Well thats hold I connected up a PC to a SCART TV, you just need to make sure that the VGA output is 15.7Khz Interlaced, the resolution is less then 640x400 and the Syncs are Negative Polarity. Worked well for MAME. You can use 6 Resisters to convert VGA (in format above) to monochrome composite video if you felt like it...
That would be icky though. I didn't know it was so easy to erm, "compositerise" the sync signals though. I should try that out myself some time! Thank god for Nvidia and their *very* custom video settings!
It's not easy unless you have a crazy nonstandard videocard that can output 15.7KHz composite sync. Otherwise you'd need to divide the H sync and combine them to get composite sync, I think you can divide Hsync with a D-type flipflop. To combine syncs use this: http://www.tkk.fi/Misc/Electronics/circuits/syncbox.gif
So the resistor thing MD was talking about doesn't work? And you don't need a crazy non-standard video card to do 15kHz - normal ATI and Nvidia cards will go that low too! With GeForce cards anyway, if you go to the "advanced timing" settings (or something like that) in the video settings you can set this kinda stuff. It even has presets for 480p and 576p - just set the "interlaced" check box and it's 15.6kHz!
Thanks for posting the pinouts, MD. I've seen something like that elsewhere... doesn't help me TOO much as I am no good at making cables. Kyuu: I really would prefer Scart. W/ all these European cats using it, there's bound to be an easy way to get cables for any console that supports it. For the time being, I'd settle for VGA to this goofy Sony monitor though.
Yeah, if there's a system that was released in Europe and has RGB-out, there's *definately* RGB SCART cables for them! Mega Drive, SMS, ZX Spectrum - any old crap! With newer systems you can get ones with RCA sockets half-way down the cable so you can connect them to a hi-fi or PC speakers too. Don't even *think* of buying the PlayStation/PS2 official SCART cable, though - the fucker's 45 Euro! You can usually get decent enough ones for about €20. If you do decide on getting a PAL TV, you should be able to watch TV on it too if you use your VCR's tuner (or cable decoder or wherever you get TV from) and the composite out on that. In most cases, the tuners in PAL TVs are strictly PAL only, or PAL/SECAM... but that doesn't really help you.
You could easily make an inverse SCART cable for that Sony TV, just find someone good with a soldering iron and get someone in Europe to send you a SCART socket (about $3/$4), probably cheaper then trying to buy a new TV. Then you can use the Majority of SCART cables on that Sony TV. I'll even send you a pin out to give to someone so they can make a cable for you. The Sync thing with 2 resisters does work as long as the display is 15.7Khz, Interlaced, between 50/60Hz and the H / V syncs are negative. It's not the neatest solution and it's possible some TVs won't like it but I've tested it on a Creative Labs Geforce 256 and a old ATI Mach card with success.
Hmm, interesting. I'll have to try it out some time. I'm pretty sure I can set all those things on my GF2, and my TV switches off if it's given anything it doesn't like.
For the Speccy? Really? I thought it internally used some VERY obscure (U/V) display system that prohibited easy RGB... if not, I'm in the market for a cable And keep in mind that Neo Geo/Megadrive RGB leads are pretty hard to find (MD2 being even harder than MD1).
MD1 and Neo-Geo cables should be easy enough to make as they're just an 8-pin DIN plug - I'm sure other stuff uses them, though the pin-outs for the two are different. Finding those screwy 9-pin mini-DINs for the MD2 is supposed to be death! Sorry, I forgot about the Speccy - it's only the +2A/B and the +3 that have standard RGBS out - it even says "RGB/Peritel" (Peritel = another name for SCART) on the socket. I think the original +2 had some weird TTL RGB out (something like the C128, IIRC). I dunno about the other ones. I'm pretty sure the old 48k was only RF out, though you probably could hack out composite from somewhere inside.
Indeed -- my big TV is from Japan. It's NTSC-J, and doesn't work here (if anyone was interested). It's weird... it'll search through the channels and find everything, but after you program it, you can only watch like 10 of them. 0_o That sounds tempting, but didn't we just have a thread dedicated to not opening up CRT TVs? I think I'll live with the less than perfect TV quality.
Well you don't have to open it up, I think he is referring to making a WeirdSonyPlug-to-female-SCART converter. That's indeed quite easy.
Aah, I see. That'll learn me to reply to a post first thing in the morning. That actually sounds like what I'm after. Considering I know just a little bit more than dick about this, someone enlighten me. How come you don't need some type of programmer. If I'm not mistaken, Scart is 21 pin, and this D-sub thing I have is 25 pin, no?
Yeah, but somebody posted the pinout, some things are redundant. Same for SCART, all you really need is R,G,B, Sync, ground, and maybe blanking ground - that's all that's implemented on my Supergun. So I suppose it comes down to simple plug-to-plug soldering.
Sony to SCART Parts Required 25 Pin D Sub Female Scart Connector (female) Low noise cable 2 Phono Connectors (attach them via Line A or via a hifi...) Sony Pin to SCART Pin 2 Audio Select - 4 Audio Ground 3 C Sync - 20 C Sync / Composite Video 4 Blue - 7 Blue 5 Green - 11 Green 6 Red - 15 Red 9 Analog RGB - 16 Blanking 10 RGB Mode - 16 Blanking 12 Blanking - 16 Blanking 15 Ground - 17 Video Ground 19 Ground - 21 Common Ground 24 Ground - 18 Blanking Ground Phono Centre (L)- 6 Audio Left Phono Centre (R)- 2 Audio Right Phono Ground (L)- 4 Audio Ground Phono Ground (R)- 4 Audio Ground Note - Pin 16 on SCART is RGB Switching and normally has 5V, Pin 8 on some SCART leads may not be connected or may have voltages higher then 5V. Most SCARTS have pin 8 and 16 connected via a Resister anyway. So this lead should work with 90% of SCART cables... I have connected most of the grounds up just in case the person making the SCART lead uses different gounds.
Sounds good. I will definitely give this a shot. I guess I should get the Female Scart first. Some shop in the UK's gotta ship that stuff. Thanks for the help everyone... when I get the parts, I'll probably bother some more. Gotta break out the soldering iron.
Look here - http://www.maplin.co.uk/search.aspx...CART+Connectors&worldid=3&FromMenu=y&doy=28m4 They supposedly deliver overseas, but the FAQ doesn't really say much about it. I think Maplin are reliable enough - well, at least I've *heard* of them. There's two sockets there - a normal one and one with right-angled connections. I dunno which one would be more suitable - it depends which way round you want to do things.
