RGB SCART to HDMI for capturing

[Vixtro]

Hello there Shmups people, I was recommended to come here as I have been having trouble converting RGB SCART to HDMI via this converter: http://www.lenkeng.net/Html/Product/SCA ... ERTER.html

I live in the UK where SCART is still a widely used format with almost all modern TV's still accepting the connection, so why would I want to use a converter? I have an AverTV H727 HD capture card and I want to make the most of it's component/HDMI functionality by using those connections to achieve RGB capture. Since 2005 I have just been capturing using composite on older consoles and it has gotten to the point where it's just not good enough anymore.

Back to the matter at hand, I was very reluctant to use the LKV362 SCART to HDMI converter, but after this site (http://retrogaming.hazard-city.de/) said it was "confirmed to work very nicely with 240p material" I thought I had nothing to lose and expected something that was at the very least better than composite. Unfortunately, after extensively testing the LKV362 with multiple retro consoles (Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, Gamecube and Xbox), the unit would only give me a composite picture or nothing at all and anything in 60Hz was black & white. All in all, incredibly useless!

I thought the unit itself might just be faulty so I sent it back for a replacement unit, but the new unit was still exactly the same.

The only thing I can think of now is to try a CVS287 RGB SCART to component converter.

Anyone here have any thoughts or recommendations? Thanks for reading!

[Fudoh]

but after this site (http://retrogaming.hazard-city.de/) said it was "confirmed to work very nicely with 240p material"

I did not say this about the 362, did I ? A few years back I tested the 360 version and it was ok. The 362 seems to be a huge step down in compatibility, unless you know how to manually add switching voltage to your scart connection.

Anyway, you can forget capturing RGB through a converter. You need a video processor which unlocks the input and output frequencies, e.g. some kind of iScan from DVDO. Or even better, replace the AverTV card with a Startech card as recently discussed here. Add a sync stripper and you can record RGBs right away without any conversion.

[Vixtro]

but after this site (http://retrogaming.hazard-city.de/) said it was "confirmed to work very nicely with 240p material"

I did not say this about the 362, did I ? A few years back I tested the 360 version and it was ok. The 362 seems to be a huge step down in compatibility, unless you know how to manually add switching voltage to your scart connection.

Anyway, you can forget capturing RGB through a converter. You need a video processor which unlocks the input and output frequencies, e.g. some kind of iScan from DVDO. Or even better, replace the AverTV card with a Startech card as recently discussed here. Add a sync stripper and you can record RGBs right away without any conversion.

Ah so you're Fudoh, the one who made that AWESOME site with all the incredibly detailed information on scalers. I'd like to first off say thanks for the great wealth of information on scalers, and secondly, sorry if I came off as bit rude with the way I quoted your site. To be honest, I didn't think you were talking about the LKV362 in particular there, I just took the risk of assuming that the LKV362 would work just as well, if not better than the earlier units. Unfortunately, far from the case as we know.

Is a video processor really the only way to capture RGB then? I'm not looking for amazing quality, just something that is better than composite will do.

[blizzz]

The LKV360 will scale the output to 720p, that's far from optimal for capturing. There are other "RGB to HDMI" converters out there, but some of them don't even support RGB (Ligawo, KanaaN afaik).

You can get reasonably close to RGB quality with a good S-Video cable though. A S-Video cable costs 5€ on eBay if you're lucky, the cheapest solution for RGB capture is the StarTech + sync stripper combo (which is quite cheap in the UK for that quality).

[BuckoA51]

Is a video processor really the only way to capture RGB then? I'm not looking for amazing quality, just something that is better than composite will do.

Hey, this is the thread discussing the card I was talking about in the SSUK forum:-

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=37984

If you skip to the end of the thread, you'll see that it was discovered that card was (probably) available much cheaper without sending off to Japan. We're just waiting on someone to confirm that they are in fact the same two cards. That card will capture 15khz RGB without the need for a video processor that can unlock frame rates.

There's also a S-Video compatible device that was mentioned around here that Fudoh reviewed that should work.

Edit - Looks like it's confirmed, the Startech card + a Sync Strike appears to work great!

[Vixtro]

Is a video processor really the only way to capture RGB then? I'm not looking for amazing quality, just something that is better than composite will do.

Hey, this is the thread discussing the card I was talking about in the SSUK forum:-

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=37984

If you skip to the end of the thread, you'll see that it was discovered that card was (probably) available much cheaper without sending off to Japan. We're just waiting on someone to confirm that they are in fact the same two cards. That card will capture 15khz RGB without the need for a video processor that can unlock frame rates.

There's also a S-Video compatible device that was mentioned around here that Fudoh reviewed that should work.

Edit - Looks like it's confirmed, the Startech card + a Sync Strike appears to work great!

That sounds great, but it looks like it's something to set me back £150, a bit more than I bargained for.

I'm a little bit lost as to how this all works though, what goes between the Startech card and Sync Strike, a VGA to DVI cable?

[blizzz]

That sounds great, but it looks like it's something to set me back £150, a bit more than I bargained for.
I'm a little bit lost as to how this all works though, what goes between the Startech card and Sync Strike, a VGA to DVI cable?

You would either use a normal VGA cable and the included VGA to DVI adapter or a VGA to DVI cable. £150 is an awesome price. Before we found the StarTech card the cheapest way was to import the Micomsoft card + Xsync-1 from Solaris for ~450€.

Did you try out S-Video with the H727? That doesn't cost you anything except a cable and the quality is a lot better than composite.

[BuckoA51]

That sounds great, but it looks like it's something to set me back £150, a bit more than I bargained for.

True but it's guaranteed to work brilliantly and beats throwing money at cheaper solutions that keep failing to work out.

Edit - Almost guaranteed (you know, just in case I make myself look a fool)