PAL Gamecube RGB to VGA mod?

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HDMI might be possible. If GC outputs digital 640x480 from the port, before that expensive cable converts it into analog component, we'd just need to figure out what the heck is up with their weird proprietary format.

I thought I heard mention years ago of a digital audio mod...

 

It does, although mmmonkey has tried it with and without a sync splitter and says that some consoles wouldn't display correctly without the splitter:shrug:

 

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If it can be sold at around 100 euros, you can add a buyer on the list. But maybe I'm just underestimating, don't know, on the other hand a XRGB3 costs more than 300 euros :S.

30 lines of lag , can it be measured in milliseconds or FPS, or is it a 1/30 FPS :redface:.

Looks like the Germans made themselves the first NOT Nintendo Component cable: link. I think it's a hard operation, however there fits only 1 chip in the cable (DAC)... Jorge, wouldn't it a piece of cake for you ?

I'll see then .

 

Well that's an improvement. Digital-digital would need something other than a DAC. Hmm. It's astounding the degree how little this port's output is understood.

 

30 lines of lag is 1/60/480*30 = 1ms, a full frame is 16.7ms for instance.

And no, my scaler won't be 100Eur. That isn't enough to buy the PCB + FPGA. I dunno how much to charge it for, since features aren't implemented yet for the most part...

About the GC cable, I have no idea, I'd need to inspect the system output to figure out signals and stuff.

 

It seems they are finally doing a 3rd-party component cable, from the folks of gc-forever.com: link. Hope they will sell to the potential buyers soon. 480p would still need a mod chip like the Qoob (SX/Pro) and a PAL Gamecube with Digital Output, but from then it's easier (and prettier) to convert to a VGA output.

Thanks for the explanation! Your solution would help a lot of retroconsole users who want superb quality.

 

Sorted that then. Only problem with making a cable would still be getting hold of the Digital AV connector. I've heard some people mention it being a standard Japanese connector, but I haven't been able to track it down at all. Of course, you could do an internal mod either putting everything inside the Gamecube or by making a custom connector using a D-sub connector or something similar.

Incidentally, I've found a supplier of the DAC that can sell them to me for just under £2 + postage.

Also, may as well just mod NTSC consoles and forget about PAL. The standard output for a PAL console would still be 480i over component, so may as well just use RGB as it's readily available. Just play 480p US & Japanese games on an NTSC console without the need to install a chip.

 

Sorry, I was looking for this thread earlier, but missed it.
Mods, can you merge this? http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=549986
GameSX has the digital pinout and protocol: http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:nintendodigitalav
The audio seems to be just a serial left/right format that is easily repackaged for S/PDIF.

 

Hmm, yes, soldering wires directly from inside GameCube is needed without connector. It seems the chip is also doing H-sync and V-sync, so it can be directly connected to VGA, as I understand.

Really, that would be very cheap according to the gc-forever.com thread. It has to be MX (not AD) too, do you mind to mention the supplier .

Well, only NTSC games on a PAL cube should do the trick. Many NTSC games will work with a softmod only. Maybe the chip is doing also 480i correctly to RGBhv?

480i is working when at least the VGA monitor supports 15kHz, so a 'line doubler' like the link Jason gave us needs to come in then, according too: http://www.eurasia.nu/wiki/index.php/GameCubeRgbVgaCable

 

For HDMI (video) they need to know the inner workings of the DAC chip I think? Digital audio is fine indeed.

 

You won't get HDMI from the DAC chip itself, as it takes the GC's digital signal and converts it to analogue (as both component and VGA are). Any direct HDMI mod would be using the digital output directly, without the need for the DAC.

Yes, the DAC outputs YPbPr and RGBHV, so can easily do VGA, but it's not going to happen at 480i.

The source I've found is for MX DACs. I've placed an order for 20 of them - hopefully I won't get an email saying they're out of stock.

Never noticed this before now, but it does look pretty interesting, as the Wii seemingly only has analogue output and the same range of connections and resolutions as a Gamecube with the DAC would. Might be interesting to have a look inside to see what connections it uses:

http://www.neoya.com/shop/wii2hdmi/

 

That link contains the info about the DAC chip as well.

 

Of course, but I thought before that happens they need to know the digital signal they are dealing with (digital to digital conversion is needed?), so understanding the chip is a start...

The source stays your gold mine? .

Edit:

I'm afraid that is not true: http://www.gc-forever.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=10067#p10067

 

Nothing to be afraid about, it's good to know if that is the case. Although it conflicts with everything else I've read about it.

As for the DACs, I'm going to wait and see how much they actually cost me for each one (IF they're in stock) after shipping and (hopefully not) customs and then probably offer them cheap in the user marketplace.

 

Hmm, about 480i over the DAC, it may depend on the revision: http://www.gc-forever.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=10090#p10090

 

Has anyone yet attempted to feed the raw digital signal into an HDMI monitor, if only to see what may happen?

 

I don't think there is any sensible mapping between the different connectors. By the way, I faintly remember that Nintendo originally said that the Digital AV was compatible with certain Japanese LCD screens. Did anyone ever find anything else using that interface?

 

Unfortunately yeah... You'd have to sacrifice a GC component cable and an HDMI cable. Hacking off one end of both. Then figure out what pins of GC's digital pinout correspond with HDMI's equivalent (video>video, etc) so one could solder things up.