New Option for SCART?

[t0nito]

What is all this SCART to Component or HDMI? Is it a solution for Americans? Because for Europeans I think nothing gets better than connecting the Mega Drive to the TV by RGB scart directly.

[ApolloBoy]

What is all this SCART to Component or HDMI? Is it a solution for Americans?

Mainly, since *very* few TVs in North America actually had SCART inputs, let alone RGB inputs. Usually over here the only TVs you'll find that even have RGB are either professional-quality video monitors like the Sony PVM series or older computer monitors like the Commodore 1084S.

[lumclaw]

What is all this SCART to Component or HDMI? Is it a solution for Americans? Because for Europeans I think nothing gets better than connecting the Mega Drive to the TV by RGB scart directly.

Several of our few monitors with RGB input still need an adapter, not using the physical SCART socket.
There's BNC, DIN, and some others.

[t0nito]

Mainly, since *very* few TVs in North America actually had SCART inputs, let alone RGB inputs. Usually over here the only TVs you'll find that even have RGB are either professional-quality video monitors like the Sony PVM series or older computer monitors like the Commodore 1084S.

Yes I'm aware that few American TVs have RGB scart inputs, that's very unfortunate, the only one I'm aware of was the RCA Dimensia and they called it the "EIA Multiport-Stereo Connector" I'm not sure if it even supported RGB on that port.

Too bad it didn't take off in America, even today new TVs support at least 1 RGB Scart input here in Europe.

I asked too know if Europeans are also taking this SCART to HDMI/Component approach as it's pretty much useless here unless you wan't to connect it to a HDMI PC monitor...

[Polygon]

There would be no reason for someone in Europe to play with the SCART to component adapter unless, for some reason, the monitor they wanted to use didn't have a SCART input. However, the SCART to HDMI converters could still be useful over there if they have a good scaler as well. That way, older consoles can look better on a modern LCD or plasma display.

[lumclaw]

SCART to component is mostly for NTSC CRT SDTVs. I myself have around an American TV who accepts component yet not 480p.

HDTV support varies, often sets refuse low-res modes from component input.

[Qjimbo]

So for those of us looking for a SCART to HDMI solution, are there any any alternatives to the product linked in the OP? What is the best solution for this? Would really like to hook up my Genesis to a monitor I have but don't really want the artifacts Joe talked about in his reply.

[KillerBean2]

XRGB-mini.

[Qjimbo]

XRGB-mini.

So the choice is a $40 item or a $400 item?

[KillerBean2]

You get what you pay for, that's all I can say. A scaler is a relatively sophisticated piece of hardware.

The XRGB-mini is not perfect, but it's good, and it's not super expensive. If you want a seriously good scaler then you won't get far with $400.

Not even Chinese slave labor can make a good $40 scaler.

[Helder]

Anyone know a good schematic or Scaler IC? Maybe we can build one that works good and is relatively cheap.

[t0nito]

Geez, all this trouble and expense because of the lack of a SCART input, probably would be cheaper (and better quality) to mod a CRT to accept RGB signals!

[Greg2600]

Geez, all this trouble and expense because of the lack of a SCART input, probably would be cheaper (and better quality) to mod a CRT to accept RGB signals!

Not for me. I personally have no issue with retro systems on a CRT using S-Video or composite, just not RF! If you have component in on a CRT by all means use it. The SCART converter and audio break out adapter plus cables will cost you $70 at most, which is a great value.

Playing on a large HDTV is another story. I cannot look at composite or even S-video signals, they look terrible, so muddled and fuzzy. I had to get an upscaler from SCART to play in HDMI.

[MaxWar]

to mod a CRT to accept RGB signals!

I started working toward that goal recently

[t0nito]

I started working toward that goal recently

I've read on another forum about this and it seems fairly simple, one method is to tap the OSD RGB output, but some say that on some tvs when you plug in the genesis everything that is black on the game becomes transparent and you'll see static in its place, I guess black is the transparency key.

Another method is to plug the rgb pins directly to the crt neck while using the composite input for sync, of course you won't be able to use brightness or contrast controls anymore.