Dreamcast to XRGB-mini

Absolutely I will, later this week. Too busy playing PSO right now. :congratulatory:

 

Yes. I ordered one from here and I have. Framemeister. Just so everyone knows, the Framemeister is NOT reccomened for the Dreamcast unless you are only using S video or something which would defeat the point. XRGB mini is strictly for your 240p sources or HDMI pass through only. Best option for Dreamcast is VGA although I've heard of people using a composite conversions box.

 

I would reference this site for the definitive reasons but check out Frameeister review and the top video processor lists for different video signals.

http://retrogaming.hazard-city.de/

 

It depends on whether your TV scales 480p better than XRGB mini.

 

Spot on, I gave my Dreamcast SCART cable away to some homeless people this morning.
I remember reading over http://retrogaming.hazard-city.de/ many months ago, so much detail!
Then Yakumo decided to sell a bunch! What a legend! :encouragement:

 

What? Framemeister doesn't even support HDMI passthrough! The entire point of the HDMI ports are to upscale 480p material! No, Framemeister is not the best option for 480p like it is for 240p material, but that doesn't mean the Framemeister isn't good at it or shouldn't be used for it!

 

That's getting off topic, Dreamcast doesn't output HDMI.

 

Actually Mr. Topic Policeman, it's not off-topic, the fact that HDMI passthrough is not supported means that the Framemeister was built with an intention to upscale 480p material thus the Dreamcast at 480p is a suitable candidate for use with the Framemeister...

 

Well I still think the best is to use straight VGA on the Dreamcast. Ill find out when I get my Hanzo but my Sony XBR with VGA supposedly does a great job on the picture. The review did say that it does unusually well with the Wii but not as good with other 480 p sources. Really the XRGB 3 is more recommended than the mini. But if you can build a decent converter without signal loss to run through the mini I supose it will look pretty good. Just seems like a lot of signal conversions and degradation of the signal to deal with. The PS2 has some issues with it.

 

Not really. In the electrical sense, all you need to do is combine horizontal and vertical sync. That's the lone signal barrier to Dreamcast 480p on XRGB mini.

 

You do realize that your Sony television is going to take the analog 480p VGA signal, convert it to a digital signal first and use its internal upscaler to upscale it, right? And that internal upscaler is not likely to be as high quality or as fast as a $400 dedicated upscaler?

Also, there is no "conversion" going on at all. The VGA box mod I did is just feeding the two horizontal and vertical signals through a logic gate that XORs the signals into a single composite signal that's just one lead instead of two. The red, green, and blue signals are untouched and are soldered directly from the RGB pins of PCB side of the VGA connector to the DIN8 connector that goes to the SCART lead.

Fudoh, the author of the website you are referencing as a source, uses the Dreamcast through the XRGB-mini himself... he is using a different circuit than I am though.

The PS2's issues have nothing to do with the XRGB-mini's performance as a video processor. They are issues with the PS2 itself.

The XRGB-mini is on Fudoh's list of Top 5 Processors to Buy for 480p Signals at #4: "4th Place: The XRGB-Mini (Framemeister) does a nice job on upscaling 480p material, but the scaling engine is just not as good as the ones of the processors above." Just because it didn't take 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in that category (but was #1 for 240p and #1 for 480i) doesn't mean you should not use it for 480p... I don't know where you're getting that idea...

 

I supose you are right. I hope I didn't buy that VGA box to find I could get a better picture doing what you did. Although my TV is exellent with 480p signals I have never used my VGA connector yet.

 

Well, you still have to have a VGA box to use it on the Framemeister since you have to use the VGA (RGBHV) signal to make the RGBS signal that goes into the Framemeister. Although the Hanzo appears to be small--it might be a bit more of a pain to mod it when compared to other VGA boxes.

 

240p rocks! :smile-new: Might have to crack out one of those generic looking VGA boxes after all, maybe...!
Let me have a long, hard think about it...

 

Sorry to bump a thread that's literally a year old, but I have unfinished business here as I claimed I would write up some instructions for this.

Well, I wanted to give a good shot at a simple 480p Dreamcast cable for the Framemeister. This is what I wanted:


- all in one cable, no connecting multiple devices
- either passive or self-powered
- ability to switch to 15KHz mode for compatibility


So I bought a 3"x2"x1" project box from rat shack and combined the schematics for the VGA box with the sync combiner circuit, and wrote up a schematic for a Framemeister cable. I built it, but I put a twist on mine: since you can put the 31/15KHz switch anywhere you want, I decided to put it on the SCART connector. The SCART cable I used to make this cable was fully wired for all pins, so I just disconnected one of the pins that's useless (like pin 12) and instead ran the Dreamcast's VGA Enable pin (If this pin is grounded, you get VGA/480p, if it's floating, you get RGB/240p/480i) up to the SCART connector, where I wired a simple switch to switch whether or not it is grounded.


Pics and schematic included:
Getting started on the first half of the circuit:



Wiring up the SCART side:



Fitting the cables into the holes drilled in the box:



The switch in the SCART connector switches between 480p (from VGA) or 240p/480i (RGB mode):



The box has no switches or ports or anything. Simple and clean.




Hooked up to my Dreamcast. Dreamcast also has a S/PDIF digital audio out.




All of the stuff required to do this can be bought for under $5 total.... except the AV connector. I don't know where one could purchase or salvage an AV connector that has all the pins needed (5v, RGB, H-sync, V-sync) besides from an expensive VGA box. Which is what I did, because my VGA box needed repairs anyway.

 

Hi guys,

not sure what topic to throw this question into, hoping this thread may provide an answer for me.

I am trying to connect my DC to my TV.

Ideally I would like to go DC>Hanzo>*???*>XRGBmini>TV

I have done some reading and i have assumed the best way to go for this set up is Hanzo>Component Sync adaptor/cable?

I am having allot of trouble finding something that i can use to translate the VGA signal to component, anyone have a similar set up or can point me in the right direction please?

 

There is no point in converting the VGA signal to component, when you can convert the VGA signal to an RGB format that the XRGB-mini will take via its RGB-in port.

If you are technically inclined, you can build the schematic posted in my post directly above yours. If you do not have these skills, you can purchase a Kenzei to do essentially the same thing. This takes the VGA video and converts it into a cable that will plug into the SCART connector you use on your XRGB-mini, but it will not be a normal 240p/480i SCART signal, it will be a 480p non-standard RGB connection that your XRGB-mini will display happily.

 

Thanks for the info, I'll see if thats in-stock and post on that thread!

 

Hey guys thanks for all your help thus far!

i now have my DC running with Hanzo>Kenzai>XRGBmini and the picture looks great so far, but does anyone know of the best "recommended" xrgb mini settings for dreamcast?

what have you all found the best output for those using xrgb mini?

My picture is a bit pixilated but still great.

 

Since I'm a new XRGB owner, let me be the jackass and ask the stupid question:

I just purchased a component to D-Terminal adapter from Yakumo and called it a day. Isn't that good enough? Does taking your video source from VGA give you that much better quality over component?