Official DC VGA Box only outputs 15khz...wtf?!

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Somatzu
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Official DC VGA Box only outputs 15khz...wtf?!

Post by Somatzu »

Well, I've run into quite an interesting problem - either that or I'm missing something looking me right in the face...you decide :!:

I have one of those officially manufactured, first party DC VGA boxes. I've had it for years, and one peculiar thing about it was that the dang thing never worked with my LCD TV as it would display in fine Engrish "not support!" every time I tried. Some time later I got myself a nice gaming projector and it worked like a charm, no issue at all.

Well, as I'm sure has happened to countless others here, it was only a matter of time before I couldn't play DC on a 100' projector without holding my vomit, even with the VGA box rock'n'rollin without issue, the picture still suffered from being so blown up and me not having that much space in my basement to sit further back. So, that ruled out my gaming projector.

Then I got my hands on a Lacie Blue Electron 22 III and I fell in love with it! I even sold off my ROG Swift - I know, what a sucker I am, right? Well the ROG never had any VGA inputs anyway, so it was a win for all retro gamers everywhere - you guys can appreciate that.

Well that ol' VGA port on the Lacie dun didn't like my VGA box none. In fact, that nice Electron Blue was the first monitor to flash me a warning and tell me the DC VGA box was outputting at an unsupported vertical refresh rate of 15khz. I looked at that and went "...huh, wonder what the hell that means." I looked it up.

So, now I see that the Lacie needs a 31khz signal, but my DC VGA box buddy is only outputting 15khz. That's probably why that other LCD TV mentioned earlier, was screaming "Not support!" at me because it only reads a 31khz VGA signal, right? Then I checked the info on my projector while the DC was plugged in and it read "15khz" as the vertical refresh rate. There was my pudding.

Did some internet research that did nothing but give me harebrained ideas and a wasted drive to Radio Shack...but got some good BBQ on the way back.

Now after reading a bunch more, I see that most people are actually trying to get the DC VGA box to output 15khz through mods and what not while I have the opposite problem of trying to output 31khz. According to my 6-hour old knowledge of electricity and such, pins 6 & 7 in the box must be "grounded". Well, I popped that sucker open and there were no parties or horsing around going on - everything was in perfect order.

Now I hear about this one sucker called the Hanzo which seems to be like a dream come true for a poor, downtrodden retro feller like meself. But I know its gonna cost me, and I'll be halfway through Moby Dick before I can buy one, and I want to play Shenmue...NOW! :twisted: So, I may put that VGA box up on ebay and let whoever know that it only outputs at 15khz so they know what they're getting into. In fact, it seems like a lot of people run into this problem but don't really understand it. I've read lots of comments on other forums, on youtube and in amazon reviews of people who ordered a Retrobit or a Tommee VGA cable saying "I have a black screen!" "Sound but no picture!" and even a "not support!" or two :wink:

Anyways, I assume the issue they have is the same as mine: the cable only supports one frequency while their television only reads another, correct?

I may decide to sell it to raise cash for the Hanzo, but wanted to check a few places first.

Thanks! :D
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nZero
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Re: Official DC VGA Box only outputs 15khz...wtf?!

Post by nZero »

What game(s) are you trying to play?
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BuckoA51
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Re: Official DC VGA Box only outputs 15khz...wtf?!

Post by BuckoA51 »

Official DC VGA box should never let you boot in 15khz. Have you tried it on another Dreamcast? It may be an internal problem on the console.
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BazookaBen
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Re: Official DC VGA Box only outputs 15khz...wtf?!

Post by BazookaBen »

I didn't read your post but my Retrobit VGA box will run in 15hz mode if it's not plugged in all the way on the dreamcast end. Not sure which pin wasn't making the connection.
mvsfan
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Re: Official DC VGA Box only outputs 15khz...wtf?!

Post by mvsfan »

the wire going to pin 6 and 7 in the dreamcast end of the cable could be broken.

thats what selects 31khz VGA. it needs to be grounded.
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