Main > Monitor/Video Forum
Newbie TV walkthrough, please!
notbillcosby:
--- Quote from: thaddeussmith on January 04, 2013, 12:05:30 pm ---
--- Quote from: notbillcosby on July 18, 2012, 12:20:44 am ---
My PC is a 1U server that I happened to get for free last summer, and never had any idea what I was going to use it for until my recent arcade obsession started. I was pleased to find out it has 4gb of ram and 2 dual core (i think) Xeon 2.0ghz processors. I'm pretty sure they're 64-bit, I didn't realize that XP32 didn't take advantage of dual processors... I'll see what I can do.
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I have a 1U dell that I've wanted to find a use for - 8GB ram, dual AMD CPU's, etc. But it sounds like a f*)&#$*& jet engine when running. How did you minimize noise in your cab without frying the server in the process?
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Sorry for the late reply! The short answer is, I didn't. I turned the fans down as slow as I could in the BIOS as I expected it wouldn't really be straining the computer too hard to be playing Donkey Kong and Pac Man. It got quieter, but not quiet. About as loud as an xbox 360. After it was in my cabinet it was still plenty audible but not awful. Then it broke and I got a regular old PC in there and I love how much quieter it is. No looking back.
rCadeGaming:
Updates:
Made a VGA to SCART adapter for use with a CVS-287 SCART to component transcoder. It works excellent for computer to TV. "running the Horizontal Sync through a 1N4148 diode and running the Vertical Sync through an 820 ohm resistor then connecting the two lines together" did not work very well though. Just running h and v through a 1N4148 and then connecting them together works great though. You can just connect together directly, but the diodes prevent potential problems caused the signal from one running back to the card through the wire from the other.
Notbillcosby:
I did some extensive testing with a KV-24FS120, and it works just as well as my KV-27FS120. Very good range of adjustment on both H and V scan rate. You have both a confirmed good transcoder and TV, so it must be at the PC end. I'd highly recommend ditching Soft15kHz at this point and going with CRT_Emudriver, it's so much better and easier to adjust than powerstrip. It can be used with vanilla MAME as well, GroovyMAME isn't required. I'll switch over when manually defined modelines for each game are added though. This is the video card I use:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/231004974650?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
rCadeGaming:
Jadder, I did some work on trying to get Image Fight running pixel perfect in yoko orientation (meaning displaying a vertical game rotated to be upright on a horizontal screen) on a 15kHz set, and made a resolution that's 512x384@60 interlaced. This is only 192 lines per field, so it's really hard to fill the screen with so few lines on a normally calibrated set that normally shows about 224.
At first it was very short vertically and wide horizontally, so I increased the total horizontal lines (adding onto front/back porch, not active resolution) which squished it horizontally until it was in proper proportions. I did this gradually while also adjusting the dot clock frequency and total vertical lines to keep the horizontal and vertical scan rates close to 15.750kHz and 60Hz so I wouldn't lose sync.
^ *btw, this is a good example of how to make large adjustments without losing sync: Find what makes a useful geometry change, then if it causes you to start losing sync watch which scan frequency is being pushed too far. There will usually be something else you can adjust to bring the scan rates back in line without undoing the geometry change. Then you keep alternating, moving your geometry in small increments, while adjusting elsewhere to maintain sync.*
Finally, as I was getting close, I allowed horizontal scan rate to drift to its upper limit before losing sync so that the screen would continue to get taller; it ended up around 16.6kHz. I kept vertical scan rate right at 60Hz. In total, I was able to squish the screen horizontally by several inches to bring things into proportion, but I was only able to stretch it vertically by a fraction of an inch.
*While horizontal size adjustments are very flexible at the PC end with timing values, only small changes to vertical size are possible and it's more difficult.*
The result is that there is about a 1 inch border around the whole screen in this resolution. In gameplay, this customized resolution results in a slightly larger game screen than just running it centered and un-stretched in 480i, but not by a whole lot.
Here is the modeline:
Modeline "512x384_60 16.6KHz 60.0Hz" 12.210 512 560 616 736 384 464 467 550 interlace -hsync -vsync
You can try this if you want a laugh. It worked for me on two different Trinitrons, so cross your fingers and hope your TV can deal with 16.6kHz. If you were to run the game with this, use Direct Draw, wait for refresh, auto frameskip. Normally, Direct Draw, sync to refresh, no frame skip, is preferred, but it won't work well because this resolution is 60Hz and the game is supposed to run at 55Hz. The output vertical refresh rate must be matched to the game's native rate for that.
Ultimately, the problem is that while you are getting a pixel perfect reproduction of the game screen, it isn't really clear enough to really get much benefit from this due to it being a small display area, having interlace-flicker, and lacking the strong scan lines of low-res progressive. You might as well run it stretched to fullscreen in 480i using Direct3D, wait for refresh, auto frameskip, so you can at least use the full height of the screen.
So, unfortunately it's not worth it to make custom interlaced resolutions for yoko orientation. This example was using a 256x384 vertical game. Something with a more common resolution around 240x320 or less would be even worse.
wordsworth:
Sticking my nose in here...
I think notbillcosby is using a RCA VHDC300 transcoder which I've recently found out does not work that well with these resolutions.
This is from the "Newbie TV walkthrough, please!":
--- Quote from: rCadeGaming on July 22, 2012, 09:28:48 pm ---
--- Quote from: notbillcosby on July 22, 2012, 09:12:12 pm ---It's that RCA transcoder I PM'd you about
...it was $10.01 after shipping
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The Audio Authority 9A60 or the RCA VHDC300. Either one sounded like it would work, just a little iffy. Certainly worth the risk at that price.
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This is from the "Ian's BurgerBoss project thread":
--- Quote from: harveybirdman on December 16, 2012, 12:59:50 pm ---nbc >> It looks like you are using the RCA VHDC300, which is about 40-60 dollars cheaper than then Audio Authority 9A60A that I've been planning on buying.
I'm interested in the months you spent perfecting the video and any regrets, do overs, or concerns you might have regarding the RCA VHDC300 and/or soft 15khz.
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--- Quote from: notbillcosby on December 16, 2012, 01:51:15 pm ---Harvey: Good eye! Yes, that's what I used. Got it for $10 after shipping on Ebay. I have some issues when it comes to adjusting screen geometry in Powerstrip when I'm running a progressive scan resolution- anything I adjust makes it FREAK OUT. I don't know if this is the video card, the transcoder, or the TV. I have no point of reference, so I'm not sure what to blame...
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I actually bought a VHDC300 based on those posts and it's low cost (~$20 shipped) but it turned out to be a mistake for me.
This post, http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,131980.msg1369637.html#msg1369637, explains my trouble with this transcoder.
Maybe this helps someone else not make the same mistake I did. You get what you pay for :-\
rCadeGaming:
He eventually did pick up a TC1600, but was still having problems making adjustments to timing values, which is why I think the problem is narrowed down to the PC now. Thanks for the help and the interest though.