I had a strong suspicion I could hijack S-Video in an Apex CRT/DVD combo set I fixed. Got some S-Video jacks and after looking at the PCB I saw some wires coming from the DVD player under the set to where the other inputs were on the back. Sure enough I found the speaker header and next to it, a little 4-pin header section with the letters Y and C. Bingo. Pulled the connector out of the header and soldered the new S-Video jack with wires that have DuPont connectors so I could just plug them in to the board if I want to reverse it. Now I have a 13" CRT with S-Video! (This should have been more common in NTSC countryâŚ)
Image is very clean and sharp with the MiSTer. It also helped the TVs black level. Benefited the Genesis the most so far. That weird jagged edge on the palm trees is gone. [URL=https://i.imgur.com/FP0MhJy.jpg][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/FP0MhJy.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=https://i.imgur.com/6CdNzL6.jpg][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/6CdNzL6.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Pretty cool being able to switch to composite if I want to with the Mister YC board. To use the S-Video mode I just have to switch to the DVD player (which obviously doesn't work anymore) by pressing a button on the front of the set. I was already using an external speaker so I didn't bother wiring AV jacks to the DVD player's audio header. Something to keep in mind if you have one of these combo sets!
Experimenting with the GBS-C downscaling. It works great with Xbox 360 (I only have E models), PC output for watching video (my primary goal) and of the modern consoles, Switch can be brute forced but its rough (see the text).
System is NOT user friendly. But when it works, the output is some of the strongest I have seen in my downscaling trials. And I can always throw it in with my pile of upscalers.
@ârobinhoodieâ#p143850 the component inputs snapped off the board the same week I purchased my GBS-C anad I sitll haven't taken the time to solder them back in or do whatever I gotta do. Great photo. I definitely want to try stuff like the DS FFIII/IV remakes/ Four Warriors of Light games to get a PS1/2 feel.
@âcopySaveâ#p143453 is it really this easy to add S-video or maybe even RGB to a television? I've been thinking about trying to add RGB to that Electrohome/Mitsubishi set I picked up.
@âconnrrrâ#p143923 yes, depending on the tv! And you gotta be careful and discharge that sucker first.
There are guides online for specific tv sets.
But often times it can be as simple as locating unpopulated headers labeled Y/C, I love copysaves story because it reminds me of how smart I feel every time I remember Y/C is chroma / luma. Lol
@âconnrrrâ#p143923 it really depends on the TV. Anything old (pre-1990) without a video processing âJungleâ (or similar) chip would be impossible. If a TV has an OSD menu then it probably has one.
Typically an RGB mod will require hijacking the OSDs RGB signal and using a blanking switch on the signal. Never done it myself. YC is the same except the OSD typically is not connected so a blanking switch is not needed. I have[ this 13" Sony Trinitron](https://crtdatabase.com/crts/sony/sony-kv-13m20) that looks pretty easy to add S-Video to, basically by hijacking the composite sync (so you can't use composite and S-Video at the same time), but I figured the little cheap combo set was less of a loss risk. Also, due to the clarity of the DVD player, I assumed my set had a YC signal somewhere. I just got lucky that it was a simple header.
The CRT database has a bunch of good articles and examples to research the basic idea. As you look through you'll also notice how many brands used the same parts.
https://crtdatabase.com/
As @"treefroggy"#p143925 said be careful when opening the set! I didn't discharge the tube since it didn't require any soldering to the board itself and I wasn't working near the flyback transformer and the neck of the tube. Just a simple plug and play. At least wear some non-conductive gloves!
Also helps to watch a bunch of videos seeing people open and work on them just to know where things are, what to look for, and what is dangerous:
https://www.youtube.com/c/RetroTechUSA/videos
I'm pretty new to all of this too, but I did a lot of research before I made any attempts at fixing/modding any sets. The general electrical engineering knowledge has helped me work on other stuff too! Good luck!
@âcopySaveâ#p143933 the biggest hurdle for me has been knowing I need to discharge the tube. Iâve made one mod to my other CRT and I did it with my heart in my mouth the whole time. I donât have any big flatheads so I donât know how I would throw a discharge tool together, and I always thought I could just buy one of those ones that Apple used to make but I canât seem to find any at all now that Iâm googling. (the fucking retro gaming bubble canât produce a made-in-2023 CRT discharge tool?? come on now) I'll figure it out.
@âconnrrrâ#p143938 They canât produce a discharge tool because thatâs just a million lawsuits waiting to happen. think of the liability.
it's scary but yeah. that said I say this with all liability waived, attempt at your own risk:
wrap a thick gauge insulated copper wire around a screwdriver and then connect the other end to ground (one safe ish way is to put it in the ground prong of your wall outlet)
I'm not exactly "new" to this, but I haven't been working on CRTs since like 2019 so I am rusty and I don't really want to attempt working on them anymore unless I absolutely have to.
@âconnrrrâ#p143938 I worked at the genius bar and we had like a 2 foot long screwdriver to discharge eMacs when they came in. (10 year rule for repairs, thanks california!)
yeaes ago i inherited this behemoth trinitron, and it's perfect because it has component, so my RGB converter works fantastic. image quality is so good!
only trick is, it doesn't do 480p? i forget if this was just a thing that wasn't ready in that particular era, or if there's another reason that 480p goes all jagggy like porno did when i was a kid. either way, the channel display stays on as if the tv is letting you know it doesn't know what's going on, and also please stop, so it's all 480i for me. again though, the image quality is so good that i sold my xrgb mini years ago (mostly because the lag killed me, but still)
@âIrishNinjaâ#p144307 Great TV! Only PC Monitors and HDCRT sets can do 31khz 480p. The majority of CRT TVs are designed for 15khz 480i and old video games trick the CRT into doing 240p by skipping a line of resolution (e.g. scanlines). Most people prefer the 240p with scanlines look of a CRT since thatâs what the games were designed for (plus there are cases when games used or were designed for 480i). HDCRTs are nice but a pretty late addition and cause input lag due to the TV scaling the image up to 720p/1080i (unless your inputting from a PC, MiSTer or scaler and can match that resolution and frequency). You can use a PC CRT too but again, you need to natively output or scale the image to the resolution a PC monitor can understand at 31khz. Nice thing about the MiSTer is that it can âscan-doubleâ the 15khz 240p image to 31khz 480p for a super sharp picture with minimal lag (but it wonât work with 480i content).
More info [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/crtgaming/comments/acq04n/consumer_crts_that_support_480p/).
Enjoy the killer 240p/480i picture that set provides!
@âIrishNinjaâ#p144307 I had a Toshiba with component back thenâbranded ColorStreamâthat also couldn't do 480p. I was surprised at the time too.
@"copySave"#p144374 do PVMs count as computer monitors? I thought they all did 480p but then I googled just now and only some of them can it would seem.
@âconnrrrâ#p144376 Some fancy ones can do multisync 15khz and 31khz. If it has a VGA port and RGBHV inputs on the back it can probably do both.
This one goes from 15 to 60khz!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rr3-4ctTFk [URL=https://i.imgur.com/zdKkKRM.png][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/zdKkKRM.png[/IMG][/URL]
Some PC CRT monitors can do multisync as well:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multisync_monitor
>
Later designs supported a continuous range of scan frequencies, such as the NEC Multisync which supported horizontal scan rates from 15 to 31 kHz[4] derived from the sync signal timing rather than the polarity of the sync signals.[11] Displays like these could be used on multiple platforms and video cards as long as the frequencies were within range.
@âcopySaveâ#p144374 ahh thank you so much for the breakdown! that does make sense. and the vast majority of systems i put through there are ideal for it, i even do ps2 over RGB because not many games i have do 480p, and having tested it on 2 sets, i genuinely like the look over scart better, myself. i do have gamecube and OG xbox over component, and fear for the day this set starts to go, because again my whole setup (15 consoles!) is largely built around component to RGB conversion, and i don't think component CRTs are gonna be easy to come by.
another funny anecdote: the tv's speaker had gone out a year or two back, and i'd not minded too much because i have it wired to an old receiver & some bose cubes. the recent move must've shaken something up, because now it's working again! this set is magical, haha.
one quick question for you or anyone here: i recently setup gc loader for my gamecube & the startup looks fine, but then swiss starts & goes to this mess:
any idea what's happening? is swiss maybe trying to display in unsupported 480p?
gonna try an older version of the program this weekend, and then prolly just redo the install & clean all the ribbons
