Connect RGB 15Hz Monitor to PC

[Tetsu]

Hi everyone, I was hoping some of you had some info that would help me.

My PC:
Runs WinXP, no video card at the moment,  no AGP, PCI slots only.

My "Arcade" monitor:
a Sony PVM 1910 video editing monitor. Basically it is a glorified, 19" Commodore Amiga-type RGB monitor, with two Composite video inputs and one BNC RGB input (No S-Video). It accepts NTSC sync. I currently have it hooked up to about 10 videogame consoles and a couple of Jamma boards that I have tapped RGB from, and everything looks great.

What I want to do:
Connect this monitor to my PC, to run MAME and console emulators through it. Plugging and unplugging systems is getting on my nerves lately, and I want to be able to fire up a game without 20 mins. of hooking consoles up.

Since I can just tap RGB from my computer's VGA output, my biggest problem is getting 15hz of sync to this monitor. Ive been scouring the net for solutions but keep running into problems.  ArcadeOS would work except WinXP doesn't have DOS. StretchMAME will output 15hz for MAME but other console emulators won't. The Matrox G400 has a TV out I could tap 15hz from except those cards are only available in AGP, and my PC only supports PCI cards. And so on.

Options I have explored: My current budget will allow for no more than $100. Can anyone recommend a cheap VGA 31hz->RGB15Hz converter, video card solution, or setup that might work for me? Any advice/info will be greatly appreciated.

[SNAAAKE]

well..any ati card would do the trick.but can you live with composite signal .

OUCH...it hurts ya know...

scan converter wont do you any good either unless your monitor can output pure RGB signal..you should have 5 wires comin out of it just like actual arcade monitors.i just bought 2 extron emotia scan converter and the pictures quility is GREAT ! .seriouslly..it comes close to native vga arcade monitor and looks super authentic..100% like how it looks in the arcades.

you can open up your monitor to see if you can find the pinout(5 wires is what we are looking for right) if the monitor has any?

[Tetsu]

Thanks for the reply, SNAAAKE. You suggested just getting an ATI card with composite out and plugging my monitor into that.  A good idea, but I dont want to do that unless it's my last resort. The whole reason I bought this monitor is because I wanted to enjoy crystal clear RGB graphics from my jamma boards and consoles, and spent waaay too many hours soldering custom cables for each board and system to do so.

As for if my Sony monitor can display RGB, I assure you that it can. Check out the back panel (sorry these crappy were the only pics I could find on eBay right now):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1945369702

All those BNC connectors are for Composite A and Composite B in/out,  as well as RGB and Sync In/Out. No need to open this monitor up, as I've got a custom RGB cable running from the BNC's to a main switchbox hooked to various video game systems.

In theory, what I am trying to do is connect yet another "video game system" to my monitor via RGB, which happens to be my PC. Only problem is, unlike all the other systems that scan at US NTSC frequency, my pc is outputting VGA frequency. All I need is to get my pc to output something NTSC friendly so it doesn't fry my monitor. Any suggestions?

[SNAAAKE]

look for extron emotia converter..they look very good and good for us MAMERS .

[Tetsu]

A google search didn't turn up anything except rental places. No eBay matches either. Got any links for the extron emotia, SNAAAKE?

[Dave_K.]

Have you already tried powerstrip?  Do a search in the form for more info...its software which can tweak most graphic chipsets for specific refresh/frequencies.  A lot of people are using it to ouput VGA to a 15khz std res arcade monitor.  You can try it out for free for 60-90 days (I forget).

[SNAAAKE]

A google search didn't turn up anything except rental places. No eBay matches either. Got any links for the extron emotia, SNAAAKE?

Umm..i have 2 now...also got a buyer..how much do you wanna pay.i could let 1 go for $120 just the converter..i paid $130($275 total for 2 of them with shipping) you see..if you wanna see where(ebay of course) i can manage the link where i bought 2 of them in a dutch auction.that way you know i am not ripping you off .