Cloning the GameCube component cable

[LOCtronicz]

I'm afraid I don't have any tools to analyze the signals. I'm going to flash another board I have and try it on a different n64 and see what happens. Good to know that I'm safe with the way it's wired up right now.

Once I have sorted out everything I'll post my results. @Mega have you already tried the board on your n64?

[GillBert]

I'm wondering if I'll be able to flash the FPGA using this DIY programmer. Could someone please confirm if it is possible? If not, is there another DIY alternative?

Thanks in advance!

[DragoonC]

Hello, im from germany.
I just ordered 6 of these fine gcvideo pcbs.
Im seeing forward doing this mod

but Im a little bit blind...sorry for asking...but where do i find the jed and bit files for the programming part?

[Duhasst0]

First post, it's in the github link.

[megalomaniac]

i have neglected this long enough mainly because of lack of time...
but now the initial batch almost completed...
then i will begin a redesign with some enhancements for a very noob friendly installation...

Dont ask when it will be ready....just wait a bit....
trust me, it will be worth the wait

[MockyLock]

I'll wait that bit

[Ashen]

Oh my god. I want to rub them all over my body.

[noobcube]

Looks great! Just curious how this compares with the component cable using the MX chip in terms of latency and display quality?

[badsector]

Looking very good :3

[tesla246]

For those that already have a component cable, will there (eventually) be a HDMI version, with digital audio?

Very nice job on the boards, looks very professional, as expected.

[bobrocks95]

Unseen is working on an HDMI version. It may or may not happen.

[Unseen]

For those that already have a component cable, will there (eventually) be a HDMI version, with digital audio?

"HDMI" yes (just DVI encoding), audio over HDMI no - the packaging scheme for transmitting audio in an HDMI signal is rather complicated and a bit messy and I'm not aware of any other open-source implementations for it. The closest I know is the HDMI passthrough in the NeTV project, but that implements just enough to copy incoming data islands to the output without modifying them, so it doesn't need to handle packetization and checksumming of the audio data.

An additional SPDIF output for digital audio may be an option, but my current priority is to finish and release the DVI version.

Unseen is working on an HDMI version. It may or may not happen.

I have a similar problem as megalomaniac - lack of time. Things are progressing at an okay-ish rate currently, I don't expect any major roadblocks and if nothing else comes up I should be able to release something this year that targets the Pluto IIx HDMI board. Although that board has a few design flaws, it's much easier (and faster) for me to point people at an existing solution rather than designing one myself.

(currently fiddling with the linedoubler to improve 480i handling from "at least I get a somewhat readable picture" to "it's flickering like a CRT, but I could stand playing a game with that" - proper deinterlacing would require external RAM to store an entire field)

[bobrocks95]

Just because I've forgotten at this point- is it impossible in the HDMI standard to pass 480i, or is it that very few displays would know what to do with a 480i HDMI input?

[Unseen]

is it impossible in the HDMI standard to pass 480i, or is it that very few displays would know what to do with a 480i HDMI input?

It's no problem to pass 480i over HDMI, the CEA 861 specifications, which HDMI uses as a reference for these things, has a specification for it and even for 240p. Supporting it is optional, although all monitors/TVs/scalers I've tried yet accept it. Support for 240p seems to be less common and one of my displays is an odd case which accepts 288p and refuses 240p.

The line doubler I've integrated in the design should completely solve such incompatibilities for 240p/288p though as the resulting 480p/576p signal should be compatible with almost anything that accepts HDMI and even though the picture isn't that great, the linedoubled picture for 480i should at least be good enough to navigate the Cube's main menu and the "Enable progressive mode?"-screen.

[tesla246]

"HDMI" yes (just DVI encoding), audio over HDMI no - the packaging scheme for transmitting audio in an HDMI signal is rather complicated and a bit messy and I'm not aware of any other open-source implementations for it. The closest I know is the HDMI passthrough in the NeTV project, but that implements just enough to copy incoming data islands to the output without modifying them, so it doesn't need to handle packetization and checksumming of the audio data.

An additional SPDIF output for digital audio may be an option, but my current priority is to finish and release the DVI version.

Ah, ok. But I remember your discussion with ozone over on assemblergames, and him mentioning ''I2S audio via HDMI is working great'' (post 78)http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/sh ... tion/page4. Does that mean he has HDMI audio fully working on his cube? (talking about audio format, is way above my head). Also, is there a possibility for you guys working together, or maybe exchanging some information? Sorry If I'm sounding a bit pushy, not intended to be in the slightest, and I appreciate all of you guys's (unseen,mega,emukidid, ashen etc etc.) extended support. I'll await things patiently and take my leave, as I cannot contribute to these technical discussions, but I do find them fun to read.

[Unseen]

But I remember your discussion with ozone over on assemblergames, and him mentioning ''I2S audio via HDMI is working great'' (post 78)http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/sh ... tion/page4. Does that mean he has HDMI audio fully working on his cube?

He uses an HDMI transmitter IC which handles the complete conversion from a 24 bit parallel video bus plus I2S audio to the signals on the HDMI connector, while my solution connects the HDMI signals directly to the FPGA and does the whole conversion in there. Both are valid approaches with different trade-offs - his is simpler to implement, mine is cheaper. When I last checked, I didn't see any HDMI transmitter ICs with audio capabilities for less than about 12 USD in small quantities at the usual distributors, which is about the same as a single FPGA capable of directly driving the TMDS signals used in DVI and HDMI. Since the HDMI transmitter still needs a chip in front of it to decode the Cube's signal, the total cost is lower for my solution.

I also quite like the fact that I can just point people at an existing FPGA board instead of designing my own again. =) There are a few FPGA development boards with HDMI encoders on them, e.g. the Zedboard, but I'm not aware of any low-cost ones like the Pluto IIx-HDMI.

Also, is there a possibility for you guys working together, or maybe exchanging some information?

I'm always open to that, although I have no idea how ozone feels about that since I don't know if his project will be open- or closed-source in the end. Since I like sharing information a lot more than building and distributing hardware(*) I still plan to publish everything I have on Github when it's ready.

(*) Some time ago I designed a board for an advanced version of sd2iec and distributed ~100 of them in kit form - you have no idea how boring and time-consuming it is to sort a lot of parts into kits to send to other people.

as I cannot contribute to these technical discussions, but I do find them fun to read.

I always love it when such technical details as discussed in forums - it's much more fun if you know how a certain gadget works as opposed to getting just a black box with installation instructions. For example there is a thread at nesdev (I think...) discussing what eventually became viletim's NESRGB that was rather fascinating. It was detailed enough that in the end I thought "I could clone that" and it gave me some ideas how one might build something similar for a different system.

[novenary]

Cool to see DVI support is being worked on. And indeed, at 60 bucks a pop this FPGA board is pretty cheap.

[Arnold101]

price?

[Unseen]

The DVI version is now in the repository. I still feel as if I forgot something important in the README there, but I'll just wait for the hate mail to see what it is. ;)

[bobrocks95]

I also finally found the EDTV I've been looking for for months just last week. As soon as I can also find a DVI or HDMI input board for it, I'm going to get cracking on this! Thanks for all the hard work Unseen!



Also, if S/PDIF doesn't happen on the FPGA end, megalomaniac would maybe start producing the MegaAudio boards again (though I don't know why production ever stopped on them)?

And thanks for the mention btw, though I didn't do much

[Arnold101]

ok but, price??

[novenary]

Cool beans ! I'm gonna buy the FPGA and try it out. I'll finally be able to play on my PC monitor with something better than composhite.

[bobrocks95]

ok but, price??

The Pluto IIx HDMI is $60-http://www.knjn.com/ShopBoards_RS232_Parallel.html

Plus whatever it costs to flash it. If the vendor will flash it for you or you know someone with some flashing device, that's free. Otherwise, maybe tack another $30 on for a USB flasher of some kind (one was mentioned earlier in the thread).

[Unseen]

Plus whatever it costs to flash it. If the vendor will flash it for you or you know someone with some flashing device, that's free. Otherwise, maybe tack another $30 on for a USB flasher of some kind (one was mentioned earlier in the thread).

Be careful, whatever was mentioned earlier was most likely related to the Lattice chip on the initial analog board.

If you still have an RS232 port on your machine, one of the small TXDI boards (Item# 6130/6135) in the KNJN store should be sufficient and cost just 6-7 USD - I don't have any of these, so I don't know how well they would work with a USB-RS232 dongle. KNJN also has a USB TXDI board hidden on another page of their store (Item #6160) that should be enough to sufficient the board.

[bobrocks95]

Should've checked again before mentioning it, my bad. $15 isn't bad for a flasher at all, though I get the feeling it might only work for their dev boards?