^Been barking this for awhile now, totally agree!

And the fact that you will get the amp from London faster than almost any shipment within the US, absolutely rules!

Where did you purchase this from?

I assume this is the one:

http://www.ultimarc.com/vidamp.html

Been thinking about this but wonder if it shortens the life of your monitor?

Dennis

Does this harm or overexstend the monitor?

I recently ordered two of these. One for each of my Pin2K's. I'm a little nervous about the installation, but I'm excited to see the difference it will make.

I'm pretty sure that both my machines have WG monitors. Do you happen to have any photos of the installation? A step-by-step guide would be nice for people like me with no experience in these matters.

I'd be interested in the pics as well. This is something I would like to do but also concerned about install. Thanks for the thread btw.

You should do a Short video, Link it with You_Tube and post it Here.. I adjusted the Fly-back on my monitor and What a Difference that made.. Night to Day !!

Here you go, this is how it's set up for a Wells Gardener (color wiring might make it a little easier to see how wires are run, and looking at it now I didn't color coordinate too well haha (but you can see what goes where)):

IMG_0187.JPG IMG_0188.JPG

thanks. any chance anyone took a picture of the monitor reflection before and after?
mine looks fine right now so i wonder if i really need it....

Thanks for the pics, guys!

Nibbles,

What tools do you need to pin each individual wire like that?

Those were from some spare cables that I had at work - the pins were already on there, so all I had to use was a wire stripper and a small screwdriver to lock the exposed wires into the Ultimarc amp.

I didn't want to cut up the existing cable that connected the monitor to the computer case, so I just did the wiring like you see in the picture from spare wiring.

when there's a lot of ambient light,
some elements of the monitor reflection are indeed tough to see with my RFM.
I just checked and my monitor is a Samsung.
Does that make a big difference?
thanks

Can't you just adjust the color/brightness/contrast of the monitor? Or are there no adjustable pots for these?

Thanxx alveolus , Look's Like a Pro Job.. http://www.ultimarc.com/vidamp.html

I'm debating adding this to mine, though it appears bright already, I'm always looking for a way to improve the experience. For 22 bucks, what the heck. So far no one said they have regretted adding it yet.

I held off adding LEDs to mine in fear of drowning out the video.

Thank for adding the pics.

I just checked and my monitor is a Samsung.

My monitor is a Samsung tube as well, you likely have a Wells-Gardener.

But check the connection to the board on the backside of the pin in the head, depending on which Chasis you have the board connection will look different.

DuckscanCable.jpg WG_Cable.jpg

My two video amps arrived today. You guys were right, Andy ships incredibly fast. Now I just have to figure out how to install these suckers!

so how did it go? hopefully you can show us some before b/a pix/vids.
let us know! i'm pretyt much set on diving in too.

Ordered a video amp the day before yesterday and it arrived here this afternoon. Really fast coming all the way from London.

Anyway, I hooked it up following the instructions and it did not work right. I got a vertically rolling screen that was all jumbled. I tried adjust the vertical which made it stop rolling but it looked like I needed a horizontal adjustment also. Which I could not find.

On Ultimarc's web site, the instructions say that you should cut between the little half moon shapes on the board and hook up the horizontal and vertical separately. Unfortunately, that didn't work either. SO I just hooked it back up the way it was without the amp. I will work on it some more another time.

Dennis

Do I need this if I have a Nucore system? I'm thinking of upgrading the monitor to a LCD screen.

Nothing wrong with the monitor, just wondering if it makes that much of a difference.

$37 gambled; I'll post B&A pics when I get it...

Installed the Ultimarc video amp in my RFM last night and like everyone has said here there was an astounding difference in the display. My installation was a little more complicated. Although I have the Wells Gardner monitor my video card did not have the required 5V output on pin #9 of the connector.
So when I first plugged the amp in I had no picture what so ever.
I ran a wire into the computer box, found the red wire from an unused plug out of the power supply, checked to be sure it was 5V, connected my wire to it and then soldered the other end to the positive lead of the cap on the back of the Ultimarc amp.
Then everything worked perfectly with the colors & detail of the monitor being outstanding. This is a highly recommended mod ! Thanks to Alveolus & Nibbles for posting pictures of the wiring, they helped a lot !

Hey - thanks for the info. I bought the video amp board a few months ago and this is one of my Christmas vacation projects to do (along with putting together my Nucore unit). I also have the WG monitor, so this will save a little bit of frustration if I get a blank screen after the installation.

Just got RFM this past weekend and ordered an Amp yesterday. Pictures will be a great help.
Just finding out Nucore is no longer available. Is anyone selling Nucore? Would be willing to build one if I could get a list of parts that would work.
RFM is fun.
Happy Holidays
Andy

First thing you have to determine is which monitor you have in your RFM. It will be either a WG -Wells Gardner or a Ducksan. Everything I have read indicates the WG is the better of the two as far as reliability, but both will benefit from the addition of the video amp.

The pictures posted by Alveolus & Nibbles are for wiring the WG monitor. The Ducksan is a little more difficult & requires you to cut a trace on the Ultimarc amp p.c.b. to separate the vertical & horizontal sync. There are many posts showing how to hook up this monitor too.

One other important tip would be to be sure to turn down the brightness & contrast pots on the board behind the translite before you turn the pin on. Once you install the amp and everything is working you can re-adjust these two controls to your liking.

I don't know of anyone currently selling Nucore. "Pinball Life" shows it on there website but it is not available currently.

Good luck this amp is very worth while, you won't believe the difference in the display !

Thank You
Looks like I have a WG- Wells Gardner.
Happy Holidays

After reading this post, I just purchased a video amplifier and can not wait to see the difference. The site says they will not re-open and ship until January 7th but thats ok. Now I just have to figure out what kind of amp that I have and hope it is a WG. Is there any easy way to distinguish the type of monitor without having to look deep into the cabinet?

Did anyone ever get a chance to take a step-by-step video and post it somewhere on how to install the video amplifier from start to finish? Mine just arrived a few days ago and the pinball tech has not responded to me so I figure I might take a shot at it if there was a video. Thanks.

I plan to do this in the next couple days (take a before and after video). Can't believe I ordered on Xmas Eve and it got from the UK to Kansas City on the 27th!!!!!!!!!!!!

let me know how it works out when you get to it. I was thinking of doing it as well but I think a video would work best for me as well.

I'm pretty sure my RFM had a Samsung monitor in it. Is this even possible? It was a HUO machine, and I was the second owner, so I'm fairly certain it was the original monitor.

This is quite possible. All I know is that something back there said Samsung on it.

I have one to install too. I'll see if I can film it when I install it, but it might not be in the next couple days.

Al also installed his recently so maybe he can take a little video of his already installed one too.

Paul
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Yours was a Wells-Gardner. I know they guy that bought it. The display looks amazing with the video upgrade. So much so, I decided to upgrade mine. Unfortunately, I have the Duckscan and the upgrade is not as simple. Hopefully, I will get it installed in the next few days.