S-video made easy on my Genesis

[aka DaBigKahuna]

OOps thx.

Does anyone want to go in for 2 with me? $50 sure beats $85 let me know.

You need to reread that post. He is quoting $85 for a box and one cable and an additional $15 for an addition cable, not an additional box.

[elvis]

I got mine for $85 shipped. Sure beats the cost of an XMD (if you can even find one).

$85!!!

You can build your own for less than $10 in parts:
http://www-unix.ecs.umass.edu/~dhowland/mod/

I did exactly the same thing for my Master System (pretty much identical components for the video chip):
http://www.stickfreaks.com/smsmod.php

In this hobby, getting yourself familiar with a soldering iron can save you tonnes of cash. It's not difficult (I'm certainly no techy genius), and it doesn't just stop at S-Video output.

Next on my list for my MegaDrive is an overclock (full speed Sonic 2 2-player here I come!) and a region change switch. Shouldn't take more than an afternoon and another $15 in parts.

[electrochip]

$85!!!

You can build your own for less than $10 in parts:
http://www-unix.ecs.umass.edu/~dhowland/mod/

The mod you linked is well known, but that still does not give you S-Video for the 32X as it's encoder does not output S-Video. S-Video from the Genesis does not = S-Video from the 32X. Thus another encoder needs to be used, that's where my box comes in. It uses a separate CXA1645M encoder, to take RGB and convert it to S-Video. Also with the box I made, no mods need to be done to the system itself.

[elvis]

The mod you linked is well known, but that still does not give you S-Video for the 32X as it's encoder does not output S-Video. S-Video from the Genesis does not = S-Video from the 32X. Thus another encoder needs to be used, that's where my box comes in. It uses a separate CXA1645M encoder, to take RGB and convert it to S-Video. Also with the box I made no mods need to be done to the system itself.

Fair enough. But a $25 CGA-res RGB->S-Video converter from Welink will do the same job.
http://welink.cc/e/product/product_deta ... brand_id=4

Not trying to bag your product. It's all "instant plug and play" and all that, which is nice yet rather purpose-specific. But $85 is a pretty high price, considering there are several products around the world that will do the same for almost a quarter of the price.

The Welink units are very popular here in Australia. I know quite a few folks who use them for both SuperGuns (Arcade/JAMMA to TV) and console hacking. If you can get RGB out of your device, you can use the Welink unit.

Ditto for other units like the JROK 4.1 unit, priced at $81 and comes with S-Video as well as Component YPrPb (YUV) output.

Modding a PAL MegaDrive for 60Hz output gives a black and white picture due to the internal design (the colourspace clock divider on the CXA1145P is wrong, and doesn't produce the proper signal - neither PAL nor NTSC). The only solution is RGB out, and when I do mine I'll be using the Welink product to go from RGB to S-Video for my 30" CRT TV (and native RGB on my 21" TV that's had an arcade monitor chassis from Jomac installed to give it native RGB in and crystal clear picture).

Heaps more here:
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/

What's amusing is the same discussions recently took place on the shmups.com forums. People wanted RGB/SCART->JAMMA converters, and were all going to pay $100+ for custom made units from various companies and individuals. When it was pointed out by a few of us that $20 in parts would get you to where you need to be, a lot of folks where happy with having a go for themselves. I've been happily running a $20 home made RGB/SCART->JAMMA hack in my candy cabinet for 4 years now. Any console I want just plugs in and away you go.

Schematics for that guy here:
http://pc2jamma.mameworld.info/

I think by custom making/hacking my own converters and parts I must have saved over $1000 by now, given how many of them I have in use.

[electrochip]

If you add up the cost of parts plus labor $85 (cable and shipping included) is not much. I have not used the Welink converter, is it any good? comparable to the CXA1645? If it is I would buy a few and it would drop the cost of the converter.

All of the suggestions you have made require soldering work and drilling, something some people are not comfortable with or capable of. Most of the people I built one for do not want to mod their systems in any way and as you mentioned it is plug and play.

Also for your scart to jamma you lack a video amplifier, most arcade monitors will look washed out without one. Unless you crank the contrast, which many monitors do not have or will correct to proper viewing levels. I played around with them when I had a couple of arcade cabs. A video amp was night and day difference.

[elvis]

I have not used the Welink converter, is it any good? comparable to the CXA1645? If it is I would buy a few and it would drop the cost of the converter.

Subjectively I think it's as good as anything else (JROK gear, any of the Sony "CX-" ICs, etc). I don't have the equipment to test it objectively.

For the price they're asking, grabbing one to test wouldn't hurt. Here in AU arcade-related sellers tend to order them in bulk, so finding one locally at a decent price is pretty easy.

All of the suggestions you have made require soldering work and drilling, something some people are not comfortable with or capable of.

True. My point above was that more people should attempt a few basic mods. For many it's just getting over the initial apprehension, and after a few trivial projects will get used to trying trickier things.

I started soldering when I was in my early teens, and had nothing more than a $10 soldering iron and a "can do" attitude. No tutorials, no mentors, no teachers. After a few burned fingers, I got the hang of it and now I do most of my own mods. As mentioned, it's saved me a lot of cash which can go into more important things.

And when I was a teen you had to figure out most things yourself. These days there are enough guides on the net (pc2jamma, mmmonkey, gamesx, etc) that you really can't go wrong.

Also for your scart to jamma you lack a video amplifier, most arcade monitors will look washed out without one.

My three (different brands) arcade monitors are all fine without one (no difference in brightness or clarity between original arcade PCBs and RGB/SCART hacks). Count me lucky, I guess.

I simply use a 220uF cap and 75ohm resistor on the R, G and B lines (like I would with any standard RGB hookup). So far I've not had to mess around with brightness or gain settings on any of the monitors to get an acceptable picture.

I don't know if it's just the types of monitors we get here in the southern hemisphere (typically made in China/Taiwan, with the odd one here or there made in Mexico), but they'll take any old crap you throw at them. Most can even take composite video straight into the sync line, and they'll split the signal up themselves (one of my monitors even has a switch on the chassis that lets you choose between composite sync and composite video as inputs on the sync line).

When you think about it, it adds all of about $10 in parts to the monitor chassis price, so I'm surprised more monitor manufacturers haven't done it.

[Scooter]

I do know how to solder and how to drill and assemble things and I STILL bought one of Jose's S-video boxes because he saved me the time of chasing down all the parts (which probably aren't that inexpensive if you only want to buy enough for one box) and then spending all the time doing the work and possible time figuring out what I did wrong if it doesn't work right the first time.

I've been looking for a plug and play converter box for years and the XMD-2 is a good choice but really hard to find and basically twice the price of Jose's product. I bought my Genesis new, have it installed with the Sega CD and 32X I also bought new and have absolutely no interest in modifying my systems so Jose's product was a bargain and it works like a charm. He also provides great customer service before and after the sale.

[elvis]

Again, not knocking the guy, his products, or the service. Just letting folks know that there's always more than one option.

And who knows - it sounds like some of the options I posted have the potential drop the price for those who do want the pre-built option by saving on both parts and labour.

[elvis]

Another seller of RGB->S-Video output devices:
http://shop.ebay.com/chowhe_taiwan/m.ht ... ksid=p3686

He's based in Taiwan. I've had first-hand reports from people making SuperGuns and other "console-ized arcade system" hacks that they're of a good build quality and produce a nice clean signal.