Cloning the Gamecube component cable

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Unseen
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by Unseen »

gruca wrote:Has anyone manage to build it in Project Navigator?
Oh, I really need to remove that project file. It is probably missing some of the source files and won't build out of the box.
Not sure how to define targetconsole and firmware in it.
There should be an option somewhere that allows you to define values for the top-level generics.
gruca
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by gruca »

Unseen wrote: Oh, I really need to remove that project file. It is probably missing some of the source files and won't build out of the box.
Thanks for your hard work Unseen.

Edit: Was able to build perfectly under Linux.
Last edited by gruca on Thu Oct 11, 2018 3:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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citrus3000psi
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by citrus3000psi »

AetherSmyth wrote:So... I screwed up. I'd done my own OSSC build and NESRGB installation, so I thought I'd be up to the task of building my own GCMax. I had the three copies of the PCB from OSHPark, so I had three tries at building it... all of which ended in failure. At this point I've just got to admit defeat. I do still have the 3D-printed cases/plugs and remaining PCI slots to cannibalize for pins, so if anyone more experienced wants to take a shot at this, I could send them over for the cost of shipping.

On that note, is there anyone building GCMax adapters for sale? It still seems to be the only non-invasive option to get a quality analog signal without buying official cables.
What were the failure points?
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AetherSmyth
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by AetherSmyth »

citrus3000psi wrote:What were the failure points?
Well, on the first one I had some issues getting the HDMI connector placed just right. In trying to fix it, I ended up accidentally tearing up some of the traces.

The second one went better, but the solder joins securing the body of the Hisense connector were apparently not properly secure. When I tried plugging in the cable it came loose, putting force on the pins and again tearing up a bunch of traces.

On the last one, everything seemed to be in place, but I didn't get any output or even response from the LED. I went through with a multimeter and confirmed that all the pins of the printed connector were making contact with the digital output and that there didn't seem to be any shorts, but I still didn't get any response. Something must have shifted at some point, though, because the last time I tried, it killed my GameCube's motherboard.

Suffice to say, I really didn't have any faith left at that point in my ability to make this project work.
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by mvsfan »

What is the Gcmax, an External Gcvideo?

Just go with the internal kit. Its much easier to put together because its already assembled if you buy it from Citrus3000Psi.

no soldering in HDMI connectors, etc.

all the solder points are large.

dont worry about adding this gcvideo kit to the gamecube itself. Its not exactly like the gamecube costs a lot. if your after originality, buy an extra one for $25 and have at it.
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by citrus3000psi »

mvsfan wrote:What is the Gcmax, an External Gcvideo?
The GCMax was my attempt at making the smallest external Dual GC-Video. And with this in mind its not user friendly at all, all 0402 components that are extremely close together. The analog connector is also very difficult to make cables for. Another negative is that both HDMI and Analog cannot be used from size constraints. I should have done this design differently. :oops:
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by maxtherabbit »

mvsfan wrote:What is the Gcmax, an External Gcvideo?

Just go with the internal kit. Its much easier to put together because its already assembled if you buy it from Citrus3000Psi.

no soldering in HDMI connectors, etc.

all the solder points are large.

dont worry about adding this gcvideo kit to the gamecube itself. Its not exactly like the gamecube costs a lot. if your after originality, buy an extra one for $25 and have at it.
I always prefer external solutions, but for a reason that is rarely mentioned - modularity

if your GC breaks or you need to change consoles for some reason, I always prefer to have my accessories be as modular as possible because you never know what you're going to want to change in your setup
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AetherSmyth
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by AetherSmyth »

I didn't mean any of this to be critical of the design. It would be an awesome device, it's just clearly beyond my own skill in this area.
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citrus3000psi
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by citrus3000psi »

I just added stock to my webstore with GCDual kits. Wanted to give twitter followers and shmups a heads up first. https://shop.dansprojects.com
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by thebigcheese »

So now that there's an EON mk2 adapter, is there really any reason to do an internal mod? It's got analog and digital and the latest firmware to play nice with GBI. Plus it was developed by citrus. Am I missing something? Kinda wish I'd waited and not done the mod now :p
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Extrems
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by Extrems »

DOL-101 still require an internal mod.
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by BuckoA51 »

With plug and play solutions you have to use an external remote control to access the settings menu whereas with the internal mods you can use the controller, which is pretty handy if you like to fiddle with the settings a lot. Plus of course with the internal mods you don't have a big box sticking out the back of your console. All things considered it's a lot extra to pay for these small upgrades though.
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by FBX »

BuckoA51 wrote:With plug and play solutions you have to use an external remote control to access the settings menu whereas with the internal mods you can use the controller, which is pretty handy if you like to fiddle with the settings a lot. Plus of course with the internal mods you don't have a big box sticking out the back of your console. All things considered it's a lot extra to pay for these small upgrades though.
So there are pros and cons to each method:

External: No modding required. Have to use a remote for menu features. Requires original DOL-001 console to work. Sticks out of the console and thus is more risky in case of drop-accident.

Internal: Modding required. Controller command for menu features. Can be installed in any model Gamecube. No external hazards.
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by BuckoA51 »

Internal: Modding required. Controller command for menu features. Can be installed in any model Gamecube. No external hazards.
Well not any model Gamecube, still has to be one of the ones with the digital port right?
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by Extrems »

No, the signals are all there on the DOL-101.
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by Extrems »

Here's my initial bug report for GCVideo-DVI v2.4b.
  • Audio samples are bit-shifted right by 2 (25% volume). If you've been wondering what EON's "Boosted HDMI Audio" is, this is it.
  • 480i and 576i are shifted left by 4 pixels.
  • 480p and 576p are shifted left by 4 pixels and down by 3 pixels.
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djc5166
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by djc5166 »

FBX wrote:
BuckoA51 wrote:With plug and play solutions you have to use an external remote control to access the settings menu whereas with the internal mods you can use the controller, which is pretty handy if you like to fiddle with the settings a lot. Plus of course with the internal mods you don't have a big box sticking out the back of your console. All things considered it's a lot extra to pay for these small upgrades though.
So there are pros and cons to each method:

External: No modding required. Have to use a remote for menu features. Requires original DOL-001 console to work. Sticks out of the console and thus is more risky in case of drop-accident.

Internal: Modding required. Controller command for menu features. Can be installed in any model Gamecube. No external hazards.
I was under the impression that only the internal mod is grabbing the digital audio directly, unless there are audio pins on the digital out that the component cable doesn't use?

Or are all the mods just digitizing the analog audio?
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by citrus3000psi »

djc5166 wrote:
I was under the impression that only the internal mod is grabbing the digital audio directly, unless there are audio pins on the digital out that the component cable doesn't use?

Or are all the mods just digitizing the analog audio?
The digital audio is there. Its just unused by the official component cable.
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by Extrems »

External SPDIF mods have existed for ages.
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by Unseen »

Extrems wrote:Here's my initial bug report for GCVideo-DVI v2.4b.
Thanks.
Audio samples are bit-shifted right by 2 (25% volume). If you've been wondering what EON's "Boosted HDMI Audio" is, this is it.
I know about that one, I'm a bit confused that nobody seemed to notice it for a long time though. As far as I know EON fixed it by completely removing the volume control instead of fixing the scaling error.
480i and 576i are shifted left by 4 pixels.
480p and 576p are shifted left by 4 pixels and down by 3 pixels.
I need to dig out my old active-area-measurements for that, I seem to remember that there was one case where the reblanking had to be set just that way to not clip anything from the Cube output.

(wanted: bigger FPGA or external microcontroller...)
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by Extrems »

Unseen wrote:I need to dig out my old active-area-measurements for that, I seem to remember that there was one case where the reblanking had to be set just that way to not clip anything from the Cube output.
Sadly this is leading to clipping on both my Datapath VisionRGB-E1 and Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle, but no GameCube game normally has 720 active pixels. It also get worse with 486 active lines.
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by strayan »

I have the EON gchd mk 2 on preorder and I was hoping soneome knew whether I could use wii component cables to output rgbhv (using the Left + Right audio plugs for the H + V signal) and whether there would be any advantages to using rgbhv over component video.
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by nmalinoski »

strayan wrote:I have the EON gchd mk 2 on preorder and I was hoping soneome knew whether I could use wii component cables to output rgbhv (using the Left + Right audio plugs for the H + V signal) and whether there would be any advantages to using rgbhv over component video.
The question should be whether there are any advantages to RGB over YPbPR component; there are no quality differences between RGBHV, RGBS, and RGsB, so using the component cables to get RGsB seems feasible (assuming that is even an option because RGsB is so unpopular), but I think you'll be better off either using a Wii-compatible SCART cable, a custom Wii to DE-15 cable (for getting RGBS output), or using an HDMI->VGA converter.
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by strayan »

I should add that my crt has rgbhv inputs.
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by awe444 »

strayan wrote:whether there would be any advantages to using rgbhv over component video.
Sounds like input compatibility with your equipment is a big enough motivation for RGBHV out. That said, as far as “advantages over component”, remember that the GameCube is natively outputting 4:2:2 YCbCr to the GCVideo device, so any marginal quality increase from sending separated sync signals over your cabling is (arguably) not worthwhile given the 4:2:2 artifacts inherent to the video to begin with. If your CRT also has YPbPr inputs, you should use those and save the RGBHV inputs for something else such as a Dreamcast
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by nmalinoski »

strayan wrote:I should add that my crt has rgbhv inputs.
In that case, if your CRT doesn't also have YPbPr input as awe444 said, you'll probably need either a SCART cable, a SCART to DE-15 adapter, an RGB interface to serve as a sync separator, and a BNC to VGA cable/adapter; or you'll need a custom Wii to DE-15 cable with an embedded sync separator.
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by strayan »

awe444 wrote:
strayan wrote:whether there would be any advantages to using rgbhv over component video.
Sounds like input compatibility with your equipment is a big enough motivation for RGBHV out. That said, as far as “advantages over component”, remember that the GameCube is natively outputting 4:2:2 YCbCr to the GCVideo device, so any marginal quality increase from sending separated sync signals over your cabling is (arguably) not worthwhile given the 4:2:2 artifacts inherent to the video to begin with. If your CRT also has YPbPr inputs, you should use those and save the RGBHV inputs for something else such as a Dreamcast
Thanks for that.

Out of curiosity will the Wii component cables be able to carry the hor and vert sync over the unused left/right audio rca plugs?
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by Gara »

Whoops I posted this is the wrong thread. Sorry
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by Extrems »

Reading this issue, it finally clicked to me.

When the image position is odd, chroma should be shifted right to compensate. I've confirmed that AVE-DOL and CMPV-DOL do so.

Image
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Re: Cloning the Gamecube component cable

Post by Extrems »

Swiss r521+ will default apply workarounds for the vertical positioning and chroma shift on odd horizontal position issues when forcing a video mode.

Additionally, horizontal scaling can be disabled as of r464.
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