WTB: Custom Dreamcast with integrated VGA out (US Buyer)

Hello everyone!

I'm a big Dreamcast fan who never really understood the importance of Dreamcast VGA boxes until just now. And they're all expensive! (and of questionable quality)

I've heard the internal VGA mod costs like 6 bucks in materials and is supposed to be easy, but I suck at soldering and don't feel like ruining a Dreamcast at the moment.
So I was just curious, is there anyone familiar with this procedure (ie has accomplished it successfully before) who would be willing to perform the VGA, 3.5mm audio out, and VGA on-off switch mod on a Dreamcast (I could mail you one of my 3, or you could provide one and I'd pay extra) and ship it to me.

Float me a number if you're interested.

 

Not exactly what you're looking for: https://www.facebook.com/Cabous.Dreamcast.VGA.cables

But these are excellent quality VGA cables hand-made by a well-known dreamcast enthousiast. I got one I can testify!
Much better than a vga box. Might cost less than a new console+mod.

 

Thanks for the heads up, that looks like the way to go

 

I went that route myself and I'm pretty happy with the work. Eventually i wouldn't mind having my own modified console but for now it's the best solution until i get confident enough to try the internal mod. Tell him Adam sent you and maybe he'll help you out on the price

 

Check my post:
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?42388-NEW-HOMEMADE-PROJECTS

Advantage is you can use a high quality VGA cable with that for better video quality.

 

Cabou's cable are actually high quality shielded ones, and he's an electric engineer so it's well-made. I don't mean your box isn't. It actually seems pretty neat! I might be interested in the scanline generator myself if/when I start back playing DC games on the flat TV!

 

We can't know if it's shielded well or not unless we cut and dismantle it, from the photos I perceived it as a regular rgb cable, as he told on his following interview too...
http://thenightshiftwebmag.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/640x480-still-living-the-dream-with-cabou/

When I wrote a high quality VGA cable, I meant high quality, not the cheap $1 ones from Ebay. There is a huge difference with the German built ones I am using now. Like the difference between the official Xbox 360 VGA and the third party ones.
It doesn't take an engineer to build a cable or understand about cable shielding. Everybody knows that this mod is so easy and requires a few components only. I have a BSc degree on computer sciences engineering and an executive MBA degree too. Believe me I saw senior (4th grade) electronics engineering students who didn't know the meaning of bandwidth. Also I own a company that distributes hi-fi audio,video and computer cables here. We're distributing gaming accessories too. They can also be built in a manufacturer here if there is enough demand. But I am so clumsy that these boxes are not built by "myself" but a guy who has really a great experience in electronics. I just want to support him by giving this job. He will earn $10 a box probably for his min. 1h job.

You can also try this one too:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Wholesale-DC-VGA-BOX-Cable-dreamcast-vga-box-cable/495794790.html

My advice is don't be fooled about shielding and ferrites on the cables, in real world circumstances, most of the time ferrites are little empty boxes and not enough shielding at all, because of cost cutting measures. I am only surprised about Gamecube Component cables. Cable quality depends not only on shielding but wire type, soldering and other materials reducing EMI. Unfortunately world is not perfect. I am using very expensive hi-end audio cables at home, brands like Nordost, Transparent etc. Please check their prices...

I think he did a great job by designing that cable and ordering from a supplier in China. It takes time to build them by hand one by one. I learned him from your post here, I hope he can sell more so it will reduce his costs by this way. I liked his entrepreneurship. If we had a good retro gaming community here(Turkey) like in France, I could do some other projects, it depends on the encouragement....

 

He states they are shielded ("about" section on his facebook page, and on his "regular" forum, metagames-eu) and I trust him. I have one of those and the image is way better than chinese-made vga-box, which I also own.
I don't want to discredit your vga box though, it seems like real good stuff!
Maybe there's a bit more noise on his cable than in yours, but I can't see any. I guess we could still make a wire surrounded with µ-metal to avoid noise, but that'd be expensive!

I'm actually an experimental physicist working with HF RF on a daily basis, and I know how hard RF noise is to get rid of. Because of cell-phones and AM/FM radios, my cryostat looks like a kebab wrapped in aluminium, with filters everywhere. I've also made 1$/mm cables, so I know those can be expensive if you want quality. Though my stuff wouldn't be of use for audio, it's in the GHz range...

 

I had no intention to compare or blame other cables with my upcoming one. If the people are content with their cables then I have nothing to say.
I am just trying to build a good one according to mmmonkey's design. It would be best if I could design and order a pcb, but who knows maybe in the future? I am open to advices to improve it, I hope people will like it. I may add gold rca jacks or a selection of different options. It is just a simple box after all.
Thanks for the infos.

 

No offense taken, no offense given!

It depends on the demands, but a PCB would speed up the process for large amount of orders. You could also try to get in contact with cabou to know if he wants to share his av connector supplier. What would be nice imo is the scanline generator and the vga box all-in-one. Or a "cheap" way to plug the DC into a HDMI port for TVs without vga ports (more and more common).

 

Thanks, I will consider it.