(help) building a saturn RGB cable

[christianscott27]

i've got a lovely commodore 1084s, an RGB ready monitor and i'd like to experience some crystal clear saturn gameplay. now heres my plan thus far-

have a spare saturn AV out plug off a multicord

have a DIN plug that fits the 1084s' TTL RGB plug

found the pinouts
http://www.gamesx.com/grafx/satpin.jpg

1084s TTL pinout

Pin Number TTL Mode

1 Ground
2 Ground
3 Red
4 Green
5 Blue
6 Intensity
7 N/C
8 Horiz.Sync
9 Vert. Sync

so...any fatal flaws that scream "stop now"?

i guess i'd have to branch off the audio on to RCA cords as thats a seperate input on the 1084s. yes i know i could buy such a cable but i'm looking for a cheap solution and a learning experience and i dont wanna go inside the saturn either...with those conditions is this mod a go?

[chadtower]

EDIT: Woops, I need to read things better this morning.

Go for it, man. Looks good.

[FABombjoy]

As long as the Saturn cord that you're going to use actually has all the pins wired, it should be good. I'd slice the outer jacket & count the # of wires first.

[christianscott27]

but what about this "intensity" pin? its on the 1084s input but not on the saturn out?

[Anthony1]

Personally, I would rather just spend 20 bucks and get a cable made for me that I know is going to work.

But that's just me. I tried soldering stuff before, and I just wasn't that good at it. I spent a long time trying to make my own TurboGrafx-16 RGB cable, and it turned out to be a big waste of time. Finally I just payed a guy $30 to make me one.

[davidleeroth]

TTL-level signal is digital so you won't go far with that connector.
Double-check the 1084s pinout (the pinouts differ between 1084's).
What comes to the intensity pin, you can propably just ignore it.

[christianscott27]

there is a second female RGB port on my 1084s thats analog

1 Green
2 Horiz. Sync
3 Ground
4 Red
5 Blue
6 Vert. Sync

so, yes it looks like i should go with that, which means a trip to the shack for the right din but oh well, i wanted to learn here!

i took apart the spare saturn AV out i had, a mad catz and found that i should be able to at least use audio wires and will have to hook up the others, all the pins are there. another concern i have is that the saturn out has one synch pin but the 1084s is looking for sep, horz and vert?

anthony- it was your post last week that sent me down this RGB path :) i know that buying a cable might be the less frusterating option but i'm looking for projects to build up my skill level on, right now its pretty low but i've got something to shoot for.

[davidleeroth]

You can wire the composite sync to horiz. sync on the 1084.
If it doesn't work (I'd be surprised), you'll have to make a sync separator circuit using LM1881N or similar chip. The schematics are available on the net.

[GaijinPunch]

Question:
Does the RGB connector on the Commodore Monitor work with these Sega Saturn RGB Cables (http://page8.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h9847799)?

[davidleeroth]

I don't know if US 1084's have a SCART connector (european one have) but even if they do, it's very likely that the SCART cable on picture has a japanese SCART layout.
It differs slightly from the standard layout, but yes, with a little mod it can be made to work through SCART or DIN port.

[christianscott27]

nope, the US 1084s takes RGB thru 2 DIN ports

but like diamond dave said that cable would be a good place to start chopping and switching, if i werent so cheap :P

[Tetsu]

I've made this particular journey a few years ago, also with a saturn and a 1084, no less. Some of the things I've learned:

Use the Analog RGB input on the back of the monitor.
Here is the Pinout. http://www.gamesx.com/hwb/co_C1084a.html

Pipe the signal from the Composite Sync pin on the Saturn to the Vert and Horiz Sync pins on the monitor. No muss, no fuss.

Putting the Red signal in the Blue monitor pin, Green signal in Red, etc etc, yields some interesting results. Everything looks like a negative!

If you want to be cheap about it (like I am), you can insert some test leads into the proper pins on the back of the saturn, and route them to the proper pins on the back of the monitor. Voila, beautiful RGB picture in 5 minutes. Oh, the circular metal part of a regular Saturn connector is ground, so make contact with that (wedge a wire in there) and connect the other end to ground at the monitor's connector. Just don't jostle the wires by yanking on a controller or something. I have my Genesis running like this currently, test leads everywhere, mainly because I'm too lazy to make a custom cable that runs through the 32X and Genesis and to the monitor. Genesis and Saturn are great because they output RGB right at the connector, without requiring a video/sync separator chip like the Playstation and SNES do. (LM188N chip does the trick.)

Oh, and by the way, a Scart RGB cable would need to be modified to work with the 1084, so you wouldn't save yourself much effort for the money. Have fun, but remember, RGB is so good it'll give you the fever, and you'll be modifying every system you have if you catch it. Provided you have a steady hand and know how to solder, the order of RGB systems and what they need is as follows:

Saturn and Genesis: RGB right at the pins, just make a cable

Playstation: needs a circuit to remove the video info from the sync info

SNES: needs same circuit as above, and capacitors to boost the video signals

Dreamcast: needs a switch to turn RGB capability on/off, as some games won't work in this mode (non-VGA compatible games such as Street Fighter Alpha 3, usually). Soldering wires to the tiny traces inside the system is a delicate proceedure.

N64: needs capacitors, sync circuit. not really worth it, as most games look all fuzzy anyway.

Master System: I've forgotten, but I think you can tap RGB from the chip on the inside? If so, no other mods required.

TurboGrafx: tap RGB from the connector on the back, pinout is on Turbolist. take video/sync from the pin connector. needs sync separator circuit.


Playstation 2: same as Playstation

Xbox. Difficult, but not impossible to make a cable because the systems has such a dense connector. Haven't tried this one myself yet.

Gamecube: another tough one, have to do some delicate soldering on the inside

Atari, NES, Colecovision. Take one look at em and give up. Impossible (well, not really, just not cost effective.) I think there is an Svideo mod for Atari, and an A/V mod for coleco, though.

5200, 7800. dunno, haven't tried or read any literature. as the 7800 is made up of mainly Atari computer chips, it's plausible to conclude that the video chip outputs RGB, but I honestly don't know.

[MrKitt]

i persume you mean US consoles on all listed
since when it comes to pal snes,n64 and gc have the same cable and its kinda plugged right in with caps to remove dc current.

same for psx and ps2 only diffrence is the connector.

genesis (megadrive) and mastersystem have rgb direct in plug but need resistors oddly enought to compensate for poor rgb impedance.(gets white lines over screen otherwise in the background)
dont know about saturn(havent looked, tested)
and as for the dc its like the nintendo / sony stuff

so in short US consoles SUCK BIGTIME only good thing is the fullscreen (due to less tv lines) and higher frequency (fastergamespeed) but since almost all pal units can be fitted and adjusted accordingly they are simply better.

[Tetsu]

Dunno about US consoles "SUCK[ing] BIGTIME" because they have to be modified to output RGB, but I had no idea you had to modify PAL consoles. Why not just use SCART connectors?