Cloning the Gamecube component cable

[CkRtech]

"Take screencaps?"

[Josh128]

The FZero Pics look fabulous, nice job. Mario Sunshine is simply not as sharp as FZero, they look good anyway.

[lev11]

Yeah F Zero is looking fantastic on both my sets, thanks again Unseen (Although on the pictures the Blue Falcon are not so blue on my PC monitor, it looks better on my phone!) Of all the games I've played so far with this mod it's far and away the sharpest looking. @Josh128, do you use swiss to force wide-screen?

[Josh128]

Yeah F Zero is looking fantastic on both my sets, thanks again Unseen (Although on the pictures the Blue Falcon are not so blue on my PC monitor, it looks better on my phone!) Of all the games I've played so far with this mod it's far and away the sharpest looking. @Josh128, do you use swiss to force wide-screen?

FZero supports widescreen 16:9 natively, I just check it in the options menu. As for other games that dont, I just play in 4:3.

As far as sharpness/crispness goes-- for some reason there are big swings from game to game. For example, some games I find with sharp output include: FZero, Zelda TP and Wind Waker (not counting the DOF blur), Rebel Strike, Sonic A2B,and Metroid Primes.

Some games with blurrier/muddier output include Mario Sunshine and Rogue Leader. I have no idea why.

Still others, like RE:4, run at a lower res and it shows when you stretch to full screen.

About Swiss-- the only problem with that is how do you mod GC without the PSO trick or other hard mods? Maybe things have progressed since I last checked, if theres an easy way to mod GC to force widescreen on non-widescreen games I'd love to try it.

[bobrocks95]

About Swiss-- the only problem with that is how do you mod GC without the PSO trick or other hard mods? Maybe things have progressed since I last checked, if theres an easy way to mod GC to force widescreen on non-widescreen games I'd love to try it.

Datel SD Media Launcher. Plug in an SD card, use a boot disc, and load Swiss.

[lev11]

Yep I found it in the options menu late last night, sorry about that
Running swiss is just as bobrocks95 says and very straight forward, (once you get an SD card that works reliably), you just need to swop discs to then boot your game. Though its only at v0.3 at the moment, there is potential to boot ISOs from SD too.

Edit: grammar

[lev11]

Unseen, is there any way I can increase the HDMI 'switch' voltage? If putting the GCVideo through a passive HDMI switch it cannot pass-through the video. Though when another device is connected and powered on it does let me manually select and pass through the GCVideo output. Mine looks exactly like this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00N8R6T6G. The GCVideo doesn't light the LEDs as brightly as other devices. I don't suppose a lower value DDC resistor would help?

Otherwise I guess I'll have to do what this guy did: http://eleccelerator.com/upgrade-a-pass ... -5v-power/

[Unseen]

I don't suppose a lower value DDC resistor would help?

Yes, that would help. You could also leave it out completely and connect the DDC +5V pin directly to the Gamecube's 5V, but I can't recommend that because some HDMI sinks (switch inputs, displays etc) send power to that line even though I think they're not supposed to. With a direct connection the HDMI sink could send power to the Gamecube even when it's off and I have no idea how it would react to that.

Instead of a resistor you could try a diode with the cathode (marked with a ring) connected to the DDC +5V pin, but I'm not sure which one I'd recommend. The commonly used 1N4148 or 1N914 probably have a too high forward voltage to power your HDMI switch and my "got a bag of it on my parts bin" schottky type with lower forward voltage is a BAT85 which has an even lower maximum current rating. Even though any of them should be safe against HDMI sinks that send DDC power I'm not sure if they would work with your HDMI switch.

[neorichieb1971]

The GC is probably outputting a lower resolution on some games. Just because the output is recognized by the TV as 1080 or 480 doesn't mean thats how many lines are drawn by the game itself.

[Josh128]

The GC is probably outputting a lower resolution on some games. Just because the output is recognized by the TV as 1080 or 480 doesn't mean thats how many lines are drawn by the game itself.

For some games, like RE:4-- that is def the case-- for others, like Rogue Leader, I think theres some kind of blur filter or AA going on-- Rebel Strike doesnt have this and appears much sharper.

[BitFaced]

So, is or will anyone be selling this?

[Unseen]

The repository has now been updated with new code for GCVideo-DVI. Notable features:

• SPDIF audio output
• no more jumpers
• on-screen display for configuration

I made a short video of some aimless wandering in the OSD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_9ir0- ... e=youtu.be

[BitFaced]

The repository has now been updated with new code for GCVideo-DVI. Notable features:

• SPDIF audio output
• no more jumpers
• on-screen display for configuration

I made a short video of some aimless wandering in the OSD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_9ir0- ... e=youtu.be

Will SPDIF be better for the GBP than using this mod?
http://www.gc-forever.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1703

[bobrocks95]

Will SPDIF be better for the GBP than using this mod?
http://www.gc-forever.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1703

Well, that's a Drakon mod (he's a bit infamous you might say) and the main problem is that he recorded the video weirdly and then never responded back with another one. I think one part was in mono or just had the left or right channel cut off.

Either way, digital audio should be of a higher quality since it skips a digital-to-analog conversion step. I believe the GBP still outputs analog audio to the GCN motherboard though, so you can't prevent that, but you'll still skip a conversion.

[XC-3730C]

If anyone can sell me a cloned cable, please let me know. Component or VGA

[ApolloBoy]

If anyone can sell me a cloned cable, please let me know. Component or VGA

Uhh nobody's seriously working on one quite yet?

[Einzelherz]

If anyone can sell me a cloned cable, please let me know. Component or VGA

Uhh nobody's seriously working on one quite yet?

And they probably won't for some time due to the prohibitive nature of a proprietary plug.

[RGB32E]

If anyone can sell me a cloned cable, please let me know. Component or VGA

Uhh nobody's seriously working on one quite yet?

And they probably won't for some time due to the prohibitive nature of a proprietary plug.

And all said and done you won't really be saving much (if at all) over just buying a component cable at eBay prices if you have to hand assemble the board and pay someone to install it in a cube?

Then again, the features with the DVI/HDMI version shown in the latest video looks pretty sweet! Its unclear to me if 480i can be output as 480p without line doubling (flicker and combing artifacts)? Has this been tested with the XRGB-mini's HDMI inputs?

[Unseen]

Its unclear to me if 480i can be output as 480p without line doubling (flicker and combing artifacts)?

No - you can either have linedoubling and a 480p output or no linedoubling and a 480i output, which leaves the deinterlacing up to the display or scaler you connect it to.

Has this been tested with the XRGB-mini's HDMI inputs?

Yes - they suck. =)

The XRGB Mini's handling of DVI input signals seems to be very inconsistent. Sometimes it works fine, sometimes the image is off-center, sometimes a switch from 480i to 480p gets detected as 360x480p instead of 720x480p. It can usually be fixed by switching the Mini to a different input and back, but I haven't found a way to force a "correct" mode switch by just manipulating the output signals from the FPGA.

[lev11]

Looking forward to implementing this update, nice one, hopefully able to bolt down the card now. Are there any potential further updates, or is this now complete for the DVI version?

Is the alternating scanlines option enabled on 480i content? (Its never selected in the video you posted so always greyed out.) I'd be interested to see how this performs with the gameboy player versus forcing 240p in swiss.

[Unseen]

Looking forward to implementing this update, nice one, hopefully able to bolt down the card now. Are there any potential further updates, or is this now complete for the DVI version?

I'm currently looking into audio-over-DVI, but I'm not sure yet if it will still fit into the FPGA. There may also be updates if someone finds a bug that needs to be corrected.

Is the alternating scanlines option enabled on 480i content? (Its never selected in the video you posted so always greyed out.)

Oops, I missed that when I made the video. Yes, it's available in 480i/576i only.

[lev11]

Good stuff, hope the DVI-audio is possible.
Would there be enough power in the SPDIF out to drive the 'Simplest TTL to S/PDIF coax interface' from the hardwarebook info website?
Alternatively where would I take Vcc for one of the Toslink transmitters?

[Unseen]

Would there be enough power in the SPDIF out to drive the 'Simplest TTL to S/PDIF coax interface' from the hardwarebook info website?

I wouldn't recommend it, but I'm always sceptical when it comes to hanging long wires onto FPGA inputs/outputs. Maybe I'm too paranoid.

Alternatively where would I take Vcc for one of the Toslink transmitters?

Any of the 6(?) pads labelled VCC on the FPGA board is ok for that.

[lev11]

Would this one be ok? http://cpc.farnell.com/cliff-electronic ... dp/AV20852

[Unseen]

Would this one be ok? http://cpc.farnell.com/cliff-electronic ... dp/AV20852

Yes, that looks ok

[lev11]

Sounds ok too nice one Unseen. Got v1.1 up and running with SPDIF, my Marantz AV amp recognises the output as 48kHz PCM stereo. I didn't try the coax as I couldn't get hold of suitable capacitor.

Today I learned three things:
1. Just right click - save as in firefox doesn't grab the full 'gcvideo-dvi-p2xh-1.1.bit' from github, causing much concern that I'd killed something in the rewire until I noticed the small file size compared to v1. I had to download the full zip to resolve.
2. The original .bit file from v1 wont work with the updated wiring layout for v1.1.
3. The controller pin on the gamecube mainboard is quite tricky to solder to being very small, I dropped a blob of solder on it first then pressed a tinned bit of wire onto it with the tip of my iron.

Not had chance to mount the fpga board inside the cube yet, or even play about too much with the OSD, soo many scanline options

Would an option to turn off SPDIF audio save any resources if it's not being used?

[Unseen]

Just right click - save as in firefox doesn't grab the full 'gcvideo-dvi-p2xh-1.1.bit' from github, causing much concern that I'd killed something in the rewire until I noticed the small file size compared to v1. I had to download the full zip to resolve.

Ok, I'll try to package just the essentials in a few Zip files to avoid that problem.

3. The controller pin on the gamecube mainboard is quite tricky to solder to being very small, I dropped a blob of solder on it first then pressed a tinned bit of wire onto it with the tip of my iron.

There is an alternative point available that is even smaller ;) As a last resort there is also a test pad near the flex connector for the controller PCB that is bigger, but connecting there would bypass all the ESD protection circuits in the GC, which increases the chance of a dead FPGA input when a controller is plugged in/removed.

Would an option to turn off SPDIF audio save any resources if it's not being used?

Disabling it at "runtime" wouldn't save resources except maybe a few milliwatts of power. Disabling it at compile-time is possible, but I have learned from other projects that giving people lots of binaries for the same release confuses them(*). Also, the entire audio part is about 10% of the size of the CPU subsystem for the OSD, so it wouldn't save much.

(*) Even when the instructions specifically say "copy the entire contents of the ZIP file to the card" some people will ask on forums which file they should use for updating their device. The bootloader for that project is completely fail-safe and ignores any file that doesn't match the correct hardware ID.

[Josh128]

About Swiss-- the only problem with that is how do you mod GC without the PSO trick or other hard mods? Maybe things have progressed since I last checked, if theres an easy way to mod GC to force widescreen on non-widescreen games I'd love to try it.

Datel SD Media Launcher. Plug in an SD card, use a boot disc, and load Swiss.

Just ordered one of these from here: http://us.codejunkies.com/Products/GCNW ... 00589.aspx

Hopefully its a legit site-- Im curious to run some forced progressive, 16:9, and emulators on my GC.

[Einzelherz]

Let us know when/if you get it.

[BazookaBen]

Hopefully its a legit site--

Haha, thanks for taking one for the team.