As I was reading your previous response, I was getting the feeling that you were Tim Worthington as your user names seemed similar. I guess not.
I have been in touch with Tim via email and asked him about his SCART2Arc/SCART2Jamma. He said he has discontinued it, so sadly, I am late to the party. He sent me his design for the next iteration of his solution. It looks great, but then again falls into the old conundrum of trying to solve for console control interfacing as well. I don't doubt his skills and intent there, but these tend to be hobby/pet projects for those with the skills. There is always that one console's control interface that is left out of the mix. For instance, I reached out to the developer of Jammacon as well. He
had a pad hack interface for his product which he is decided to discontinue. So then again, we are left the ability to interface the video and audio from SCART, but a few consoles controls can't be interfaced. I feel once these reference requirements were built, the devs seldom go back to refine the product. They seem to want to produce next year's model or evolution of it rather than to take the software version refinement approach. And I know there is good reason for that.
In any case, I just ordered the Sync Strike. I know it won't work for my purposes without some tinkering but here is what I like about it:
- 1. The price!
2. Video: 2-of-5 CGA inputs needed from SCART can be extracted from the device:
- A) VGND
B) CSync
Bearing in mind that CGA requires R, G, & B to be amped to 3-5Vpp which the Sync Strike does not do.
3. Stereo Audio passthru via RCA
- A)Would like to see an option for 3.5mm stereo jack output, but that is ok. Not a deal breaker. I will just pick an RCA-to-3.5mm stereo jack cable
4. The PCB looks damn sexy to boot!
- A) Can someone who owns this please take an overhead photo of it? I would like to see more details of it that might be missing from the overhead schematic.
Ok, so that leaves me with the problem to amp the RGB signal outputted from the Sync Strike up from 0.7Vpp to 3-5Vpp. I know I can do that rather easily with the THSXXXX series chips as
RetroRGB explains this quite well. But what it does not explain well is how do I solve for
'Brightness Levels / Attenuation' for more than one console at a time. RetroRGB explains that I need to add the right resistor for each console to knock it down for each console. But what I would rather prefer to do is to add a a single pot that allows me to adjust to the right Brightness Level for any console hooked up to the Sync Strike.
If anyone have thoughts on the proper way to do this, please chime in. I am not an EE, I am a layman. So reading
Tim's circuit shematic is almost like deciphering hieroglyphics.
If I can solve for the SCART video to CGA/JAMMA/Arcade monitor, I feel the rest is easy. Line level stereo audio is already available on the Sync Strike. I just need to wire that to a stereo amp. For that, and from my experience with MAME, that can be done easily with one of these cheap
TDA7297F stereo amps that do a fantastic job. Interfacing console controls will be done with the
PS360+. Then finally, everything will be wired into the
PB.JAMMA fingerboard.
I feel there is a nice unexploited niche market for a JAMMA board that does the following:
- 1) Allows passthru to JAMMA buttons and controls from screw terminals that can be linked to multi-console PCB's like the PS360+ or Toodles MC Cthulhu
2) Sends CGA video to JAMMA converted from SCART
- A) RGB are properly amped with the ability to adjust bright and/or contrast through pots
B) Strips CSync properly
C) Has VGND as an output to JAMMA needed for CGA
The reason, I feel there is this niche is that the generation that grew up with both consoles and arcades are now of age where we can afford the luxury of both; we have money to spend now at this age and the homes to build these man caves. The generations before us, didn't have consoles really worth revisiting. The generation after us, don't even know what an arcade is. Because of this, we are seeing price of arcade goods skyrocket even higher than the cost of console goods. And, when it comes to SCART for consoles, folks in the US don't know what that is. But if folks in the US knew that just about all of their consoles can output RGB via SCART cables, and the SCART connection gets them the closest CGA video for interfacing to arcades, I think console SCART cable manufacturers would quickly see their stock dwindle. If anyone like bencao74 wants to pick this up, maybe update the reference design of his Sync Strike, or it Tim Worthington wants to just produce the
video circuit he explains here, I would happy to openly discuss this with him or anyone else. Thanks!