SCART to Component in 2021

[Taiyaki]

Sounds like the Retrotink to me, though some digital captures would be much appreciated, in the same way that everyone thought the Shinybow was top tier until pics were shown.

Nice rundown on the different devices.

Do you have a link or title of the thread on the shinybow comparisons? I must have missed this. I'd be interested in seeing what kind of sharpness loss there is. On my consumer grade crt's I certainly don't notice it when switching back and forth so I'm curious.

[Dochartaigh]

Do you have a link or title of the thread on the shinybow comparisons? I must have missed this. I'd be interested in seeing what kind of sharpness loss there is. On my consumer grade crt's I certainly don't notice it when switching back and forth so I'm curious.

If my memory serves some people also had a power supply that was acting up? on a bunch of these and others with units (probably earlier ones) which they were super happy with (like me, on my BVM's.)

[kitty666cats]

Pretty sure the Audio Authority only outputs digital Rec 709 color space and not analog 601... not that many people could really notice the difference unless they’ve got their stuff perfectly calibrated or have a very well-trained eye

[kitty666cats]

BTW, let’s not let this fella be forgotten:

http://retrotekshop.com/products

He got pretty harshly shat on by RetroRGB a few years back for some sorta design flaw in his SCART to component or something, but he’s changed it over the years (as have most others designing this stuff for the passion of it). Worth noting is the VGA/SCART switch which also transcodes/encodes - RGB in, RGB component Svid or composite out!

[BazookaBen]

Pretty sure the Audio Authority only outputs digital Rec 709 color space and not analog 601... not that many people could really notice the difference unless they’ve got their stuff perfectly calibrated or have a very well-trained eye

That's what I currently use. It looks great, and the official specs says it supports 480i and 480p, so I would hope AA would have programmed it to switch to the correct colorspace.

So I wonder where the rumors are coming from. Have people actually done side by side comparisons with an adapter that is known to switch to rec 601?

[kitty666cats]

I haven’t used it firsthand, so I can’t confirm that it’s true or not. I know there is also a 9060A, I forget what differences there may be? Perhaps support for higher resolutions/bandwidth, I think there’s still documentation in the depths of the Audio Authority site, heh

EDIT: “ The Audio Authority 9A60A is an improved version of the legendary model 9A60, adding a status LED along with official support for all 18 ATSC HDTV resolutions, including 1080p.“

Okay, yup. Not surprised! I wonder what the limit is on the original? I’d guess 720p/1080i...

[Ryoandr]

You must have a better ability to tinker the dials on the CSY clone than I do. I could never get the CSY clone to reproduce the colors as cleanly as the Shinybow. Also the CSY clones that I've had had a tendency to get very hot, the Shinybow tends to stay much cooler, which is another advantage.

There is a guide for pot adjust in this forum
Also they get hot because the DC-in is marked for 12v but they use a 7805 so a lot of heat is generated. You can lower input voltage to 8-9v.

[Taiyaki]

Do you have a link or title of the thread on the shinybow comparisons? I must have missed this. I'd be interested in seeing what kind of sharpness loss there is. On my consumer grade crt's I certainly don't notice it when switching back and forth so I'm curious.

If my memory serves some people also had a power supply that was acting up? on a bunch of these and others with units (probably earlier ones) which they were super happy with (like me, on my BVM's.)

That might be the explanation. If there is any loss of sharpness perhaps it's imperceivable on CRT's.

BTW, let’s not let this fella be forgotten:

http://retrotekshop.com/products

He got pretty harshly shat on by RetroRGB a few years back for some sorta design flaw in his SCART to component or something, but he’s changed it over the years (as have most others designing this stuff for the passion of it). Worth noting is the VGA/SCART switch which also transcodes/encodes - RGB in, RGB component Svid or composite out!

I had the VGA to Component transcoder from Retrotek and to be honest it was quite bad. The colors were altered with it (most noticeably brown and purple) and there were no pots to try and correct it with. I ended up replacing it with the Audio Authority equivalent for VGA to Component, and that solved all my problems. The Retrotek also exhibited some very light noise. Despite using these on CRT's the noise was sometimes noticeable. This was around 2018 so unless he's made some drastic changes since then I'd probably not be inclined to try buying from him again.

[Taiyaki]

You must have a better ability to tinker the dials on the CSY clone than I do. I could never get the CSY clone to reproduce the colors as cleanly as the Shinybow. Also the CSY clones that I've had had a tendency to get very hot, the Shinybow tends to stay much cooler, which is another advantage.

There is a guide for pot adjust in this forum
Also they get hot because the DC-in is marked for 12v but they use a 7805 so a lot of heat is generated. You can lower input voltage to 8-9v.

Thanks. I didn't know about the voltage matter.

[Josh128]

The video below explains all you need to know to adjust these. When I adjusted mine, I had a PC VGA CRT running an emulator and Super Ghouls n Ghosts, I adjusted the clone on my Trinitron to match the colors on the PC CRT, which were perfect. Didnt take very long, and I was pretty pleased with the results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYN906grLsM&t=332s

[Josh128]

I haven’t used it firsthand, so I can’t confirm that it’s true or not. I know there is also a 9060A, I forget what differences there may be? Perhaps support for higher resolutions/bandwidth, I think there’s still documentation in the depths of the Audio Authority site, heh

EDIT: “ The Audio Authority 9A60A is an improved version of the legendary model 9A60, adding a status LED along with official support for all 18 ATSC HDTV resolutions, including 1080p.“

Okay, yup. Not surprised! I wonder what the limit is on the original? I’d guess 720p/1080i...

My 9A60 can at least do 1080i/720p, I dont remember if it does 1080p.

[bobrocks95]

Sounds like the Retrotink to me, though some digital captures would be much appreciated, in the same way that everyone thought the Shinybow was top tier until pics were shown.

Nice rundown on the different devices.

Do you have a link or title of the thread on the shinybow comparisons? I must have missed this. I'd be interested in seeing what kind of sharpness loss there is. On my consumer grade crt's I certainly don't notice it when switching back and forth so I'm curious.

Found it, orange808 provided the captures:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=65010&p=1379783&hil ... w#p1379783

[Taiyaki]

Sounds like the Retrotink to me, though some digital captures would be much appreciated, in the same way that everyone thought the Shinybow was top tier until pics were shown.

Nice rundown on the different devices.

Do you have a link or title of the thread on the shinybow comparisons? I must have missed this. I'd be interested in seeing what kind of sharpness loss there is. On my consumer grade crt's I certainly don't notice it when switching back and forth so I'm curious.

Found it, orange808 provided the captures:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=65010&p=1379783&hil ... w#p1379783

Thanks for sharing! That's a very interesting thread.

I wonder if his unit was different from mine because I'm quite sure Super Metroid does not come out that soft on mine. The difference pictured in his test is jarring. One of these days I'll have to test on an LCD to see if comes through that way.

I think it's a 2017 model that I use, not sure whether that makes a difference or not.

[SCARTicus]

I do not know if there is any reason in 2021 to consider legacy transcoders from yesteryear. We have great options now.

I also had a CSY clone and I was able to get it dialed in so that most things looked more or less okay, but it just was never very accurate as far as colors go. I worked hard trying to dial it in right. Just when you think things look good, you see a screen that you know should be pure white, but it's pink now. Damn.

Mike Chi makes a converter called 'RGB2COMP' for about $70.

https://www.retrotink.com/product-page/rgb2comp

I've had great success with my LinuxBot3000 transcoder, which I love and recommend above all other options. Everything that I have thrown at it looks perfect and the colors are always super-accurate. I have given it 15KHz RGB from eight different video game consoles and it handles everything perfectly. It even likes my Neo Geo CD, which the OSSC will not detect no matter what cable or input I use. The image is sharp. Mine uses USB-C for power, which I like a lot. He's got a few in stock as of the time of this post for $60.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RGB-SCART-to-Y ... 4166352622

Another great option that I scanned the thread for and did not see mentioned is the GBS-Control project. You know that thread that is always towards the top of our board with 133 pages? If you are able to solder, you can put one together for about $40. It does a beautiful job and produces a crisp, color-accurate image with zero lag in transcoding-only mode. And, as a bonus, you get a more-than-decent video game scaler (there is about a half frame of lag when scaling). You do not need to do the clock-generator mod to use the transcoding feature. One thing to note however is that it hated my Dreamcast. It played nice with everything else, though, and I had fun sending a DVD to it over component to be downscaled to 240p for display on my tv. It has a few neat features that are nice to have access to.

Anyway, buy the LinuxBot3000 transcoder right now before he runs out and you have to wait a few months.

[kitty666cats]

Anyway, buy the LinuxBot3000 transcoder right now before he runs out and you have to wait a few months.

His VGA to component is also quite nice, it will take both RGBHV and RGBS in with no fuss (whereas older VGA to component transcoders can be a gamble when it comes to RGBS). Great for the MAME / CRT Emudriver crowd.

His transcoder that goes the other way around (component to RGB w/VGA connector for output) is very handy, as there is a jumper inside for RGBS output instead of RGBHV if needed. So, that gives you two different options, whereas the component to RGB SCART is obviously only RGBS out. This would allow you to use it in an all-15kHz RGB SCART setup with a VGA to SCART cable like this ( https://coolnovelties.co.uk/coolnovelti ... 07088.html ), and then easily switch it out and connect a regular VGA cable for use with 480p+ / 31kHz+ displays or setups

[bobrocks95]

Nice rundown on the different devices.

Do you have a link or title of the thread on the shinybow comparisons? I must have missed this. I'd be interested in seeing what kind of sharpness loss there is. On my consumer grade crt's I certainly don't notice it when switching back and forth so I'm curious.

Found it, orange808 provided the captures:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=65010&p=1379783&hil ... w#p1379783

Thanks for sharing! That's a very interesting thread.

I wonder if his unit was different from mine because I'm quite sure Super Metroid does not come out that soft on mine. The difference pictured in his test is jarring. One of these days I'll have to test on an LCD to see if comes through that way.

I think it's a 2017 model that I use, not sure whether that makes a difference or not.

I'll say again that mine looks plenty sharp on a CRT! But the Shinybow isn't any cheaper than the RGB2COMP, so if someone has direct capture for it and it looks better I wouldn't rush out to buy one, but I would stop recommending the Shinybow.

[Taiyaki]

Does the RGB2Comp have any downsides? If not then I guess it's as you say, the best device to recommend for those looking for such a device today.

[cyborc]

This is a (cellphone camera) comparison of an AA 9a60 and Shinybow I did a few years ago on a Philips CRT TV. You can clearly see the softer picture and color bleeding with the Shinybow. I always try to sway people away from getting the Shinybow. there are so many better options now.

https://i.imgur.com/4cTfLFP.jpg

[orange808]

I got grabs from a Shinybow using a Datapath card. I don't remember any color bleeding. There was a slight cool color shift, though.

[Taiyaki]

This is a (cellphone camera) comparison of an AA 9a60 and Shinybow I did a few years ago on a Philips CRT TV. You can clearly see the softer picture and color bleeding with the Shinybow. I always try to sway people away from getting the Shinybow. there are so many better options now.

https://i.imgur.com/4cTfLFP.jpg

Was that taken with the cellphone on a tripod or some other way to hold it steady?
I'm amazed at the difference there too, and this time on a consumer crt.

I guess it's time I try the RGB2COMP then.

What kind of ac adapter does everyone use with it?

[SCARTicus]

I guess it's time I try the RGB2COMP then.

What kind of ac adapter does everyone use with it?

It's a microUSB connector.

[cyborc]

This is a (cellphone camera) comparison of an AA 9a60 and Shinybow I did a few years ago on a Philips CRT TV. You can clearly see the softer picture and color bleeding with the Shinybow. I always try to sway people away from getting the Shinybow. there are so many better options now.

https://i.imgur.com/4cTfLFP.jpg

Was that taken with the cellphone on a tripod or some other way to hold it steady?
I'm amazed at the difference there too, and this time on a consumer crt.

I guess it's time I try the RGB2COMP then.

What kind of ac adapter does everyone use with it?

No tripod, I guess I just didn't drink any coffee that day.

[kitty666cats]

Long story short, for SCART (a lot of us have ignored the thread title and mentioned VGA input transcoders, myself included) your best bet would be linuxbot3000 and RetroTink. It makes pretty good sense, Shinybow did not design theirs with video games in mind and their design is probably around 20 years old at this point!

You can also conveniently power the two aforementioned transcoders by plugging the USB end into your computer if it’s nearby / USB ports on a surge protector etc

[Taiyaki]

I guess it's time I try the RGB2COMP then.

What kind of ac adapter does everyone use with it?

It's a microUSB connector.

But does anyone have a preferred adapter for it? I don't have a computer nearby to plug it into.

No tripod, I guess I just didn't drink any coffee that day.

Those are some super steady hands then. lol

[kitty666cats]

I guess it's time I try the RGB2COMP then.

What kind of ac adapter does everyone use with it?

It's a microUSB connector.

But does anyone have a preferred adapter for it? I don't have a computer nearby to plug it into.

No tripod, I guess I just didn't drink any coffee that day.

Those are some super steady hands then. lol

It doesn’t matter, any ol’ USB wall block you have lying around should be fine - I used a generic 5 volt one from the dollar store. Same goes for the USB-C on the linuxbot300 (which I personally suggest since it’s cheaper for most and equal quality, I say “cheaper for most” as it depends on where you live)

He doesn’t appear to have them in stock right now, you could message him on eBay or just spend the extra ~$10 USD and go with the RGB2COMP which is also a great choice

[kitty666cats]

BTW, I got one of these for $24 (and that’s final price with shipping!) recently... check it out, guys! It’s massive and SO heavy - curiosly, mine is black and not white

https://www.ebay.com/itm/183160343256

Apparently it’s 480i/240p-only, I haven’t tried it with a higher resolution so I can’t confirm - but sure was one HELL of a deal. Does both RGB to component and component to RGB... and I can use wacky 12-pin RapidRun/HiRose cables if I ever wanted for some weird reason lol

[Taiyaki]

It doesn’t matter, any ol’ USB wall block you have lying around should be fine - I used a generic 5 volt one from the dollar store. Same goes for the USB-C on the linuxbot300 (which I personally suggest since it’s cheaper for most and equal quality, I say “cheaper for most” as it depends on where you live)

He doesn’t appear to have them in stock right now, you could message him on eBay or just spend the extra ~$10 USD and go with the RGB2COMP which is also a great choice

Thanks, good to know. I hadn't ever even seen the linuxbot3000 mentioned until this thread. Great that in 2021 people have so many options for transcoders.

[kitty666cats]

It doesn’t matter, any ol’ USB wall block you have lying around should be fine - I used a generic 5 volt one from the dollar store. Same goes for the USB-C on the linuxbot300 (which I personally suggest since it’s cheaper for most and equal quality, I say “cheaper for most” as it depends on where you live)

He doesn’t appear to have them in stock right now, you could message him on eBay or just spend the extra ~$10 USD and go with the RGB2COMP which is also a great choice

Thanks, good to know. I hadn't ever even seen the linuxbot3000 mentioned until this thread. Great that in 2021 people have so many options for transcoders.

Totally - for a while there, the only readily available one was the “SPECIALTY-AV“ CSY-2100 clone that apparently everyone except me needed to adjust for proper colors / has no damn audio out!

[Taiyaki]

Yeah the CSY clone was my first too, and yes I hated how there was no audio out. It forces one to use even more cables in a setup involving it. I remember that I used to unplug the power on it each time cause the temperatures it would reach were almost worrisome.

[kitty666cats]

Speaking of heat, that’s another nice thing about the linuxbot3000 devices: metal enclosures. Obviously the RGB2COMP is made by an expert and you don’t have to worry about heat from the transcoder itself, but if you’ve got a very cramped AV area with a big mess of cables (like me, heh) then it’s something to keep in mind.

BTW, here are some images (and one short video clip) of the Kramer FC-14 in action on my old Sony WEGA KV-32FS100... these are old, makes me nostalgic - RGB to YPbPr on a good consumer CRT truly is just as good an experience as full-on RGB

https://media.discordapp.net/attachment ... video0.mov

https://media.discordapp.net/attachment ... image1.jpg

https://media.discordapp.net/attachment ... image0.jpg

https://media.discordapp.net/attachment ... image1.jpg

I don’t really have any good pics of the other transcoders in action (I only have the big Faroudja one nowadays), but hopefully these exemplify how nice the FC-14 is maybe a little bit over-saturated, but that is because of me and the old WEGA & not the FC-14