gscartsw / gscartsw_lite / gcompsw switches support thread

[nmalinoski]

Can anyone recommend a SCART component passthrough adapter that I could use with the gscartsw? Looking for one with component connectors on the top of the plug (not the side) to not require removing some of the other SCART cables while in use.

There really isn't much out there for this application, as most SCART<->component adapters and cables are, somewhat oddly, video-only. I think your best bet to have a short, custom cable made that has female RCA inputs and a male SCART output. Retro-Access might be willing to make you one.

Alternatively, you might be to do it a little cheaper with one of those video-only component passthrough adapters, and then get one of those SCART audio breakout shims, but I'm not certain that those breakouts can be used for audio input.

[pb1024]

hi. i planced an order via www.retrorgb.com.
and i paid with paypal at 27th january 2019.
but, i couldn`t get any shipping notification.
are you still in shipping progress? what about international shipping?
i live in south korea.

[tusecsy]

gscartsw update: As I'm getting closer to ship every unit I finally calculated the orders I will be able to fulfill by this batch. Every order before 1/29/2019 and including this date is currently being shipped. All orders made on 1/30/2019 and later will be covered by the next batch which I am ordering right now. There won't be any development delays this time as everything is finalized, just the manufacturing and shipping to me.
Initially I estimated to cover everything until February 15 but unfortunately I don't have enough units. As I've explained earlier, due to development delays I issued a number of refunds to everybody who couldn't wait and that messed up paypal inventory updates so there wasn't an easy way to calculate everything and I apologize for that.

gcompsw update: I am waiting for the sample RCA connectors with reduced height. Factory is currently manufacturing those samples and I will get them as soon as they are finished, hope that won't take long. The moment I see the connectors here, I am opening gcompsw pre-orders. This is important as I have to make sure that footprint is compatible (it's very similar) and if it isn't, I will have to slightly change it. Other than that, gcompsw is finalized and you've probably seen some RetroRGB photos, there is nothing else to change, firmware is done and everything works so I don't foresee any development delay here, only manufacturing.

What a surprise...shipping cutoff moves forward, shipping date moves back. But hey, at least we get an apology!

[FireMrshlBill]

What a surprise...shipping cutoff moves forward, shipping date moves back. But hey, at least we get an apology!

Geez, get over it. This isn't some cheap imported product on Amazon, its a niche product in a niche space that is made (and shipped) by a one man operation, this is par for the course. If you don't have the disposable income to make a preorder knowing these things happen (its this way with every similar product in this space: PSIO, ultraHDMI, GCvideo, etc., and those have multi-person teams), then just wait for it to be in stock. Ya, I get the concern for going past Paypal's coverage period, but its a risk that you will need to take or just not buy. You could always make your own splitter if you are so impatient and think you can do better in a timely manner, or just get a cheap one off ebay/amazon.

If you pre-ordered and haven't received your product, just ask for a refund already, I'd be surprised if he wouldn't do that for you at this point. People are getting their products and he is being transparent, way more so than many people making/selling products in this space. If he hasn't gotten units out or didn't have a history of getting previous versions out, you'd have a point. But you are calling people liars that are not lying and are actually delivering a quality product. An estimate is an estimate, not a guarantee... even major companies with millions of dollars to invest and thousands of employees push products back months and even years to get right instead of getting something inferior out that would just make more people angry. So why do you expect differently from a single person doing this on the side?

[DirkSwizzler]

Nobody likes you. You're not helping anyone.

[Leen]

i've been waiting since august like the rest of u and just checked my mail and got this

Tracking Number:
Expected Delivery by
Thursday
28 March 2019 by
8:00pm
Status
In-Transit

March 27, 2019 at 9:47 am

Departed USPS Regional Destination Facility

SOOO FRIGING Happy SO worth the wait

[Leen]

Can anyone recommend a SCART component passthrough adapter that I could use with the gscartsw? Looking for one with component connectors on the top of the plug (not the side) to not require removing some of the other SCART cables while in use.

the best way i found outside of ebays Hama Video Adapter TV Scart YUV + Video Cinch In/Out is the custom cables by retro-access.com. you can have them make a scart cable with a RCA set of 3 video sockets and 2 audio sockets at length of 6 inches for $34 (5 feet for $40 so you can see price increase) and honestly they sell all cables so i kinda buy all from them and they good quality cables at least that i have seen.

[Foxe]

All orders made on 1/30/2019 and later will be covered by the next batch which I am ordering right now.

Alas... I made my order exactly on this date. Extreme sadness...

*Edit*

Just to be clear, I'm totally fine waiting. I don't have an urgent need for the switch and I understand what happened. Just wanted to whine a bit. Haha

[Stendal]

Appreciate the transparency, can't wait to get my hands on a gcompsw!

[akerasi]

Got mine today; all looks great so far. Thanks for everything superg!

[GameLifter]

Hello everyone! I've been a long time lurker of this forum and this thread in particular and decided to finally start an account. I received my gscart switch a few days ago and recently hooked it up. I'm loving it so far with its great picture quality and the convenience of not having to constantly swap SCART cables. All of the systems I've tested on it so far work flawlessly except for my RGB modded PC Engine DUO-R.

The issue is that the picture regularly cuts out and comes back on. I tried both of my SCART to BNC cables, the first one that doesn't have a sync stripper built in and my other one that does. Both had the flashing picture but the SCART to BNC without the sync stripper built in had a garbled picture when it was visible.

The monitor I'm using is a Sony PVM 2950Q which are known to be very picky about sync signals. If it's not CSYNC then it won't work, even when using a sync stripper there can be sync issues in some cases. This PC Engine DUO-R has given me sync issues in the past due to how it was originally modded and when I had the mod redone by another modder he mentioned that he had to restore composite sync since it was removed when it was first modded. There could be something going on with this that is causing my issue but I have to get back in touch with the modder and find out more information.

I noticed the gscart has four tiny switches on it but I'm not sure what they do. If anyone has any suggestions or info on how to fix the issue I'm having with my PC Engine DUO-R on the gscart it would be greatly appreciated!

EDIT: In between the time I made this post and it being approved by a moderator I found the solution to my issue. Turning on sync regeneration by flipping dip switch 1 and using my SCART to BNC cable without the sync stripper was the fix.

[EvanGrill]

All orders made on 1/30/2019 and later will be covered by the next batch which I am ordering right now.

Alas... I made my order exactly on this date. Extreme sadness...

*Edit*

Just to be clear, I'm totally fine waiting. I don't have an urgent need for the switch and I understand what happened. Just wanted to whine a bit. Haha

Yeah, I ordered February 5 and knew that I was really in that iffy area. It's unfortunate to have to wait, but he is but one man. At least we know we'll be the first out from the next batch!

[marumari]

Hey there, everyone! Just got my gscartsw today and things mostly work great, except for a problem I'm having with my NES.

It was modded by RetroFixes with an NESRGB, although I'm not entirely sure how it was configured. With my old setup (NESRGB + Nintendo Multi-Out + Hama 100S + RetroAccess CSYNC cable) everything worked fine on my PVM. With the gscartsw, it can't seem to sync at all. The TV clicks a bunch, I get a bunch of diagonal movement, and the LED on the gscartsw blinks very quickly. The same cable works fine on a normal SNES. I don't want to damage anything, so I haven't played around with it too much.

I assume this means I need to get a non-attenued SNES cable from RetroAccess? Or is it better to get a sync-on-luma cable? Or, alternatively, am I just super dumb and doing something wrong?

Thanks so much!

[superg]

Hey there, everyone! Just got my gscartsw today and things mostly work great, except for a problem I'm having with my NES.

It was modded by RetroFixes with an NESRGB, although I'm not entirely sure how it was configured. With my old setup (NESRGB + Nintendo Multi-Out + Hama 100S + RetroAccess CSYNC cable) everything worked fine on my PVM. With the gscartsw, it can't seem to sync at all. The TV clicks a bunch, I get a bunch of diagonal movement, and the LED on the gscartsw blinks very quickly. The same cable works fine on a normal SNES. I don't want to damage anything, so I haven't played around with it too much.

I assume this means I need to get a non-attenued SNES cable from RetroAccess? Or is it better to get a sync-on-luma cable? Or, alternatively, am I just super dumb and doing something wrong?

Thanks so much!

Use DIP switch 1, sync regeneration usually fixes that.
EDIT: I mean if you don't want to figure out what's wrong, NESRGB has settings and recommended cable to use, if settings and cable are not compatible you get this problem (attenuation mostly).

[Vasid]

So first of all, my gscart arrived and works wonderfully, thanks SuperG. Still need to give it some lengthy play testing, but it's handling everything I can throw at it. Wanted to note as a side that the switch is working beautifully with the component signals I'm sending it over a component to SCART cable, switches over just fine and sends on the signal, however I've noticed an odd thing that I consider a benefit: My setup runs all my SCART cables to a SCART to BNC which connects it to a PVM, before when I'd hook up a system running component I would have to switch the sync mode from external sync to on the wire (as is standard for component) however using this switch it seems to change the signal to send the sync on the right wire meaning now I don't have to turn off my external sync button and instead can just leave it on as I run every system to the PVM only having to change the color space.

Not sure if this will interfere with other user's purposes when they send on the component signal but it works perfect for me. Now for the best part, the play testing!

[marumari]

Use DIP switch 1, sync regeneration usually fixes that.
EDIT: I mean if you don't want to figure out what's wrong, NESRGB has settings and recommended cable to use, if settings and cable are not compatible you get this problem (attenuation mostly).

I forgot to say that in my previous post, but I did try that without any luck.

[superg]

So first of all, my gscart arrived and works wonderfully, thanks SuperG. Still need to give it some lengthy play testing, but it's handling everything I can throw at it. Wanted to note as a side that the switch is working beautifully with the component signals I'm sending it over a component to SCART cable, switches over just fine and sends on the signal, however I've noticed an odd thing that I consider a benefit: My setup runs all my SCART cables to a SCART to BNC which connects it to a PVM, before when I'd hook up a system running component I would have to switch the sync mode from external sync to on the wire (as is standard for component) however using this switch it seems to change the signal to send the sync on the right wire meaning now I don't have to turn off my external sync button and instead can just leave it on as I run every system to the PVM only having to change the color space.

Not sure if this will interfere with other user's purposes when they send on the component signal but it works perfect for me. Now for the best part, the play testing!

Yeah, this is side effect
Sync from green (if available) and in your case it's sync on Y is always provided on output sync line.

I forgot to say that in my previous post, but I did try that without any luck.

Oh, in this case try to look into your cabling and nesrgb settings. My Famicom-Mini configuration is using GameCube SCART cable.

[Sabin]

Just got my gscartsw 5.2 x2! Thanks so much superg!
I now own 7 of your switches (4 gscartsw lite one gscartsw 3.4 And now 2 5.1) I love your work so much.

Gonna test it tonight on my Sony d24 and report back

[superg]

Just got my gscartsw 5.2 x2! Thanks so much superg!
I now own 7 of your switches (4 gscartsw lite one gscartsw 3.4 And now 2 5.1) I love your work so much.

Gonna test it tonight on my Sony d24 and report back

Oh I remember your 4x order of lite units

[noir]

Mine showed up today and I couldn’t be more thrilled to finally replace my Bandridge switch.

I was curious what exactly dip switch 3 does. I had to turn it on for my XM29 to work with my SNES (haven’t tried other systems yet.) My XM29 has been way pickier about sync signals than my other monitors in the past. But since the Bandridge wasn’t causing sync issues before I swapped in the gscartsw, I was just curious what dipswitch 3 turns on (or off) that would cause or resolve sync problems. With dip 3 on, will I cause any issues with other monitors connected to the second output if they don’t experience sync issues when 3 is off?

[GameLifter]

Is there a guide anywhere that says what all of the dip switches do?

[superg]

Mine showed up today and I couldn’t be more thrilled to finally replace my Bandridge switch.

I was curious what exactly dip switch 3 does. I had to turn it on for my XM29 to work with my SNES (haven’t tried other systems yet.) My XM29 has been way pickier about sync signals than my other monitors in the past. But since the Bandridge wasn’t causing sync issues before I swapped in the gscartsw, I was just curious what dipswitch 3 turns on (or off) that would cause or resolve sync problems. With dip 3 on, will I cause any issues with other monitors connected to the second output if they don’t experience sync issues when 3 is off?

DIP3 is Sega Master System fix which is a problem for some BVM monitors. It alters vertical sync block. Potentially shouldn't affect anything else but it's not guaranteed. SNES console is not known to have problems in vertical sync block so if DIP3 resolves it, it's something from the console side.

[MasterYoda]

Got my switch today and it works great for the most part. I am having an issue with my Neo-Geo though. If I have the SMS fix dip switch active, I don't get any sync on my model 3-6 Neo-Geo. With the dip switch off, I start getting sync again. I have done the three trace cut jail bar fix, if that has something to do with it. Monitor is a BVM-D24.

[superg]

Got my switch today and it works great for the most part. I am having an issue with my Neo-Geo though. If I have the SMS fix dip switch active, I don't get any sync on my model 3-6 Neo-Geo. With the dip switch off, I start getting sync again. I have done the three trace cut jail bar fix, if that has something to do with it. Monitor is a BVM-D24.

You might want to keep it off then and enable only for SMS (if you need it). I know it's not very user friendly but that is very precise timing fix and if the timing is off it will "patch" something important. Although I'd look into your Neo-Geo first.

[noir]

DIP3 is Sega Master System fix which is a problem for some BVM monitors. It alters vertical sync block. Potentially shouldn't affect anything else but it's not guaranteed. SNES console is not known to have problems in vertical sync block so if DIP3 resolves it, it's something from the console side.

Weird, I assumed it was the monitor, but nope. Every other system is working just fine with dip 3 off. SNES has never been modded and it's connected with a csync euroscart cable from Retro Gaming Cables. Also of note, SNES works fine with dip 3 off on my D24; only the XM29 doesn't like it.

[mathewbeall]

W00t!!!! Got mine first one today, looks like second will arrive early next week...

I tested the following consoles hooked up to a Sony PVM:

Xbox OG
NES
SNES
N64
Sega Genesis
Sega Saturn
PS1
PS2
NeoGeo AES

I didn't extensively test them - but they all turned on and the SCART switcher worked perfectly on bootup and loading a game on each.

THANKS! Killer product

Matt

[superg]

It's late and I've just finished printing shipping labels, will drop off a big batch at the post office tomorrow.
I've ran out of plastic spacers unexpectedly, it's just for the 12 last units ordered on January 23-30. Ordered more spacers and those should come early next week.
As soon as I get them, I'm shipping remaining 12 units and I'm done with this batch. Next gscartsw batch is already ordered and I've just got news from connector manufacturer that my gcompsw samples are ready!

[Soundwave GI]

Got my gscartsw today and it’s fanatstic! Thanks for the hard work SuperG! One problem I’m having that’s not a fault of the switch is that my Turbo Duo isn’t detected. It’s the only console I own that I bought already RGB modded, so I’m assuming it’s potentially out of date. I didn’t open it up yet, but it works fine straight to the OSSC, but not through the switch. Any ideas before I go pulling it apart? Thanks!

[fernan1234]

Got my gscartsw today and it’s fanatstic! Thanks for the hard work SuperG! One problem I’m having that’s not a fault of the switch is that my Turbo Duo isn’t detected. It’s the only console I own that I bought already RGB modded, so I’m assuming it’s potentially out of date. I didn’t open it up yet, but it works fine straight to the OSSC, but not through the switch. Any ideas before I go pulling it apart? Thanks!

There may be something funny about PCE RGB output that doesn't play nice with SCART switches in general. I had the exact same issue recently with an RGB-modded Super CD Drive. It would work through the OSSC and directly hooked to a BVM, but not through two different SCART switches (non-gSCART switches though). This was one of the newest RGB amps available. In fact an ancient simple RGB amp I had on the PCE console did work, so the age of the RGB mod may not be the issue, but rather the type of amp board or sync used.

[coderkind]

Got my gscartsw today and it’s fanatstic! Thanks for the hard work SuperG! One problem I’m having that’s not a fault of the switch is that my Turbo Duo isn’t detected. It’s the only console I own that I bought already RGB modded, so I’m assuming it’s potentially out of date. I didn’t open it up yet, but it works fine straight to the OSSC, but not through the switch. Any ideas before I go pulling it apart? Thanks!

There may be something funny about PCE RGB output that doesn't play nice with SCART switches in general. I had the exact same issue recently with an RGB-modded Super CD Drive. It would work through the OSSC and directly hooked to a BVM, but not through two different SCART switches (non-gSCART switches though). This was one of the newest RGB amps available. In fact an ancient simple RGB amp I had on the PCE console did work, so the age of the RGB mod may not be the issue, but rather the type of amp board or sync used.

Probably related to the requested "VHS mode" which I think might've been integrated to some degree in the latest gscartsw (going by Master System comments earlier, which I think is another console with similar issues).

My gscartsw is still in transit, but eager to test it with my problematic PC Engine Duo.