Will this converter work on a arcade board?

[DaOld Man]

I have a Lucky 8 Lines cab that has a bad monitor.
Could I use this converter to convert the RGB signal to regular PC vga monitor?
Thanks.


http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.17894

[DaOld Man]

Never mind, after studying it a bit, I dont think it will.
Any suggestions as to what I need?

[qrz]

converters via google search

http://www.converters.tv/news/vga_to_rgb_converter_23.html


qrz

[MonMotha]

http://www.arcademvs.com/ARCADE_ACESSERIOR.htm

Item #A-24.

Unknown quality, but man that's the cheapest I've seen something like that yet.

[DaOld Man]

That does look very interesting.
What do you think about item A-22?
It has output for a TV. might be even better?

[MonMotha]

Dunno about the quality on that one.   I built a similar device a couple years back, but I used a different "main part".  Results were EXCELLENT with what I built.  S-Video was almost indistinguishable from RGB on a quality arcade monitor.  Composite of course looks pretty bad, but that's hard to get around.

I looked up the part that board uses, and I don't think it's quite as high of quality as the part I used, but results should still be fairly good.

Using S-Video to a TV would result in more "native" video than upconverting to VGA for display on a PC monitor.  S-Video loses a little color info compared to the RGB colorspace, but not much.

[grantspain]

i used the same rgb to ntsc converter on my time crisis 3 dx and it works better than the $400 namco one

[DaOld Man]

Thanks for everyone's input. I think I will order the A-22 and see how it looks on a cheap TV.
It's cheap enough to take a gamble.
I will post my opinion on this forum when I see how it works. (Might be a while.)
This could be a cheap way to go for others wanting to do what I want, since most RGB to VGA converters that I have found on the net are over 100 bucks .

MonMotha, I would like to see the schematic of the one you built.



Edited for spelling..

[MonMotha]

I don't have the schematic handy.  It used the Analog Devices AD724, but I had problems getting the subcarrier oscillator to tune up properly when using the onboard oscillator, so I had to build an "outboard oscillator" to use with it.  I eventually revised the design to use the AD725 which has no onboard oscillator, is easier to acquire, and has a chroma trap function for the composite output, but I never fabricated that revised design.

The design also had an input buffer so that I could more easily control the input impedance to avoid dimming the cabinet monitor when things were connected in parallel since that's how I designed it to be used.  RGB input was also on an HD15 connector, and the board had a local regulator to improve the power quality.  The ArcadeMVS/Wei-Ya (looks to be the exact same thing) design doesn't have these features.

If you were looking for something you could build yourself, my design was not buildable on a protoboard.  I had a PCB made.  That alone would put you well above the price of the arcademvs part.

[DaOld Man]

Bumped for an update.
I decided to order the product # A24.
I have a few CRT monitors lying around, and I figured I might as well use one of them, instead of buying a TV.
Looks like this card will do the trick.
Here is the link:
http://www.arcademvs.com/ARCADE_ACESSERIOR.htm
Scroll down the page until you get to item A24.

I was a little scared to order, since it is in China and you have to paypal your payment to the guy, no order form on the website.
I emailed him to make sure the board was still in stock.
They answered my email pretty quick, and also said that the price on the website is wrong. Website says 49.99 US dollars for one. He said the actual price is 39.99 US dollars, so that made me feel good.
39.99+12 S&H+1 insurance, total 52.99. Not a bad price if this board does what it claims.

I went ahead and ordered one. I will post again with my opinion on it when I receive it.
I might do an all out review on it.

[BigTinz]

http://www.arcademvs.com/ARCADE_ACESSERIOR.htm

Item #A-24.

Unknown quality, but man that's the cheapest I've seen something like that yet.

I can vouch for that product from that same supplier.

I'm using one now with a samsung 19in lcd. Games look GREAT!

[DaOld Man]

Bumped for status report.
Just got the card today. it took about 2 weeks to get here, which isnt bad. It came from canada, but it was made in China.
It was packaged pretty good. It has documentation, which is in English but kind of a Chinese English  (whats a politically correct word for pigeon English?).
Anyway, I think I will be able to use the instructions, so it shouldnt be a problem.
It came with 3 cables that look like they will plug into the sockets on th eboard. One is for 5vdc supply Im pretty sure. Im very happy they they included these cables. The power one will be used I know for sure.
Well, just took a couple of pictures and what looks like the power plug does not fit the plug on the board.
The board does have a wall wart type power plug too, so I can always use it.
Now I just need to hook it up to my lucky 8 lines cab and see if it works.

Here are a couple of pics:

[HaRuMaN]

which is in English but kind of a Chinese English  (whats a politically correct word for pigeon English?).

Engrish?

I'd be interesting in knowing how those work...

[TOK]

Are you sure that two pin power plug doesn't fit on the board? I bought this same adapter and it was included, and I think I see it in the bottom of your first pic.

I fed it 5v off an arcade power supply to feed a PC monitor and it worked well. The worst thing about it was that the default menu's were in Chinese. I had to mess around with the menu buttons until I figured out how to get it in English.

[DaOld Man]

TOK: yes im pretty sure, the plugs arent shaped the same. They must have sent me the wrong one.


Anyway, I used a coax type power plug and wired it to the Lucky 8 Lines power supply.
It worked great. I connected the RGB and sync and ground wires, connected the VGA monitor and powered it up.
It came up great the first time.
I have a few pics, will post them later.

The board is extremely simple to hook up and it seems to work like its supposed to, I did however notice the main chip with the heatsink getting pretty warm. Its not like it is frying hot, but after about 20 minutes of testing, it was pretty warm to the touch.
I will have to take this into account when mounting it. i think it needs plenty of air space.
I might even wire up a small fan to blow across it.

So far, I am very happy with it.
I now need to tear down the old cabinet and build a new one. I am thinking of going with a bar top cab.
I will post the pics I have for the board here, then probably start a new project thread for the Lucky 8 Lines rebuild.

[DaOld Man]

Here's some pics.
First one is the board laying inside the cabinet and connected all up. You can see how I wired the power plug into the power supply.
Second is a different angle of the board.
Third one is the 17" VGA monitor screen.

[richms]

Looks good. No problems with ordering via paypal, if anyone gets screwed on those transactions its the seller.

THe heatsink is only too hot if you cant touch it. With no forced airflow they can get pretty warm but thats why they put them there in any case.

[Jack Burton]

So what does this converter do to the image exactly?  Is it a line doubler?  Does it scale the image?

[DaOld Man]

Im not real sure.
I know the picture on the vga looks crisp and clear. (The photo I took dont do it justice, man some day I will learn how to use that camera.)
Anyway, the original monitor was very fuzzy and probably needed a cap kit, but since it also had some bad burn in and I have never attempted a cap kit before, I decided to go with a PC monitor.
But since the picture on the original monitor was so crappy, I have nothing to compare the PC monitor to.
I figure this machine was probably in the local DAV or something, and probably stayed on 24/7, which explains the bad burn in.
Looks like the cabinet had been broken into at one time too. It was beat up pretty bad, and several panels had been replaced with raw plywood. So I decided to pitch the cabinet.

[srarcade]

Nice choice! I have that same converter and I love it, not quite top of the line but for what you get for the money you can't beat it with a stick. I use it to convert my ps2 to VGA to run on some tri-sync monitors at 640x480, looks pretty nice but have also run pcbs on VGA flat panels as well, results are mixed at best but I'm happy. I'll probably pick up one more. 

[DaOld Man]

Just an update, sorry to revive this old thread. After muddling through some personal life things, I decided to try and finish 3 projects I have on the back burner.
I have finished up the Lucky 8 Lines (well, 99%, I still need to cut out a back and a bottom cover.)
I built a bartop type cabinet for it, and I think it turned out pretty well.
I used a credit button (no quarters required), mainly because this is not meant to be a gambling machine.
Here is a pic, if there is any interest I can post more of the build process.
Thanks.

[badhairday]

Glad to see it!  Good work on the cabinetry. 

Nothing wrong with taking a time out to deal with life.  Happy you got back to it!