questions about RGB upconverter and classic systems

[Soviet Conscript]

recently bought a sony LCD and i was thinking of buying a RGB upscan converter for my classic systems. my questions is which one is the one i want for classic systems. i know the rgb2 and plus don't do progressive scan but thats not a big deal to me as i will be useing it for older systems but i hear diffrent things about which is better the rgb2 and the rgb2+ so i was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this.

also wondering if there were jp 21 pin cables for any systems other then the snes as i can't seem to find 21 pin cables for any other system (not SCART)

i would also like to point out that yes, i know old CRT's are best for playing older systems. in fact i have a few and even a sony PVM so i appriciate that a suggestion of a crt is trying to help thats not the information i'm looking for. thing is i don't have the room in this apt. for a big heavy crt and i would like to just get the best i can out of my LCD for as many systems as i can.

[CosmicMonkey]

The best advice I can give you is to read this page and then decide the pros/cons versus how much cash you want to spend.

[Blanka789]

Personally, I am a fan of the XRGB-2 Plus. I think the original XRGB-2 is still considered better for arcade games and setups, but the plus seems to be the way to go for other systems. They are a little tough to find and pretty expensive, but worth every penny.

As for the cables, I had the same trouble as you seem to be having for most systems (Saturn RGB cables seem to be plentiful on ebay though). My solution that I hope to get working soon is to mod one end of a scart cable to be the japanese RGB standard, and hook one end up to the converter and the other to a scart switch since those cables are easier to find.

Hope that helps a little, I know this stuff can get kind of confusing.

[kedawa]

I used to have an XRGB2+ and I can vouch for its quality. I used a 21pin RGB cable to play the few Dreamcast games that don't support VGA, and component for everything else.

I never had the opportunity to use it with any classic systems, but I've heard nothing but good things about the video output from Genesis, SNES, Saturn, etc.

[Soviet Conscript]

thanks for the info guys. have any of you had any problems with blurry text with the
XRGB-2+? I play alot of old school RPG's.

[mario2butts]

AFAIK the only advantage of the XRGB-2 over the 2+ is its broader compatibility with arcade PCB's. If you're just going to use it with consoles, the 2+ should be just fine.

I'm a happy owner of an XRGB-3, which with the latest firmware offers the functionality of the 2+ (lag-free line doubling to 480p, with adjustable scanline emulation) in addition to scaling to higher resolutions such as 1280x1024 and 1600x1200 with a small amount of lag. If you can't find a 2+, a 3 will work just as well.

As for the cable quandry, I too could only find an SNES JRGB cable. I ended up building my own custom RGB cables by hacking off the ends of SCART cables and replacing the ends with 5-pin DIN cables, more commonly known as MIDI cables and easily obtained at Radio Shack. 5 pins because you need 5 lines for RGB: Red, Blue, Green, Sync, and ground. Each custom cable has the spliced ends housed in a plastic casing to prevent breakage (I used some old RF switch housings ). Then I built a female 5-pin DIN to JRGB cable out of the SNES JRGB cable to allow connection to the XRGB. If you like I can provide pics.

A note on audio: JRGB and SCART cables pass audio as well as video, so to get sound you need to allow the XRGB to pass the audio to your TV or amplifier. Unfortunately I've found that my XRGB-3 messes with the audio and makes it sound very distorted , which is part of the reason why I decided to build custom cables. Each of my cables has a headphone jack built into the plastic casing mentioned above so I can pass the audio straight from the game system to my amp with a headphone to 2 RCA (red/white) cable. Obviously this isn't needed for systems with separate audio outputs.

It took some work to get it up and running well but I love my XRGB-3
I use it with a CRT monitor and a DLP projector and the image is great on both. An XRGB should yield much better results than using stock connections on an LCD, provided of course your LCD has a VGA input for the XRGB.

[darkwingduck13]

SC, I went through a similar situation 4 or 5 years ago. I had a friend who had the XRGB-2+, and he loved it. He brought it to my house, and I loved it. Time came to buy one online, and it turned out to be super-expensive, when you could find it at all.

What did I end up buying? I bought a Viewsonic NextVision N6:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Viewsonic-Nextvi...%3A1|294%3A100

I'm running a Genesis/SegaCD, NES, SNES, N64, PS2, Saturn, Gamecube, and Dreamcast through it (basically, every system I own), and I couldn't be happier (unless I found a set of Cube component cables layin' around for $5 somewhere). Granted, I'm running it to a 36" CRT VGA monitor, too, and all my consoles are US versions.

That's probably what it boils down to. If you're tied to SCART, you won't like the N6. If you're just looking for SCART as an *option* and you're living in the USA (Pittsburgh?), then you might consider VGA. The N6 is a fantastic unit, works great, has a built-in TV tuner (!), and it cooperates very nicely with my Sony amp and surround sound system.

I used to have a big post at JVGFanatic.com's forums describing my set-up, with pictures and everything, but the site's been having problems for a while. Here's the only pic I could scrounge up on short notice of my setup. You can see the N6 perched happily atop my S-video matrix switchbox and my amp.



If you have any questions about it, I'll do my best to answer.

[AB Positive]

Do any of these work with an 800x600 monitor... like a regular CRT VGA monitor that maxes at 800x600 without needed component?

I have a 37" monitor sitting here, one of the old gateway styles, and being able to put game systems up to it would be intense.

[darkwingduck13]

AB Positive, the monitor you see in my pic above is a Gateway, and I use it at 800x600. Almost every system I own looks spectacular on this thing. Most of them I have running via S-Video. I have an earlier model of the fat PS2 that has a shitty video chip, so it actually looks better in s-video than in component on this setup. I've tried a newer slim PS2 with component on my setup, and it looks fantastic...but s-video is still miles above a regular TV setup. The Saturn? Amazing in s-video. SNES? S-video looks fantastic.

Where the system really shines though is with the Dreamcast via a VGA breakout box. Holy crap...Shenmue on this thing, running at 800x600 through native VGA? Pure awesomeness. I also use the VGA for my little Dell laptop, which I use for playing DVDs. I haven't bought into the "HD revolution" yet, and for my money, a DVD playing at 800x600 on this laptop with a direct VGA link to that big-ass monitor is as good as standard def can get.

The only console I've had that doesn't look great on this setup is the N64, but honestly, the N64 has shit for video output. I mean seriously, the games may be great, but Nintendo cheaped out on the components and the signal the thing puts out in its stock form is just pathetic. Even on S-video, it still looks like crap, and it's been that way on every A/V setup I've ever tried. My friend with the XRGB-2+ had similar experiences with his N64, so I know it's not just me.

Anyway, there you have it.

[AB Positive]

oh hell, didn't notice - that's the slightly (like 2 inches mebbe?) smaller version of what I have... we have those at the school too!

Hmmm... well then, I might have to look into S-Video cables and the ViewSonic NextVision N6 Video Processor

Thank you for that info!

[darkwingduck13]

No problem, AB. And keep in mind the N6 will let you watch TV on that beast too, if you've got a cable hookup nearby and a set of speakers. And *cough* they're only like $140 cheaper on eBay now than they were when I bought mine. :P

[AB Positive]

cable?

on MY monitor?

ooooh

[darkwingduck13]

Awww, yeah, I got it on my ca-oh, wait.

[Soviet Conscript]

fianlly got my hands on a XRGB plus so i figured i would comment. not sure if i'm doing something wrong or my tv (KDL-46Z4100 Sony 46" BRAVIA) is just incompatabile. after hooking things up and testing a few systems my results were pretty poor. nes through composite looks magionaly better run through the xrgb everything else just looks bad. snes through s-video looks worse and is still pixelated and even the DC through 21 pin RGB looks VERY bad. i know the nes and snes wern't going to look fantastic as they were not useing rgb cables but i still expected an improvment or at least less pixilization on my LCD.

i did a little testing on my PC LCD (LG W2252TQ) and had diffrent results. NES looked about the same and the DC acually looked pretty good. not VGA box progressive scan good but lightyears better looking then on the TV. probibly going to invest in a snes RGB cable and do some more testing.

[Blanka789]

Try tweaking the various settings. I had to do a lot of adjustment the first time I set mine up with the colors, sync, and positions. Once I had it working, everything looked beautiful!