Questions that do not deserve a thread

[Xan]

Wait, were some PVM's specifically marketed for the medical field while others were marketed for other applications (broadcasting, etc.)?

Yeah, everything with that ugly (IMO) white cabinet and MD designation. They also had a bunch of other unique properties, like a split screen feature and fluid protection on the vents/controls.

Man, I hope not. I have two 20M2MDU's and one 20L2MD. Do the 20L2MD's have the P-22 as well? Have there been side by side tests to see if there is a noticeable difference in color accuracy between the P-22 and SMPTE-C? My monitors are pretty damn bright, I keep the contrast knob pretty low.

P-22 there as well. They actually promote this as a "feature" here: http://www.ampronix.com/content/web/sony_pvm_20l2md.asp

No idea about a comparison, but for gaming it's going to be of academic interest only anyway, like my misunderstood remark about composite on the Genesis in another thread that sparked the ire of certain users. My medical PVM is actually the brightest monitor I own, but it has some annoying rotation that keeps me from using it.

Thanks guys. Would you say that the scanline prominence of these 600 line 20" PVMs lie about mid way between a 20" 900/1000 line BVM and a 20" consumer Trinitron or do they lean more towards the BVM in that regard?

No doubt much closer to a BVM.

[BazookaBen]

No idea about a comparison, but for gaming it's going to be of academic interest only anyway,

Well, I'm playing Pikmin 2 on my PVM right now, and last year I played Final Fantasy XII on it. These game are are definitely running at pretty high color bit-depths, so maybe it would be noticeable on those sorts of titles?

Since you have one of each kind of monitor, you definitely have the ability to do a side by side comparison if you ever feel like it. I'd definitely be interested in seeing some pics. Though there are all kinds of other variables like calibration and hours on the tube.

Yeah, everything with that ugly (IMO) white cabinet and MD designation

That's why I like this Olympus OEV203 I just picked up. It has a nice, dark blue bezel that matches my LaCie PC CRT.

[Xan]

I currently only have one PVM with P-22 phosphors, a 20M2E, which I absolutely never use because it has a very loud hum+some convergence issues and I don't like the bulk of it. I'm pretty sure it wasn't nearly as bright as my 1453MD though, which can likely be attributed to wear.

Speaking of hum, on my 14M4E (with green tint issue) the hum noticeably changes to a much louder one as well when I switch the input from composite to RGB, while my BVM-1454D doesn't have this at all. I actually considered making a thread about this. It's pretty weird, but without having a much larger number of monitors to compare, I can't make any statement about whether that's down to wear or if it's normal for those respective lines. I do believe that the M-series is a more troublesome line than the 50-series though, from my own experience and the latest influx of reports we've had here.

[andykara2003]

No doubt much closer to a BVM.

Cheers :)

[creamygarlicdip]

Forgive me if this has already been covered somewhere else but I've been reading and learning about 240p, 480i, 480p, etc..

My question is:

What does a tv do with a 240p signal normally?

For instance i have a 1080p led 46" samsung. when i output 240p from my wii over snes9x emulator on component cables it pops up on the tv's display that its 240p, so it supports that resolution. So does the tv then just quadrouple the lines to give a 1080p picture?

What about with a regular 480i crt ntsc? does it need to support 480p to get a proper 240p signal with scanlines?

[Fudoh]

Your TV samples the signal with 720x240 pixels. This then gets doubled to 720x480p and is then fed into the same processing chain as a 480p signal would be. There's no adaptive deinterlacing applied at any point.

Most other LCDs which cannot tell 240p from 480i apply a different method to achieve the intermediate 480p signal. They apply deinterlacing which causes a few problems.

480i CRTs don't do any processing. Each field (240 lines each) gets directly displayed on the tube. The different to 480i signals that the line offset is alternated between odd and even for interlaced signals, while 240p fields (well, actually frames) are displayed on top of other without an alternating line offset. This causes the more visible scanlines on 240p content.

[Xan]

240p is a nonstandard timing really only used by old consoles and home computers. Every other line is scanned twice instead of alternating between odd and even fields. Whether scanlines are prominent can depend on the CRT itself, 480p is irrelevant here (it's not supported by SDTVs anyway).

HDTVs usually try to treat those signals as regular 480i signals, which causes artifacts, lag and other undesired behavior. Simple quadrupling results in 960p and not 1080p btw, and I doubt many TVs are going to show this.

[RocketBelt]

So ages ago I ripped all my PS2 games to my PC, and I believe I used Winhiip to transfer them over to a HDD for use in my PS2.

I ran out of room on my PC not soon afterward and deleted the original rips.

Now I'd like to be able to snag those games back and try them in an emulator. Is it as simple as hooking the drive up to the PC and using some software to pull them back? What software would that be?

My initial research doesn't look promising--like it is a one way journey. Please enlighten me.

And if it *is* impossible, what is the best software nowadays to re-rip my collection? Imgburn sufficient? Or will later-era copy protected games give it grief?

Yes winhiip will transfer the games back to your PC as iso files. I only found one game so far this didn't work with: ratchet and clank 1. Everything else fine.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

ProGear has a suicide battery built into it, right? Is it on the main board itself or on the CPS2 motherboard as well? Also, what can be done to essentially nullify it? I don't want to actually Phoenix the board, I'd just like to know if there's a hardware modification that can be done to remove the need for the battery...

What other CAVE boards had suicide batteries on them, or was this a Capcom thing? My understanding is most have batteries but just use them to retain settings data and will work with a dead/missing battery?

[beatsgo]

The suicide battery is a common Capcom CPS-2 & CPS-3 board problem.

[option.iv]

Ok, here's how I have my PS1 setup with my PVM14L5

PS1 -> JP21 -> Micomsoft XSync -> DIN8 to Breakout Cable -> PVM14L5 (Ext Sync)

At the same moment during games (usually during transitions between FMVs and menus), the tube switches off for a second then turns back on. It's not random, it's the same exact moment every time. I don't believe the cables are the culprit as I can capture/see the output perfectly through my SC512 capture card through the DB15 output on the Xsync. I've also tested with both BNC Breakout cables I have, same thing. Also tested with a different cable from retrogamingcables, same exact thing. Can someone explain what is going on and tell me if this is normal or not? I'm thinking the culprit is the PVM14L5 searching for sync, while the console is switching resolutions. Or it could be the DIN8 csync output of the Xsync.

edit: http://youtu.be/x7Evuhg6VYk

Here is a video of what I'm talking about. Basically happens at the very beginning (from SCEA to PS logo transition) and at 1:10. These aren't random and happen at the same spots all the time. It also happens on PS2, especially during FMV intros. Basically at these points, the PVM14L5 clicks off for a second or so, then clicks back on.

[option.iv]

Ok, excuse me for the double post, but I believe this behavior is extremely similar to how the XRGB-3 loses sync due to too high of a signal i.e. white flashes. As described here for the XRGB-3.

All of the times that my PVM "flicked on & off" were during parts where it would go white (i.e. beginning SCEA logo, bright fade to whites in FMVs) or shortly after. Luckily it's only the csync that drops as the signal that comes out of the VGA port on the XSync-1 is unaffected. Looks like it wasn't the resolution changing as the culprit, as the exact times when the resolution would change did not quite coincide with the sync loss.

So what I learned... The DIN8 output (at least mine) of the XSync-1 is garbage. I'm going to instead use the outputs of the PVM14L5 and then put that into the XSync-1. I'm thankful there's that option at least. Though I am a little pissed having invested in getting custom cables for the DIN8 output of the XSync-1. Well, I at least hope others consider this information useful when looking into buying the XSync-1.

edit: Well, I'll report back once I can get the right cables to run rgb through and out of my PVM into the Xsync-1. And in hindsight, I should've invested in a Sync Strike knowing now that the DIN8 output isn't that great on the XSync-1

[LordHypnos]

Having not played video games really at all for the 4-5 years or so before discovering shmups, and also having been pretty out of date with them even then (I was still playing Dreamcast in 2009, yo! And today, too, actually), it never occurred to me that a console would be particularly different between hardware revisions, but I recently saw a reference to the Xbox 360 E model only outputting HDMI.

I was wondering if anyone could give me a little rundown on which models have VGA out ability (I have a cable for it already), and if there's any other precautions I should take. For example, I have Eschatos and Mushihimesama Futari on physical disk, and I want to be able to play those, so if there's a model that for some reason is download only, I don't want that. I would also like to be able to download XBLA games, and probably also XBLIG games (seems like there are a few notable shmups that are download only), maybe even Games on Demand for more expensive stuff like Under Defeat HD. Also, I assume they all have internet connectivity, but I think only the S and E come with built-in wifi, is this true? I don't know that I'd be totally against having only wired internet to start with though.

I have heard something about being able to install games to a flash drive as well. Is this model-specific at all? Do all of them accept Hard Drive upgrades 'n shit?

Sorry if this is a lot of questions, I just want to be informed if I'm going to upgrade to the previous generation.

[Fudoh]

The final model (E) was the only one missing the analogue multi AV output (along with the SPDIF output), so every other model will be fine for you. All models have a disc drive. There are a number of models with an internal 4GB flash unit. This might be enough for Futari, but almost any other game will need more than that, so you'll want a HDD. Slim models have an internal drive (accessable through a bay on the bottom of the unit), while the older models had "snap on" hard drives with a special case and connector.

In general I would recommend the Slim models. These are available (or have been available) in glossy black, matte black and glossy white. They need less power than the bigger original 360 version, have internal wi-fi (but you can will use a cable of course) and have no disadvantages over the older units.

[Fudoh]

@ option.iv:

you can certainly fix your sync issue but conditioning the RGB signal from the XSync. By adding resistors and/or a cap to the RGB lines (and possibly the sync), you should be able to get rid of the drop outs.

[option.iv]

@ option.iv:

you can certainly fix your sync issue but conditioning the RGB signal from the XSync. By adding resistors and/or a cap to the RGB lines (and possibly the sync), you should be able to get rid of the drop outs.

So I'd most likely have to open the Xsync up, huh? Unfortunately, I don't have enough soldering experience for that. Also, not much documentation on the Xsync-1 I can find atm, and I don't want to risk botching it, as it's my only way to capture jp21.

Picture of the unit open:
http://cdn-ak.f.st-hatena.com/images/fo ... 010343.jpg

Also, wouldn't adding a resistor change the image on both the RGBHV and RGB w/Csync output? As much as I dislike the drop outs, I want to preserve the image, that's including the levels & brightness. Again, no problem with the RGBHV side of things (the most important part for me), just the csync side of things.

Thanks though for the suggestion.

[Fudoh]

It makes more sense to mod the DIN8 breakout or connection cable you're using.

[phantabit]

It makes more sense to mod the DIN8 breakout or connection cable you're using.

Unfortunately I don't have another RGB monitor to test it out, but in my case is the culprit the PVM14L5 or the Xsync-1? I thought this was because of the Xsync-1 unable to keep csync due to too high of a signal from the PS1 JP21 cable. So if I put resistors on the DIN8 output, I'd get the sync drops anyway, right?

[Fudoh]

option.iv mentioned that only the CSync output on the XSync causes problems. The RGBHV output is fine. I assume that both are fed by the same IC, so I don't think it's the XSync that's trippin'.

[LordHypnos]

Do you actually need to install games to the hard drive, though? I get that it reduces load times, but I'd prefer to cheap out now, and maybe purchase a larger HDD later on. Seems like most XBLA and XBLIG games are quite small by comparison to GoD and disc games, and stuff can also be installed to usb drives.

Also, which models have built-in wireless?

[option.iv]

option.iv mentioned that only the CSync output on the XSync causes problems. The RGBHV output is fine. I assume that both are fed by the same IC, so I don't think it's the XSync that's trippin'.

Sorry, that was my alt account. Anyway, I'll keep that option in mind. Also, would there be recommended resistors to put on the RGB and c sync? Or is it trial and error?

edit: Opened it up briefly, I don't quite see a good place to put the resistor on the DIN8 output, so I most likely would want to mod the cable instead, like you suggested.

edit2: Ok, now I feel super dumb. There is a switch on the bottom of the Xsync-1 "on/off". I didn't know what it was before and switched it on and off while the unit was on to see if it'd fix my problem. But it didn't.

Now I finally realize it's a switch to enable a set of resistors, usually for Arcade PCBs with too high of a level. Exactly the problem I'm facing. Setting the switch BEFORE I power on the XSync-1 fixes all my sync loss during high levels, I no longer get sync drops at all during high level moments or white flashes. Again, sorry for taking up your time Fudoh. I definitely did learn a lot about the Xsync-1 now. Gosh I'm dumb. Thanks again.

[creamygarlicdip]

I recently got a sega saturn, its connected to my ntsc crt via composite cable, ive ordered some s-video cables.

That said, is there much difference in getting an scart to hdmi or component video transcoder and outputting that way?

I'm thinking of doing saturn scart cable -> scart to hdmi transcoder -> crt tv or my 46"led.

whats your guys experience with that?

[Xan]

If your CRT has HDMI inputs, it might not handle 240p signals correctly. The best option is probably a 15 kHz TV with component transcoder or S-Video, or a Framemeister with straight RGB.

[Fudoh]

Has anybody tried this transcoder:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190595994345

[BazookaBen]

Has anybody tried this transcoder:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190595994345

Nope, never seen it before. The fact that it has no brand name doesn't inspire confidence.

I would love to hear a review if anybody gives it a shot.

[beatsgo]

Sounds really tempting, but I already own a GBS8220 and 203rxi so I'll pass for now.

[Einzelherz]

So I've decided to search out a PVM or some such CRT and I was wondering what people use for audio solutions?

[Xan]

I use Klipsch Promedia 2.1.

[Einzelherz]

I use Klipsch Promedia 2.1.

Oh ok so just any set of speakers on the side? For some reason this obvious answer didn't occur to me.

[BazookaBen]

I use Klipsch Promedia 2.1.

Oh ok so just any set of speakers on the side? For some reason this obvious answer didn't occur to me.

Well, you'll have to keep the speakers about 3 feet away from your PVM, unless they have magnetic shielding. Speakers without shielding can distort your colors.

I have a pair of Pioneer CS-63DX speakers, which are twice as big as my PVM, that are only 3 feet from my PVM. If I put them right next to it the colors would get out of whack.