New Scanline generator SLG3000 - available now!

[Fudoh]

@jarosh: there are dozens of upscalers which take composite. If you want something REALLY cheap, get one of those TV receiver add ons for PC monitors. They most often have video and s-video inputs (plus antenna). I didn't cover any of those on my website, since I wanted all tested machines to have RGB or component as a minimum.

If you want something better, look at the DVDO upscalers from back in the days. I happen to sale a iScan Pro right now, see here: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=35547 . It has composite, S-Video and component and outputs VGA, perfectly for the SLG3000. PM me and I can check for shipping to your location.

[fagin]

DVDO EDGE -> HDFURY 2 -> SLG3000 Does not work i'm afraid for 480p output. It has a sync polarity issue. 600p works fine, but this does not produce perfect scanlines obviously.

HDFURY 3 should work from the EDGE as you can alter sync polarity on that version.

The addition of a sync polarity inverter on the SLG3000 is probably a very good idea now imo.

[Fudoh]

What a shame about the HDFury2! Have you tried adding the sync inverter you used on your CPO ? The HDFury3 is sheer overkill and way to expensive to just do this

Have you tried to output 600p with maxed out underscan on the Edge ? I can't remember how far the Edge's underscan setting goes - maybe it was limited to something like 10%....

[Konsolkongen]

The HDfury 1 and the HDfury gamer edition should work fine with 480p, right?

[fagin]

Fudoh,
The sync inverter does not work as it was wired for RGBs in the end for RGBs output from the CPO. I never got it to work correctly for RGBHV... perhaps I will revisit again.

I agree - the HDFURY3 is way too much for just this added feature, but it should work OK with that.

Not played with the underscan - forgot all about that. I will give that a go later and report back. Just making up a RGB SCART to RGBs breakout lead at the moment.

Konsolkongen,
The HDFury will output what it is input, resolution wise. But that is not the issue in this instance.

[Fudoh]

One page back SGGG2 suggested that his PS3 works fine with the HDFury, but shows the polarity problems with the HDFury2, so I would guess, that it's safe to say, that the same is true for the Edge. So, a HDFury1 or the gaming edition should be fine.

[SGGG2]

One page back SGGG2 suggested

I suggested nothing! I even posted visual proof

lol, sucks about the Fury2. Strange that it works just fine with 720p (looks great on modern games at that res BTW). I'll just have to get the revised SLG3000.

[SGGG2]

I received my SLG3000 in the mail yesterday, and today got the opportunity to hook it up. My setup went like this:

• PC Engine Duo RGB out -->
• XRGB-3 in B0 mode, 1920x1080 -->
• SLG3000 -->
• TV

The results were fantastic. Both my Neo Geo and PC Engine never worked well with the XRGB-3 in B1 mode, so I've never been able to play games on them with scanlines - until now.

Just want to thank the creators of the SLG3000 and the regulars on these forums who not only introduced me to the SLG3000 but tested and validated it as well.

Huh? 1080p scanlines look nothing like 480p ones, they look like crap and so does the XRGB-3's B0 VGA resolution. So, what configuration are you running? Pics?

[Fudoh]

haha, yes, I was wondering about this as well, but forgot to post a reply.....

[AcademyDL]

Hi Guys Im a total newbie here.
I just got my slg3000 and Im trying to use it with my pc for mame.
My pc wont run scanlines in mame without laging so lets forget that suggestion.

Im trying to go PC>VGA> slg3000>VGA>1080p LCD TV

Problem Im having is: when I output pc to 1080 X 1920 the scan lines are just to thin coming from the Slg3000 at that resolution and I get that blury shadow on the left side.

I didnt expect this.

What can I do here? Im not familiar with the HD box Pro or HD Fury or other options and what they are fully capable of.
Would any of these help me with my problem?
When I set the pc to output 480x640 It looks great, especially when the SLG3000 dipswitch settings are 1,2,3,5 on / 4 off
but my aspects are all messed up on my 1080p LCD tv and wont center up. You guys know your stuff here. Perhaps you can point me in the right direction??

Im ok with black bars on the side of my tv. I just cant seem to get the aspect ratio of 4:3 on my lcd and maintain thick scan lines I would expect from the slg3000.

What will work with a pc/slg3000/1080P LCD television combination? or what should my pc/ slg3000 / tv settings be?

Do I set my PC to output 480x640 and use an HDBox Pro? will that work? If So I will buy an hdbox pro. just didnt want to waste money if it wont solve the problem.

My goal is what fagin did here. I want mame to look similar to his example video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvv4rHRa ... re=related

[fagin]

The slg will work best at 480. For your PC that will be 640x480. Forget the slg for the moment and connect your pc to your tv at this resolution. Suspect your tv is scaling that res then to it's native resolution and subsequently stretching the image to fill the screen. Depending on your tv, select the aspect ratio as 4:3. This should sort it all out. Now connect up the slg and voila!

[fagin]

One page back SGGG2 suggested that his PS3 works fine with the HDFury, but shows the polarity problems with the HDFury2, so I would guess, that it's safe to say, that the same is true for the Edge. So, a HDFury1 or the gaming edition should be fine.

Not according to their website. Both the 1 & 2 only feed what sync they are fed.

[AcademyDL]

The slg will work best at 480. For your PC that will be 640x480. Forget the slg for the moment and connect your pc to your tv at this resolution. Suspect your tv is scaling that res then to it's native resolution and subsequently stretching the image to fill the screen. Depending on your tv, select the aspect ratio as 4:3. This should sort it all out. Now connect up the slg and voila!

Thanks Fagin,

Turns out I had to change hwstretch to 1 in Mame .ini
and
tv settings to 4:3 Doah!!.
I cant believe I missed that.
Then everything shaped up and looked good. I got a little blur from the hwstretch to 1, it did help to keep
the image more like a crt image IMO.It may be a little to much blur.

EDIT*I have changed the prescale to 4 and this has helped with the blurriness mentioned above. I wish I knew more about Prescaling and what level of prescaling would work best with a 1080P lcd at the 480*640 settings coming from the PC.
Perhaps Ill take some side by side pictures of a game since I do have the PCBs Im playing in mame.

Any .ini suggestions are greatly appreciated.

SLG 3000 is really a back up plan for me since I know my CRTs have a limited lifespan and replacement CRTs imported from Japan
seem to have burn in when I look into replacement for my Astro City cabs

This device gives me peace of mind for my gaming future.
I really appreciate the effort that was put into making this.

a couple photos.......hard to take in a dark game room, forgive the blurriness.

CRT Esprade


LCD Esprade using Mame Prescale 1 .ini and knob turned about 1/4 turn on SLG3000


LCD Esprade using Mame Prescale 1 .ini and knob turned about 1/3 turn on SLG3000


LCD 52" Samsung LN52A650 using mame and SLG3000

[fagin]

Is the CRT being fed MAME or PCB? if it is MAME are you feeding it a 15khz lo-res signal?

[AcademyDL]

Is the CRT being fed MAME or PCB? if it is MAME are you feeding it a 15khz lo-res signal?

THE CRT is being fed a pcb. Its from one of my Astro City Cabinets.


Here is another pic. Its a tad bit sharper this time coming from the CRT Astro City cabinet.
I also let the cab warm up for an hour before taking this one and it did sharpen up quite a bit.
Plus, all the pictures I took helped me get it just right.


Obviously steadiness of my camera is a factor when you compare them all.
So I Provided several so you can see the differences despite my lack of camera skills

----------------
For my LCD which is 52" I like to set my Scanlines a tab bit higher because I sit about 8-9 feet away.
Its just a preference I guess. I also set mame .ini prescale to 4 and turn knob just shy of 1/4 -1/3 way on the SLG3000
depending on the game.
1/4 turn is probably a good default that I can just leave alone

Edit* after seeing them side by side I realize I need to make some color changes on my LCD. Its actually dimmer than the
CRT. Bump up my Greens for sure

[fagin]

Ahhh.. I was about to say the first CRT image looked shit, compared to what my tri-syncs look like. The last CRT pic you put up is as it should look like. I would keep the scanlines on ths SLG as per the last LCD image and try increasing PRESCALE to 4 in MAME.

Looks like you have a slight scaling issue on MAME as the PCB is 240x320 natively.

[fagin]

Forget that (about prescale)... just read your last edit.

[AcademyDL]

Ahhh.. I was about to say the first CRT image looked shit, compared to what my tri-syncs look like. The last CRT pic you put up is as it should look like. I would keep the scanlines on ths SLG as per the last LCD image and try increasing PRESCALE to 4 in MAME.

Looks like you have a slight scaling issue on MAME as the PCB is 240x320 natively.

LCD at about 1/4 turn on the slg3000 with prescale set to 4 .ini


Yeah camera skills do play a role in this. I have a 6 year old camera Im working with and
about Kindergarten level camera skills.

[AcademyDL]

Looks like you have a slight scaling issue on MAME as the PCB is 240x320 natively.

Yeah I do have some scaling issues. Right now the best I can do is to use the Hwstretch 1 to fill things up.
When I view Horizontally and play AVP or some horizontal game the game is extremely small.
Im still sending 480*640 to the TV so I dont know what else to do beside changing the Hwstrech.
Remember I have the TV in 4:3 mode. In 16:9 the picture is even smaller.

Here is a picture with Hwstretch set to 0 in 4:3 mode:


Here is a picture with Hwstrecth set to 1 in 4:3 mode:



If you have any suggestions for my .ini Id love some help. You have a similar sized LCD at 46" so Id be
very curious what you come up with. Let me know what you suggest.
or anybody really. Id love some help with a nice scale setup for the .ini file with the settings Ive mentioned before.

PC 640*480 through Mame > SLG 3000 Dipswitches 1,2,3,5 on and 4 off, knob turned 1/4 turn > 1080P LCD TV set to 4:3 mode.

any help would be appreciated.

[fagin]

Looks like you have a slight scaling issue on MAME as the PCB is 240x320 natively.

Yeah I do have some scaling issues. Right now the best I can do is to use the Hwstretch 1 to fill things up.
When I view Horizontally and play AVP or some horizontal game the game is extremely small.
Im still sending 480*640 to the TV so I dont know what else to do beside changing the Hwstrech.
Remember I have the TV in 4:3 mode. In 16:9 the picture is even smaller.

Here is a picture with Hwstretch set to 0 in 4:3 mode:


Here is a picture with Hwstrecth set to 1 in 4:3 mode:



If you have any suggestions for my .ini Id love some help. You have a similar sized LCD at 46" so Id be
very curious what you come up with. Let me know what you suggest.
or anybody really. Id love some help with a nice scale setup for the .ini file with the settings Ive mentioned before.

PC 640*480 through Mame > SLG 3000 Dipswitches 1,2,3,5 on and 4 off, knob turned 1/4 turn > 1080P LCD TV set to 4:3 mode.

any help would be appreciated.

#
# WINDOWS VIDEO OPTIONS
#
video d3d
numscreens 1
window 0
maximize 1
keepaspect 1
prescale 4
waitvsync 0
syncrefresh 0

#
# DIRECTDRAW-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
#
hwstretch 1

#
# DIRECT3D-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
#
d3dversion 9

#
# PER-WINDOW VIDEO OPTIONS
#
aspect auto
resolution auto
screen0 \\.\DISPLAY2
aspect0 auto
resolution0 1920x1200@0
view0 auto

[Konsolkongen]

You're gonna have a hard time scaling Capcom CPS2 and 3's bastard resolution of 386x224 to 640x480 with nice results

[fagin]

People that use MAME generally are'nt going to be bothered about scaling issues. 70% of MAME users haven't a clue how to set the video up properly anyhow, as they are casual gamers and don't even care.

It's on us "geeks" that worry about it.

The latest ARCADEVGA cards allow proper scaling even for LCD's apparantly.

[AcademyDL]

People that use MAME generally are'nt going to be bothered about scaling issues. 70% of MAME users haven't a clue how to set the video up properly anyhow, as they are casual gamers and don't even care.

It's on us "geeks" that worry about it.

The latest ARCADEVGA cards allow proper scaling even for LCD's apparently.

Your referring to the Arcadevga 3000?

I have one actually. But I have sync issues when I try to hook it up to my LCD TV. It always says "out of range"
so I went with the default video card that came with my PC instead and it syncs right up.
Im using XP so I have no idea what the issue is. Wouldnt work properly through the SLG 3000 for some reason.
Maybe it was the VGA cable. Who knows. It wouldnt work with either of my cables.
All I know is the cables and the SLG3000 work when I use the factory video card.

Thanks again Fagin, the scaling has drastically improved with your help.

[fagin]

People that use MAME generally are'nt going to be bothered about scaling issues. 70% of MAME users haven't a clue how to set the video up properly anyhow, as they are casual gamers and don't even care.

It's on us "geeks" that worry about it.

The latest ARCADEVGA cards allow proper scaling even for LCD's apparently.

Your referring to the Arcadevga 3000?

I have one actually. But I have sync issues when I try to hook it up to my LCD TV. It always says "out of range"
so I went with the default video card that came with my PC instead and it syncs right up.
Im using XP so I have no idea what the issue is. Wouldnt work properly through the SLG 3000 for some reason.
Maybe it was the VGA cable. Who knows. It wouldnt work with either of my cables.
All I know is the cables and the SLG3000 work when I use the factory video card.

Thanks again Fagin, the scaling has drastically improved with your help.

Yep... that's the one! Never used the LCD version myself, but I suspect it is saying out of range because the sync is too low or the resolution is not compatible.

How did you connect the ARCADEVGA card to your LCD screen? VGA port or DVI port on the adapter card?

[AcademyDL]

How did you connect the ARCADEVGA card to your LCD screen? VGA port or DVI port on the adapter card?

I used the DVI out, and it works fine if I use 1080P resolution. anything lower and its moody

[SGGG2]

The SLG has developed an issue. It can't maintain 720p scanlines, they always drop out after 15 seconds or so -- and the power light's dim. I tried both the PS3 via HDFury2 (with and without a power adapter) and 360 via VGA. Both my computer and 360 work perfect at 640x480, and the power light's at normal intensity.

[SGGG2]

Huh. 720p transcoded from component to VGA via XSelect works perfectly. HDFury2 VGA > XSelect > SLG3000 has the same problem described above. DIP setting don't seem to be an issue, and the XSelect doesn't even see the Fury2 when it's set/connected by YUV.

[ZOM]

Have you tried hooking the additional power to the SLG when running 720p scanlines?

[fagin]

The SLG has developed an issue. It can't maintain 720p scanlines, they always drop out after 15 seconds or so -- and the power light's dim. I tried both the PS3 via HDFury2 (with and without a power adapter) and 360 via VGA. Both my computer and 360 work perfect at 640x480, and the power light's at normal intensity.

[ZOM]

Oh! missed that one.