Analogue Interactive CMVS Upscaler Question

Elder

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I've been using my Analogue Interactive CMVS for a little while now, and on my CRT it looks amazing with SCART. Even the component looks really clean on a more modern television, but the purpose of this thread is to ask if anyone has had any luck using an upscaler for recording purposes.

I run a YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/ProjectCOE), and would like to broadcast my video reviews in 720p/1080p. Normally with older consoles I run them through RGB SCART-to-HDMI via a CVID BG-460 (example of the quality is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twgsXeYyulQ). It's not the best upscaler in the world, but for the purposes of my video reviews it does a pretty good job. A weird thing happened when I ran the CMVS through the upscaler though, instead of showcasing crisp visuals, the colors were wavy, and there was noticeable flicker. I should also mention that the SCART upscaler doesn't see the RGB signal, and instead see the source as AV SCART, which has never happened to me before. With all my other retro systems it will list the source as RGB SCART. I believe this is where the problem is stemming from. Unfortunately the Analogue Interactive cables are proprietary so I can't just try another RGB SCART cable to see if that's where the problem truly lays.

I'd like to know if anyone has used any other upscaler for recording purposes? I know of the XRGB line, but that seems like overkill since I'm only doing this for videos and not for my personal use. For that I use my CRT. I'm going to try a work-around and use a component-to-HDMI upscaler and see how that goes, but if you guys know why I'm having issues it would be nice to know. If a solution can be found I'll do a video, and give props to whomever is able to lend me a hand.

Thanks in advance for any info you guys can give me.

Edit:

For those curious to see exactly what I'm talking about, here's a link to the direct feed video (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6728337/Neo Geo Quality Test.mp4)
 
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Elder

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How are you capturing the video?

I use the Elgato Game Capture HD. I run the SCART through the CVID BG-460, and then to the Game Capture HD. I've never had any issues like this with any other retro console, even when using composite upscalers I have. This is the very first time something like this has happened, where the colors were wavy, and flickering.
 

Xian Xi

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Maybe the levels are too intense. You can try adding some pots on the lines to adjust them.
 

Elder

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Maybe the levels are too intense. You can try adding some pots on the lines to adjust them.

I've tweaked a few, but nothing really made much of a difference. The other thing I forgot to mention was that the SCART upscaler was taking the source signal as AV SCART instead of RGB SCART, which has never happened to me before. With all my other systems it sees that the system is outputting in RGB and uses that source. Here, it takes the composite signal being passed through the SCART cable, which is odd. I tried using the included composite cables, and sure enough the exact same flicker and wavy colors showed up. I believe the core problem is that the RGB signal itself isn't being properly sent to the upscaler and therein lies the problem, because I'm essentially taking a composite signal and upscaling that.

Edit: Here's a link to the video I captured (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6728337/Neo Geo Quality Test.mp4). The results speak for themselves. You can clearly see the SCART upscaler isn't detecting the RGB signal.
 
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Xian Xi

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That's probably because the cable isn't made correctly to trigger RGB. If you open the cable on the scart side it's easy to confirm.
 

Elder

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That's probably because the cable isn't made correctly to trigger RGB. If you open the cable on the scart side it's easy to confirm.

Yeah...I really don't know jack about that sort of stuff my man. If I attempted to do something like that, odds are this will never work again ;) I really do appreciate you giving me assistance though :) I wonder if I could send this to someone who knows how to fix stuff like this.
 

Xian Xi

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Yeah...I really don't know jack about that sort of stuff my man. If I attempted to do something like that, odds are this will never work again ;) I really do appreciate you giving me assistance though :) I wonder if I could send this to someone who knows how to fix stuff like this.

As long as you have +5v in the scart hood it's easy to do. You just need to add a resistor to pin 16 to trigger RGB mode.
 

Elder

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I'd really need someone to check for me as I honestly don't even know how to open the cable up. I'll ask around and see if there's anyone who would be willing to do this for me.
 

Yodd

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At the scart connector end there is a round knuckle that screws up onto the scart connector. Unscrew this and slide it back down the cable.

At that point the plastic shell around the scart connector just pops open.

Take a couple high quality, in focus photos and post them here. We can tell you if it's built correctly or not.
 

Elder

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At the scart connector end there is a round knuckle that screws up onto the scart connector. Unscrew this and slide it back down the cable.

At that point the plastic shell around the scart connector just pops open.

Take a couple high quality, in focus photos and post them here. We can tell you if it's built correctly or not.

Does this work for you?

SCART1.jpg

SCART2.jpg

I noticed the brown wire was cut and isn't connected to anything, but not sure if that's supposed to be like that or not.

Thanks in advance for the info :)
 
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shadowkn55

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The resistor for the blanking pin is missing. I think the blue wire is the voltage pin.
 

Elder

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The resistor for the blanking pin is missing. I think the blue wire is the voltage pin.

So I can contact Chris from Analogue Interactive and tell him the resistor for the blanking pin is missing, and he'll know what that means to fix this?
 

Elder

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Thanks Shadow :) So long as I can get this fixed I'll be one happy camper. Been dying to post my Neo reviews, but it's utterly pointless if I can't show the games in good quality.
 

Yodd

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I agree with shadowkn55 that the resistor that goes between pins 8 and 16 is missing. If it's 5v on pin 8 (which it probably is since the AI runs on 5v only I beleive), you would need a 180 ohm resistor between pin 8 to pin 16.

I don't like the way that cable is built either. In my opinion it isn't sufficiently grounded enough. It needs at least a link to ground on both Pin 4 (audio ground) and pin 21 (the outer metal shell that goes around the connector). Just a ground to pin 18 isn't enough in my opinion. There are some other grounds like pins 5, 9 and 13 as well (RGB grounds).
 

Elder

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Thanks Broken. I've forwarded all the comments here to Chris from AI, so hopefully he'll be able to send me something that fixes my issue. Can't tell you guys how much this means to me. NG community is second to none!
 

christoph

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Hey guys, I had these recent SCART cables (SCART only) built by a new builder, someone who I have not used before and it looks like some cables were built incorrectly. I'm personally disassembling and going through them all today to confirm they are all sound. If anyone has any issues whatsoever, contact me directly and I'll get a new cable in your hands immediately. Apologies for any inconvenience and thanks Jarrod for taking pictures and emailing everything over to me, I appreciate you bringing this to my attention!
 

Mendel

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Just wanted to post that Im really looking forward to seeing your videos after you have went through all of this and when it gets fixed! Theres never too many neo reviews and videos ;)
 

Elder

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Just wanted to post that Im really looking forward to seeing your videos after you have went through all of this and when it gets fixed! Theres never too many neo reviews and videos ;)

By all means check out the channel I linked to above. I'll be posting a ton of stuff there in the coming weeks, once this is all sorted out :) I've already got a bunch of other retro reviews if you're interested.

Thanks again for helping me out Chris :) I hope this helps others too.
 

Elder

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Thanks for all the help everyone, it was indeed the cable that was the issue. Chris from AI send over another one and sure enough my problem went away. Now to record some glorious 1080p upscaled Neo Geo reviews!
 
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