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gscartsw: automatic 8:1 SCART-RGB switch

Discussion in 'The ASSEMblergames Marketplace' started by superg, Jul 6, 2014.

  1. superg

    superg Site Supporter 2013,2014,2015. Tape Drive Donor.

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    The folks who do have such a knowledge will be able to design a switch themselves. Switches are automatically soldered in China and I really doubt that you'll do a better job. I recall somebody asked similar question in my topic and I was willing to send just PCB but nobody was interested.
     
  2. tacoboy42

    tacoboy42 Member

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    I would take you up on that, I would still be interested in purchasing one as well, but having a go at a DIY one would be cool. although I wouldn't know what pieces to get, so if you include a shopping list that would help. :)
     
  3. phipscube

    phipscube Member

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    That's true, but I meant for folks to have a crack at building from your already existing and obviously fantastic design their own alternatives with credits to your name of course. Why invent the wheel all over again?

    As for the kit, some folks enjoy to build with all the parts there in front of them and don't necessarily want/need it to be machine grade. Just having the board is a start, but I don't think the board alone is very attractive. I imagine you would get a better response on kits if you offered the board and all the necessary parts together ready to be soldered, or the board and a list of all the parts necessary (with possible suppliers). I would certainly buy either. And again it would ease your load and allow some of us to have a bit of fun :)

    As an example I have a Joystick adapter for my CDTV coming shortly from Germany all bagged up in a kit form to build up myself when it arrives. Its great fun! :)
     
    Last edited: Jan 16, 2015
  4. superg

    superg Site Supporter 2013,2014,2015. Tape Drive Donor.

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    Reinvent the wheel you say?
    There is no such product at market. If I'd find N>=8-input automatic SCART switch with proper circuit and little to no signal quality loss I wouldn't start this project at all.

    Sorry, I cannot agree on that. It will not definitely easy my load. Support all those special cases is a disaster, I was there several times and no way I'll do this one more time. I don't provide "fun", I provide the solution to an automatic SCART switching problem.
     
  5. TriState294

    TriState294 Site supporter 2016

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    And that's why we as a community need you to make this available in the easiest and fastest way possible. If it's easier to sell them as kits...sell them as kits. If it's easier to sell them as finished products...sell them as finished products. But please...make them available to the masses. I know I'm not the only one who is sick of switching SCART heads.
     
  6. tacoboy42

    tacoboy42 Member

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    Hey superg, any updates on when the next round of switches will be available for purchase?
     
  7. superg

    superg Site Supporter 2013,2014,2015. Tape Drive Donor.

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    Finally assemblergames is online.
    As of today, new version schematics is complete. Tt will be reviewed in a week and SCART and JP21 PCB's will be designed.
    I've got a notice from my PCB's manufacturer that they are closed from February 7 through March 2 to observe Chinese New Year.
    So the plan is to have designed PCB's in the end of February.
    Mid-late March I should have boards here. That's only an estimation though, doing my best.
    Meanwhile here is list of what I've tested on my prototype:
    1. Sega Master System (NTSC)
    2. Sega Genesis 2 VA3 (NTSC)
    3. Sega 32x (NTSC)
    4. Sega Mega Drive VA6 (NTSC/NTSCJ/PAL switch mod)
    5. Sega Genesis 3 VA2 (NTSC)
    6. Sega Genesis VA2 (NTSC)
    7. Sega Saturn Model 2 (NTSC)
    8. Dendy [NES clone] (PAL)
    9. Famicom Jr NTSCJ (NESRGB modded)
    10. SNES NTSC
    11. SNES Mini NTSC
    12. SNES PAL
    13. Nintendo 64 PAL
    14. Nintendo 64 NTSC
    15. Nintendo GameCube PAL
    16. Nintendo GameCube NTSC
    17. Sega Saturn PAL
    18. Sega Dreamcast NTSC
    19. Sega Dreamcast PAL
    20. Panasonic 3DO FZ-1 PAL
    21. Sega Saturn NTSCJ
    22. Sony PSOne NTSC
    23. Sony PSOne PAL
    24. Sony PlayStation NTSC
    25. Sony PlayStation PAL
    26. Neo-Geo CD NTSCJ
    27. ZX-Spectrum +2 128k
    28. XBox NTSC
    29. Sony PlayStation 2 NTSC
    30. LM1881 output [pure sync output]
    31. Sony DSC-T30 PAL/NTSC [camera]
     
  8. ollidab

    ollidab Active Member

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    So looking forward to those JP21 Switches :D Thank You and Great Work!
     
  9. RetroBarista

    RetroBarista Member

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    Looking forward to it. Thanks for the update!
     
  10. gsxrboy

    gsxrboy Member

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    Appreciate the update! Looking forward to being able to tx the moola and getting the switch :)
     
  11. AhmedXyz

    AhmedXyz Rapidly Rising Member

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    Sounds awesome!

    So does this require any voltage at pin 8 to work correctly? I desoldered that on most of my RGB cables since the voltage nearly always is too weak for the TV to switch to 4:3. I can resolder, no big deal, but how will this switch handle 5v on a widescreen TV? It's annoying having to manually switch to 4:3 all the time.
     
  12. superg

    superg Site Supporter 2013,2014,2015. Tape Drive Donor.

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    No, you don't need any voltage pins routed at all. You need only RGBS pins for video, two audio channels and common ground.
     
  13. gearheart89

    gearheart89 Newly Registered

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    Just going on record as eagerly awaiting this switch. I've searched the internet for a decent switch and it's either crap or out of stock. Thank you Superg for the work you're putting into this.


    P.S. Yes I realize that the waiting list is closed, please don't interpret this as a request for a waiting list spot.
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2015
  14. zombie343

    zombie343 Member

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    Are you making 2 kinds of PCBs? SCART and JP-21? Is the waitlist closed? How do I get on the waitlist?! I can pay you up front for an SCART version (and would like to find a working PSU). Thank you!
     
  15. zombie343

    zombie343 Member

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    I am also expressing my appreciation for your hard work. I am very excited and can't wait to see the finished switch!

    Thank you.
     
  16. zombie343

    zombie343 Member

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    Do you mind updating the pictures in the original post? I'm eager to see what the "daisy-chaining" looks like.
     
  17. superg

    superg Site Supporter 2013,2014,2015. Tape Drive Donor.

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    I'm moving to a new hosting company, image paths should be restored this week.
     
  18. FireAza

    FireAza Shake! Shake!

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    Are you still not accepting people on the waiting list? Can I join a waiting list for the waiting list? :p

    How much would shipping to Japan be? I have a 5 SCART switcher back in Australia that's great quality, trying to decide if I should spend what I would spend getting it shipped over on your switcher instead and getting a few extra SCART connectors to boot.
     
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2015
  19. superg

    superg Site Supporter 2013,2014,2015. Tape Drive Donor.

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    No, I'm not accepting people on the waiting list as well as not accepting people on a waiting list for the waiting list :). They should be freely available once I'll be done with current waiting list.
    Shipping outside of US should be around $30 with some variation. You can calculate it yourself using USPS price calculator (1-2lb and 12x6x5").
    Can't advice whether you need one or not ;), decide yourself.
     
  20. FireAza

    FireAza Shake! Shake!

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    Man, it would cost like $50 to ship my old switcher from Australia. It also only supports 5 inputs and it has the sockets in the back, so the plugs always get pulled out whenever your move it. Only advantage I can see that it has is manual switching, while yours is automatic. Well, I guess I don't have multiple consoles running at the same time that often, so I'd rather the ability to have multiple consoles connected at the same time and for the switcher to automatically select the system I just started up.

    You might be able to answer a question I have regarding using the XRGB Mini and a SCART switcher. On many consoles, the XRGB takes a few seconds to display the video from the console when it's turned on. This usually results in the boot animation on systems like the PlayStation and Saturn getting cut off. I quite like these, so I'm kinda sad they don't appear. Usually, if you reset the console after turning it on, this animation displays like normal, so I suspect the issue is the XRGB needs a moment to detect that it's being fed a video signel. Your SCART switcher would be providing a signal to the XRGB mini as long as the switcher is powered on, right? Do you think this would avoid the boot logo animation cut off I mentioned? Or if not, would it be possible for your switcher to have some sorta feature designed into it that could correct this? It's not a huge issue, but I think the boot animation is part of the real hardware experience :D

    You said you were in the process of designing and testing a new schematic previously, how did all that go?
     
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