Limited run of 1:2 simultaneous output RGB Scart boxes

[kitty666cats]

I've been in contact with J.S. Technology recently, they've been making all sorts of transcoders etc for ages. I noticed the world's been sorely lacking a simple 1:2 ~ POWERED ~ simultaneous SCART distro amp for a very long time, so I convinced John (the owner) to start developing some again. They had a similar device on their site, but one output was S-Video... nothing with RGB for every port.

There will be more info and more specs coming soon, if anyone is interested. My line of thinking was that this could be good for people who find the Shinybow Matrix and gscartsw to be a bit overkill, and just want to do some relatively casual retro game streaming in RGB.

This is an old photo of one they used to make, this newer release should be a tad different. I mentioned that he could consider including a LM1881 that you can switch on and off, unsure of the final specs. More info to come very soon if anyone is interested!

EDIT:

Also, this newer release will be called the "Active SCART Buffer" instead. Will supply more info when I know!

[BuckoA51]

Very good, I have a SCAMP-2 somewhere and one of Keenes old SCART distributors, they are super useful for comparing e.g OSSC to a CRT etc.

[Gara]

Nice, there has been a gap in the market since Ani-AV discontinued the SB-3715 1x4 and then shortly after the SB-3720 1x8. I haven't seen the Keene 1x5 sold in years. I wish they would bring the 3715 back. It's such a useful piece of equipment

[kitty666cats]

Some additional info from an email:

"Interesting features?   That it includes a sync separator superior to the LM1881 as an option?     It's not been tested, but it should work.  I took the opportunity that since we're getting new boards to add this circuitry to it.   It will be something that you have to reconfigure the board via jumpers to enable.
Looking that we'll do a version with this, and one without.   If it all works fine you're getting the one with.
All the best,
John."

[kitty666cats]

Very good, I have a SCAMP-2 somewhere and one of Keenes old SCART distributors, they are super useful for comparing e.g OSSC to a CRT etc.

I love learning about obscure SCART devices on your site, Bucko. Keene made a lot of funky stuff! That SCART to Component / vice versa with 2 SCART ports is a unique one. There's some good shit on Keene's website on sale right now, some Syncblaster cables and RCA RGBHV/RGBS cables.
Any other cool devices not on your site that there's a list of somewhere? I wonder if Hama has anything as unique as Keene...

[kitty666cats]

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8VzmeVlN4-/

btw here is my meme device, Bucko. Jokes aside I swear by these things for RCA RGBS they are great haha

[Sumez]

I'm very interested!! Especially if they make them with an included LM1881 circuit.

(though it depends somewhat on the final price, and where it ships from)

[energizerfellow‌]

Some additional info from an email:

"Interesting features?   That it includes a sync separator superior to the LM1881 as an option?     It's not been tested, but it should work.  I took the opportunity that since we're getting new boards to add this circuitry to it.   It will be something that you have to reconfigure the board via jumpers to enable.
Looking that we'll do a version with this, and one without.   If it all works fine you're getting the one with.
All the best,
John."

Can you talk to them about using Renesas sync separators instead of TI, the ISL59885 in particular? The Renesas sync separators are better performers than the TI equivalents when it comes to the skewed, off-center images from propagation delay, especially the ISL59885 with its 3 ns propagation delay, which is an order of magnitude less than competitors. The Renesas EL1881 is even a drop-in for the LM1881.

https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/audio-video/video/video-sync-separators/device/ISL59885.html
https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/audio-video/video/video-sync-separators/device/EL1883.html
https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/audio-video/video/video-sync-separators/device/EL1881.html

[kitty666cats]

Some additional info from an email:

"Interesting features?   That it includes a sync separator superior to the LM1881 as an option?     It's not been tested, but it should work.  I took the opportunity that since we're getting new boards to add this circuitry to it.   It will be something that you have to reconfigure the board via jumpers to enable.
Looking that we'll do a version with this, and one without.   If it all works fine you're getting the one with.
All the best,
John."

Can you talk to them about using Renesas sync separators instead of TI, the ISL59885 in particular? The Renesas sync separators are better performers than the TI equivalents when it comes to the skewed, off-center images from propagation delay, especially the ISL59885 with its 3 ns propagation delay, which is an order of magnitude less than competitors. The Renesas EL1881 is even a drop-in for the LM1881.

https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/audio-video/video/video-sync-separators/device/ISL59885.html
https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/audio-video/video/video-sync-separators/device/EL1883.html
https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/audio-video/video/video-sync-separators/device/EL1881.html

Sure thing! Hopefully it's not too late, will email right now.

[kitty666cats]

Some additional info from an email:

"Interesting features?   That it includes a sync separator superior to the LM1881 as an option?     It's not been tested, but it should work.  I took the opportunity that since we're getting new boards to add this circuitry to it.   It will be something that you have to reconfigure the board via jumpers to enable.
Looking that we'll do a version with this, and one without.   If it all works fine you're getting the one with.
All the best,
John."

Can you talk to them about using Renesas sync separators instead of TI, the ISL59885 in particular? The Renesas sync separators are better performers than the TI equivalents when it comes to the skewed, off-center images from propagation delay, especially the ISL59885 with its 3 ns propagation delay, which is an order of magnitude less than competitors. The Renesas EL1881 is even a drop-in for the LM1881.

https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/audio-video/video/video-sync-separators/device/ISL59885.html
https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/audio-video/video/video-sync-separators/device/EL1883.html
https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/audio-video/video/video-sync-separators/device/EL1881.html

Sure thing! Hopefully it's not too late, will email right now.

I heard back from him, he said he could make that happen!

Response was:

"Hi Mike,



Interesting one. Renesas is a company which took over the company which took over the company that did the best sync separators.



I was going to use an alternative from them, one we have good history of using and has proven to be utterly reliable, but I can put that one in if you wish. The only compelling advantage to use this one is the ability to work with HD signals.



All the best,



John."

I told him that I'd say go for it, but that it's ultimately up to him.

I hope quite a few folks order this thing, it's mind-blowing how cool this guy is with my un-knowledgeable self just playing middle man making suggestions

[Link83]

The only compelling advantage to use this one is the ability to work with HD signals.

Hmm, might the original choice actually be a better Renesas model? Can he reveal the part number to check the specifcations? HD signal support would be nice to have.

[kitty666cats]

The only compelling advantage to use this one is the ability to work with HD signals.

Hmm, might the original choice actually be a better Renesas model? Can he reveal the part number to check the specifcations? HD signal support would be nice to have.

I consulted with Linuxbot3000 and he said that JS Tech's original choice was the better bet. I let them know. I trust Jam's opinion because he makes awesome transcoders, haha. Just got his YPbPr to dsub15 RGBS/RGBHV in the mail today and it rules. As well as his cards for JVC monitors :3

[energizerfellow‌]

The only compelling advantage to use this one is the ability to work with HD signals.

Hmm, might the original choice actually be a better Renesas model? Can he reveal the part number to check the specifcations? HD signal support would be nice to have.

I consulted with Linuxbot3000 and he said that JS Tech's original choice was the better bet. I let them know. I trust Jam's opinion because he makes awesome transcoders, haha. Just got his YPbPr to dsub15 RGBS/RGBHV in the mail today and it rules. As well as his cards for JVC monitors :3

RGB, the guy behind the HAS supergun, did a bunch of sync chip benchmarks and the ISL59885 is what's in the HAS. You can reach out to him if you want more details.

[strayan]

Just got his YPbPr to dsub15 RGBS/RGBHV in the mail today and it rules.

Got a link?

[kitty666cats]

Just got his YPbPr to dsub15 RGBS/RGBHV in the mail today and it rules.

Got a link?

His website is wakabavideo.com but it's pretty barren at the moment, I would suggest just looking up his eBay (linuxbot3000)

@energizerfellow‌ , I am quite torn on the subject. You could perhaps try contacting J.S. Tech about this upcoming product run and try to special order a unit with that particular sync chip. The owner, John, is incredibly friendly and I've had many pleasant e-mails back and forth with him during this whole process. It's real cool that we may potentially be breathing some fresh life & lots of business into a relatively obscure tech company.

I think perhaps any interested parties should start posting in here if they're indeed interested in buying one of these boxes to gauge interest. I believe I paid John somewhere in the ballpark of 60 (or less) Euro for my pre-ordered device, and that includes shipping to the USA. Anyone interested should feel free to e-mail their site, incredibly nice customer service

[kitty666cats]

Just an update, John finally got the PCBs ( Coronavirus delayed things quite a bit ) for these. The e-mail address is on their site http://www.js-technology.com/store/

I'm not certain yet if they are going to post this run on the site, but I'd say go ahead and shoot them a message if you'd like one

[Sumez]

Any idea about the price range? Did I miss that?

[kitty666cats]

Any idea about the price range? Did I miss that?

I paid him quite a while back to initiate the production run, I believe it ended up around $70 USD, as he's shipping it to me in America. I would imagine Europe shipping would be a little lower, but I'm not sure of regulations out there thanks to Brexit and such. Feel free to send them an e-mail, they are very cordial and quick to respond

[kitty666cats]

"The only thing we're late on just now is a power supply. We have 9V ones but I think it will need a 12V one. The original design used a 9V unregulated power supply, and because it wasn't loaded too much it would float up giving a higher voltage. New ones are switching supplies and they are all pretty close to their stated output. I've just ordered up 12V ones and the reason why I've only just done this is that the suppliers weren't fulfilling orders until now.


I'll test with a 9V supply, but I'm sure it's below what some of the parts will need to work (there's a lot going on inside with the power), but you may have to supply your own power supply if these don't come in within a week. I'm not even sure if we have 12V of a different type that you could use with an adaptor. I use 9V PSUs in many of the products now because when you've got voltage regulators they tend to waste power as they act like a big resistor burning up energy. So if you need 5 and are using 9V you have a typical drop of 1.5V leaving 1.5V * current wasted. Increase that to 12V and you get 4.5 * current wasted. That's a rough calculation to highlight that voltage regulation isn't free! Hence why closer to the voltage you need the better."

So, it looks like these will be ready in about a week or less!

[Sumez]

Thanks, I dropped them a mail

[kitty666cats]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... HJx69aQhPQ

Here's a picture of the finished product, and a 2-page manual with plenty of information!

[kitty666cats]

http://www.js-technology.com/store/prod ... product=59

Up for sale now!

Cleans up my PS1 sync on luma cable wonderfully, can't wait to use it in many more applications

[Sumez]

Apparently the video is buffered?
Am I reading this wrong if I'm assuming that means some kind of lag is to be expected when compared to a regular non-split signal?

[kitty666cats]

Apparently the video is buffered?
Am I reading this wrong if I'm assuming that means some kind of lag is to be expected when compared to a regular non-split signal?

I noticed no lag at all between my 15kHz JVC and PS1>OSSC>VGA presentation monitor (except for the OSSC's resolution changes). I think he may be using the term 'buffer' moreso as 'amplified'...? As in, no signal loss.

EDIT:

https://www.reddit.com/r/crtgaming/comm ... _released/

Here is a quick video of it set up on those two monitors, I can take another video later showing the lack of lag

[Sumez]

For my purpose, I'm not interested in how much lag is measured or "noticeable" (unless of course the measurement is a resounding 0), but whether it's technically there at all.
I know it sounds picky, but for a tournament setup I can't be responsible for anything that can be argued to potentially affect people's performance at all. I'll get in touch with the guy that makes this though, on the subject. Have already talked to them.

[Ryoandr]

It's a buffer amplifier, which will not introduce lag.

[Sumez]

Thanks! What's the difference from something like a regular (like Shinybow etc) amplified splitter? Is it just semantics?

[Ryoandr]

same function, different terms.

[ldeveraux]

Could someone explain what the sync separator option is? It's mentioned above, but not it's overall function or why I'd need it.

[Sumez]

It's useful if you're doing video capture via analog VGA inputs. You need a separated sync channel for that.