Connect RCA to Jamma harnes?

[Sir LoLz]

Hello. I thought this would be easy. But I can't seem to find what I'm looking for.

First off I want to say I'm new to the arcade scene. I got an Area 51 machine a few years back. Recently I started modding things in an escalating manor. in essence, while I have done a few mods such as replacing shells and soldering new components (replaced my old Game Cube controller analog sticks with new ones) I have not taken any classes and have no experience with Arcade machines. So I am still learning my way around.

Back on topic I want to change my Area 51 to a multicade. I want to buy a Jamma switcher to switch between Area 51 and a RCA input. I found the switcher no issue, But for the life of me I can't find a rca to CGA (I believe that is what Jamma harness uses right? I know the monitor in the machine is original at least)

Could this also be accomplished by converting the RCA to VGA, then connecting that to the harness? but what about audio then?

in the end I want to get a RCA signal to the jamma harness video and audio.

Sorry for being clueless. I know you can very easily break arcade cabinets and I want to be sure about this. Thanks much.

[buttersoft]

RCA being the old plugs used for consumer AV, right? Most old arcade monitors/setups used an RGBS (red, green, blue, sync, and of course ground) signal at 15kHz. That's what Jamma is wired for. IDK about Area 51, whether it was slightly higher resolution? 15kHz is 320x240p or thereabouts, 25kHz is somethingx384p and 31kHz is 640x480p. 31Khz VGA was normally wired as RGBHV through the HD15/DB15 plug we all know and love.

With the above in mind, what is your RCA video source? And is it outputting RGB of some form? And if so, does the resolution match your monitor's input range?

EDIT: wikipedia tells me Area 51 outputs video at 320x240p = 15kHz. So what is your RCA video source?

[Ken Layton]

Area 51 is JAMMA and standard (15khz a.k.a. "CGA" ) resolution. Multicade boards are also JAMMA and they have a dip switch to set either standard (CGA) or computer (VGA) resolution. There is a conventional DB15 vga monitor connector on the multicade board.

[Sir LoLz]

RCA being the old plugs used for consumer AV, right? Most old arcade monitors/setups used an RGBS (red, green, blue, sync, and of course ground) signal at 15kHz. That's what Jamma is wired for. IDK about Area 51, whether it was slightly higher resolution? 15kHz is 320x240p or thereabouts, 25kHz is somethingx384p and 31kHz is 640x480p. 31Khz VGA was normally wired as RGBHV through the HD15/DB15 plug we all know and love.

With the above in mind, what is your RCA video source? And is it outputting RGB of some form? And if so, does the resolution match your monitor's input range?

EDIT: wikipedia tells me Area 51 outputs video at 320x240p = 15kHz. So what is your RCA video source?

Wow that's more than I thought. I honestly don't know the output. Wiki says RCA have a 480i resolution. So I assume it would be that.

I'm going to throw in the towel on this and get a 60-1 Jamma instead. I was hoping to be cheap, But I found out just know I know nothing about video. So I will go with what works.

Thanks for the reply.

[buttersoft]

RCA plugs are generally used for composite video and component/YPbPr signals. Composite is not generally used for any video mode higher than 15kHz, nothing prevents it but the loss of image quality would be pretty big. 480i and 240p are both 15kHz, but 240p is more common for old arcade games, so i cited it. I trusted you would say more about what devices you had and what you were planning to do

As Ken notes, plugging in a Jamma-compatible multiboard should work for you, this is the cheapest and simplest option - just make sure the one you get can output 15kHz/240p video. There are jamma switches that will allow you to connect more than one jamma board/multiboard at once, and switch them over without unplugging, if that's helpful.

You can also look at something like a J-Pac and then setting up a PC with MAME or GroovyMAME. A PC is far more flexible and gives a better result, but is much more expensive represents many, many times the work.  I'd get the multiboard first and upgrade things later if you want.