Hello,
Two Questions:
1: Can I play low res games on a medium res monitor? What about high res on a medium res monitor?
2: I'm a newbie when it comes to getting getting RGB out of my systems, as I've been using S-Video all this time - but I think it's time to upgrade.
I was thinking about purchasing this monitor:
http://www.massystems.com/RGBMonitor.html (http://www.massystems.com/RGBMonitor.html)
It has an 8 PIN DIN Input on the back (a combo of RGB and S-Video). This is fine for connecting my Supergun, although the Supergun has a different male jack on the RGB cable it came with I think I can find an appropriate 8 pin male connector and do some soldering. Also, my supergun has separate jacks for audio.
However, I was wondering if it would work just as well for my home consoles? I'm not concerned about the video, because I think I could easily make a cable with that 8 Pin connector and a scart connector, and connect that cable to the monitor and connect the home console's RGB cable to that custom cable.
I am worried about the audio though. On any home system isn't the L/R audio in the scart pins, as opposed to being a separate jack? On that 8 pin female monitor input there are no pins for audio (the other pins are for s-video - don't ask me why - it has to do with the configuration of their supergun). The audio is on two separate jacks. So how would I get audio, say, out of an X-Box/PS2 when using this monitor for RGB? Is it even possible? If not, are there any other places I could buy a monitor that would suit my purposes? What's the best CRT monitor out there that I could get for this (don't worry about price)? What places specialize in high-quality arcade CRT monitors (preferrably with wells-gardner tubes)?
Just in case your wondering here is the info on what systems I'm working with: I have a GW Trading HAG v1.3 Supergun. See http://www.gwtrading.com/index.shtml (http://www.gwtrading.com/index.shtml) for more info. My home consoles that are standard North Amer. NTSC and are not modded are NES, Turbo Duo (I'm not too worried about my nes or my Duo, I dont feel like opening them up and fiddling around just to make them put out RGB), Genesis, SNES, Jaguar, Saturn, N64 (will continue to use S-Video for N64), PS2, X-Box, and Gamecube. I also have a Supergrafx, but I'm unsure about it's RGB capabilities. My Neo Geo AES is a Jap. model and is heavily modded to include stereo and S-video. My Dreamcast is universal but I think I'll just continue to hook that one up to a comp. monitor.
If you can help me out I would really appreciate it. I'm sorry about the length of this post.
Welcome, newbie! Following my answer, you will be unceremoniously caned with reeds! ;)
Lo-res works on lo-res (15kHz), hi-res works on hi-res (>30kHz), and medium-res works with nothing.
You seem to have a good grasp of the technical end of RGB. All your game systems will work with that there expensive monitor, except for those you know will not. I make a "breakout" adapter, which has the video from the peritel connector to the DIN (in your case) and the audio going to two RCA jacks (I've had to do that with a few of my monitors).
And yes, leave your Dreamcast next to your PC monitor, like God intended.
Thanks for your quick reply.
How would I go about a making "breakout adapter" to accomodate my console's audio so that it would work with that monitor? Thanks again.
Hmmm...
Well, what I would do is get a female peritel socket and wire the video pins (R, G, B, ground, and sync - more on that later) to your DIN socket pinout. Then, I would wire the audio pins (and ground lines) to a cleaved cable terminating in your RCA jacks. I short leads and RCA sockets in my setup. As I said, I do this for a lot of my old monitors (which don't have speakers). You also have the option of wiring your system to a nice audio setup. You mention SCART; do you reside in the EU (or environs)? You'll need to use a sync separator (like the LM1881), to get the sync from the composite video signal. Of course, the monitor may have one installed already. I use switchboxes, but in the US peritel connectors are foreign and thus (according to our government) godless and evil. Perhaps you'd have some luck finding a few. Hope this helps.
Edit: Wow... 100 posts. I feel old... :D
No, I live in the US. But I'm searching for some scarts as we speak so I can wire one up to the EU pinout, and one for the JAP pinout.
Search for SCART equipment on ebay, it's a dime a dozen over there and many ebay.co.uk users don't mind shipping to the USA so long as you pay them quick and easy (paypal), SCART is really a good way to go as it simplifies things a lot. You can get a switchbox and mod it once for your monitor, then just get whatever SCART cable you need and use it with no alteration.