Cloning the Gamecube component cable

[darcagn]

Perhaps, but if I were going to spend that much money I'd just resolder in my digital out port and buy the official component cables

[Unseen]

Bad news: there appears to be some sort of color issues going on on all games and all video modes. Hard to describe, but things on the screen have black pixels around them. sometimes green pixels pop as well.

Interesting, looks like an overflow in color conversion. I'll have to run the numbers to check if my code is exceeding the expected output range.

[meneerbeer]

I have been working on adding audio over HDMI. I have my own custom designed PCB for which it is working great (tested on 2 TVs).

There seem to be quite a lot of people here that use a Pluto-IIx board. I have synthesized the code for that board. You can find the code and bitfile attached to this forum post. Note: I do not have a Pluto-IIx, so I have no idea if it works.

Let me know if you tried it.

[bobrocks95]

Is your board the shuriken I've heard about in passing? How much did the board cost you to get made? Did you order just the PCB and have to solder it all by hand?

[meneerbeer]

Is your board the shuriken I've heard about in passing?

No it is not. My board does not really have a name. Thread for the Shuriken video is here. The idea of the Shuriken video is to remove the digital video port and then solder the Shuriken video in its place. It will stick out a bit from the GC's case. Currently it also targets a smaller FPGA, so it has some features removed, such as the line doubler and the OSD.

As for my own board. I wanted something that would fit inicely inside the GameCube. My board has the same FPGA as on the Pluto IIx, so it can handle all the features such as the OSD and line doubler.

How much did the board cost you to get made? Did you order just the PCB and have to solder it all by hand?

I designed the PCB and then ordered it. I soldered the parts on it myself, which is not that hard with enough practice. As for the price, I know someone on GC-Forever had a cost of about 25$ per board for the Shuriken Video (that includes the PCB and parts). So quite a bit cheaper than buying a Pluto IIx and I am also aiming for a lower price than the Pluto IIx for my own board.

[bobrocks95]

No it is not. My board does not really have a name. Thread for the Shuriken video is here. The idea of the Shuriken video is to remove the digital video port and then solder the Shuriken video in its place. It will stick out a bit from the GC's case. Currently it also targets a smaller FPGA, so it has some features removed, such as the line doubler and the OSD.

As for my own board. I wanted something that would fit inicely inside the GameCube. My board has the same FPGA as on the Pluto IIx, so it can handle all the features such as the OSD and line doubler.

Not a fan of how far the Shuriken sticks out of the case, it looks like it's asking for trouble. Also not a huge fan of cutting up the back of the case, but it looks like it mounts really easily and is definitely the better option between just the two. A lack of linedoubling won't cut it for me either, my EDTV won't take 480i through the HDMI port (or 1080p, which is the really depressing part).

I hear lots of rumbling about Megalomaniac presumably developing something plug-and-play though, so maybe waiting is the best option? The guy seems kind of... odd, but he's made plenty of good stuff in the past. Working awfully slowly though...

[Wolfric]

Just made an account to track progress on this. Amazing work, you guys!

[Woozle]

So I accidentally sucked up two SM-resistors near the large capacitor. Still going to install the FPGA and see what happens. Can't believe I did that, I think I need new glasses

[Unseen]

New release: GCVideo-DVI 2.0

New features:

• Enhanced DVI mode
• Option to disable the output temporarily when the video mode switches, this may help some displays to recognize mode switches in non-enhanced DVI mode

Because new settings were introduced, the new release won't recognized a configuration stored by previous GCVideo-DVI releases which means that your settings will be reset to the defaults. Just reconfigure everything to your liking and hit "Store settings" once and then you'll get your favored options and OSD colors right from power-on once more.

There are currently three clips on Youtube that were recorded with an almost-2.0-version (the third one shows the menu from the release):

• Switching enhanced DVI mode on and off
• The Health and Safety screen from Twilight Princess, overlaid with a bit of signal information from a Triax HMX Analyzer (sucks, don't buy it)
• Aspect ratio switching via the GCVideo-OSD - needs a TV that correctly interprets the information from the video signal

(I really hope I won't need to do another release after this...)

[darcagn]

I guess I'm kind of glad I didn't get around to adding SPDIF since the new release has audio over HDMI.

I updated to 2.0 and tested it on both my television directly and through my receiver. Audio plays via both without a problem, but the widescreen setting doesn't work, so I guess my display doesn't support Enhanced DVI mode.

While connected to my receiver, sometimes changing video modes loses audio, though. I can regain it by opening up the menu and toggling Enhanced DVI mode off and then on again.

Sometimes turning Enhanced DVI mode off loses both audio and video, although I can get it back by turning it on again, but if I accidentally back out of the menu or something and I can't find my way back to that option blind, display is permanently lost unless I reboot the Gamecube. But from a fresh boot, it works fine in either mode.

Those aren't showstoppers or anything, but I just figured I'd mention them.

Unfortunately the issue with the HDMI-to-Component converter is still there. I was hoping something you'd changed would have fixed it, but alas, no such luck. I know a lot of people want to use their CRTs for GBA games so I was kinda hoping that would get fixed.

[bobrocks95]

Congrats on what is hopefully the final release Unseen! A noble endeavor completed for the good of humanity, let the component cable prices plummet!

I have been working on adding audio over HDMI. I have my own custom designed PCB for which it is working great (tested on 2 TVs).

There seem to be quite a lot of people here that use a Pluto-IIx board. I have synthesized the code for that board. You can find the code and bitfile attached to this forum post. Note: I do not have a Pluto-IIx, so I have no idea if it works.

Let me know if you tried it.

Now that I've read around and I'm all caught up on this, and HDMI audio is working, I would (personally) say that your board seems like the best option right now. If you were to pre-assemble these and offer them for sale for around $40 or so (of course depending on how much the parts cost and how much time it takes you to solder them) I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

S/PDIF would be nice to have as well, but as long as you've got a pin header/via to the FPGA for it like the Pluto board has, where you can add a buffering circuit if you'd like, that pretty much covers it. An external HDMI audio extractor might be a good option for the lazy, but you'll already have your Gamecube open and be soldering to it...

I guess I'm kind of glad I didn't get around to adding SPDIF since the new release has audio over HDMI.

I updated to 2.0 and tested it on both my television directly and through my receiver. Audio plays via both without a problem, but the widescreen setting doesn't work, so I guess my display doesn't support Enhanced DVI mode.

While connected to my receiver, sometimes changing video modes loses audio, though. I can regain it by opening up the menu and toggling Enhanced DVI mode off and then on again.

Sometimes turning Enhanced DVI mode off loses both audio and video, although I can get it back by turning it on again, but if I accidentally back out of the menu or something and I can't find my way back to that option blind, display is permanently lost unless I reboot the Gamecube. But from a fresh boot, it works fine in either mode.

Those aren't showstoppers or anything, but I just figured I'd mention them.

Unfortunately the issue with the HDMI-to-Component converter is still there. I was hoping something you'd changed would have fixed it, but alas, no such luck. I know a lot of people want to use their CRTs for GBA games so I was kinda hoping that would get fixed.

Did you try upping the video switch delay to see if that helps with any of those desync problems?
Also, doesn't the widescreen setting only apply if enhanced DVI is on?

[darcagn]

Did you try upping the video switch delay to see if that helps with any of those desync problems?

Well, I did have it set to a delay, but I didn't play around with it. However, some of those issues still appeared if I unplugged from the television and into the receiver. e.g. unplugging from the TV and putting it into the receiver would display no picture and would require rebooting the console to get a display.

Also, doesn't the widescreen setting only apply if enhanced DVI is on?

Yes, if you don't have Enhanced DVI mode turned on, it grays out the widescreen setting. Toggling widescreen on/off does nothing, so I'm just assuming my TV doesn't support it.

[Unseen]

I updated to 2.0 and tested it on both my television directly and through my receiver. Audio plays via both without a problem, but the widescreen setting doesn't work, so I guess my display doesn't support Enhanced DVI mode.

If it plays audio, it does support Enhanced DVI. If the widescreen setting doesn't work, you'll unfortunately will need to reach over to your TV's remove and use the aspect button on that instead, which hopefully won't be too inconvenient. ;)

While connected to my receiver, sometimes changing video modes loses audio, though. I can regain it by opening up the menu and toggling Enhanced DVI mode off and then on again.

Ouch, I was hoping that it wouldn't come to that. The enhanced mode still outputs the slightly-too-high sample rate of the Gamecube as-is, but the difference of 800ppm is still within the limit of 1000ppm that devices are supposed to accept. I could add an option to occasionally drop one sample to get the rate spot on, but the last time I tested that it resulted in minor distortions in the output - proper resampling between two sample rates that close is quite hard.

Sometimes turning Enhanced DVI mode off loses both audio and video, although I can get it back by turning it on again, but if I accidentally back out of the menu or something and I can't find my way back to that option blind, display is permanently lost unless I reboot the Gamecube. But from a fresh boot, it works fine in either mode.

So don't do that then? ;) If I had designed my own FPGA board instead of using the KNJN one, I would've added some circuit to control the DDC 5V line from the FPGA to simulate a hot plug event, so maybe this could be added in a future solution.

Unfortunately the issue with the HDMI-to-Component converter is still there. I was hoping something you'd changed would have fixed it, but alas, no such luck. I know a lot of people want to use their CRTs for GBA games so I was kinda hoping that would get fixed. :(

I tried to get a similar one to yours locally, but didn't have much luck yet - the market over here seems to be flodded with the crappy "premium" ones that scale everything to 720p60 or 1080p60. I wonder if your problem really appears only on edges or if it could be reproduced with solid areas that are just the right color - and if so, it would of course be very interesting which exact color that is.

[darcagn]

If it plays audio, it does support Enhanced DVI. If the widescreen setting doesn't work, you'll unfortunately will need to reach over to your TV's remove and use the aspect button on that instead, which hopefully won't be too inconvenient.

Haha, yeah, it's no problem.

Ouch, I was hoping that it wouldn't come to that. The enhanced mode still outputs the slightly-too-high sample rate of the Gamecube as-is, but the difference of 800ppm is still within the limit of 1000ppm that devices are supposed to accept. I could add an option to occasionally drop one sample to get the rate spot on, but the last time I tested that it resulted in minor distortions in the output - proper resampling between two sample rates that close is quite hard.

Gotcha. It's not a showstopper, since I seem to always be able to get the audio back and it only happens during a resolution change (and not even every time).

So don't do that then? If I had designed my own FPGA board instead of using the KNJN one, I would've added some circuit to control the DDC 5V line from the FPGA to simulate a hot plug event, so maybe this could be added in a future solution.

lol, I won't be doing that during normal operation for sure, but I thought I'd mention it just in case it was something that needed reporting.

Unfortunately the issue with the HDMI-to-Component converter is still there. I was hoping something you'd changed would have fixed it, but alas, no such luck. I know a lot of people want to use their CRTs for GBA games so I was kinda hoping that would get fixed.

I tried to get a similar one to yours locally, but didn't have much luck yet - the market over here seems to be flodded with the crappy "premium" ones that scale everything to 720p60 or 1080p60. I wonder if your problem really appears only on edges or if it could be reproduced with solid areas that are just the right color - and if so, it would of course be very interesting which exact color that is.

I'll mess around with Artemio's 240p Test Suite and see if I can come up with any clues; it has a mode where you can set colors. I did notice that it wasn't strictly around the edges of things; I didn't play anything with completely solid colors but I did notice that in shaded areas on the screen it can sometimes appear in the center of the shaded area (where there are still brighter and darker pixels beside it).

[darcagn]

Okay, I messed with 240p Test Suites and I went through a bunch of the tests and noticed nothing wrong in any of them.

I went to the solid screen color test, and messed with the R, G, and B values a bunch and couldn't notice anything until I happened to enter this range of colors. I noticed absolutely nothing in the actual solid color, but where the screen meets the edge, on the last vertical line, I could get the pixels to "dance" like they would on actual games. Maybe this'll give you some sort of clue as to what's happening here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGtGzVerHUM

[Unseen]

I went to the solid screen color test, and messed with the R, G, and B values a bunch and couldn't notice anything until I happened to enter this range of colors. I noticed absolutely nothing in the actual solid color, but where the screen meets the edge, on the last vertical line, I could get the pixels to "dance" like they would on actual games. Maybe this'll give you some sort of clue as to what's happening here.

Thanks! I guess that means that the problem is not a static one in the YUV-to-RGB conversion but something dynamic. Can you try those settings again with a different HDMI cable?

[lev11]

Great update Unseen, audio via enhanced DVI working for me on my 2 x TVs and AV amp, thanks again for doing this.

Though I had a disaster flashing the fpga, heard a sizzle, then identified a familiar funny smell, you might have heard my cries of despair! Looks like I managed to fry the internal power supply by having the cube powered and putting 5v in via the serial cable adapter, or created a short by trying to do it rushing and in a really cramped space.

Unfortunately I missed the update from @meneerbeer so didn't try that version.

[Unseen]

Though I had a disaster flashing the fpga, heard a sizzle, then identified a familiar funny smell, you might have heard my cries of despair! Looks like I managed to fry the internal power supply by having the cube powered and putting 5v in via the serial cable adapter, or created a short by trying to do it rushing and in a really cramped space.

Ouch - at least it wasn't the mainboard.

(my current death toll while working on GCVideo: Two FPGAs, one Cube mainboard, one Mini HDMI Analyzer (repaired))

[lev11]

You've certainly suffered for your art
Is your cube mainboard recoverable? I've one here from cube #2 currently useless unless I can get the power supply board fixed, but whole cubes are so cheap on ebay its almost not worth tinkering with.

[Unseen]

Is your cube mainboard recoverable?

Nope - I accidentally shorted 12V to one of the adjacent pins, which probably killed the graphics chip. Since replacement boards are/were relatively cheap, I used that as an opportunity to convert the system to NTSC.

but whole cubes are so cheap on ebay its almost not worth tinkering with.

Indeed - the one I accidentally killed had cost me just 8 Euros on a flea market

[Xan]

Is 666x448 really what Zelda TP renders at, or is that just a readout error? I know plenty of Cube games used 448 lines but the 666 horizontal res seems odd to me.

[bobrocks95]

If that is the case it's good to finally have definitive proof that game's the devil.

[Unseen]

Is 666x448 really what Zelda TP renders at, or is that just a readout error? I know plenty of Cube games used 448 lines but the 666 horizontal res seems odd to me.

Yes, plenty of cube games use odd horizontal resolutions. Mario Kart Double Dash also outputs 666x448.

[BONKERS]

Sounds pretty similar to the PS2 tbh. Horizontal res can vary drastically

[Xan]

Hmm, I wonder what made them go for this resolution instead of a standard 640x480, which seems nearly identical in terms of fillrate requirements. Maybe this is done so that the flicker filter causes proportionally less quality loss, since there are less lines in the first place, although a downside could be that some tubes might not be fine enough to really show the higher horizontal detail.

Actually I don't remember any black bars on either Zelda TP or MKDD, so maybe these lines are overscanned in the first place on consumer TVs and they just eliminated what most people wouldn't see anyway.

[Unseen]

Hmm, I wonder what made them go for this resolution instead of a standard 640x480, which seems nearly identical in terms of fillrate requirements.

I seem to remember that the graphics chip of the cube is actually limited to 640 pixels horizontal, but can be set up for arbitrary horizontal scaling - so the game might render at even less than 640 pixels horizontally.

Actually I don't remember any black bars on either Zelda TP or MKDD, so maybe these lines are overscanned in the first place on consumer TVs and they just eliminated what most people wouldn't see anyway.

666x448 is about 7.5% smaller horizontally and 6.6% vertically than 720x480, so I would guess that the resulting imge would rarely show its borders on consumer TVs. A PVM-20L2 is specified with 7% overscan.

Some games use "regular" resolutions, for example Phantasy Star Online outputs 640x480. Based on the background image on the main menu I would guess that someone in their art department thought that would mean square pixels as on VGA, even though the Cube uses standard SD timings with 720 pixels per line.

[Woozle]

Got mine up and running! Thanks for designing this unseen, it's such a badass mod.

Question, I want to replace the thermal pads for the gamecube. Any recommended product?
http://imgur.com/KBzwfL1






...guess those SMD resistors didn't matter afterall...

[lev11]

@unseen just checking my facts, the gcvideo board you've done on github is for RGB/Component only, and not DVI? Have you seen any cheaper DVI(HDMI) alternatives to the KNJN pluto board? A user, meneerbeer, claimed to have one on gc-forever but it doesn't look like that has materialised, though maybe just round the corner,

[bobrocks95]

@unseen just checking my facts, the gcvideo board you've done on github is for RGB/Component only, and not DVI? Have you seen any cheaper DVI(HDMI) alternatives to the KNJN pluto board? A user, meneerbeer, claimed to have one on gc-forever but it doesn't look like that has materialised, though maybe just round the corner,

I PM'd meneerbeer and he said he was working on revising his board and would post pictures of the install soon. Guess he/she just hasn't gotten around to it yet.

[lev11]

Cheers, good luck to meneerbeer.