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A guide to connecting your Windows PC to an SD CRT TV, PVM or Arcade Monitor


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The same HDMI-to-VGA converters will probably work for both MiSTer and a PC, if both are running 15kHz. MiSTer has the direct video option for a lot if not most systems. In fact you'll get a cleaner video output from the MiSTer, but it's not nearly as flexible as a PC

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On 20/11/2021 at 7:03 PM, Ryan555 said:

The official Raspberry Pi one has that chipset.

I'm confused when you say official? There are no links in that thread, just a pic of the most generic HDMI-to-VGA converter you can get, same as in my pic. The point i was raising is that if you try to buy ones that look like that now, most of them are NOT using the AG6200 chip and/or won't work for 15kHz. And even if you find a source to buy from, what happens when their source changes, because you won't be able to tell. Grab older ones when you can find them, i say 😄

Also, while a lot of the older AG6200 adapters are (usually) great for 15kHz, in most cases they are pretty blurry for anything above 31kHz. When compared to what else is out there, at least. I bought over a dozen different models when i was originally trying to find one for 15kHz, and then tested them all again later on when i set up the ao486 core at 720/1080p.

Edited by buttersoft
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It been ages since I looked at Raspberry Pi adaptors so I guess they don't sell the official ones anymore, but yes thanks for the heads up on trying to get compatible ones before its too late.

Edited by Ryan555
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I'm trying to use a CRT as second monitor for my iMac. Now I want to make sure I didn't mess up the settings or if I really need to go out and buy another HDMI > Component converter. So far I was lucky enough to have a TV that somewhat capable of displaying an image at all. It's slightly cropped on the top left with occasional jitter. I was able to test with snes9x and the input lag was almost non-existent. Here's the full thread here.

 

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  • 9 months later...
On 31/05/2019 at 12:00 PM, MarkOZLAD said:

Interesting that no one has mentioned combining H and V from syncs from VGA with 1K resistors twisted together to get an attenuated composite sync signal to feed TV. It might sound quick and dirty but it works. Bugger buying an an adapter.

 

If you are using csync and want it to go to a TV's AV port (or scart), a single 1K resistor should do the trick.

 

These resistors coupled with the 75R in the TV set form a voltage divider, the maths says 5V * 75/ (1000 + 75) = 0.35V

I'm new to this and have got a groovymame build to work with my pvm but have plugged both h and v sync in to get it to work (the composite option didn't work with my gfx card). 

 

Do I just solder in a 1k resistor on each sync wire and what wattage should they be? Ive seen this mentioned alot when you hook it up like I have but I don't can't find instructions on what type of resistor and how to incorporate it for newbs like me. 

 

Thanks

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Awesome. Thanks for the advice. I currently have them plugged into the IN and OUT syncs on my PVM and it looks like that does the same job as wiring them together as i get a stable signal. So i'm planning to cut the wire on the H and V plugs and solder a 1k resistor onto each wire, then electrical tape them up so they don't contact each other and i'm safe? Sorry if i'm missing something here but i can't find much info on what this resistor mod actually looks like. Would hate for anything bad to happen to the pvm. It's my ..... precious......

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Hi Ivan,

Yes, solder a 1k resistor onto each sync wire, then solder or twist the other ends together and feed the signal into the PVM. I'd recommend heatshrink before electrical tape, but as long as the h- and vsync wires don't touch until after the resistors it should be fine.

Not using the resistors, or using resistors after combining, is generally ok for testing, but not recommended for everyday use as the sync outputs from your GPU or any converter device are not designed to be wired together and may not be protected. In the real world doing so is probably fine, but best to be careful.

On 14/09/2022 at 8:49 PM, aus.ivan said:

Awesome. Thanks for the advice. I currently have them plugged into the IN and OUT syncs on my PVM and it looks like that does the same job as wiring them together as i get a stable signal. So i'm planning to cut the wire on the H and V plugs and solder a 1k resistor onto each wire, then electrical tape them up so they don't contact each other and i'm safe? Sorry if i'm missing something here but i can't find much info on what this resistor mod actually looks like. Would hate for anything bad to happen to the pvm. It's my ..... precious......

 

 

Edited by buttersoft
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On 19/09/2022 at 5:31 AM, buttersoft said:

Not using the resistors, or using resistors after combining, is generally ok for testing, but not recommended for everyday use as the sync outputs from your GPU or any converter device are not designed to be wired together and may not be protected. In the real world doing so is probably fine, but best to be careful.

 

 

Very interesting.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, I readed this guide (amongst a lot of others...) years ago, when I bought the arcadeforge UMSA adaptor UMSA - Ultimate SCART Adapter (arcadeforge.net)

 

I couldn't make it to work in any way back then but now I have a PC equipped with a nvidia quadro, so I decided to give it another try.

It seems I can make any kind of custom res on NV CP, it would be very simple if only they implemented something on the UMSA to be recognizable by GPU.

Like a simple EDID software or the old way with pins that send back something to the GPU, making it aware that something is connected (actually, that way it'd be easy to connect any PC to a SD CRT without any problem).

For not having to buy an expensive EDID emulator, I'm thinking to force the EDID from NV CP (an edid I'll export from a LCD TV that has SD 480i and 576i in it) on DVI-I output while I'm on a DP monitor. So I should be safe.

Yesterday I was trying with custom resolution, hot-switching the VGA from CRT monitor to UMSA (connected to CRT Tv). I got to make it work with 320x240p but couldn't make a working 480i or 576i res, so to make windows usable on the CRT tv (at least 640x480 is needed for windows to not be cropped). For this reason I'd like to "extract" those res. from the LCD tv, they should be the correct SD standards. I hope it is possible, I've no experience in these things.

Perhaps there's someone on this site that own the UMSA and managed to make it working on a SD CRT?

 

P.S. Sorry for any grammatical mistake I'm not english

Edited by Peppe90
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  • 3 months later...

A very late replay, but... Section f) of the guide covers this. It's never that simple, but in theory you can just set CRU up with a 15kHz EDID override and it will work. At least over a GPU DVI-I port it will, i'm not sure about HDMI. In practice things often get... interesting. Making a physical 15kHz EDID dongle is a waste and won't work. I would still recommend crt_emudriver as a much better option for a dedicated setup at this point.

On 04/10/2022 at 10:56 PM, Peppe90 said:

I got some answers on CRU forum. For anyone in my same situation, here: 

https://www.monitortests.com/forum/Thread-Custom-Resolution-Utility-CRU?pid=13967#pid13967

 

Edited by buttersoft
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