause the sort of varying(and likely less accurate) readings that you were seeing on that capacitor.

[@GarthBeagle]

34:50 I've seen this same type of strain relief on old Apple II or Macintosh power supplies, the cables leading out of the power supply to the logic board and yes there is indeed a trick to getting them out

[@doiron12]

If you scuff up the board and apply one or two layers of fiberglass/with resin on top of stop drilling it will be a very strong repair that will last. Investing that extra time and money is probably not worth since this is most likely just going to be for a "trying to fix video. Also, doing a composite AV mod on this unit would be a cool video. I've done that on a atari 7800 and colecovision. The RF is really crap. The comparison is night and day, but you've done at least one so you know. Cheers!

[@greenaum]

If it were me, I'd re-do the switch PCB from scratch. Just buy some buttons and some switches. The original uses "home-made" switches, using bouncy metal leaf switches, the same cheap joysticks used (like Atari's famous one) over a PCB to create the switches. That saves them money cos it's components they don't need to buy or fit, just a big PCB and some plastic that was part of the case moulding anyway. To save a couple of pence on a cheap console, significantly cheaper than the Atari. Loads of toys do their own switches this way. In fact actual slide switches that you buy, are internally just a tiny bit of PCB, and a slidey metal spider thing attached to the plastic slider. It's just usually easier to let a switch factory build them than do it yourself unless you're trying to cut corners on millions of units. But cos it's a one-off repair, I'd just buy real switches and buttons. Then solder them on a bit of veroboard to replace the broken PCB, either the stripboard type or the one with individual holes, or hole-pairs. Or failing that, just solder loose wires to each switch then come up with a way to mount the switches to the casing. Screws and bits of wood or some old Lego or Meccano would be good. That switch PCB was a cheap hack in 1978, bodging it with epoxy is "optimistic".

[@acelectricalsecurity]

You find that early pvc cables and plastic did react with each other, it's quite often seen in early T&E cable where the cable will fuse together with the plastic clips, caused by the plasticiser, this reaction could have happened to the case.

[@MCBatty80]

It looks like to remove the mainboard without breaking the ribbon cable to pop out the back plate for the cables? Awesome to see a vintage game come back from the dead.

[@jkarakizi]

Would LOVE to see you attempt an AV mod on this. Great work!!! :)

[@JLsoft]

The startup screen when no cartridge is inserted won't be anything to do with tuning the TV in. The specs for the hardware mention a built-in feature for "1 Score line displaying 4 BCD digits", and if you look at the vastly-different game variations, they all have the same score display, so it's a part of the console's routines, not something each game has to handle. It shows 8's and some random playfield blocks now and then, and I would blame that on...'garbage' in the memory as you turn it on and it's charging capacitors...which keep the charge a while if you're turning the system quickly off and back on, when it gives you a blank/white screen. If you start the MAME/MESS driver for the same hardware (VC4000/'1292 Advanced Programmable Video System') with no "cartridge" inserted, the emulation just displays 00 00

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks JLsoft 👍👍👍👍

[@TechGorilla1987]

This most certainly isn't the first commercial console with analog sticks. That title went to the Magnavox Odyssey 100 game system in 1972. This system was released in Europe in 1978.

[@Jdbye]

They might be analog but they aren't exactly sticks. They're more like the Pong paddle controllers.

[@TechGorilla1987]

@@Jdbye I agree. It was the first system I ever had. I got it because it had a B.A.S.I.C cartridge and a rudimentary keyboard. I was in heaven.

[@Operational117]

I searched for it on Wikipedia. I found a positive match, but the page is titled “1292 Advanced Programmable Video System”. It seems to be an obscure console, first released in 1978 (the Radofin ones were released in 1979) and discontinued in 1983. I could not find any viable information about there being a built-in game…

[@Mymatevince]

Yeah, I did quite a bit of searching and couldn't find any info about a built in game either. I'm hoping once it goes fully live, that maybe a viewer will remember owning one and can answer the question about whether it did or didn't have a game👍👍 Thanks for checking Operational.

[@makeandfixathome]

Hello My Mate Vince, I showed this written text on the PCB board to my Chinese Friend. ( 爆炸棒 ) - on English >Explosion Stick, but no clue why :) I wish to find this kind of mystery thing on my projects too. Regards manaloneathome

[@BeerBellyDK]

I loved this one. These sort of old electronics, video games systems in particular, really does something for me. :) I have a system called the Saba Videoplay, and it's basically a licensed european version of the fairchild channel f. That thing has the most convoluted controllers you've ever seen. They look pretty ordinary, it's basically a joystick, but rather than just having one plane of movement, you can also pull, push, and twist the joystick for extra movement, and it's all part of the same mechanism. Sadly, the controllers on mine doesn't work, at least not properly. That would probably make for an interesting trying to fix video. :-) Or i suspect it might do your head in, as they're really finicky controllers. Which, to be fair, would also be fun to watch. XD It's also really impressively made, it weighs a ton, and i've had the console itself partly disassembled just for cleaning when i got it, and the internal construction is insane. I would be willing to loan it out, but i don't know if it's really doable after brexit, i've found that importing anything from england is neigh impossible, or at best, hugely expensive in both postage fees and import duties, after brexit. :/

[@chilledmax7618]

Grear vid!! I wonder if you could put a modern potentiometer in the old controller? 🤔

[@sprint955st]

One of these in my loft waiting for me to fix it. Better than the 2600 if you ask me. Controllers could be better though. I tried to get Retro Man Cave interested but he wasn’t. This is as important as the rest. Acetronic were based in Stevenage but loads of clones under different names.

[@tiporari]

Ram is being kept active by capacitors. Takes about a minute for them to discharge below the retention threshold. When blanked, it reloads a basic program from ROM. Add a bleeder resistor to whichever cap is keeping the RAM alive (probably the largest) and it will boot to the "landing page" every time.

[@professormoriarty703]

This was a great fix!!! Now I want to find some old school console to fix and also play with friends at a home mixer 😂 alcohol and this video game console will be amazing !!! For a break in between Mario party, smash brothers and Mario kart

[@ImranOO7]

I vividly remember getting this, it was bought by my dad and to be shared by my younger brother and sister, but because I was a lot older I was bossy and I didn’t allow them to play on it. And it didn’t have internal games as I remember it like that, I had, I think, 2 or 3 cartridges and that’s all I got as I think they were pretty expensive

[@Falconurbex]

cool videa as always, i often wonder what do u do with the things u fix, do u keep them or sell them on.

[@Vermilicious]

Ooof, that picture has a lot of ghosting in it. Some kind of video out mod would be cool to see, I guess. Funny point about drift too.

[@MikeK-NIreland]

Hi Vince I done some laughing at your reaction whenever you removed the bottom of that console, very funny. 🤣🤣👍🍻

[@Mymatevince]

Haha, cheers Mick, the smell was so strong. Brought me instantly back to the 1980s 👍🍻

[@MikeK-NIreland]

@@Mymatevince Best Decade ever mate 👍🍻

[@jamiewallace9647]

I had this when I was about 8 or 9 and don't remember any internal game Just played invaders on it. Happy days.