Cloning the GameCube component cable

[novenary]

Haha, awesome.

[tesla246]

That settles it; very thorough analysis, as expected of you

So I assume GCvideoDVI would potentially be even faster (not accounting other factors hdtv/upscaler etc.) due to no conversions?

[Unseen]

So I assume GCvideoDVI would potentially be even faster (not accounting other factors hdtv/upscaler etc.) due to no conversions?

No, it's actually slower. The initial processing is quite similar for both - although the DVI version has a faster YCbCr-to-RGB conversion because the FPGA has hardware multipliers, that advantage is cancelled by the linedoubler, reblanker, scanliner and OSD parts in GCVideo DVI, which each introduce a one-pixel delay even if they're not used. At the point where the video data is just 24-bit parallel RGB, GCV Lite outputs that to its DAC, but GCV DVI feeds it to a DVI encoder. The encoding process introduces a few additional pixels of delay compared to a simple DAC.

[novenary]

All in all it's still not much to worry about, especially compared to the latency the TV's processing will add anyway.

[ShockSlayer]

Thank you so much.

[Just_A_N00bie_Gamer1]

Where can I find this "GCVideo"?

I'm new to this, as I didn't know this existed until now.

[Nukatha]

Mega's working on it, badassconsoles.com

[bobrocks95]

Well to be clear Mega is working on a pre-assembled version of it to be sold. Unseen developed it and you can buy an FPGA dev board and flash and install it in your Gamecube right now if you wanted to. Both will require soldering experience, though Mega's should be easier to do. He also supposedly has plans for an external cable version of it as well that's at least several months out from release.

[Just_A_N00bie_Gamer1]

Well to be clear Mega is working on a pre-assembled version of it to be sold. Unseen developed it and you can buy an FPGA dev board and flash and install it in your Gamecube right now if you wanted to. Both will require soldering experience, though Mega's should be easier to do. He also supposedly has plans for an external cable version of it as well that's at least several months out from release.

Where can I buy a FPGA dev. board and flash?

[bobrocks95]

I believe the only current target board is the Pluto IIx HDMI from knjn- http://www.knjn.com/ShopBoards_RS232_Parallel.html

I never heard anyone specifically say if the company would pre-flash the board before selling it to you, so you probably need an Altera USB Blaster, a clone of it, or some other sort of JTAG flashing hardware to actually put the code on the board. Unseen has an install guide and picture for this board somewhere on the github page.

[Just_A_N00bie_Gamer1]

I believe the only current target board is the Pluto IIx HDMI from knjn- http://www.knjn.com/ShopBoards_RS232_Parallel.html

I never heard anyone specifically say if the company would pre-flash the board before selling it to you, so you probably need an Altera USB Blaster, a clone of it, or some other sort of JTAG flashing hardware to actually put the code on the board. Unseen has an install guide and picture for this board somewhere on the github page.

Which boards do I need to get and where Is the link to the install guide?

[Just_A_N00bie_Gamer1]

I believe the only current target board is the Pluto IIx HDMI from knjn- http://www.knjn.com/ShopBoards_RS232_Parallel.html

I never heard anyone specifically say if the company would pre-flash the board before selling it to you, so you probably need an Altera USB Blaster, a clone of it, or some other sort of JTAG flashing hardware to actually put the code on the board. Unseen has an install guide and picture for this board somewhere on the github page.

Also is it possible if GCVideo plugs both into the "Analog AV" and "Digital AV" port so there can be audio, Syncing, etc...?

[bobrocks95]

Like I said a few posts above, it needs to be soldered in internally, it doesn't plug into any ports. People have either desoldered the digital port entirely or cut a small hole for the HDMI output on the board

If you want a simple plug-and-play solution you'll wanna wait for Mega. I can go find the install guide if you still want me to.

[Just_A_N00bie_Gamer1]

Like I said a few posts above, it needs to be soldered in internally, it doesn't plug into any ports. People have either desoldered the digital port entirely or cut a small hole for the HDMI output on the board

If you want a simple plug-and-play solution you'll wanna wait for Mega. I can go find the install guide if you still want me to.

Sure.

[bobrocks95]

Here you go:

https://github.com/ikorb/gcvideo/blob/m ... /README.md

Should cover everything you need to know. Any clarifications should probably be directed towards Unseen, I haven't installed a board myself.

[megalomaniac]

installation of pluto is exactly as described on github...
pluto fitment within the GC is another story

[Unseen]

I still prefer dismantling a Cube over dismantling a Wii...


Note that using such a setup is not recommended. The signal integrity sucks, to get a stable and flickering-pixel-freei image I had to hold up the 54MHz wire to keep it separated from the other wires and even then I couldn't get a stable 480p image.

But it was enough to capture this over HDMI:


So, the theory that the internal video bus of the Wii uses the same signals as the Gamecube is true - which means that GCVideo can use it. However, the Wii's bus uses 1.8V levels, which is barely enough to register as a "1" on an input that is meant for 3.3V signals. Fortunately, this is not a big issue - the FPGAs used for GCVideo can be configured to accept 1.8V signals on their inputs - but this requires a different bit stream. I'll probably upload the files for that soon.

To connect a GCVideo board to the Wii, you need a few pins from the AVE-RVL video encoder:

Code: Select all

64 - VData 0
 1 - VData 1
 2 - VData 2
 3 - VData 3
 6 - VData 4
 7 - VData 5
 8 - 54MHz (or TP232 next to the chip)
11 - CSel
13 - VData 6
14 - VData 7
25 - I2S_BClock  (unverified)
27 - I2S_LRClock  (unverified)
29 - I2S_Data  (unverified)

I haven't actually tested the audio signals yet, the pin numbers may be wrong!

Power (5V/GND) can be taken from one of the USB connectors. I haven't traced out the Gamecube controller inputs yet to find a good spot to connect to - a direct connection to the pad's data line on the connector is possible, but not recommended. (Edit: See below) A suitable point for connecting the CableDetect signal is also not known yet, but simply plugging in a component cable is enough to enable 480p - or you could
CableDetect - unkown, just plug in a component cable for now or connect pins 8 and 10 on the AV connector.

Next problem: Figuring out the mechanical issues of either integrating a board into the Wii or routing a (short!) cable with all signals out of the case.

Edit: The circuit for the controller data lines is a bit simpler in the Wii than in the Gamecube, but there is at least a little bit of protection on the data lines. On the RVL-CPU-60 board I used, there are four test points near the four Gamecube controller connectors, labelled TP 27 to 30. Connecting the PadData line from GCVideo to one of them should work - I can't test it easily right now. For Wiis without Gamecube ports I'll need to implement a different solution for controlling the OSD.

[tesla246]

Our savior returns . Quite the dedication there, amazing work; GCvideo is quickly becoming the standard to HDMI-mod post SNES nintendo consoles

On another note, would it be possible for games that use the 640x480 rendering buffer such as smash melee, to display without black borders? If I am correct the signal is the NTSC video standard of 720x480, so there are 720-640=80 pixels added by the cubes output image and are flagged as active? Would it be possible for GCvideo to flag those pixels as non-active, so my TV doesnt treat them as part of the image and upscales without black borders? Or am I talking out of my ass here?

[Unseen]

Would it be possible for GCvideo to flag those pixels as non-active, so my TV doesnt treat them as part of the image and upscales without black borders? Or am I talking out of my ass here? :D

It is basically possible, although I'm not sure if it would still fit in the (tiny) amount of space that is left in the FPGA. This would of course result in a slight horizontal stretching of the picture.

[tesla246]

Ah ok, fair enough. But wouldn't it result in a slightly more accurately scaled image (both height and width times 2.25, in 4:3 tv mode, would scale perfect in future 8k tv's)? If the fov is 16:9, or slightly altered because of gamecube pixels not being square, it shouldn't appear stretched when selecting wide mode on the tv, correct?

[ShockSlayer]

If you're looking for alternate points on the Wii for 5v, controllers, and cabledetect(listed as "mode"), I've mapped out a few here: http://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?th ... #post-1492

Pin 8's the actual Cabledetect(in most pinouts online they're both listed as "mode,") pin 10 is just 3.3v, so you can grab that from anywhere. The easiest point happens to be quite close, and is also marked.

Hope that helps. Nice work on this, can't wait to see the code posted! send it to mega pls

[Unseen]

Pin 8's the actual Cabledetect(in most pinouts online they're both listed as "mode,") pin 10 is just 3.3v, so you can grab that from anywhere.

Interesting, that means the pinout I found is incorrect - it claimed that pin 8 had to be grounded and suggested pin 10 as the closest source. If it's really just a 3.3V input like on the Gamecube, the CableDetect pin from the FPGA could be connected to it directly. I'll have to make a small change to the code to make sure the FPGA never outputs 0V on that pin, otherwise setting "Enable 480p" to "No" in the OSD and plugging in a component cable would result in a problematic situation.

Do you happen to know if that pin has a pulldown resistor connected to it?

Nice work on this, can't wait to see the code posted! send it to mega pls

I'll let you into a secret: The code is currently the same that is in my Github repo, I just changed a few lines in the UCF file and compiled it.

Edit: Random idea of the moment - does anyone know if it would be feasible to take a standard flat flex cable (0.5mm pitch) and solder one end to the pins of the AVE? Almost all signals are on a single side of the chip and the remaining ones could be wired to the cable manually. It could then be folded once and leave the case below the standard AV connector - one of the four heat sink screws would have to be left out though.

[ShockSlayer]

No resistors, just a component marked D2 connecting it to ground:

It probably serves the same purpose. But aside from that, it's a straight connection from the plug to the final via.

[tueidj]

Are you guys sure the cube/wii doesn't have two cable detect lines? From the software side there are two individual bits (in the same hw register) that are checked, one indicates the presence of a component cable and the other is used to detect a japanese console i.e. D-terminal cable.

[Unseen]

Are you guys sure the cube/wii doesn't have two cable detect lines? From the software side there are two individual bits (in the same hw register) that are checked, one indicates the presence of a component cable and the other is used to detect a japanese console i.e. D-terminal cable.

On the Gamecube, there is only a single pin on the digital AV port that is an input. Maybe the second bit is just a hard-wired region bit?