Just got my RetroTINK COMP2RGB YPbPr to RGBs Transcoder hooked up today and I wanted to make a post to share my experience. This thing is great and has fixed a number of issues I've had with other transcoders and my Sony BVMs.
I've so far tested this using an OG Xbox and an Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray player at 480i, 480p, and 720p and all have performed flawlessly.
The other Component YPbPr to RGB Transcoders I tried along the way were:
Jam's YPbPr to RGBHV VGA: This worked well running through an Extron RGB unit, but 720p wasn't horizontally centered correctly which requires a more expensive Extron RGB 203 Rxi unit with per input/format H-SHIFT memory. I also had issues with this at 480i with an Extron RGB 203 Rxi, but no issues with an RGB 192v so it is probably the fault of an internal jumper setting on the 203 that could have fixed this.
Most of my issues with previous transcoders seemed to center around my Sony BVM-D monitors being picky about sync.
Needless to say, I'm very happy that the RetroTINK COMP2RGB simplifies my setup and works great.
For anyone curious, I've tested it with both a BVM-D32 and BVM-D20. I use a YPbPr to RGB transcorder because I like to have all my consoles connected through a single gscartsw which makes swapping monitors and turning everything on much easier... fully automated.
Thanks guys and glad you're enjoying the device! Credit can't go all to me though. Big thanks to Ste (viewtopic.php?f=6&t=61472) in that one post where he suggested bypassing the sync output from the LM1251. Dave to helping me test to proto to discover the SD <-> HD resolution switch bug and to someone here or on twitter for telling me to use the better sync stripper than the LM1881.
Mine has just arrived and it’s a nice piece of kit but it doesn’t seem to suit the exotic purpose I got it.
I purchased mine as a sort of lazy boy solution to allow my component consoles to all go through my gscartw. This would have meant that I never need to change channel on my ossc and everything runs through the scart input via the various switches
on its own it does the job and sends a nice wii 480p rgb signal through to the scart switch and on to my ossc
The problem I am getting is that when the comp2rgb is powered, it stops certain other machines that are also connected to the gscart switches from syncing properly
JP Sms csync - won’t sync
JP Dreamcast vga or 480i Won’t sync
Pal RGB GameCube - Won’t sync
PC Engine SSSD3 RGB-ok
JP Va1 md1 - ok
JP Saturn - ok
Cmvs - ok
JP 1chip snes with dejitter mod - ok
USA RGB Dejitter NES - ok
USA RGB N64 - ok
All the ones that won’t sync, will sync as normal as long as I power down the comp2rgb. It’s very odd. I am going to troubleshoot some more tonight.
Does anybody have an Audio Authority 9A65 to compare this to? That's the previous gold standard in my eyes and I've never been able to pickup a backup one of those so I'm definitely interested in the RetroTINK (even if it only has SCART output meaning I have to spend another ~$40 on a custom cable or build my own to get it to BNC...).
mikechi2 wrote:
Thanks guys and glad you're enjoying the device! Credit can't go all to me though. Big thanks to Ste (viewtopic.php?f=6&t=61472) in that one post where he suggested bypassing the sync output from the LM1251. Dave to helping me test to proto to discover the SD <-> HD resolution switch bug and to someone here or on twitter for telling me to use the better sync stripper than the LM1881.
Mike, I hate to be one of those people, especially since this stems from your super nice RP3 RetroTINK exchange offer (which I just got 2x D9's I would love to test out...), but you still have 3x emails from me over the course of well over a year+ that you never responded too... (last was August 2019 I think)
LDigital wrote:Mine has just arrived and it’s a nice piece of kit but it doesn’t seem to suit the exotic purpose I got it.
I purchased mine as a sort of lazy boy solution to allow my component consoles to all go through my gscartw. This would have meant that I never need to change channel on my ossc and everything runs through the scart input via the various switches
on its own it does the job and sends a nice wii 480p rgb signal through to the scart switch and on to my ossc
The problem I am getting is that when the comp2rgb is powered, it stops certain other machines that are also connected to the gscart switches from syncing properly
JP Sms csync - won’t sync
JP Dreamcast vga or 480i Won’t sync
Pal RGB GameCube - Won’t sync
PC Engine SSSD3 RGB-ok
JP Va1 md1 - ok
JP Saturn - ok
Cmvs - ok
JP 1chip snes with dejitter mod - ok
USA RGB Dejitter NES - ok
USA RGB N64 - ok
All the ones that won’t sync, will sync as normal as long as I power down the comp2rgb. It’s very odd. I am going to troubleshoot some more tonight.
Interesting. What gscartsw are you feeding into? I think the only one of those failure cases that I have is a PAL gamecube. I'll have to give that a try to see if it replicates for me. I've had no issues at all with gcompsw 8:2 -> comp2rgb -> gscartsw 5.2 . And leaving the comp2rgb powered at all times.
maxtherabbit wrote:..., glad it resulted in a top shelf device!
Middle shelf. So it can sit in the middle of all those analog cables to shorten distances.
LDigital wrote:Mine has just arrived and it’s a nice piece of kit but it doesn’t seem to suit the exotic purpose I got it.
I purchased mine as a sort of lazy boy solution to allow my component consoles to all go through my gscartw. This would have meant that I never need to change channel on my ossc and everything runs through the scart input via the various switches
on its own it does the job and sends a nice wii 480p rgb signal through to the scart switch and on to my ossc
The problem I am getting is that when the comp2rgb is powered, it stops certain other machines that are also connected to the gscart switches from syncing properly
JP Sms csync - won’t sync
JP Dreamcast vga or 480i Won’t sync
Pal RGB GameCube - Won’t sync
PC Engine SSSD3 RGB-ok
JP Va1 md1 - ok
JP Saturn - ok
Cmvs - ok
JP 1chip snes with dejitter mod - ok
USA RGB Dejitter NES - ok
USA RGB N64 - ok
All the ones that won’t sync, will sync as normal as long as I power down the comp2rgb. It’s very odd. I am going to troubleshoot some more tonight.
Interesting. What gscartsw are you feeding into? I think the only one of those failure cases that I have is a PAL gamecube. I'll have to give that a try to see if it replicates for me. I've had no issues at all with gcompsw 8:2 -> comp2rgb -> gscartsw 5.2 . And leaving the comp2rgb powered at all times.
maxtherabbit wrote:..., glad it resulted in a top shelf device!
Middle shelf. So it can sit in the middle of all those analog cables to shorten distances.
I have an older gscart with the vga & scart output. Can’t remember what model they call that. 3.4 rings a bell
I tried with my JP Dreamcast just now and didn't have any issues with it syncing. It's connected over VGA to an Extron RGB 192v and then from there into a gscartsw which connects to a 2nd gscartsw which connects to my BVM.
The idea to bypass the sync output of the LM1251 was mine, because the GARO didn't have a valid sync combiner (solved in the latest version of the GARO by removing the SCART port entirely), and we were brainstorming how to fix that, and I said "Why do we even need to combine the sync? There's a perfectly good combined sync signal right there on the inputs, if we could just buffer it..." All credit to Ste for taking my vague idea and actually designing a circuit for it, though. I wouldn't know the first thing about how to actually wire up a THS7374.
I'm selling the RetroTINK products (including the COMP2RGB) in my store (https://retrostuff.ca) for those in Canada.
Guspaz wrote:The idea to bypass the sync output of the LM1251 was mine, because the GARO didn't have a valid sync combiner (solved in the latest version of the GARO by removing the SCART port entirely)
Didn't realize the SCART output on the GARO was removed for a legitimate purpose.
I had emailed Yosi about that multiple times about the issues I was having and he never explained that to me.
Just assumed Beharbros was being cheap and removed the SCART output from all but the very first Gen 2 GAROs.
I'll admit that I'm making the assumption, but as far as I can tell, the chain of events:
1) The GARO ships with a SCART connector.
2) It's discovered that the GARO has an invalid sync combiner that causes lots of incompatibilities on the SCART port. We make a workaround for it with the bypass mod.
3) The GARO begins shipping without a SCART connector.
They cost ten or fifteen cents a piece, the GARO sells for $85. Removing the primary video output from the device doesn't seem like a cost-saving measure to me.
Guspaz wrote:2) It's discovered that the GARO has an invalid sync combiner that causes lots of incompatibilities on the SCART port. We make a workaround for it with the bypass mod.
I never used the SCART port regardless since I always ran mine into an Extron RGB device. Would the removal of the SCART port and the sync combiner have had any effect in my case?
I've heard that they tweaked the second generation design, so I don't know if they fixed the other issues. The invalid sync combiner didn't affect the VGA port, because they run separate sync to that chip. But they also run unbuffered video directly to the VGA/SCART port from the transcoder chip (which caused other issues), despite the datasheet of the chip specifically stating that you can't do that. That's why our bypass mod put the extra chip in there to buffer the video, in addition to doing the sync bypass.
Maybe they fixed the unbuffered video in their second generation. I don't know. And at this point, I don't think it matters. Mike's RetroTINK COMP2RGB transcoder now exists, works much better, and costs less to boot.
Guspaz wrote:I've heard that they tweaked the second generation design, so I don't know if they fixed the other issues. The invalid sync combiner didn't affect the VGA port, because they run separate sync to that chip. But they also run unbuffered video directly to the VGA/SCART port from the transcoder chip (which caused other issues), despite the datasheet of the chip specifically stating that you can't do that. That's why our bypass mod put the extra chip in there to buffer the video, in addition to doing the sync bypass.
Maybe they fixed the unbuffered video in their second generation. I don't know. And at this point, I don't think it matters. Mike's RetroTINK COMP2RGB transcoder now exists, works much better, and costs less to boot.
Agreed, was just curious given that I've tried all of these before Mike's came along.
Mike's device is an end-game RGBS to YPbPr converter. Glad it finally exists.
LDigital wrote:Mine has just arrived and it’s a nice piece of kit but it doesn’t seem to suit the exotic purpose I got it.
I purchased mine as a sort of lazy boy solution to allow my component consoles to all go through my gscartw. This would have meant that I never need to change channel on my ossc and everything runs through the scart input via the various switches
on its own it does the job and sends a nice wii 480p rgb signal through to the scart switch and on to my ossc
The problem I am getting is that when the comp2rgb is powered, it stops certain other machines that are also connected to the gscart switches from syncing properly
JP Sms csync - won’t sync
JP Dreamcast vga or 480i Won’t sync
Pal RGB GameCube - Won’t sync
PC Engine SSSD3 RGB-ok
JP Va1 md1 - ok
JP Saturn - ok
Cmvs - ok
JP 1chip snes with dejitter mod - ok
USA RGB Dejitter NES - ok
USA RGB N64 - ok
All the ones that won’t sync, will sync as normal as long as I power down the comp2rgb. It’s very odd. I am going to troubleshoot some more tonight.
Interesting. What gscartsw are you feeding into? I think the only one of those failure cases that I have is a PAL gamecube. I'll have to give that a try to see if it replicates for me. I've had no issues at all with gcompsw 8:2 -> comp2rgb -> gscartsw 5.2 . And leaving the comp2rgb powered at all times.
maxtherabbit wrote:..., glad it resulted in a top shelf device!
Middle shelf. So it can sit in the middle of all those analog cables to shorten distances.
I have an older gscart with the vga & scart output. Can’t remember what model they call that. 3.4 rings a bell
I have identified the issue and I am pleased to say it is nothing to do with the comp2rgb!
Is appears that the gcompsw switch is throwing some confusion into the mix, when I eliminated it from the chain and plug in my wii directly it now functions exactly how I needed it to.
LDigital wrote:
Is appears that the gcompsw switch is throwing some confusion into the mix, when I eliminated it from the chain and plug in my wii directly it now functions exactly how I needed it to.
Happy days
Were you able to figure out a way for the gcompsw to coexist with the gscartsw( through the COMP2RGB)?
I've a gscart switch on pre-order and I plan to use it with a very similar setup to the one you have except that I have an
audio authority 1154A component Switch...
LDigital wrote:
Is appears that the gcompsw switch is throwing some confusion into the mix, when I eliminated it from the chain and plug in my wii directly it now functions exactly how I needed it to.
Happy days
Were you able to figure out a way for the gcompsw to coexist with the gscartsw( through the COMP2RGB)?
I've a gscart switch on pre-order and I plan to use it with a very similar setup to the one you have except that I have an
audio authority 1154A component Switch...
Just run your gcompsw into a COMP2RGB and then into your gscartsw.
LDigital wrote:
Is appears that the gcompsw switch is throwing some confusion into the mix, when I eliminated it from the chain and plug in my wii directly it now functions exactly how I needed it to.
Happy days
Were you able to figure out a way for the gcompsw to coexist with the gscartsw( through the COMP2RGB)?
I've a gscart switch on pre-order and I plan to use it with a very similar setup to the one you have except that I have an
audio authority 1154A component Switch...
Just run your gcompsw into a COMP2RGB and then into your gscartsw.
Yea but wasn't @ElDigital having problems when the gcomp was in the chain?
snowekim wrote:Yea but wasn't @ElDigital having problems when the gcomp was in the chain?
I think he said that he figured out the issue though and that it had nothing to do with the COMP2RGB.
I also have mine setup as gcompsw to COMP2RGB to gscartsw to Monitor and I have no issues. I also think @DirkSwizzler has this same video chain aside from his gscartsw going into an OSSC.
snowekim wrote:Yea but wasn't @ElDigital having problems when the gcomp was in the chain?
I think he said that he figured out the issue though and that it had nothing to do with the COMP2RGB.
I also have mine setup as gcompsw to COMP2RGB to gscartsw to Monitor and I have no issues. I also think @DirkSwizzler has this same video chain aside from his gscartsw going into an OSSC.
Yep. I have gcompsw -> comp2rgb ->gscartsw with no issues.
snowekim wrote:Yea but wasn't @ElDigital having problems when the gcomp was in the chain?
I think he said that he figured out the issue though and that it had nothing to do with the COMP2RGB.
I also have mine setup as gcompsw to COMP2RGB to gscartsw to Monitor and I have no issues. I also think @DirkSwizzler has this same video chain aside from his gscartsw going into an OSSC.
Yep. I have gcompsw -> comp2rgb ->gscartsw with no issues.
snowekim wrote:Yea but wasn't @ElDigital having problems when the gcomp was in the chain?
I think he said that he figured out the issue though and that it had nothing to do with the COMP2RGB.
I also have mine setup as gcompsw to COMP2RGB to gscartsw to Monitor and I have no issues. I also think @DirkSwizzler has this same video chain aside from his gscartsw going into an OSSC.
Yep. I have gcompsw -> comp2rgb ->gscartsw with no issues.
So finally got my Gscartsw, and I'm noticing an issue with comp2rpg and gscartsw.When there is no active signal gscartsw is sending noise signal to the pvm and OSSC( The OSSC keeps changing av inputs and the pvm keeps showing some lines)
As soon as I turn a console, everything syncs fine...
Hey Mike Chi! If you see this at some point, do you have an inkling of what the story is with that 'ODV' clone of your 2X? It's really weird, there was that whole Kaico debacle, and then they kinda backed away into the shadows. Fast forward maybe like one month, and eventually that ODV came along, totally a clone, just with a shape and layout that's less 'blatant ripoff' territory. And NOW we have that Kaico clone's exact design released anyway, but it's through... lemme look up the name, I think Bitfunx or something? Ok yeah, Bitfunx.
Has anyone sent along one (or both) of those to you? I wonder if one is at least a tad more commendable than the other & uses better parts, even though they're both still shameless rips
I recently picked up one of these COMP2RGB devices but colours look noticeably "off" on my Consumer Trinitron CRT on both my PAL Nintendo Wii (480i, with official component cables) and NTSC Gamecube (480i, with official component cables). The Wii looks great in 480i RGB (using a CSYNC RGB scart cable from RGC) on the same display. The same applies to the Gamecube, when combining the same RGC scart cable with an Eon MKii and output set to RGB.
I'm not having that issue with the colors being off. Have you emailed Mike Chi through the RetroTINK site's contact form? He'd probably be the best person to help, but let us know what you discover.
BigSplodge wrote:Hi Guys, first post here, long time lurker.
I recently picked up one of these COMP2RGB devices but colours look noticeably "off" on my Consumer Trinitron CRT on both my NTSC Nintendo Wii (480i, with official component cables) and NTSC Gamecube (480i, with official component cables). The Wii looks great in 480i RGB (using a CSYNC RGB scart cable from RGC) on the same display. The same applies to the Gamecube, when combining the same RGC scart cable with an Eon MKii and output set to RGB.
I have something weird with mine. When I get sudden whites on screen they flash up as purple then correct to white. Sometimes when there are whites that are not sudden I get the same purple bleed around the edges.
