xbox 360 to j-pac a/v. help!

[brokenhalo]

hey guys, i need some help. i want to build a cable so i can run my xbox 360 through a jpac to my jamma cabinet. i've got an xbox 360 vga cable that i'm going to use as a donor cable(first picture), and i've got an a/v board from ultimarc (second picture). I've got a schematic for the ultimarc board (third picture) and the xbox 360 vga pinout (fourth picture). everything looks pretty straightforward with the exception of sync. the ultimarc board only has one sync on pin 6, but the 360 gives both an h-sync and a v-sync. what do, shmups farm? wire both syncs to that one hole?

[RGB32E]

The JPAC pictured is for signals flowing the opposite direction of what you're trying to accomplish.

[brokenhalo]

The JPAC pictured is for signals flowing the opposite direction of what you're trying to accomplish.

the board i have is what ultimarc uses for the ps2. i checked the ps2 pinout and it uses composite sync. iirc the whole point of the lm1881 is to strip the composite sync. so i guess technically i don't really need this board, although the resistors on the rgb lines should probably help my picture brightness. so if i take the 2 sync lines and connect them directly to the correct vga port pins, bypassing the lm1881, everything should work fine. maybe?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Or you could use these two alternative methods of hooking up a 360 console to a standard 15kHz low-res candy cab:

1.) Get an Ultracade UVc + Microsoft 360 VGA cable and it'll be in 240p format. Unfortunately, this just covers the video portion aspect & not the audio portion. Audio will have put in by the use of an audio attenuator setup (if planning to use the cab's built-in speaker setup). Otherwise, a good external powered 2.1 speaker setup will work wonders (with some serious room shaking bass thrown in for good measure).

2.) Get a viletim's 1st or 2nd gen Scart to Jamma adapter + official Microsoft Advanced Scart cable = 480i format at best. Both video & audio is present in the Euro Scart cable setup. Audio will be presented in mono format, of course.

The two above listed methods work flawlessly and it's recommended that the output setting is at 640 x 480 (regardless of using either an 360 Scart or VGA cable setup).

As for getting the cab's control panel to properly interface with a pair of 360 controllers, one (or two) PS360+ boards will do the trick nicely. Simply plug 'n' play via the 360's usb ports. Hook up the wires from the PS360+ board to the corresponding screw terminal block on a 1st gen Scart to Jamma adapter & you're good to go.

Or get a pair of pad-hacked wired 360 d-pads & wire them up to the cab's control panel wiring (a bit more tedious but well worth it in the end). A Jamma fingerboard can be used to solder the d-pad's wiring if so desired (if you want the cab's control wiring to remain intact/pristine).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[fagin]

Ditch the ultimarc board and wire straight off the VGA cable.

Combine H&V SYNC for CSYNC of JAMMA. You should be alright doing this as it's a proper VGA output from the 360 - don't blame me if your cab blows up though!

I assume your monitor / chassis is 31khz, as you're using the VGA cable!!??

[brokenhalo]

I assume your monitor / chassis is 31khz, as you're using the VGA cable!!??

Its a 15khz monitor. The jpac board takes the 480 signal and outputs it to 240p. I've already got all the jpac stuff for my ps2 setup, so thats why i'm using it with this project.

Anyway, i'm going to wire it all up later on today. Hopefully everything works out fine. I'll update with my results.

[antron]

Its a 15khz monitor. The jpac board takes the 480 signal and outputs it to 240p.

Unless this is some new redesigned JPAC, it does not do that*. That's why Ultimarc sells the ArcadeVGA card.

You need a SCART cable (or modify the video select pins on the VGA one) to get a 480i signal for your monitor (and use that ultimarc circuit to get c-sync). Other than that, you need a down-scaler like the UVC or the right model Extron Emotia to get 240p from VGA.

*it does have a sync divider that makes a VGA picture display, doubled, but that's for getting to your BIOS screen with a non-ArcadeVGA card. not for playing.

[emphatic]

Its a 15khz monitor. The jpac board takes the 480 signal and outputs it to 240p.

Unless this is some new redesigned JPAC, it does not do that*. That's why Ultimarc sells the ArcadeVGA card.

Yeah, a J-Pac is simply an interface for video and controls. At best, you'll only get a black screen. If worst, you'll break something.

[brokenhalo]

Its a 15khz monitor. The jpac board takes the 480 signal and outputs it to 240p.

Unless this is some new redesigned JPAC, it does not do that*. That's why Ultimarc sells the ArcadeVGA card.

You need a SCART cable (or modify the video select pins on the VGA one) to get a 480i signal for your monitor (and use that ultimarc circuit to get c-sync). Other than that, you need a down-scaler like the UVC or the right model Extron Emotia to get 240p from VGA.

*it does have a sync divider that makes a VGA picture display, doubled, but that's for getting to your BIOS screen with a non-ArcadeVGA card. not for playing.

ok, i was wrong on the resolution switching. i assumed it was doing some sort of conversion to allow the playstation2 to display properly on the 15khz monitor. it's been a while and my j-pac memory was a bit fuzzy.

so if i get a scart cable, i can wire the scart cable up to the ultimarc board, and interface that with the jpac? i was looking to see what the difference between scart and vga is and stumbled upon this "The difference between scart and VGA is that VGA has TTL level (5V high impedance) separate H+V syncs and Scart (RGBs) has composite low impedance (0.3V 75ohm) syncs." so i guess the separate vga syncs won't help me?

ok, so i'm off to order a scart cable. i've been procrastinating on this project for about a year now, another couple days aint going to hurt me.

Thanks for setting me straight guys. hopefully next week i'll have some pictures of everything up and running. If anybody has any more input, i'd be more than happy to hear it

[antron]

so if i get a scart cable, i can wire the scart cable up to the ultimarc board, and interface that with the jpac?

that's right.

i was looking to see what the difference between scart and vga is and stumbled upon this "The difference between scart and VGA is that VGA has TTL level (5V high impedance) separate H+V syncs and Scart (RGBs) has composite low impedance (0.3V 75ohm) syncs." so i guess the separate vga syncs won't help me?

The jpac may need separate syncs for some reason, but it's going to put them back together in the end.

[brokenhalo]

just an update with where i'm at. i took my vga cable, popped open the xbox 360 end and rewired it to scart. for completions sake, here is what that involved: desolder the wires going to pins 9,10,11,12 and the jumper between 18 and 20. soldered in jumpers between 22-24 and 26-28 to enable scart mode. use the old wires from 9&11, solder them to 5&7 for composite sync. solder the other end up to my ultimarc board. done

so i hook everything up. picture comes up but it's scrolling like crazy, both horizontally and vertically. the j-pac self test led comes up fine, and the two sync lights are lit up as if everything is fine. checked my cable with a multimeter, everything tones out fine. tried resetting the xbox and holding y and rt on power up to set the resolution to default, same problem. i can scroll through the menus to the display section and i see the word scart, so that's encouraging, i guess.

edit: fixed it. it helps to wire up the vcc line to +5 volt. great success! tomorrows project is to hack a wired pad, clean up the wiring in the cab, and enjoy some sdoj.

[emphatic]

just an update with where i'm at. i took my vga cable, popped open the xbox 360 end and rewired it to scart. for completions sake, here is what that involved: desolder the wires going to pins 9,10,11,12 and the jumper between 18 and 20. soldered in jumpers between 22-24 and 26-28 to enable scart mode. use the old wires from 9&11, solder them to 5&7 for composite sync. solder the other end up to my ultimarc board. done

so i hook everything up. picture comes up but it's scrolling like crazy, both horizontally and vertically. the j-pac self test led comes up fine, and the two sync lights are lit up as if everything is fine. checked my cable with a multimeter, everything tones out fine. tried resetting the xbox and holding y and rt on power up to set the resolution to default, same problem. i can scroll through the menus to the display section and i see the word scart, so that's encouraging, i guess.

edit: fixed it. it helps to wire up the vcc line to +5 volt. great success! tomorrows project is to hack a wired pad, clean up the wiring in the cab, and enjoy some sdoj.

Nice work! Now, where are the photos?

[brokenhalo]

It's unbelievable how good the ports HD modes look on a low-res monitor. Comparing the mushi games, against the boards, well...just check the trading forum

I should have set this up years ago.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Yep, 360 ports of DDP-DOJ BL Extra, DFK 1.5, DFK BL & of course, SDOJ all look ace on a 15kHz low-res arcade monitor setup.

Even the 360 XBLIG of Prismatic Solid yoko-based shooter looks ace with the above setup as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~