Scart to HDMI converter displays no image

I have this cheap upscaler for quite sometime,but barely used it.


Yesterday it decided without any warning to stop displaying anything on screen.
It seems that it still gets power,as the power led is still on when powered.
I already contacted the eBay buyer I got it from, but doubt he is going to answer , as I bought it last December.

Has anyone experienced this,or has any clue on what might have broken?

 

Hmm, try pushing the source/input button a few times. This scaler can decide to switch to some other mode sporadically.
If it's broken, open it up and post detailed pictures.

 

Also see if the HDMI passthrough is working to see if the device is truly busted or not.

 

I connected my laptop's hdmi output in the upscaler's passthrough. I've set my laptop screen to switch off whenever I connect an hdmi cable.
The screen switchs off as normal,as it detects that an hdmi cable is connected, but nothing appears on my tv again.

I pressed the source/input button a few times. Nothing happens. So I believe it's officially broken.
I'll come back though with some detailed pictures of the upscaler's motherboard. Now it's rather dark to get some quality photos.

 

Some high-res photos of the upscaler board.
I already tried to re-solder some suspicious looking pads,although the "no signal" issue remains.
By the way, the lack of markings on the big black chip is kinda suspicious to me..

 

I can't tell much from the pictures. The scratched off markings on the IC is typical. Manufacturers do this to obscure what IC it is.
The backside shows one connector with a really lousy soldering job. You should fix that up.

 

I fixed that the moment I opened up the upscaler.
I decided to give up on fixing it, and ordered a new one as it was fairly cheap.

 

Okay, reasonable choice. Though you'd get a nicer result with a GBS8200 and some firmware hacks to it + a VGA to HDMI device.
It's more work though ;p

 

I had one final test with a multimeter (silly me,didn't do that on the first go!!) before storing it away.
It seems that the bottom row of the scart plug has no continuity,while the top row has. Also holding the scart plug, feels kinda loose.
I'll resolder the connections tomorrow and report back if anything changes.

Can I have some more info on this ? Never heard of this up scaler


Edit
Applied new solder on literary everything on the board. Nothing happens though:-(

 

Thought I'd hijack this thread as I just bought the same product. I can get mine to work, however the image position is off. Basically there's an excess of overscan next the right border and the left side is trimmed short. Cycling through different combinations of settings (720/1080, PAL/NTSC etc) have the same result/ Anyone else had the same issue?

I'm at work but I will try to post some pictures when I get home - may end up asking the seller for a refund.

 

Apologies for the poor phone camera photos, but they should give an idea of what I mean in relation to the image position. I'm getting this on my TV, PC monitor and through my elGato HD capture card.

Spoiler

 

I'm kinda having the same issue on my new converter.
This happens only on gradius 3 super famicom, on the screen where you select your weapons.
Haven't figured yet why this happens.

 

I've initiated a refund/return request on eBay. At the end of the day it works - just not to a reasonable standard for its intended purpose. On the face of it, it would appear these generic RGB SCART to HDMI converters (sometimes branded as HDV 8S) are hit and miss.