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How did GameCube render GBA video and audio?

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2023 10:53 pm
by epicmartin7
Obviously, the GBA Player had full hardware inside. So I was always curious, how did the GameCube even render Video and Audio?

Did the GameCube hardware actually decode the signal? Or did it skip the chipset and go directly to the video out?

Re: How did GameCube render GBA video and audio?

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2023 11:30 pm
by Extrems
Neither. It's all software.

Re: How did GameCube render GBA video and audio?

Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2023 3:33 am
by epicmartin7
Extrems wrote: ↑
Wed Aug 02, 2023 11:30 pm
Neither. It's all software.
Oh, interesting. How's it able to get the video and video signals fast enough?

Re: How did GameCube render GBA video and audio?

Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2023 12:55 am
by epicmartin7
Sorry for bumping, but is there technical documentation on the GBA Player at all?

Re: How did GameCube render GBA video and audio?

Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2023 10:26 am
by Papy.G
You may find the GBA display specs around, and comparing to the GC's High speed port (YAGCD is the key word to find about it), you may end up finding that it has wayy enough bus width and throughput to transfer all those datas from GBPlayer hardware to GC.
If the GBPlayer is really the full featured hardware, the work on the GC side is more of zooming than full rendering.

I never got deep enough in the docs so I still wonder why the GBA display always looks to me like it is interlaced (thanks to fast seeing perception, that also prevents me from playing FPS' without ending seasick).

Re: How did GameCube render GBA video and audio?

Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2023 9:58 pm
by SG-17
I've always wondered why mod makers never pursued using the GBP as a base for a no-solder consolizer solution.

Re: How did GameCube render GBA video and audio?

Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2023 10:01 am
by Papy.G
I do too, but you have to choose something beefed enough to handle data flow from and to GBPlayer, from controllers (SNES/BT/SWitch), to HDMI with zoom and all the display enhancements…

There used to be a time where such FPGAS where too expensive compared to GC or GBA hardware, they are becoming more affordable while consoles prices are getting higher and higher, so we may see such consolizer solutions in a close future.