HDMI/VGA (downscaled) composite transcoder?

The place for all discussion on gaming hardware
User avatar
vol.2
Posts: 3004
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2016 3:13 pm
Location: bmore

Re: HDMI/VGA (downscaled) composite transcoder?

Post by vol.2 »

Bema wrote: Thu May 22, 2025 11:45 pm HI! A new member to the forum and probably my first post here. Thank You for the membership. First; I'm from Finland, so apologies if my English may be "rough". I'll do my best.
Welcome! It's great to see new people. I'm sure you'll do just fine. This is a very understanding bunch of people.
User avatar
Josh128
Posts: 2238
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2014 9:01 am

Re: HDMI/VGA (downscaled) composite transcoder?

Post by Josh128 »

Lord of Pirates wrote: Thu May 22, 2025 7:09 pm I think you're at or near the point where you're going to have to experiment and see what will give you results you find acceptable.
Josh128 wrote: Wed May 14, 2025 1:46 am True, but nobody had CRTEmuDriver to force 240p resolutions back in the day, so who knows? In any case, I'd be willing to bet that the 48XX series that outputs component via the 7 pin port WOULD be able to output 240p, because it is capable at a minimum of multiple HD resolutions.
I have an X700 Pro (running on XP) I could possibly test if someone wants to step me through what needs doing.
Can you force 240p via CRU or CRTemu driver and confirm whether or not the composite or SVid out outputs 240p or 480i?
Lord of Pirates
Posts: 521
Joined: Sun May 12, 2013 5:03 pm

Re: HDMI/VGA (downscaled) composite transcoder?

Post by Lord of Pirates »

Josh128 wrote: Fri May 23, 2025 2:58 pm
Lord of Pirates wrote: Thu May 22, 2025 7:09 pm I think you're at or near the point where you're going to have to experiment and see what will give you results you find acceptable.
Josh128 wrote: Wed May 14, 2025 1:46 am True, but nobody had CRTEmuDriver to force 240p resolutions back in the day, so who knows? In any case, I'd be willing to bet that the 48XX series that outputs component via the 7 pin port WOULD be able to output 240p, because it is capable at a minimum of multiple HD resolutions.
I have an X700 Pro (running on XP) I could possibly test if someone wants to step me through what needs doing.
Can you force 240p via CRU or CRTemu driver and confirm whether or not the composite or SVid out outputs 240p or 480i?
The lowest I could get the OSD tester to go with the driver installed was 512x384 via composite, anything lower and the computer crashed.
2mg
Posts: 40
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2019 5:37 am

Re: HDMI/VGA (downscaled) composite transcoder?

Post by 2mg »

Lord of Pirates wrote: Fri May 23, 2025 3:43 pm The lowest I could get the OSD tester to go with the driver installed was 512x384 via composite, anything lower and the computer crashed.
240p suite maybe?
User avatar
kitty666cats
Posts: 1337
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2019 2:03 am
Location: Massachusetts, USA

Re: HDMI/VGA (downscaled) composite transcoder?

Post by kitty666cats »

Bema wrote: Thu May 22, 2025 11:45 pm
2mg wrote: Thu May 22, 2025 1:44 pm
kitty666cats wrote: Thu May 22, 2025 3:44 am Extron YCS 100 is fine for Svid -> composite, you just don’t want to use it the other way around (for games).

You could definitely just stick with one of the things specifically designed for games that also outputs composite. You don’t need RGB -> Svid -> composite.

And, come to think of it, since you’re using PAL you might not even need to worry about the rainbowing artifacts + dot crawl people normally get with those Antonio etc converters: AFAIK that issue is mainly from the lack of a NTSC subcarrier. But you’re not using NTSC.

P.S. JS Tech RGB to Svid does 240p fine.
I read, even on this board, that YCS is better than YCS 100 - something about their internals and how they treat 240p, but I need confirmation for this.
They also add cost, and people around here are saying old tech like those Extrons/Kramers usually need new PSUs and possible recapping, so even more DIY and cost.

JS Tech need RGBS/sync combiner on inputs, and SCART>S-vid cables I presume on outputs, and then I still need YCS, so basically I'm adding a long chain of hardware, while I can just settle for "whatever quality Composite, but low lag if possible".

Regarding those 15khz Mister optimized converters - apparently they have Ytrap/luma trap to improve the quality slightly anyway, and even if PAL has no issues, I don't really care much about what comes out of them.
I hope my first post here is of help to someone somewhere at least.

Absolutely excellent first post, friend!

Yeah, I would say there isn’t much reason for people to grab an Extron YCS 100 if it’s just 240p gaming we’re going for. It has some okay uses for other non-gaming things… but even then, it’s nothing remarkable. I doubt the S-Video *TO* Composite from the YCS and YCS 100 is any different.
2mg
Posts: 40
Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2019 5:37 am

Re: HDMI/VGA (downscaled) composite transcoder?

Post by 2mg »

Anyone tested GBS-8100 for this thread's purpose?
User avatar
vol.2
Posts: 3004
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2016 3:13 pm
Location: bmore

Re: HDMI/VGA (downscaled) composite transcoder?

Post by vol.2 »

2mg wrote: Wed Jun 18, 2025 8:35 am Anyone tested GBS-8100 for this thread's purpose?
The custom firmware of GBS Control is designed for the GBS-8200/8220, and that has its own thread viewtopic.php?t=52172
User avatar
Bema
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2022 9:46 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Contact:

Re: HDMI/VGA (downscaled) composite transcoder?

Post by Bema »

According to websites the GBS 8100 is a vga to cga board with s-video and composite outputs. The GBS Control doesn't cover that board since isn't it the other way around; cga to vga? I have myself probably read through the whole thing but can't remember any talk about 8100. So the question is: has anyone tried out the 8100 for the vga to composite or s-video output, I believe? I myself also got confused about the GBS-C downscaling/transcoding ability but then remembered the "no composite or s-video" part about it.
User avatar
orange808
Posts: 3655
Joined: Sat Aug 20, 2016 5:43 am

Re: HDMI/VGA (downscaled) composite transcoder?

Post by orange808 »

For what it's worth, CGA is "digital" video output from IBM PCs, Laser 128 Apple clones, and one Commodore 128 video mode. (Not digital the way you may think.)

Arcade guys really love to play fast and loose with terminology and muddy the waters. I'm okay with using VGA as a universal term for RGBHV on a DE-15/HD-15, but taking something as convoluted as CGA (that's compatible with almost nothing) and applying it to normal RGB is too much.
We apologise for the inconvenience
User avatar
kitty666cats
Posts: 1337
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2019 2:03 am
Location: Massachusetts, USA

Re: HDMI/VGA (downscaled) composite transcoder?

Post by kitty666cats »

GBS 8100 outputs interlaced video only
Post Reply