Cheers -- I will look into this. Not sure when my next Akiba trip will be. I might need to go the mailorder route. I'm looking for a picture of an LM1881... trying to see the size. Think this will fit in a 21-pin Multiconnector (SCART) encasing? Along w/ the other shit, of course.
The LM1881 is a tiny 8 pin DIP device about the size of your thumbnail which you should be able to shove in a SCART connector with space to spare. I'm going down to Akihabara on Wednesday (and to this store as I need some parts) as I am going to be around Tokyo the whole day I am quite happy to pick them up and meet you somewhere in the evening. Er the SCART cable uses it for blanking (pin 16) so it selects the RGB mode rather the composite and the RGB21Pin uses it for much the same way (on Pin 11) True, but if the ground is the Frame ground it might have disconnected (or not making good contact) and normally it's a good idea to have Audio and Video (Sync) grounds connected too.
That would be perfecto. How late will you be in Tokyo? Any plans on being anywhere near Shibuya/Shinjuku? EDIT: Dang, Ibaraki? I thought you was in Saitama.
Since the SCART/JRGB connector itself provides 5V, it'd be best to use that for the RGB select since consoles don't have a RGB mode select output and dual composite/RGB cables probably use a switch (changing the voltage divider).
Hey, kiddies. I'm the goofball that made Gaijin's whale adaptor :icon_bigg Yeah, the toggle switch does three things at once: One way -> +5V applied to LM1881, sync in and out connected to LM1881, +5V connected to indicator LED Other way -> +5V NOT applied to LM1881, sync in and out SHORTED, +5V NOT connected to indicator LED. -ud
On that note... should I look into another cable? Maybe I should post a snapshot of the PS2 RGB cable I'm using. And I'm not sure they'll get the "whale" comment. I should post a picture of that too!
So this connector block should strip the sync but does nothing? What happens if the switch is off, does the Composite Video/Sync get fed straight through or is it completely removed? Rereading your first post, I am not sure why you need the device for the DC and Saturn as both of them output Composite Sync natively anyway... the LM1881 is more to strip Composite Sync from Composite Video which neither cable should output. A multimeter on resistance setting between Pin 10 of the Saturn side of the RGB cable and Pin 9 of the 21pin side should give you 0 ohms or so, if this is the case then the device is probably not doing what it's meant to or is faulty. However if nothing happens and you get a reaction from pin 3 (saturn side) to pin 9 then the device is working fine. Although it's a possibility that the RGB cable is faulty, I'm enclined to think it's a problem with this device. One way to test is to see if he RGB cable is outputting a composite video signal. A simple way to test this is to get a phone lead attached two croc clips, one to pin 9 and the other to pin 21 (the shield) and feed that into the composite video input of a TV, if you are getting a picture then it's likely to be the device not working correctly and not stripping the sync correctly.
B/c they don't work w/o it on my Arcade monitor. They require me to toggle the device. Not sure if it's a +5v issue, or a synch stripping issue, but the only device I have that outputs 15khz that my arcade monitor likes (raw) is my supergun and AVGA (and of course XRGB2 but that doesn't really count). Any other console no worky. Although I've never tried the DC w/o it, I'll admit. I'm using a Hospice device, not straight up RGB cable, so it might work. The other reason being is that the input on the monitor has DSUB input only. All my other devices save the AVGA have 21-pin RGB connectors. Since I have to have some type of converter, I might as well have a one-size-fits all one. Indeed. I will source another cable to check, but it's worth noting it works fine through the XRGB2. Believe it or not, I don't have a TV to do that on. Well... I guess I have the main HDTV but carrying that shit into the main room means I won't get laid for a while.
If I can figure out how to get the video file off my iPhone, I'll upload a video f the Saturn boot screen working (LED on) and not working (LED off). Looking at the PS2 though, the LED does not light up when it should. Sounds like it's not getting +5V, right, ud?
Ah that might be the problem then... If the device is expecting power from one of the pins and there is none, then it won't work... Not sure what pins the device expects to get power from, so maybe ud can fill us in.
I just followed the gamesx JP 21 Pin RGB pinout, which uses pin 16 for +5V. Heh, I'm blessed in that area as I married the daughter of an EE :icon_bigg I try not to abuse her tolerance, though. -ud
If the "whale" connects to a passive J21RGB->RGBS cable, there's no power for sure. I kind of doubt you really need a sync stripper with such a fancy monitor. I'd try this for a passive adapter:
Here is the cable scheme: Game system -> Game system specific J21RGB cable -> Whale -> DB15 It is up to the "Game system specific J21RGB cable" to send +5V from the game system to the whale. I believe the major question here is: what is the "standard" pin for +5V on J21RGB? -ud
Well, GP, Calpis is right. Here are the consoles with Native RGB output and +5V: SFC/SNES Dreamcast MD/Genesis 1/2 Saturn PlayStation 1/2/3 Of those, the only one that needs sync stripping is the PlayStation (that is if all the RGB cables are passing sync signals rather than composite video signals, at which point you would need to strip those too). I guess the rule of thumb will be: any RGB cable you use w/ the whale that passes composite video rather than a sync signal, will just need to be sure to carry the +5V through from the console to pin 16 on the J21RGB plug. -ud
So what is happening when I connect the other consoles (Saturn, for example) up to the monitor directly w/ no stripping (and I get a distorted picture)? It apparently sends C-Sync, but it gives me a cocked up result if I don't use the whale. That's all fine and dandy, but according to the schematic I posted, the Playstation consoles sends +5V on 11 and 16...or at least 11, which is shorted to 16... yet, the LED is about as bright as the light bulb above my head (read: not bright).
As Pin 16 only requires a whole 1V to perform RGB switching... using this pin may not get you 5V. If you have a multimeter Gaijinpunch then see what voltages Pin 11 and Pin 16 are carrying... it if is shorted already then just make sure it's via a wire and not a resistor.
Ah, that makes sense.... kind of. My multimeter didn't make it across the ocean, but a friend across the street does. Will try it out there.
Let us know how it goes. If it's a low 1V or so then the quick and dirty method would be to use a PSU to get the 5V from...
I just remembered that I had some pics of the converter up on the nfg forum: http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=3498.0 When I was figuring out the best way to design this solution, my initial plan was to have a jack for a PSU, but upon experimenting, using an external (i.e. not the console's) power source caused an unstable sync signal. I thought maybe the power was dirty so I looked at it on a scope and the +5V was was smooth as glass. I pretty much threw out the idea at that point, being as it sounded like the consoles GP wanted to use it for have +5V available. I guess we'll see what GP finds with the pin 16 / 11 deal on his PS RGB cable. -ud
