Ultracade Universal Video Converter

[emphatic]

Diggin' up this thread again, seems a bit more appropriate than starting my own.

My uVC I got seems to put out video that's over amped, everything is blaringly white and terrible, like the gamma levels are too high or something. Can anyone shed some light on this? I'm feeding it thru a Capcom and a Sega JVS I/O right now, haven't tried any other methods yet. Feeding it thru the USBLinx II I have gives me nothing, but I also don't know if that thing works or not. I've already tried various DIPSW settings, but feel free to suggest away!

Any help would be appreciated!

I would like to see a photo of your setup, I can't really "see" it in my head when reading. Why do you use it at all with a JVS setup? Do you have a tri-sync? Also, what are you inputting?

If you make a list like below, I can help you troubleshoot easier:

1. System hooked up to the UVC (output res)
2. How exactly are the outputs connected to the CAPCOM unit, JAMMA fingerboard? Did you combine the sync from the UVC to JAMMA sync?
3. Do all the red LEDs lit up on the UNIT?
4. Is the UVC setup to output 15 or 24kHz? What type of monitor, I'm guessing tri-sync?
5. What is a USBLINX II?

EDIT:
On Googling the USBLinx II, I believe you've confused the Ultracade multigame system with the UVC? Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Kenchan]

~_~ yeaaaaaah, see I'm totally used to working on hardware for dedicated games, not shmups or standard stuff. This ended up being too big a hackjob. All the I/Os I was using had amps built into the circuit. Is there no way at all to turn off or disable (whether in settings or by breaking a trace) the amp in the uVC circuit? Otherwise I guess I could get around it. Thanks though!

[emphatic]

On Googling the USBLinx II, I believe you've confused the Ultracade multigame system with the UVC? Correct me if I'm wrong.

^^Did you see this? Are you really talking about the same hardware pictured in the first post of this thread?

[Kenchan]

of course, I was using both in tandem. The USBLinx is broken anyway.

[emphatic]

of course, I was using both in tandem. The USBLinx is broken anyway.

Ah, thanks for clearing that up. Sadly, I can't give you any helpful advice about the overamped output.

[rugdoctor]

My latest creation!



Now its every bit as versatile as an emotia...except for fancy dials and a case

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGXdCZQa2eM

[KBZ]

My latest creation!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7177/6868 ... 3c1efc.jpg

Now its every bit as versatile as an emotia...except for fancy dials and a case

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGXdCZQa2eM

what's going on here?


I've been using mine some both my machines with decent results. It even works perfectly with the vga-dvi adapter. But I'm getting some grounding noise in the signal.
It's most obvious on the laptop as it goes away when I switch to battery power, but that isn't a very good solution for me. Anyone have some idea how to solve this?

[rugdoctor]

My latest creation!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7177/6868 ... 3c1efc.jpg

Now its every bit as versatile as an emotia...except for fancy dials and a case

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGXdCZQa2eM

what's going on here?


I've been using mine some both my machines with decent results. It even works perfectly with the vga-dvi adapter. But I'm getting some grounding noise in the signal.
It's most obvious on the laptop as it goes away when I switch to battery power, but that isn't a very good solution for me. Anyone have some idea how to solve this?

I am using an independent power supply to drive the uVC. The one pictured also gave me grounding noise (double checked the voltage and it seems fine) then I replaced it with another adapter from the local computer shop and the noise disappeared. I wanted to use the uVC over SCART so I made RCA breakouts for it and RCA to SCART cable at the end.

[KBZ]

I have a similar setup, I'm using an SC200 psu, and a megadrive scart cable. The grounding noise is a bit different depending on what's powering my video source (laptop, desktop)

Should probably expect some grounding noise when it's all connected to a powerstrip feeding a pc, lcd, lamp, external hdd, pvm, laptop, and uvc.

[rugdoctor]

I have a similar setup, I'm using an SC200 psu, and a megadrive scart cable. The grounding noise is a bit different depending on what's powering my video source (laptop, desktop)

Should probably expect some grounding noise when it's all connected to a powerstrip feeding a pc, lcd, lamp, external hdd, pvm, laptop, and uvc.

I tried to use the uvc on my pvm, by scart, and it was not recognising the input. I presume you hooked your uvc by bnc to the monitor?

[KBZ]

Nah, hacked a scart cable for DB25 pic

[rugdoctor]

Right...maybe I need to retry hooking the uvc to my pvm again, so you just hook up R,G,B, Gnd and C-Sync only?

[KBZ]

yeah pretty much. Found a pinout at gamesx and use that

[rugdoctor]

Cheap UVCs to be had at the moment on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultracade-VGA-t ... 19cd11dd17 He is letting them go at $49 and free delivery in the US...But still sucks to be overseas though

[KBZ]

Wow, good price for sure.

Mine's been working great. Only thing that holds it back for me is the needed 60hz input. I'd like to be able to send some lower refresh rates to my monitor to play games like RF2 and such.

[rCadeGaming]

I've got a question about these. I'm building a cab, and I'm trying to get 240p out of both 360 AND PS3. Can I get this working for PS3? All my friends are on PSN, not XBL, and I'd like to get Third Strike Online in 240p.

I have an NTSC PS3, and a Sony KV27FS120 15kHz TV for the monitor (looks great with my PC with Soft15kHz through a VGA to component transcoder).

I read above that this will accept RGBS input (correct?), which I should be able to get out of the PS3 by making my own cable and setting it to RGB SCART at 480p (I have an NTSC model). I could then run the RGBS output of the UVC through my CVS-287 SCART to component transcoder.

Will this work?

If the composite sync from the PS3 is actually composite video do I need to run it through an LM-1881 or a Sync Strike to get it to work with the UVC?

Will the UVC play nice with the CVS-287?

If not, anyone have any other ideas to get PS3 3rd Strike running in 240p?

[Fudoh]

Both the 360 and the PS3 already output RGBs in 15khz without the need for an UVC. You might just need a LM1881 in line with the sync signal to clean it up before feeding an arcade chassis.

They will display in 480i on your arcade cab. 360 > VGA cable > UVC > cab or PS3 > HDFury > UVC > cab would give you 240p instead, but I would go for 480i and see if you mind that before going for 240p.

I don't know though if the PS3 version of SF3:3rdS is properly running in 4:3 or if you end up with some stupid letterbox format.

The UVC only accepts RGBHV in 31khz or higher.

[rCadeGaming]

Ok, first of all, it was dumb of me to use the term 15kHz instead of being clear and saying 240p. Also, I have a CVS-287 SCART to component transcoder, not a GBS-8220 which has nothing to do with this. First post is corrected.

I already have everything working in 480i via component. Not sure if you noticed where I mentioned I'm using a 15kHz NTSC TV, not an arcade monitor.

3rd Strike runs correctly in 4:3, but the interlace tearing is noticeable on my tv, and obviously it lacks the large scanlines you'd see in 240p. I have this game working in native 384x224 on this TV, MAME PC -> Soft15kHz -> VGA to component transcoder, and it looks so much better; but I need to play it on PS3 for online matches, so I'd like to get the PS3 running in 240p. There are other games I want this for as well, but that's just a good example.

The UVC only accepts RGBHV in 31khz or higher.

With a custom cable, I can get 31kHz (480p) RGBS out of the PS3, but you mean that it must have separate sync to work? I thought that DIP switch 6 and 7 on the UVC could be set to accept composite sync input, but I guess I was reading it wrong, those control the output.

The HDFury seems like overkill, as I only need to separate the sync to go from RGBS to RGBHV. What do you think is the best way to do that?

I could also use a component to VGA transcoder, which would also allow me to use a Wii with the UVC:

http://www.crescendo-systems.com/RTC2000_manual.pdf

In summary, here is my idea:

PS3 -> RGBS 480p -> separate composite sync to HV somehow -> UVC -> RGBS 240p -> CVS-287 -> component 240 -> TV

OR

PS3/Wii -> Component 480p -> Component to VGA Transcoder -> VGA 480p -> UVC -> RGBS 240p -> CVS-287 -> component 240 -> TV

What do you think?

[Fudoh]

On a cab going 480i to 240p without an UVC makes more sense, especially if you want to play games that have been 240p originally. To do this you need an Extron RGB interface and a sync cleaner. You feed RGBs in 480i and get 240p in RGBs again.

If you want to use real hi-res 480i games as well (or Wii), UVC is safer. If you can pick up a cheap transcoder (the PSP VGA upscaler work great for this and are about $45), YUV to VGA to UVC is best.

[rCadeGaming]

Yes, I may be wanting to display actual 480i/480p games in 240p as well.

I already have an HD Box Pro, but I've heard that it adds about 2 frames of lag. Is this true, or is there no lag when using it 480p component to 480p VGA?

I wanted to use an actual transcoder that alters the colorspace only, to completely eliminate any chance of lag.

[Fudoh]

I think somebody here measured it and the HDBox is pretty much lagfree when used as a transcoder, so you should be fine.

[rCadeGaming]

How about the lag with 480i component to 480p VGA with the HD Box Pro?

[Fudoh]

That's the usual ~2 frames delay.

[Overkill]

Saw this on ebay "VGA to RGBS/CGA/AV/S video (PC to arcade jamma game monitor)", will this be a good replacement for a UVC? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VGA-RGBS-CGA- ... 3a6ad9a01a

[fagin]

Nope... that "thing" is an utter piece of shit imo!

[Overkill]

hahaha thanks fagin. Im glad i ask first

[rugdoctor]

Only good for video capturing I suppose?

[rCadeGaming]

That's the usual ~2 frames delay.

I figured. I guess I don't have a choice there though. The upscaling is needed for 480i if the UVC won't accept 15kHz. I'll just use the HD Box since I've already got it.

Thanks for the advice.

[rCadeGaming]

I was watching an eBay auction for UVC's, I think from the same guy who usually sells them. There were still 16 available so I thought I had time to think for a few days. Yesterday I logged on to pull the trigger, and someone had bought all 16 at once. I emailed the seller and asked if more would be available, and he said those would be the last. I asked him to give my info to the buyer who bought 16 in hopes this guy was reselling, but no response yet.

I'm really kicking myself.

Anyone know of anywhere else to get one? I've also posted a WTB for purchase or trade.

[Fudoh]

If you hear back from the guy who bought the whole batch, please forward his contact info to me (if he's willing to part with some and you're set first of course). Had the same situation here, bookmarked the auction and was really surprised when they were all gone yesterday. Don't even have a problem with paying a certain premium.....