Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum

Main => Monitor/Video Forum => Topic started by: Lilwolf on September 22, 2004, 03:13:25 pm

Title: Any SCART -> Arcade monitor??
Post by: Lilwolf on September 22, 2004, 03:13:25 pm
I heard that PS2 -> arcade monitor is pretty easy if you can get ahold of a SCART connector and hack the cable to the arcade monitor.

Ok, for the question.

Is it ANY SCART work with an arcade monitor?  So if I can find an XBox -> SCART connector I can do the same?  

How about a ATI with SCART card?  Is this basically an ArcadeVGA card without the different arcade resolutions?

And are there any SCART switches to have 5 inputs and 1 outputs?
Title: Re:Any SCART -> Arcade monitor??
Post by: RandyT on September 22, 2004, 04:21:52 pm
I heard that PS2 -> arcade monitor is pretty easy if you can get ahold of a SCART connector and hack the cable to the arcade monitor.

Ok, for the question.

Is it ANY SCART work with an arcade monitor?  So if I can find an XBox -> SCART connector I can do the same?

The SCART cable must support RGB connections.  Some are S-Video  or even worse, Composite only.

Can't help on the rest, but if you are looking for SCART cables with true RGB wiring inside, I sell them for most systems at my store.

RandyT
Title: Re:Any SCART -> Arcade monitor??
Post by: Lilwolf on September 23, 2004, 08:04:29 am
But other then that.  With the proper cable.  Do they all output the proper signals?  

Or do you still need advanced mame for windows?

IE, is the SCART standard very similar to the Arcade monitor... if allows RGB output?
Title: Re:Any SCART -> Arcade monitor??
Post by: RandyT on September 23, 2004, 09:54:44 am
But other then that.  With the proper cable.  Do they all output the proper signals?  

Or do you still need advanced mame for windows?

IE, is the SCART standard very similar to the Arcade monitor... if allows RGB output?

I'm having a hard time understanding the question.  I think you have to break it all down to the hardware level stuff.  The SCART RGB is a 15kz signal, which is compatible with an standard res arcade monitor.  The Sync signal is where a little bit of difficulty arises.  On gaming units where the sync signal is separate, you might need to combine them, and on units where no sync is generated as a separate signal, you would need to strip the sync out of the composite video signal.

Each system is a little different, but to my knowledge, individual sync lines aren't brought out to the SCART connector.  So the Composite Video => Composite Sync conversion would be a necessity if using a true RGB SCART cable.   Limited results can be sometimes be achieved by hooking the composite video line directly to the sync input, but it's unreliable and a little pointless as there is a simple 1-chip circuit out there to do this properly.


RandyT
Title: Re:Any SCART -> Arcade monitor??
Post by: Minwah on September 23, 2004, 10:37:56 am
I use Scart cables for my consoles (DC & GCN).  These are wired up fully with RGB, and my arcade monitor accepts comp. sync, so AFAIK I can just cut the scart plug off and wire accordingly to my monitor.  (I apologise if this contradicts your second paragraph RandyT, you lost me a bit there ::) )

Kindof the other way around: previous to owning an arcade monitor I wired my AVGA cable with a Scart plug on the end, for use with my TV - http://mamewah.mameworld.net/arcadevga.html
Title: Re:Any SCART -> Arcade monitor??
Post by: RandyT on September 23, 2004, 11:07:54 am
I thought everything worked great as well when I wired up my Xbox to the 27" standard-res RGB I have.  Perfect picture......until certain things came up on the screen and my image ripped all to crap momentarily.

As the SCART pinout has no separate connection for pure sync, one has to use the composite video/SYNC/luminance pin to derive the sync signal from.  How well a direct connection to this pin works will depend greatly on the monitor you connect it to.  Some monitors may have filtering to see only the sync signal, while others, like mine, will interpret certain voltage changes in the video signal as a sync pulse.

Here's a pinout for reference.  Note the "combo" pin for sync.

http://www.diyha.co.uk/electronics/scart.html

As I said, there is a simple circuit to do the signal stripping.  It's my guess that SCART RGB capable TVs have this as part of their input circuitry.  As for your monitor working with a direct connection, I have no clue other than that you were luckier than I was :)

RandyT
Title: Re:Any SCART -> Arcade monitor??
Post by: dabone on September 23, 2004, 12:37:00 pm
I built a converter like this just the other day.

I bought a scart splitter off ebay (So I could get a female scart connector)

I took the video amp circuit from the pc2jamma project.
(Scart is .7v video most monitors need 5v.)
And then combined it with a lm1881n circuit to get the negative composite sync needed from the composite video line.

Works with my xbox and psx scart cables, no luck with the dreamcast cable.


Later,
dabone
Title: Re:Any SCART -> Arcade monitor??
Post by: Minwah on September 24, 2004, 07:41:35 am
I thought everything worked great as well when I wired up my Xbox to the 27" standard-res RGB I have.  Perfect picture......until certain things came up on the screen and my image ripped all to crap momentarily.

As the SCART pinout has no separate connection for pure sync, one has to use the composite video/SYNC/luminance pin to derive the sync signal from.  How well a direct connection to this pin works will depend greatly on the monitor you connect it to.  Some monitors may have filtering to see only the sync signal, while others, like mine, will interpret certain voltage changes in the video signal as a sync pulse.

Here's a pinout for reference.  Note the "combo" pin for sync.

http://www.diyha.co.uk/electronics/scart.html

As I said, there is a simple circuit to do the signal stripping.  It's my guess that SCART RGB capable TVs have this as part of their input circuitry.  As for your monitor working with a direct connection, I have no clue other than that you were luckier than I was :)

Thanks, I understand now...so effectively consoles will send both composite video and sync signals down to the same Scart 'comco' pin, so the sync has to be split out.