Koryuu (Composite & S-Video to YPbPr Transcoder) Coming 2020

[ldeveraux]

Is there a recommended programmer (from Amazon)? I'm sorta new to this. I was thinking this thing looked so much like the OSSC that it had a micro SD, but I know that's not the case.

Would this work?
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XF5HK3K

[DirkSwizzler]

Is there a recommended programmer (from Amazon)? I'm sorta new to this. I was thinking this thing looked so much like the OSSC that it had a micro SD, but I know that's not the case.

Would this work?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XF5HK3K

I'm not an expert. But I also asked if a usb blaster used for JTAG would work and was informed that it would not.

I ended up buying this but haven't actually tried it yet. for ATMEL 51 AVR USB ISP ASP Microcontroller Programmer Downloader with Cable + 10Pin to 6Pin Adapter Board Geekstory

[ldeveraux]

Hi everyone!

I finally got around implementing something a few people asked for:

• S-Video input (with pedestal) as default
• When there is no sync on the current input, the Koryuu outputs no signal.

You can use a suitable AVR ISP programmer and avrdude to update the firmware, like so:

Code: Select all

avrdude -p atmega328p -P your_port -c your_programmer_type -U flash:w:firmware.hex

(The parameters your_port and your_programmer_type depend on your setup and programmer.)

Sorry for the terse instructions. I intend to create better ones soon.

As for some other things people have asked for:

• Remembering the input last used before power-off: doable, easy, some thinking to avoid needless nonvolatile memory wear, a little bit of work to implement
• Any other settings you might be interested in saving?
• Auto-selecting input by polling both inputs: doable, not difficult, may require some code reorganization for maintainability purposes.

I have a couple programmers to try, never done this before. Is there a tut to follow yet? I don't want to bork my new Koryuu!

[BuckoA51]

I should probably write up my tutorial on how to flash this thing on the wiki but it's been a bit of a busy year thus far so I've not had chance.

[megari]

Is there a recommended programmer (from Amazon)? I'm sorta new to this. I was thinking this thing looked so much like the OSSC that it had a micro SD, but I know that's not the case.

Would this work?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XF5HK3K

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the right kind of programmer. It is for Xilinx FPGAs/CPLDs, I believe.

[ldeveraux]

Is there a recommended programmer (from Amazon)? I'm sorta new to this. I was thinking this thing looked so much like the OSSC that it had a micro SD, but I know that's not the case.

Would this work?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XF5HK3K

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the right kind of programmer. It is for Xilinx FPGAs/CPLDs, I believe.

OK, well I bought 2 others, hopefully one will work! Still not going to potentially brick the Koryuu (I will... probably brick it) without a tutorial, however generic it may be.

[megari]

Is there a recommended programmer (from Amazon)? I'm sorta new to this. I was thinking this thing looked so much like the OSSC that it had a micro SD, but I know that's not the case.

Would this work?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XF5HK3K

I'm not an expert. But I also asked if a usb blaster used for JTAG would work and was informed that it would not.

I ended up buying this but haven't actually tried it yet. for ATMEL 51 AVR USB ISP ASP Microcontroller Programmer Downloader with Cable + 10Pin to 6Pin Adapter Board Geekstory

That one should be fine in principle, but the seller seems to be telling people that it won't work for atmega328p, although he is later contradicted by another person.

Basically, any USB ISP / USB ASP AVR programmer with a 6-pin ICSP connector should be fine, but please make sure that atmega328p is supported.

DigiKey has several suitable programmers, for instance: search for AVR programmers. The one I use is a bit on the more expensive side, but has been reliable: Olimex AVR-ISP-MK2

Several hobby electronics shops carry some variation of the most popular programmer implementations: SparkFun and Pololu, for instance.

eBay also has a wide selection of cheap Chinese programmers: avrisp, usbasp, usbisp (YMMV, reliability may not be guaranteed)

Two important points when using a programmer with the Koryuu:

• Logic high must be set to 5V (usually the default)
• Target mode must be off (that is, the programmer should not attempt to provide power over the ICSP cable), lest you wear out the components on the programmer, the PSU or both, as they both will attempt to provide power over the 5V rail.

[ldeveraux]

Is there a recommended programmer (from Amazon)? I'm sorta new to this. I was thinking this thing looked so much like the OSSC that it had a micro SD, but I know that's not the case.

Would this work?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XF5HK3K

I'm not an expert. But I also asked if a usb blaster used for JTAG would work and was informed that it would not.

I ended up buying this but haven't actually tried it yet. for ATMEL 51 AVR USB ISP ASP Microcontroller Programmer Downloader with Cable + 10Pin to 6Pin Adapter Board Geekstory

That one should be fine in principle, but the seller seems to be telling people that it won't work for atmega328p, although he is later contradicted by another person.

Basically, any USB ISP / USB ASP AVR programmer with a 6-pin ICSP connector should be fine, but please make sure that atmega328p is supported.

DigiKey has several suitable programmers, for instance: search for AVR programmers. The one I use is a bit on the more expensive side, but has been reliable: Olimex AVR-ISP-MK2

Several hobby electronics shops carry some variation of the most popular programmer implementations: SparkFun and Pololu, for instance.

eBay also has a wide selection of cheap Chinese programmers: avrisp, usbasp, usbisp (YMMV, reliability may not be guaranteed)

Two important points when using a programmer with the Koryuu:

• Logic high must be set to 5V (usually the default)
• Target mode must be off (that is, the programmer should not attempt to provide power over the ICSP cable), lest you wear out the components on the programmer, the PSU or both, as they both will attempt to provide power over the 5V rail.

Did anyone write a quick tutorial yet?

[kitty666cats]

I forgot to mention this the other day, but I've verified that this odd device of mine 'breaks' 240p and seems only to output 480i -

I've heard that the generic one made by CYP / Cypress does the exact some thing. It's sold by many other companies, I'm sure many have seen it -

I'm not sure how many other non-scaling CVBS+SVID to YPbPr/RGsB transcoders are out there, but these two seem to be the only readily-available ones (and the svideo.com one is laughably expensive, I only got mine because it was $40 new on eBay) besides the Koryuu. The Koryuu outputs 240p properly, and is only the tiniest bit more expensive than the Cypress + way cheaper than that svideo.com epoxy brick.

Kudos to the Koryuu! I'll have to check it out sometime.

p.s. I WILL give some credit to my svideo.com transcoder, I used it with a Laserdisc player on my JVC TM-H150CG and it, well... it didn't look worse than the native composite. I also used it with the linuxbot3000 YPbPr to RGBHV/RGBS transcoder, thus forming a CVBS>YPbPr>RGBHV conversion. The twice-transcoded RGBHV looked, in my eyes, a tad better than the native CVBS!

[BuckoA51]

Yeah we actually approached S-video.com about their transcoder as on their website they make it sound like the 2nd coming or something but they confirmed the 240p issue with it and couldn't find a fix.

The generic one is definitely not 240p compatible either, I had one in to try, just causes the picture to roll constantly, like a old CRT with the vertical hold out of whack.

[kitty666cats]

Yeah we actually approached S-video.com about their transcoder as on their website they make it sound like the 2nd coming or something but they confirmed the 240p issue with it and couldn't find a fix.

The generic one is definitely not 240p compatible either, I had one in to try, just causes the picture to roll constantly, like a old CRT with the vertical hold out of whack.

Heh, yeah I've seen your old review of those things on VGP, not at all surprised that it sucked. Cypress (I believe they're the OG creator of a ton of these generic transcoders/converters/etc...?) makes a few good devices, but it seems like most of them are pretty much rubbish. I AM curious about this one, never heard of anyone trying it out. It's essentially the progenitor Sync Strike, sans audio, from the looks of it:

https://www.cypconverters.com.au/video- ... -2200.html

The S-Video thing is, from all I've seen out of it so far, crap! I temporarily mailed mine to that transcoder/JVC RGB card guy linuxbot3000 on eBay a while back. I couldn't make a single dent trying to open it up and peek inside, and he wanted to take a crack at it. No dice, whatsoever. The thing is one hell of an epoxy prick, guarded like a mafia don's virgin daughter xD Their asking price on the website is absolutely insane! Whatever's in there, I doubt it's anything more special than the Cypress box. Hell, it could very well be the exact same thing, taken apart and rearranged

What I AM curious about is maybe trying a Kramer FC-10 with a NES, VCR or LaserDisc player, and THEN pumping that into the S-video box. Just for kicks, really, I mostly want a Kramer FC-10 just to see if it will work wonderfully with my LD player.

So yeah, the S-video box is a FEASIBLE frontend for the OSSC if one comes across a unit for dirt cheap, but I def want to try you guys' Koryuu one of these days

[orange808]

The Kramer FC-10 isn't good for much of anything. It's a paperweight or doorstop.

[kitty666cats]

The Kramer FC-10 isn't good for much of anything. It's a paperweight or doorstop.

Damn, well, whoever wrote this piece should most def be a sales rep for Kramer -

http://amoddinghomecompanion.blogspot.c ... esome.html





They make it look damnnnnn good! Mostly in the Contra 2 shots, not as wowed by the MM2 pics. Was gonna nab one for some of my old 80s Trinitrons, or for my LD player.

I'll take your word for it and save my $15, in that case. Can I keep my FC-14? :p

[fernan1234]

That looks like a comparison between RF and composite. Then again it's been decades since I must have used a TV set without a comb filter, so I can't even remember what composite looks like without it. A PVM without a comb filter must be ancient.

[orange808]

They make it look damnnnnn good! Mostly in the Contra 2 shots, not as wowed by the MM2 pics. Was gonna nab one for some of my old 80s Trinitrons, or for my LD player.

I'll take your word for it and save my $15, in that case. Can I keep my FC-14? :p

I don't know what setting the person that made those pics used, but the dot crawl and fringing looks pretty bad.

The shimmering and sparkling from that game in motion would be hard to look at. Looks like they really turned up the sharpness.

Not that Koryuu has outstanding comb filter performance. It doesn't. Then again, I never expected it to match the quality of a frame buffered solution. In my opinion, the Koryuu still outperforms the stand alone comb filters that Extron and Kramer sold. Koryuu was designed with games in mind and it shows.

I'm not sure who the FC-10 was designed to please. It isn't good for much of anything.

For video, there are multiple DVD recorders and some Faroudja units that absolutely wipe the floor with the FC-10. It's not even close.

[kitty666cats]

Mm, I suppose when I said they make it look 'damn good', I meant moreso looking at the comparison shots. When I look at the (proverbial) bigger picture, none of those screenshots are really hot tamales. I'm just a sucker & putting Kramer on a pedestal I guess, the only Kramer device I own is the FC-14 and that thing obviously blew me away when I first used it.

[mikechi2]

Can someone explain to me how a comb filter would even work for a NES, given that the phase shift on each line is 120 degrees and not 180 degrees?

Serious question, I've been wracking my brain and it bothers me that a comb filter does look like it cleans up the NES composite but the theory doesn't pan out.

[kitty666cats]

For video, there are multiple DVD recorders

Any particular brands I should keep an eye out for at thrift stores/Craigslist etc? AVR / entry-level video processor brands also applicable. I very recently nabbed a very large (VGA) CRT presentation monitor, I DO have an OSSC and GBS8200 but have been meaning to pick up a lil' something more cinema-oriented. Denon and Onkyo AVRs pop up at my local thrift stores every now and then, I'm planning on scooping one up next time I see one. But a recommendation for some other affordable brands would be great!

Actually, on that note, Mikey Chi-dawg I seem to recall seeing you post something about optimal Laserdisc settings for either your 2x or 2x Pro recently. Forget if it was an article on your site / a YouTube video / etc... hmmmm! Choices, choices...

[mikechi2]

The new 2X Pro and the latest rev of the Classic has an 'Auto' setting which enables the comb filter on the video decoder and better for LDs. But it's still a 5-line 2D filter. Passable but not great. The composite output on my 20 year old FV310 is noticeably cleaner. You're much better off with a good DVD-recorder, which almost surely has a 3D filter.

For VHS, the resolution is so low, I doubt a filter makes a difference. Best would be to get a deck with a s-video output.

[kitty666cats]

Ah, I forgot the Key Digital KD-VP6 exists. That thing looks a hell of a lot more promising than the other units I mentioned, but I'm not exactly clear on the passthrough mode supporting 240p or not. The thing has scaling built in anyway, so I would kinda lump it into a separate category from the CYP and S-Video devices. Was really specifically just trying to think up the devices that do NOT scale. I'm quite curious why Cypress chargers more for the scaling boxes versus the non-scaling, heh.

Anyhoo, definitely looking forward to toying around with the Koryuu one of these days! I bought a faux-'stereo' modded NES from a 'for parts' pile of consoles at a game store a while back, but the VIDEO out is screwy and looks about as wavey as T&C Surf Designs on a road trip with California Games. Once I get it fixed up, before (if at all) applying any sort of RGB mod, it would be very fun comparing some of these devices side-by-side

[mikechi2]

This kit is suppose to have one of the best composite decoders: https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/ ... ND/2700452

It's not super easy to use and didn't work for 240p, but could be a nice choice for LD.

The new 2X Pro and the latest rev of the Classic has an 'Auto' setting which enables the comb filter on the video decoder and better for LDs. But it's still a 5-line 2D filter. Passable but not great. The composite output on my 20 year old FV310 is noticeably cleaner. You're much better off with a good DVD-recorder, which almost surely has a 3D filter.

For VHS, the resolution is so low, I doubt a filter makes a difference. Best would be to get a deck with a s-video output.

[FinalBaton]

Yeah I also got really disapointed in the performance of the Kramer FC-10. Basically useless for videogames. couldn't see any improvment vrsus plugged straight in my Sony FV-300.

While Mike is talking of late Sony sets : I gotta say that my FV300 had one of the best picture I've seen for composite sources. I mean, dot crawl was still there on NES(you got a very good look at it actually), but otherwise it was clean.

My '80s SOny KV-25XBR also looks good on composite but for other reasons : I think the colours it decoded for NES were really fun. Not as sharp as the FV300, not even close. but still decent. Gamecube looked really nice tho. Feed it a relatively clean composite signal and that set shines. But maybe not the best for NES (outside of colours which I liked)

[megari]

Hi everyone!

Sorry for this instance of borderline thread necromancy.

I finally got around to work a bit on Koryuu-related things after life being generally derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is now a git repository for the Koryuu firmware on Github: koryuu-fw. I tried to make sure that the build instructions actually work, but perhaps I should also add more detailed instructions for updating the firmware using an ICSP programmer.

Have fun!

[ldeveraux]

Hi everyone!

Sorry for this instance of borderline thread necromancy.

I finally got around to work a bit on Koryuu-related things after life being generally derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is now a git repository for the Koryuu firmware on Github: koryuu-fw. I tried to make sure that the build instructions actually work, but perhaps I should also add more detailed instructions for updating the firmware using an ICSP programmer.

Have fun!

Why not include the prebuilt files and a method to flash them? I'm not trying to be critical, but why not make them and include in the 'releases' section? Still unclear how to flash this.

[megari]

Hi everyone!

Sorry for this instance of borderline thread necromancy.

I finally got around to work a bit on Koryuu-related things after life being generally derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is now a git repository for the Koryuu firmware on Github: koryuu-fw. I tried to make sure that the build instructions actually work, but perhaps I should also add more detailed instructions for updating the firmware using an ICSP programmer.

Have fun!

Why not include the prebuilt files and a method to flash them? I'm not trying to be critical, but why not make them and include in the 'releases' section? Still unclear how to flash this.

Thanks for taking a look and giving feedback! Much appreciated.

Making prebuilt files available is certainly possible. I'll look into how to do that best. Having them in the git repository proper may not be ideal, as they are generated files which can easily get out of sync with the code. Perhaps publishing "stable" builds on the Releases page would be a good option. I also hear that VGP may be interested in hosting builds.

I was afraid that the building and flashing instructions might be insufficient, and that indeed seems to be the case. No problem, I'll just have to work on them a bit more until they are digestible by mere mortals!

A thing I might need some help with is build instructions on Windows hosts. I have set up a Windows 10 build environment for the firmware in the past, but do not really have a system available to retrace my steps...

[ldeveraux]

Hi everyone!

Sorry for this instance of borderline thread necromancy.

I finally got around to work a bit on Koryuu-related things after life being generally derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is now a git repository for the Koryuu firmware on Github: koryuu-fw. I tried to make sure that the build instructions actually work, but perhaps I should also add more detailed instructions for updating the firmware using an ICSP programmer.

Have fun!

Why not include the prebuilt files and a method to flash them? I'm not trying to be critical, but why not make them and include in the 'releases' section? Still unclear how to flash this.

Thanks for taking a look and giving feedback! Much appreciated.

Making prebuilt files available is certainly possible. I'll look into how to do that best. Having them in the git repository proper may not be ideal, as they are generated files which can easily get out of sync with the code. Perhaps publishing "stable" builds on the Releases page would be a good option. I also hear that VGP may be interested in hosting builds.

I was afraid that the building and flashing instructions might be insufficient, and that indeed seems to be the case. No problem, I'll just have to work on them a bit more until they are digestible by mere mortals!

A thing I might need some help with is build instructions on Windows hosts. I have set up a Windows 10 build environment for the firmware in the past, but do not really have a system available to retrace my steps...

Haha no worries, any assistance is welcome. Building isn't necessarily difficult, assuming I can get make to work right. I'm more concerned with flashing, I seem to remember not coming to a conclusion on a procedure not which USB flasher would work and which wouldn't.

[kitty666cats]

I forget, is the OSSC Pro going to have composite and svid connectivity? If so, I am trying to muse on some fun and interesting alternate uses the Koryuu could perhaps be used for. I've got some other component & RGB decoders that are fun to use with GBScontrol, have had good times toying around with VHS and Laserdiscs. Forcing Laserdisc to 240p RGBS on a 34" monitor was one particularly fun experiment, it actually looked quite good when used with a screen that large!

[ldeveraux]

I forgot about this from May! I still haven't updated my Koryuu because waiting for the prebuilt firmware.

[nmalinoski]

I forget, is the OSSC Pro going to have composite and svid connectivity?

Not out of the box. There was talk of an addon module to add that functionality, but I imagine we probably won't see anything like that until sometime after the OSSC Pro is done and is offered for sale.

[megari]

Please forgive me for the thread necromancy. It has taken me far too long to address the issues people have brought up.

A public test firmware version has been released. If you're interested, please see the release notes and download the firmware images here.

Some highlights are fixes related to interlaced/progressive mode transitions, (hopefully) NTSC field reversal and saving current settings on the EEPROM, automagically loaded and applied on start-up.

Have fun!