There are some things that remain on my pinball “to-do” list for quite awhile before I get around to them. Addressing the picture quality of my SWEP1 has been one of these things that I keep pushing back. In the current state, it’s not terrible and the game is very playable which is why I’ve considered it a low priority. But, I know it can be SO much better as much of the detail in the video and playfield animations is lost. The issue is the contrast. The contrast dial (which is responsible for the “white” level) is already at max and cannot be increased further. That’s where the small video amp board from Ultimarc comes in. This little board sits between the PC display output and the monitor, boosting the video signal. It’s available here, along with some additional information: http://www.ultimarc.com/vidamp.html
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All posts for the month February, 2019
My Bride of Pinbot has received a lot of loving attention since I purchased it. Now, I’m facing the final mountain before I can say – It’s complete!. Doing up the cabinet was always going to be one of the final two things to be done. It was a bit of a race to see if the final challenge would be the playfield or the cabinet, with the cabinet winning (or is it losing?) that race. The plan had always been to do it around late December last year or early January this year, but that got pushed back to February – and here we are! I spent quite a bit of time last year deciding what path to take with the new decals. Do I keep it original with new BoP decals from PPS? Or now that it’s a 2.0 machine, go with 2.0 decals from Retro Refurbs. In the end, after much deliberation and weighing pros and cons, I went with a 2.0 make over. Some may hold back tears while proclaiming – “But it’s not original anymore!”. Meh. This is a 2.0 machine now. It will remain a 2.0 machine. I love 2.0. There are not many 2.0 machines in the world and very few that are done up in this manor. So new 2.0 decals were purchased to bring this cabinet back to life. Naturally they arrived the day I started back at work (after 4 weeks of leave), which means the process will take longer to get done. The decal set includes the head box, cabinet sides, coin door and a 2.0 translite. The art is heavily based on the original, but with a more modern look (and some 2.0 branding).
