Arcade VGA to RGB TV input

[moonpatrol 4 lyfe]

I have an idea for a project, and I was wondering...  Is it possible to convert the arcade monitor output from an Arcade VGA card to the RGB input on my flatscreen (not flat panel) television?

Will the picture be sharp, or will it suck?

Thanks!
Bill

[elvis]

You'll need to add a modeline to match the input requirements of your TV (NTSC/PAL/whatever).  There's quite a few good guides in these forums to show you how to do that via PowerStrip.

Most RGB-input TV's use SCART, which is essentially RGB + combined H+V sync.  Check with your TV first, but often you can just twist your H and V sync wires together as SCART input sync, and use the signal direct from your video card without any other hardware (again, making sure that you are using the correct modeline).

Image-quality wise, this is simply the best picture you can get from a PC on a CRT-TV screen, full stop.

[moonpatrol 4 lyfe]

I'm an American.  So unfortunately, we dont get those awsome SCART ports on our TVs over here. 

More expensive televisons have RGB inputs which are a series of 3 phono (or RCA) plugs.  (This is what my TV has.) They look exactly the same as composite output plugs.  Except, they are blue, green, and red (instead of yellow, red, and white).

By modeline, are you asking me what the input capabilities of my television are?

What exactly is PowerStrip?

One more question that isn't really relevant to my televison... You said that I could "use the signal direct from your video card without any other hardware"  I thought SCART televisions needed an Arcade VGA card, and that the 31 kHz refresh rate from a regular PC vga card would fry it.

Thanks for your help!
Bill

[Harry Potter]

Those plugs are component, not RGB. Significantly different.

[moonpatrol 4 lyfe]

my mistake, i thought they were RGB since the plugs were blue, green and red.

Is there anyway to get the Arcade VGA to output to component video?

[Harry Potter]

You'd need a converter. just google 'RGB to component converter'.

[moonpatrol 4 lyfe]

I found one for Australia.  Will that work with my TV or will i have NTSC/PAL problems?  $120 is an INSANE price, the freakin ArcadeVGA costs less than that.  GRRRR.

My guess is that if I get the converter, it will be the sharpest way to get output from my ArcadeVGA card to my tv.  Is this correct?  I have composite video, the three plub a/v inputs, s-video, and coaxial RF

[HOTR6]

I don't mean to jump in and mess up the thread here but I am wondering if you are asking if you can somehow make a converter wire to hook up your tv to the computer monitor port? If that is what

[moonpatrol 4 lyfe]

I am purchasing an Arcade VGA card to output video from a dedicated MAME PC to an arcade monitor.  However, I live in a college dorm most of the time, and there is no way I can take my arcade machine with me.  So, I was wondering if there was a way to hook up the Arcade VGA output to the composite video input on my TV, so I could use it in my dorm room when I dont have access to the whole cab.

That is why I started this thread.

I was using the Red/Yellow/Red plugs as a point of comparison.  Yes, the red and white are audio.  The yellow is video.

If you have similar ports on the back of your tv which are Green, Blue, and Redh, then you have composite video.

[elvis]

YPrPb composite video is mathematically equivalent to RGB, and gives an almost as clear picture.  The signal however is different, and yes, colour coding the plugs to red, green and blue confuses a lot of people, and was a really poor design choice.

Yes, RGB to YPrPb converters are expensive.  The funny thing is most of them use less than $10 worth of components, which pisses me off royally.  I do hope that in the coming years we will see more of these things mass produced, and see the price come down.  RGB is still the easiest signal to get a hold of, especially for PC users, as well as arcade board collectors.  Why the hell TVs don't standardise RGB inputs is beynod me.  What's worse is that RGB is common input on DIGITAL TVs!  Insanity!  Put RGB on Analogue TVs where it belongs!

Anyways... enough ranting...

PowerStrip is a piece of software that will allow you to create custom modelines.  You will need this, as a standard TV will not accept 640x480 resolutions.  640x480 is a 31KHz res, and most TVs are around the 15KHz range, thus you need to create interlaced modes to halve the frequencies.

PowerStrip can be got here:
http://entechtaiwan.net/util/ps.shtm

And you can read the PowerStrip sticky from this forum here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=43728.0

And finally, my obligatory Wikipedia links for every time someone asks questions about RGB, component, s-video and composite:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_video
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YCbCr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YUV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCART
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-video
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_video

In order of visual quality, it goes:

1) Digital inputs: HDMI/DVI (digital devices only)
2a) Component RGB (SCART, VGA, CGA, etc)
2b) Component YPrPb/YCrCb/YUV
3) S-Video
4) Composite video
5) RF.

Most consumer PC video cards have S-Video "tv output".  Set your display to 640x480, and try S-Video out for MAME on a regular TV.  It's the easiest/cheapest method, and gives fairly acceptable image quality.  Not amazing, but good enough for regular play.