Questions that do not deserve a thread

[vol.2]

Anyone know about using older extron interfaces, like the 202 plus? It appears to only have a de-9 input, so EGA. They claim to also do analog(EGA is TTL), so I would assume that I can just make an adaptor? It looks like they make some kind of buffer that can plug into them for local monitor output, but I'm not sure.
Any thoughts?

[FinalBaton]

Orange808 on here said that he used an older Extron withthe 9-pin connector with no problem. All he had to do was to buy an Extron branded 9-pin to HD-15 cable (maybe there's a specific name for the cable that I'm missing. You could always ask him).

I also thought that these connectors did EGA color only, but it looks like they do full range RGB just fine!

[KaizaCorp]

@buttersoft,

Ah okay, that makes sense. It is 16:9 and is 1080i capable I believe, so unfortunately there will be some processing thank you for the reply!

[linko9]

To go from VGA output to an analog DVI input, would a simple adapter like this work?


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000 ... PDKIKX0DER

Everything I see is advertised as DVI > VGA and not the other way around, and some even specifically say it won't work the other way around. But maybe they just say that in case people try to connect it to a digital DVI input.

[buttersoft]

To go from VGA output to an analog DVI input, would a simple adapter like this work?

Should work, I imagine. Looks like the right pins just pass straight through, save that the Hot Plug is wired into the 5V line, I think. You may be right about the recommendation being so people don't try it on DVI-D. Which I think would just do nothing at all.

DVI input on a TV?

[Chomolonzo]

Fixed the audio issue with my Extron going into the receiver. I'd plugged it into an output located directly below the inputs. Morphine's a hell of a drug.

[vol.2]

Orange808 on here said that he used an older Extron withthe 9-pin connector with no problem. All he had to do was to buy an Extron branded 9-pin to HD-15 cable (maybe there's a specific name for the cable that I'm missing. You could always ask him).

I also thought that these connectors did EGA color only, but it looks like they do full range RGB just fine!

Okay. I thought as much. I'll ask him.

[zimes]

So I'm going to be buying a PS4 slim soon, which doesn't have an audio optical out. My current receiver doesn't have HDMI inputs so I'm reliant on stereo sound. Is there a good and affordable HDMI audio extractor digital to analog converter that people would recommend?

[Ikaruga11]

What are the best speakers that are magnetically shielded and have HDMI inputs or some way of accepting digital inputs?

[linko9]

Should work, I imagine. Looks like the right pins just pass straight through, save that the Hot Plug is wired into the 5V line, I think. You may be right about the recommendation being so people don't try it on DVI-D. Which I think would just do nothing at all.

DVI input on a TV?

Thanks! Looking to go from a SNES to a capture card with only DVI and HDMI inputs. So hoping SCART > VGA into this VGA > DVI will work. I know for a fact that people have used this card (PEXHDCAP) to successfully capture SNES using a "vga > dvi adapter" and just want to make sure that this item would work as such.

[vol.2]

What are the best speakers that are magnetically shielded and have HDMI inputs or some way of accepting digital inputs?

Edit: just to actually answer the question you give, here is an example of what you asked about that I would consider very good, but not exactly "the best."

http://www.zzounds.com/item--JBLLSR4328 ... CQJLw_wcB=

These monitors are like $1500, and they would kick ass, but it's probably overkill for what you want. Quality will be commensurate with price.
The point of the rest of my reply is that you can get similar results from a different approach at lower cost. Especially if you can live without the sheilding.

Magnetic shielding is going to limit your choices. If you can stand to place them away from the TV a little, it shouldn't matter. I currently run two speakers about 2 feet on either side of my PMV and I'm completely happy with it. If I wanted sound to appear closer to the monitor, I would use a center channel speaker. Center channels are usually shielded very well, but you need a receiver that will decode 3.1 or something for you. That has the benefit of it's own DAC.

Another approach, if you want best, trying to all the features your looking for in one place isn't a good strategy. Get a HDMI audio breakout adapter, then get a DAC with a decent reputation, and then get powered monitors. I like JBL stuff.

This is all really dependant on your budget and space limitations and time. How far down this endless rabbit hole of audiophile do you want to go?

[ahaddow]

Random question:
Since we all seem to be pixel peepers here, has anyone gone to the trouble of keeping a 720p monitor around for the PS3 generation?
PS3, 360, and Wii U generally upscale their games to 1080p and render at a lower resolution.

Basically 99% of people won't care or notice this, but my brother used to have a 720p plasma monitor and PS3 games looked way sharper than they do on my current 1080p set. Not running content at the native resolution of the display always bugs me and never looks quite right. This case is obviously not as extreme as trying to run retro consoles on a modern display, but I think there is a difference. I find it's mostly noticeable for stuff like onscreen text in RPGs, and UI elements.

Anyone else care about this enough to have a dedicated monitor for 7th gen consoles? I feel like if I asked about this anywhere else on the internet I will get my head bit off.

[orange808]

I've never personally seen a "720p" television that wasn't 768p.

So, native resolution with a PS3 is out the window.

[kamiboy]

Hardly any previous generation game rendered at the actual 720p resolution anyway. They often rendered at some oddball internal resolution, for performance, then scaled that to the output resolution internally.

It is a crapshoot, and seeing as how that was the generation that killed my interest in new games because of the rise of western developed games and fall of Japanese developers whom I loved, I am not going to go out of my way to honour it.

[KaizaCorp]

@ buttersoft,

Would I be okay if I were to use this TV for a 360?

I noticed a couple interesting things in the manuals:

There is a Digital Options (Eye Fidelity) setting that gives a choice of two scanning modes, but with no off setting!
However there is this...

...
The Digital Options (Eye Fidelity) Control is not available for use with the AV4 input jacks.

There is a FORMAT option to allow you to set it to 4:3, and a bunch of different widescreen and zoom options.

...
The FORMAT control is not available for use if 1080i signal is detected.

So it seems if I'm connected via AV4 input jacks, have the FORMAT set to 4:3, and am not outputting 1080i, I'd have the least amount of lag. AV4 only has inputs for component. I'm hoping I could connect the 360 to AV4 using component and the lag wouldn't be too bad?

[tacoguy64]

There really shouldn't be any issues with that generation of consoles on any 1080p/720p tv set. Or at least non that i'm aware of. Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 up-scaled from a lower resolution to match HDTV sets.

[Xyga]

As as said not long ago with 'HD-Ready' displays (called '720p' but actually 1366x768) we have two possibilities:

. Set '720p' as the console's output resolution -> the TV will upscale 1280x720 to the panel's 1366x768 native resolution with mixed results, completely dependent on the set's built-in scaler's perfomance.
. Or select '1360x768' -> which will be detected as a 'PC resolution' mode by most sets in existence and disable all forced scaling and image processing on top of the source that'd hurt image quality. Depending on the set this mode either triggers automatically or has to be activated through the TV's settings.

Though with some really old sets I remember things would not always go very well, because some manufacturers made the extremely stupid choice of forcing image processing even over PC resolutions, on the HDMI or VGA input, if not both (nightmare scenario but I've seen it).

[Shoryukev]

It's been a long time since I've owned an xbox 360 (multiple RRoD's since I had a near launch console), but I remember there being a 1360x768 resolution available if you were using a VGA cable. Not sure if that helps or not, ideally you're looking for a 720p image inside a 768 border right?

[kamiboy]

Ideally you would want the original resolution of the game as rendered internally inside a 720 window. But that is impossible, so as to render all subsequent efforts moot.

[bobrocks95]

There are a few odd plasma displays that were true 720p, but as people have said that won't eliminate the scaling that a ton of games do.

[KaizaCorp]

Okay, thanks for the replies everyone! Sorry for repeating old questions!

[Chomolonzo]

I'm having a peculiar problem with my front loader NES. Just got it back with the NESRGB mod installed with the component output add-on board, and as far as I can tell it works fine... with just two of my games. Mario Bros. 3 and Metroid. The NES is a Mattel PAL unit and has had the lockout chip disabled so that it's region free. Before the NESRGB mod was installed, I managed to get it to play all my games - a mix of PAL and NTSC games - at least once.

Running the video signal through the RGB mod displays a blank screen. Running video through the NES' old composite output produces the grey screen. I've pushed the cartridge down as far as it will go and turned it on, same result. I've removed the tray and inserted the cart directly into the pin connector and pushed it down, same result. None of these games will work.

Mario 3 and Metroid, however, both work flawlessly. Mario 3 is PAL, and Metroid is NTSC to boot, so I don't think it's a region problem. This is doing my head in - can anyone shed some light on what the issue might be?

I should also say that the pin connector has been cleaned and the pins bent back into position. All the cartridges have had their contacts cleaned as well.

[orange808]

I'm having a peculiar problem with my front loader NES. Just got it back with the NESRGB mod installed with the component output add-on board, and as far as I can tell it works fine... with just two of my games. Mario Bros. 3 and Metroid. The NES is a Mattel PAL unit and has had the lockout chip disabled so that it's region free. Before the NESRGB mod was installed, I managed to get it to play all my games - a mix of PAL and NTSC games - at least once.

Running the video signal through the RGB mod displays a blank screen. Running video through the NES' old composite output produces the grey screen. I've pushed the cartridge down as far as it will go and turned it on, same result. I've removed the tray and inserted the cart directly into the pin connector and pushed it down, same result. None of these games will work.

Mario 3 and Metroid, however, both work flawlessly. Mario 3 is PAL, and Metroid is NTSC to boot, so I don't think it's a region problem. This is doing my head in - can anyone shed some light on what the issue might be?

I should also say that the pin connector has been cleaned and the pins bent back into position. All the cartridges have had their contacts cleaned as well.

Blinking Light Win

[vol.2]

I'm having a peculiar problem with my front loader NES. Just got it back with the NESRGB mod installed with the component output add-on board, and as far as I can tell it works fine... with just two of my games. Mario Bros. 3 and Metroid. The NES is a Mattel PAL unit and has had the lockout chip disabled so that it's region free. Before the NESRGB mod was installed, I managed to get it to play all my games - a mix of PAL and NTSC games - at least once.

Running the video signal through the RGB mod displays a blank screen. Running video through the NES' old composite output produces the grey screen. I've pushed the cartridge down as far as it will go and turned it on, same result. I've removed the tray and inserted the cart directly into the pin connector and pushed it down, same result. None of these games will work.

Mario 3 and Metroid, however, both work flawlessly. Mario 3 is PAL, and Metroid is NTSC to boot, so I don't think it's a region problem. This is doing my head in - can anyone shed some light on what the issue might be?

I should also say that the pin connector has been cleaned and the pins bent back into position. All the cartridges have had their contacts cleaned as well.

Blinking Light Win

shit. i was going to say that, but i figured it would have been done during the course of the (2) mods he did.

[copy]

The Blinking Light Win should really be mandatory now, to my way of thinking.

[Chomolonzo]

I have actually, as of just now, brought in my buddy's two working NES units. Tried all my games on them. All work fine. Pulled his pin connector out and put it in mine - still has the same problem in only playing Metroid and Mario 3. Put my pin connector in his NES. Plays all my games. So the pin connector is fine... there must be a problem on the mainboard or something. Maybe a damaged trace or something?

[Ikaruga11]

Can the N64 output UltraHDMI and analog RGB signals at the same time?

Can the GameCube output GCVideo and analog component at the same time?

[vol.2]

I have actually, as of just now, brought in my buddy's two working NES units. Tried all my games on them. All work fine. Pulled his pin connector out and put it in mine - still has the same problem in only playing Metroid and Mario 3. Put my pin connector in his NES. Plays all my games. So the pin connector is fine... there must be a problem on the mainboard or something. Maybe a damaged trace or something?

As orange808 mentioned, check for the "blinking light win". (Lockout chip) look it up if you are unfamiliar. If it's been done, disregard.

[Chomolonzo]

I have actually, as of just now, brought in my buddy's two working NES units. Tried all my games on them. All work fine. Pulled his pin connector out and put it in mine - still has the same problem in only playing Metroid and Mario 3. Put my pin connector in his NES. Plays all my games. So the pin connector is fine... there must be a problem on the mainboard or something. Maybe a damaged trace or something?

As orange808 mentioned, check for the "blinking light win". (Lockout chip) look it up if you are unfamiliar. If it's been done, disregard.

I have looked it up... but if other working pin connectors still produce the problem, and the pin connector from my unit works in other units, AND the two games that do work are from a mix of PAL and NTSC regions since my lockout chip is disabled, then surely the problem lies elsewhere and getting a pin connector/lockout chip replacement isn't going to fix the problem?

I don't know, does the Blinking Light Win do more than fix the pin connector and lockout chip issue? I don't get the blinking light problem - just a solid grey screen if try to play any game other than Metroid or Mario 3 using its original composite output. Through the component output it's just black.

Furthermore... I think it was a different unit that played all of my games before the mod was installed (I had three sitting here) and I may have tested it pre-mod with just Mario 3.

[peterwright1234]

I get a ghosty double image when I hook up my pc outputting 720p through hdmi to a converter box with component out displaying on my bvm d24. The display is also cut off as in it is too large for the bvm screen. What can I do to properly display my pc on my bvm?