Down conversion to 240p using DVDO machines

The place for all discussion on gaming hardware
User avatar
Fudoh
Posts: 13015
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:29 am
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Down conversion to 240p using DVDO machines

Post by Fudoh »

240p isn't possible on the VP30 either. Just on the iScan HD units.
tongshadow
Posts: 613
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2017 5:11 pm

Re: Down conversion to 240p using DVDO machines

Post by tongshadow »

Luckily, I also have an iScan HD :mrgreen: (non-plus).
I hope the infamous DVDO's ringing artifacts arent visible on the downscaling process.
User avatar
Fudoh
Posts: 13015
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:29 am
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Down conversion to 240p using DVDO machines

Post by Fudoh »

I don't know if anybody ever tried 15khz interlaced output from it. Give it a try and report back.
User avatar
kitty666cats
Posts: 1270
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2019 2:03 am
Location: Massachusetts, USA

Re: Down conversion to 240p using DVDO machines

Post by kitty666cats »

@tongshadow you can get nice 480i from a wide variety of scan converters, since Extron stuff is hard to find near you try searching around for one by Kramer, Vine Micros/TVone, Analog Way, CSI, etc etc. Just search 'scan converter' on eBay and make sure it's one for *down*scanning (almost all of them will be)
tongshadow
Posts: 613
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2017 5:11 pm

Re: Down conversion to 240p using DVDO machines

Post by tongshadow »

Managed to downscale 480i and 480p to 240p on my Xbox, and this means I can finally play Arcade emulators at the resolutions they were intended... I cant believe that after all these years I can still get my DVDO HD to be useful, what a machine.

However, how would I go on about setting 480i output by strictly editing the timings?
kitty666cats wrote:@tongshadow you can get nice 480i from a wide variety of scan converters, since Extron stuff is hard to find near you try searching around for one by Kramer, Vine Micros/TVone, Analog Way, CSI, etc etc. Just search 'scan converter' on eBay and make sure it's one for *down*scanning (almost all of them will be)
Could find none of them, it's very uncommon :(
User avatar
kitty666cats
Posts: 1270
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2019 2:03 am
Location: Massachusetts, USA

Re: Down conversion to 240p using DVDO machines

Post by kitty666cats »

tongshadow wrote:Managed to downscale 480i and 480p to 240p on my Xbox, and this means I can finally play Arcade emulators at the resolutions they were intended... I cant believe that after all these years I can still get my DVDO HD to be useful, what a machine.

However, how would I go on about setting 480i output by strictly editing the timings?
kitty666cats wrote:@tongshadow you can get nice 480i from a wide variety of scan converters, since Extron stuff is hard to find near you try searching around for one by Kramer, Vine Micros/TVone, Analog Way, CSI, etc etc. Just search 'scan converter' on eBay and make sure it's one for *down*scanning (almost all of them will be)
Could find none of them, it's very uncommon :(
They’re not ideal, but Avermedia and Antec may prove fruitful. Search ‘AverKey’ or ‘Antec TVator’ if you still want a downscale converter. There’s also a StarTech scan converter that comes with a VGA to SCART (wired for RGBS on pin 13 of VGA) cable

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Professional-V ... 4258985684

Basically, any scan converter with RGB out via a VGA connector (that isn’t passthrough) is gonna be wired for csync on pin 13 and probably terminated for video levels inside the scan converter itself :)
tongshadow
Posts: 613
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2017 5:11 pm

Re: Down conversion to 240p using DVDO machines

Post by tongshadow »

Thanks I'll look for them!

Also, some pictures. Downscaling from 480p results in a nice picture, but still not as sharp as real 240p.
https://i.imgur.com/ipCkxcC.jpeg
From 480i it's visibly less sharp than 480p, not even downscaling can save those poor 240p->480i converted games on the PS2. Display lag is pretty noticeable too.
https://i.imgur.com/erADxEZ.jpeg
The ringing artifacts typical from DVDO scaling are definitely there btw, but it could be less visible on CRT TVs.

Scanlines are courtesy from the PVM-14M4U :mrgreen:
tongshadow
Posts: 613
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2017 5:11 pm

Re: Down conversion to 240p using DVDO machines

Post by tongshadow »

So, I tried to output 480i from my PC into my SDTV by connecting to the RGBHV/DB15 Passthrough input, but, as expected, the result was just RGBHV 480i being output to my TV. However, it seems the VP30/50 can actually transcode even in passthrough mode.
New Passthrough Mode

The new Passthrough mode allows digital and analog signals to be passed through without any deinterlacing or scaling. Passthrough mode allows an HDMI input signal to be passed through to the HDMI output and an analog input, on the BNC input, to be passed through to the BNC output. Passthrough mode does still allow colorspace conversion to be done on the HDMI inputs, so if an input signal is 1080p YCbCr 4:4:4 and you would like to output this to a 1080p display with a DVI input, the iScan VP30 can convert this signal to a 1080p RGB 4:4:4 output.
User avatar
Fudoh
Posts: 13015
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:29 am
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Down conversion to 240p using DVDO machines

Post by Fudoh »

pretty sure that the conversion happening is still 4:4:4 -> 4:2:2 -> 4:4:4 though, so it should be avoided if possible.
Post Reply