VGA to SCART project problem

[playman]

Hi there, I wanted to connect my pc to my tube TV and using S-video isint really working.
So I decided to make a VGA to SCART converter, I used this site as my project
http://www.idiots.org.uk/vga_rgb_scart/index.html
I did everything according to the schematic, but skiped connecting the 12v, as I belive it's optional.

Now when I start the computer the TV screen flickers with yellow lines, then when booted, it's just black screen, and no difference what settings I use in the control panel.

So nothing works.

So is there anyone that could assist me with this?

[selldoor]

Re: VGA to SCART project problem

Hi - perhaps if you were to post pictures of the wiring to the plugs we could check them?

Did you select Video on the tv source.
is the TV known to work with video input.

Did you get this bit right:The 'Blanking' control input signal tells the TV that you want to input video from either a composite or RGB source. You will most likely see a completely black screen if you try to use the RGB to SCART lead without using this pin to select RGB input.

[playman]

Re: VGA to SCART project problem

Hi and thanks for the response.
I hope those pictures are good enough, i'm a terrible photographer lol

yea I selected the video source on the TV and the input is working with other things.

Did you get this bit right:The 'Blanking' control input signal tells the TV that you want to input video from either a composite or RGB source. You will most likely see a completely black screen if you try to use the RGB to SCART lead without using this pin to select RGB input.

I belive so, pin 18 is - from the molex and pin 16 is + from the molex with 100Ohm resistor.

[selldoor]

Re: VGA to SCART project problem

Hmm - had hoped the wires would be thinner, anyway i am sure you have checked.
I recall looking at this sort of thing 18 months or so ago and whilst they say it works i'm not so sure. You can buy these cables but they tend to work in the opposite direction for playing video into a projector. Its to do with the timing/scanning and if you look on ebay it has warnings. They had them on amazon for a while - they are still on but are all listed as Scart TO vga.
I think you will struggle to get it to work and if it goes wrong as the warning in the
article says you can blow your video card, tv or both. Is it worth it.
Does tv not have composite in sockets. I think I may have tried at some time vga to composite on a video recorder and then scart to tv but it degraded too much.

Perhaps others will be more encouraging - good luck.

[vinceroger69]

Re: VGA to SCART project problem

this site is pretty good
https://sites.google.com/site/joecon...ga-scart-cable

[playman]

Re: VGA to SCART project problem

Hmm - had hoped the wires would be thinner, anyway i am sure you have checked.

why would you have hoped that?

Does tv not have composite in sockets. I think I may have tried at some time vga to composite on a video recorder and then scart to tv but it degraded too much.

it does not have the composite in, also that's why i'm trying the scart thing, to get the picture as clear as possible,

this site is pretty good
https://sites.google.com/site/joecon...ga-scart-cable

thanks for that, i'll look into it, hopefully it will work

[selldoor]

Re: VGA to SCART project problem

Only so that I could see them - I could only make out one wire at both ends and the ground wire,
so I felt I had wasted your time in getting the pics.
From a saving your video card from damage point of view I would
seriously consider putting some heatshrink insulation at least on alternate
wires/pins
When you tried the svideo did you use an adapter ? the sound has to be
wired separately and apparently the scart socket has to be able to accept
s video signals and the video cards has to send in pal not ntsc.

Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3pat7grWyY

[mamailo]

Re: VGA to SCART project problem

The problem description sounds to me like your problem is timing; not wiring.
Which Video card are you trying to use ?.Newer AMDs have their TV outs (therefore timings) locked to proprietary adapters.

Power strip has not been updated in ages.Try Soft15khz; latest build was made in 2007 but at least have a support forum.

Also to me the adapter looks a bit dated. "Smart" TVs will not know a signal is coming in unless a pin change is logic state low or high. Search for alternate pinouts and compare. I remember back in the day a few resistors was needed.

[playman]

Re: VGA to SCART project problem

When you tried the svideo did you use an adapter ? the sound has to be
wired separately and apparently the scart socket has to be able to accept
s video signals and the video cards has to send in pal not ntsc.

I used a Scart with inbuild S-video plug, it worked but with really low reselution in the terminl.
What i'm trying to do is, i'm building this for a XBMC server wich is running on linux terminal, so "no GUI" used (except for the default XBMC Graphical User Interface).
I'm able to view the terminal in the TV but soon as I try to enter the "GUI" the screen blacks out and show shows tiny white line at the top when usaing the S-Video.

So I thought of trying to use the VGA-SCART cable to get some picture.

How would I know if the TV accepts S-Video?
PAL OR NTSC does that matter? I thought if your TV was PAL it would show NTSC as black and white?

The problem description sounds to me like your problem is timing; not wiring.
Which Video card are you trying to use ?.Newer AMDs have their TV outs (therefore timings) locked to proprietary adapters.

Power strip has not been updated in ages.Try Soft15khz; latest build was made in 2007 but at least have a support forum.

Also to me the adapter looks a bit dated. "Smart" TVs will not know a signal is coming in unless a pin change is logic state low or high. Search for alternate pinouts and compare. I remember back in the day a few resistors was needed.

I dont remember the tipe of the AMD atm, but it will be used later on with Nvidia 6800GT card.

I wont be able to use power strip/Soft15Khz as I will be using Linux to run the card.

[tom66]

Re: VGA to SCART project problem

TV is only going to be 720x576 anyway. Why not use an LCD or CRT monitor? People give away old ~20" CRT monitors around here.

[playman]

Re: VGA to SCART project problem

TV is only going to be 720x576 anyway. Why not use an LCD or CRT monitor? People give away old ~20" CRT monitors around here.

becouse I dont have the money for another LCD, and 20" CRT is just to small.

[selldoor]

Re: VGA to SCART project problem

Sorry I am way out of my depth, thought this was a simple pc running windows using
a crt tv question and wanting to watch films pics etc in colour.

Have you tried this forum http://forum.xbmc.org/index.php

[playman]

Re: VGA to SCART project problem

Sorry I am way out of my depth, thought this was a simple pc running windows using
a crt tv question and wanting to watch films pics etc in colour.

Have you tried this forum http://forum.xbmc.org/index.php

well it is "simple" as that, except i'll be using linux terminal as the system instead of windows.

No I havent asked there yet, I thought there would be more chance of getting help here regarding this.

[mamailo]

Re: VGA to SCART project problem

If you can see the terminal then the cable is OK, at least for default resolution.

"...I thought if your TV was PAL it would show NTSC as black and white?.."
It was true when TVs where electronics appliances, before the micro controllers took over the world.Now days if you wanna switch aspect or formats you need to change the voltage of pin 8 and the tolerances are small.It may be part of your troubles. The TV have no way to know you have change resolution unless you change the voltage.
If you can access to test equipment cut straight to the heart of the problem with a frequency counter or a oscilloscope and check the timings.

The other possibility is that the XBMC GUI change the timings to the normal VGA (When you cold boot the VGA BIOS set the initial timings and you get picture). In order to fix it edit the xorg config. I can not tell you where is it since in linux depends on you distro/kernel but should be in X10 or X11 config files.

If you can not make a head or tail of the xorg options, browse the MAME forums those guys are the wizzards when it comes to get any signal format for their cabinets.