Retro developer Fixel, who we’ve covered before for their 3DO optical drive emulator, has just announced and put up pre-orders for a Digital A/V mod that supports multiple consoles. As of this article, the kit supports:
- Earlier 3DO console revisions with a MADAM & CLIO chip. This mod may eventually support the single chip ANVIL 3DO models but there’s no firm date on that.
- Neo•Geo AES and MVS revisions with NEO-B1, NEO-GRC, and NEO-GRZ chipsets. Again, future revisions of the mod will hopefully support a broader set of hardware.
Beyond compatibility, Fixel did elaborate on some of the board’s user-facing features and trade-offs:
- The DigitalA/V mod can scale to 480p or 720p, and also supports 240p and 480i if you want to pair your console(s) with a DAC and/or a scaler.
- The board has WiFi built in, so it seems likely that it’ll support the similar kinds of diagnostic and update features that we’ve seen from other mods like this.
- Unlike existing mods for the 3DO, the DigitalA/V mod will output clean 240p without affecting the speed of game logic.
- While the Neo•Geo version of the mod will support simultaneous analog and digital output, the 3DO will only output over HDMI with the mod installed.
- The mod is currently designed to output signal over a MicroHDMI connector, which can be mounted in place of the RCA or RF outputs, allowing for a no-cut mod. To reemphasize, this is the connector that is a size down from MiniHDMI, which is what the DCDigital and N64Digital currently use. While I am typically concerned about the reliability and longevity of MicroHDMI ports in cameras or other devices that see a lot of rough handling, in the context of a home console I don’t think this should be a dealbreaker. As long as you’re thoughtful when plugging or unplugging your console it shouldn’t be an issue.
The mod is currently priced at $225USD and Fixel seems confident that the mod will ship in January 2023.