Questions that do not deserve a thread

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maxtherabbit
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by maxtherabbit »

GeneraLight wrote:Which brand of Wii Component Cables give the best picture quality?

Nintendo
Monster
Rocketfish
Nyko
Retro-Access
Other
HD Retrovision and Retro-Access are going to be as good as it gets
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NoAffinity
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by NoAffinity »

I won these guys in a local online auction. Won them for almost nothing. The pictures you see are as good as I have access to yet. Going to pick them up in the morning, but wondering if anyone knows anything about these, based on what can be seen? Looks like a composite in and out? And possibly a BNC in and out?

Image

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Ikaruga11
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Ikaruga11 »

maxtherabbit wrote:
GeneraLight wrote:Which brand of Wii Component Cables give the best picture quality?

Nintendo
Monster
Rocketfish
Nyko
Retro-Access
Other
HD Retrovision and Retro-Access are going to be as good as it gets
Thanks. HD Retrovision doesn't sell GameCube/Wii cables yet, and Retro-Access only sells RGB cables for the GameCube and Wii. So RGB cables from Retro-Acess will give me better picture quality than the official Nintendo Wii Component (YPbPr) Cables, despite being RGB and not YPbPr? Will there be any quality loss going from YCbCr -> RGB or YCbCr -> YPbPr -> RGB?
nmalinoski
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by nmalinoski »

GeneraLight wrote:So RGB cables from Retro-Acess will give me better picture quality than the official Nintendo Wii Component (YPbPr) Cables, despite being RGB and not YPbPr? Will there be any quality loss going from YCbCr -> RGB or YCbCr -> YPbPr -> RGB?
Unfortunately, a Wii RGB SCART cable wouldn't work. The first problem is that pins 8 and 10 on the AV port need to be bridged to get the console to output YPbPr, and the RGB SCART cable won't do that, because it needs those pins floating to get RGB from the console (a PAL one, anyway; the SCART cable would only get you composite video out of an NTSC Wii).

The second problem is that, even if you were to wire in a switch that bridged the mode pins to get the console to output YPbPr, the wiring is different. Normally, systems that can be configured to output both YPbPr and RGB put Y on G, Pb on B, and Pr on R, making it electrically RGsB; however, on the Wii, they're mapped Y=R, Pb=G, Pr=B, meaning your SCART cable would need something like a fat, inline 4T switch that could not only short pins 8 and 10 but also remap the YPbPr/RGB so that something like the OSSC could recognize the output.

So, really, I think your best bet is a straight Wii component cable. I expect Retro-Access is physically capable of manufacturing them; they'd just need to make a BNC-style cable, just terminated with RCA connectors. You should email them and ask if they'd be willing to make one for you.
ldeveraux
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by ldeveraux »

nmalinoski wrote:
GeneraLight wrote:So RGB cables from Retro-Acess will give me better picture quality than the official Nintendo Wii Component (YPbPr) Cables, despite being RGB and not YPbPr? Will there be any quality loss going from YCbCr -> RGB or YCbCr -> YPbPr -> RGB?
Unfortunately, a Wii RGB SCART cable wouldn't work. The first problem is that pins 8 and 10 on the AV port need to be bridged to get the console to output YPbPr, and the RGB SCART cable won't do that, because it needs those pins floating to get RGB from the console (a PAL one, anyway; the SCART cable would only get you composite video out of an NTSC Wii).

The second problem is that, even if you were to wire in a switch that bridged the mode pins to get the console to output YPbPr, the wiring is different. Normally, systems that can be configured to output both YPbPr and RGB put Y on G, Pb on B, and Pr on R, making it electrically RGsB; however, on the Wii, they're mapped Y=R, Pb=G, Pr=B, meaning your SCART cable would need something like a fat, inline 4T switch that could not only short pins 8 and 10 but also remap the YPbPr/RGB so that something like the OSSC could recognize the output.

So, really, I think your best bet is a straight Wii component cable. I expect Retro-Access is physically capable of manufacturing them; they'd just need to make a BNC-style cable, just terminated with RCA connectors. You should email them and ask if they'd be willing to make one for you.
...and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and likely never get a response from RA. Their cables are certainly top notch, but getting through to them with something other than an order is hit or miss. :wink: Definitely recommend those cables though.

Wasn't there an official Wii component cable, or was that only the stupid expensive GC cable? I know I have on, but it may have been a cheapo Ebay purchase years ago. And to be fair, it looks like trash, so I should consider upgrading!
Ikaruga11
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Ikaruga11 »

nmalinoski wrote:
GeneraLight wrote:So RGB cables from Retro-Acess will give me better picture quality than the official Nintendo Wii Component (YPbPr) Cables, despite being RGB and not YPbPr? Will there be any quality loss going from YCbCr -> RGB or YCbCr -> YPbPr -> RGB?
Unfortunately, a Wii RGB SCART cable wouldn't work. The first problem is that pins 8 and 10 on the AV port need to be bridged to get the console to output YPbPr, and the RGB SCART cable won't do that, because it needs those pins floating to get RGB from the console (a PAL one, anyway; the SCART cable would only get you composite video out of an NTSC Wii).

The second problem is that, even if you were to wire in a switch that bridged the mode pins to get the console to output YPbPr, the wiring is different. Normally, systems that can be configured to output both YPbPr and RGB put Y on G, Pb on B, and Pr on R, making it electrically RGsB; however, on the Wii, they're mapped Y=R, Pb=G, Pr=B, meaning your SCART cable would need something like a fat, inline 4T switch that could not only short pins 8 and 10 but also remap the YPbPr/RGB so that something like the OSSC could recognize the output.

So, really, I think your best bet is a straight Wii component cable. I expect Retro-Access is physically capable of manufacturing them; they'd just need to make a BNC-style cable, just terminated with RCA connectors. You should email them and ask if they'd be willing to make one for you.
The RGB cables from Retro-Access will be strictly BNC. No SCART.
Last edited by Ikaruga11 on Fri Nov 12, 2021 7:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
nmalinoski
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by nmalinoski »

ldeveraux wrote:...and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and likely never get a response from RA. Their cables are certainly top notch, but getting through to them with something other than an order is hit or miss. :wink: Definitely recommend those cables though.
That happened to me the first time I emailed, but I got a prompt response the second time. Sure, it's inconvenient, but, as far as I can tell, it's just one person, and I can't claim to know or understand their schedule.
ldeveraux wrote:Wasn't there an official Wii component cable, or was that only the stupid expensive GC cable? I know I have on, but it may have been a cheapo Ebay purchase years ago. And to be fair, it looks like trash, so I should consider upgrading!
Both. The first-party Wii component cables were widely available, and should work well; and there was also the GameCube component cable that was only made available from Nintendo's website at a time when buying things on the internet was still fairly new, so those are now ridiculously rare and expensive (but now we have GCVideo solutions from multiple vendors for a fraction of the cost).
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maxtherabbit
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by maxtherabbit »

GeneraLight wrote:
maxtherabbit wrote:
GeneraLight wrote:Which brand of Wii Component Cables give the best picture quality?

Nintendo
Monster
Rocketfish
Nyko
Retro-Access
Other
HD Retrovision and Retro-Access are going to be as good as it gets
Thanks. HD Retrovision doesn't sell GameCube/Wii cables yet, and Retro-Access only sells RGB cables for the GameCube and Wii. So RGB cables from Retro-Acess will give me better picture quality than the official Nintendo Wii Component (YPbPr) Cables, despite being RGB and not YPbPr? Will there be any quality loss going from YCbCr -> RGB or YCbCr -> YPbPr -> RGB?
there is no quality loss going from YCbCr in the digital domain to RGB analog output

conversions between YPbPr and RGB in analog domain are also theoretically lossless when done properly

I'd just get the RA wii cables if you don't want to wait for HDRV, although they should be dropping any day now
SamIAm
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by SamIAm »

In a thread titled Connecting console to the BNC outs in PVM’s yay or nay?, viletim said:
You can do it if you like, but you may have some signal reflections or distortion. It's not likely to cause damage because 75 ohm video outputs (as well as line level audio outputs) are consumer proof. It's safe to short them to ground and to one another by design.
Tim knows more about electronics than I ever will, but I'd like to confirm: is it truly safe to say that all consoles are consumer proof enough not to suffer damage when their video and audio lines are shorted to each other?

I ask because I'm trying to build my own audio switcher for over a dozen consoles, and I want to know how dangerous cross-console shorting really is. Naturally, it's something I'm trying to avoid, but a short causing slight signal degradation and a short frying audio circuitry are two very different levels of danger to design around. Right now, I'm basing everything around a relatively cheap 2-pole 23-throw rotary switch, and I don't have confidence in it to keep each line isolated 100% of the time.

Many sources around the web warn against using a Y-splitter as a "Y-joiner" to connect two outputs to one input. Many recommend adding resistors in series with each output line before the merging point. I could actually do that inside of my audio switcher, although it would be a pain.

Any thoughts?
SamIAm
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by SamIAm »

(A bump/continuation of my previous post.)

This is my best understanding of the situation regarding mixing line-level audio outputs from consoles. Please tell me if I'm wrong anywhere.

According to their schematics, most consoles have line-level audio output impedances of anywhere from several hundred to a couple thousand ohms. This contrasts with the output impedances of devices like soundcards that are designed with driving headphones in mind. These can be 100 ohms or less - sometimes very much less.

The danger of crossing the line-level audio outputs of any two devices (or even the left and right stereo of one device) is that current from an external source can easily flow back through an op-amp. If the resistance around the op-amp - particularly the output impedance - is low, then crossing streams creates a situation where a lot of current can flow between outputs, and this creates heat and fries components.

To prevent this, people linking multiple output streams to a single input often simply put bigger resistors on each stream before the point that all of them cross. While this would reduce sound quality when connecting directly to headphones, for something like an amplifier input it's actually OK because the input impedance at those kinds of devices is very high. The extra resistors don't divide the voltage much, while they drastically limit the amount of current that can flow from one output to another.

However, for consoles that already have hundreds/thousands of ohms on their line-level audio outputs, this would be redundant. The resistors already inside the console are high enough to prevent harmful amounts of current from flowing, either into the console or out of it.

So I don't need to worry about my cheap Chinese rotary switch frying anything if it ever fails to completely isolate the channel I've selected. The worst I'll get is a drop in sound quality.

Does this sound right?

Thanks guys. :)

EDIT: Interesting...The AES doesn't have any resistors between the audio output of the CXA1145 and the AV connector per this schematic. So, I'm guessing that grounding this line or crossing it with another AES (for example) could cause major problems.

EDIT2: Same for the Genesis 1's AV port. Meanwhile, the Genesis 2 has 330 ohm resistors, and the audio doesn't go through the CXA1145 but a separate op-amp IC.
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HDgaming42
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Crestron FTP or web-access to downloads

Post by HDgaming42 »

Does anyone know any members who might have access to Crestron firmware? I'm in a bit of a jam, and I'd love to try a firmware flash before I give up...

Thanks!
energizerfellow‌
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by energizerfellow‌ »

SamIAm wrote:(A bump/continuation of my previous post.)

This is my best understanding of the situation regarding mixing line-level audio outputs from consoles. Please tell me if I'm wrong anywhere.

According to their schematics, most consoles have line-level audio output impedances of anywhere from several hundred to a couple thousand ohms. This contrasts with the output impedances of devices like soundcards that are designed with driving headphones in mind. These can be 100 ohms or less - sometimes very much less.

The danger of crossing the line-level audio outputs of any two devices (or even the left and right stereo of one device) is that current from an external source can easily flow back through an op-amp. If the resistance around the op-amp - particularly the output impedance - is low, then crossing streams creates a situation where a lot of current can flow between outputs, and this creates heat and fries components.

To prevent this, people linking multiple output streams to a single input often simply put bigger resistors on each stream before the point that all of them cross. While this would reduce sound quality when connecting directly to headphones, for something like an amplifier input it's actually OK because the input impedance at those kinds of devices is very high. The extra resistors don't divide the voltage much, while they drastically limit the amount of current that can flow from one output to another.

However, for consoles that already have hundreds/thousands of ohms on their line-level audio outputs, this would be redundant. The resistors already inside the console are high enough to prevent harmful amounts of current from flowing, either into the console or out of it.

So I don't need to worry about my cheap Chinese rotary switch frying anything if it ever fails to completely isolate the channel I've selected. The worst I'll get is a drop in sound quality.

Does this sound right?

Thanks guys. :)

EDIT: Interesting...The AES doesn't have any resistors between the audio output of the CXA1145 and the AV connector per this schematic. So, I'm guessing that grounding this line or crossing it with another AES (for example) could cause major problems.

EDIT2: Same for the Genesis 1's AV port. Meanwhile, the Genesis 2 has 330 ohm resistors, and the audio doesn't go through the CXA1145 but a separate op-amp IC.
RaneNote - Why Not Wye? - Wye-connectors (or "Y"-connectors, if you prefer) should never have been created.
SamIAm
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by SamIAm »

Thanks. I had actually seen that before, and I believe I understand it.

The crux of my post was essentially this:
However, for consoles that already have hundreds/thousands of ohms on their line-level audio outputs, [the Why-Not Wye article's solution of creating a passive mixer by adding resistors] would be redundant.
I just want to confirm that this is true and I'm not missing anything.
DJ Kevgeez
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by DJ Kevgeez »

Can anyone explain why i'm still seeing horizontal lines on my CRT?

I have what seems to be a near perfect setup but i cant figure out why i see these lines (During pure black screens only)
while playing the SNES. I have SNES, NES, Genesis, XBOX and PS2 hooked up to my Banbridge Scart splitter and the Gamecube is on component cable.
Everything looks great except for when the screen goes black you really notice it.
Its a small thing but its become irritating.

Do i need a new Splitter? Is the SCART to component box bad?
I bought my scart cables from Retrogamingcables in the UK.

I'm at a dead end.
Lord British
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Lord British »

If there's any kind folks out there who would like to help an Everdrive noob with a brand new Turbografx 16 everdrive please pm me.
nmalinoski
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by nmalinoski »

Lord British wrote:If there's any kind folks out there who would like to help an Everdrive noob with a brand new Turbografx 16 everdrive please pm me.
I recommend asking specific questions. :)
Lord British
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Lord British »

nmalinoski wrote:
Lord British wrote:If there's any kind folks out there who would like to help an Everdrive noob with a brand new Turbografx 16 everdrive please pm me.
I recommend asking specific questions. :)
I should receive it tomorrow or the day after. I've prepared my sd card but since this is will be my first everdrive I'm not sure yet if I've done it right so I'm not terribly optimistic. Hopefully I'll have no questions!
Galgomite
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Galgomite »

Lord British wrote:I should receive it tomorrow or the day after. I've prepared my sd card but since this is will be my first everdrive I'm not sure yet if I've done it right so I'm not terribly optimistic. Hopefully I'll have no questions!
LordBritish there's not much to it. Make sure your SD card is a microSD though and 32GB or smaller. There's a region switch on the cart that you'll want to have in the correct position. Also I found that my region modded console didn't work with the new model (but works fine with the older one).

Good luck!
Lord British
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Lord British »

Galgomite wrote:
Lord British wrote:I should receive it tomorrow or the day after. I've prepared my sd card but since this is will be my first everdrive I'm not sure yet if I've done it right so I'm not terribly optimistic. Hopefully I'll have no questions!
LordBritish there's not much to it. Make sure your SD card is a microSD though and 32GB or smaller. There's a region switch on the cart that you'll want to have in the correct position. Also I found that my region modded console didn't work with the new model (but works fine with the older one).

Good luck!
I just received it today, and I when I turn on the system the ED screen appears and in the middle of the screen it says "sd IO error".

My system is not region moddrd to my knowledge, just got it a few weeks ago on ebay. My switch on the ED is set to TG16. I have a 16GB sd card formatted (twice to make sure) to FAT32. I have the TBED folder on the card and two folders of 53 roms each that I downloaded from planetemu.net. I selected that site because it seemed easy to go through, I extracted every single file. An example file would appear as Blazing Lazers (USA).pce
Last edited by Lord British on Thu Mar 28, 2019 12:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Kez
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Kez »

Lord British wrote:I avoided asking previously but I'll ask now, where is a good site that i can download roms for my everdrive?
Put simply, we can't discuss that here.

However the "SD IO Error" is not related to bad ROMs. Either your SD card is not properly formatted to FAT32 (search for guiformat and use that), or you did not put the firmware on the card properly.

You said you have the TBED folder on the card - this contains os.pce correct? You need to download the firmware from Krikzz.com and make sure os.pce is in the TBED folder.

If you have done that, try downloading an SD card formatting tool (e.g. SD Card Formatter) as sometimes doing it through the OS can cause issues.
Lord British
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Lord British »

Kez wrote:
Lord British wrote:I avoided asking previously but I'll ask now, where is a good site that i can download roms for my everdrive?
Put simply, we can't discuss that here.

However the "SD IO Error" is not related to bad ROMs. Either your SD card is not properly formatted to FAT32 (search for guiformat and use that), or you did not put the firmware on the card properly.

You said you have the TBED folder on the card - this contains os.pce correct? You need to download the firmware from Krikzz.com and make sure os.pce is in the TBED folder.

If you have done that, try downloading an SD card formatting tool (e.g. SD Card Formatter) as sometimes doing it through the OS can cause issues.
Thanks for the help!

Still getting the same result though. I downloaded the SD Card Formatter too.

What is the proper way to put the firmware on the sd card?
I just dragged the folder into the card after extracting it.
nmalinoski
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by nmalinoski »

Lord British wrote:What is the proper way to put the firmware on the sd card?
I just dragged the folder into the card after extracting it.
That is the correct way; you should end up with a TBED folder in the root directory of your SD card.
Lord British
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Lord British »

nmalinoski wrote:
Lord British wrote:What is the proper way to put the firmware on the sd card?
I just dragged the folder into the card after extracting it.
That is the correct way; you should end up with a TBED folder in the root directory of your SD card.
Crap.

And I reformatted the card again. Reformatting erases the card, so I just dragged in the same three folders I had, TBED, A-M, and N-Z. Any step I'm missing there?
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Kez
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Kez »

Nope, if you have TBED with the os.pce file in it you should be good to go.

Where is the SD card from? Do you have others you can test?

Usually when I use off-brand SD cards my PC works fine with them but flash carts don't read them at all.
Lord British
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Lord British »

Kez wrote:Nope, if you have TBED with the os.pce file in it you should be good to go.

Where is the SD card from? Do you have others you can test?

Usually when I use off-brand SD cards my PC works fine with them but flash carts don't read them at all.
PNY brand purchased from Walmart
Galgomite
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Galgomite »

I believe "I/O Error" was the message I got when my Super Everdrive stopped working. Not a good sign.
Don't be offended but I also suggest seeing if your card is upside down. Lots of little readers will let you put the card in the wrong way.
EDIT I'm also seeing that the OS file isn't needed unless you're updating firmware.
https://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=328.0
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theclaw
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by theclaw »

GeneraLight wrote:Also, are you still unable to play Master System games on a JVC X'Eye using Everdrive flashcarts?
No. JVC X'Eye can boot Master System games.
Resetting the console from Genesis mode into Master System mode doesn't work properly.

The official solution would be the Megadrive 2 converter.
Lord British
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Lord British »

Hallelujah!!!

Drove 45min tonight to a Target and 45min back home to get a SanDisk SD card. Everything works now. Thanks for your help guys!
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Einzelherz
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by Einzelherz »

Really dumb question here: I'm trying to learn about digital audio coax stuff and I keep seeing 75 ohm appear. That just makes me think of component video cables so... could you use a component video wire in the place of spdif coax cable?
GojiFan90
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Re: Questions that do not deserve a thread

Post by GojiFan90 »

I just picked up a Panasonic Tau CRT from a local Goodwill, and while the picture is great, (aside from some geometry issues) there are some blotches of color at the top left and right of the screen. Rotating the TV seems to affect the severity of the discoloration. Is there an easy fix for this that doesn't require opening the TV? I'm not confident in working on a CRT for fear of electrocuting myself.
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