Dreamcast through VGA - RGB - HDMI

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RXShorty
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Dreamcast through VGA - RGB - HDMI

Post#1 » Mon Apr 18, 2016 5:40 am

Hello,

I spend a lot of time and even more money to get my Dreamcast back on track on my new LG HD TV.
So it's time to share my experience with all tries so far.

My setup at the start:

- Dreamcast PAL v1
- VGA Box
VGA Box.jpg
VGA Box
VGA Box.jpg (11.88 KiB) Viewed 8867 times


So when I tried to connect it to my new TV it had no VGA...
After some reading it should be possible to convert VGA signal to HDMI.
You could go for a cheap upscaler but I wanted a scaler that also makes the picture better.
Bought the Aten VC182 upscaler.

Second setup:

- Dreamcast PAL v1
- VGA Box
- Aten VC182 - VGA to HDMI upscaler

Connect the VGA box to the Aten VC182 resulted in a nice crisp screen but after a minute or so it stopped working and my screen goes black.
After contacting support of Aten it seems that the VGA signal of PC's is supported but the Dreamcast isn't.
So after some searching it could be the cheap VGA box that is causing the issues.

The best VGA box available should be one of Beharbros.
After reading the website I bought the Beharbros Toro.
vga toro.jpg


Third setup:

- Dreamcast PAL v1
- VGA Box - Toro
- Aten VC182 - VGA to HDMI upscaler

Received it after a few weeks and connected it to the Aten VC182 box.
Even a better picture was produced but the screen stills turns black after a while.

After contacting Aten support again the conclusion was simple, it is not going to work on this device.
Tried al settings as well on the Toro as on the Aten VC182.

Meanwhile I received my USB GDROM mod and installed.
Now I want to play my Dreamcast even more badly...

Invested a lot of money and still no result is cause of not doing my homework.
So it was time to do my homework.

xrgb mini.jpg
xrgb mini.jpg (15.61 KiB) Viewed 8867 times


What I needed: XRGB Mini of a working VGA to HDMI upscaler.
As the second option failed I decided to buy a XRGB mini.
Again learned from my expriences I did my homework and also bought a EuroSCART to Framemeister XRGB mini passive adapter cable because the cable comming with the XRGB mini does NOT work.

Fourth setup

- Dreamcast PAL v1
- VGA Box - Toro
- USB GDROM mod
- XRGB Mini + EuroScart cable

Now it works!

Beautifull picture... no noticeable input lag.
The only thing now is that the Dreamcast overheats itself because of the USB GDROM mod.
This is caused of the missing 12 volt usage of the GDROM drive.

Next project is how to fix this, now I have a workaround by removing the case :P
DreamOn!

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GameOverYeah
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Posts: 320

Re: Dreamcast through VGA - RGB - HDMI

Post#2 » Mon Apr 18, 2016 1:11 pm

Bro... I don't know why you would go through all that trouble. DC games look better on a CRT anyway.

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RXShorty
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Re: Dreamcast through VGA - RGB - HDMI

Post#3 » Mon Apr 18, 2016 5:35 pm

True... :)

Only thing is I can't put a CRT in my living room anymore.
My wife likes the Dreamcast but don't like a big CRT.
DreamOn!

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GameOverYeah
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Posts: 320

Re: Dreamcast through VGA - RGB - HDMI

Post#4 » Tue Apr 19, 2016 3:14 am

RXShorty wrote:True... :)

Only thing is I can't put a CRT in my living room anymore.
My wife likes the Dreamcast but don't like a big CRT.



That sucks, dude.

You gotta work on her; teach her about the benefits of CRT.


Speaking of which, AVGN is using an HDTV in his setup, now. Really disappointing.

gjb1985
drunken sailor
Posts: 165

Re: Dreamcast through VGA - RGB - HDMI

Post#5 » Mon Jan 23, 2017 7:49 am

GameOverYeah wrote:Bro... I don't know why you would go through all that trouble. DC games look better on a CRT anyway.

no they don't. I've owned and tried countless hdtv's, old crt tubes and more and the best image you can get is from a very high end modern 4k tv with a very good internal scaler

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Rolly
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Re: Dreamcast through VGA - RGB - HDMI

Post#6 » Mon Jan 23, 2017 1:56 pm

I use in Poland on my Philips and Sharp tv's two cheap cables.
One is vga+scanlines genrator made in my country (cost in actually dolar/zloty exchange ~15$) and chinese box called VGA2HDMI (this one is without scaler - cost max 5$).
This combo generate really nice picture!
Here is little preview : http://translate.google.pl/translate?hl ... &sandbox=1
Of course i got alternative for games without VGA support (ex. 2D games) - Dreamcast S-Video cable + scart adapter. This combination looks better on my TVs than RGB cable (DC and Saturn).

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RXShorty
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Re: Dreamcast through VGA - RGB - HDMI

Post#7 » Mon Jan 23, 2017 7:29 pm

gjb1985 wrote:
GameOverYeah wrote:Bro... I don't know why you would go through all that trouble. DC games look better on a CRT anyway.

no they don't. I've owned and tried countless hdtv's, old crt tubes and more and the best image you can get is from a very high end modern 4k tv with a very good internal scaler


It does look better than on my old crt.
I still play on my DC every week :)
DreamOn!

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Raen
Toy Commander
Posts: 550

Re: Dreamcast through VGA - RGB - HDMI

Post#8 » Tue Jan 24, 2017 10:35 am

With the Framemeister discontinued, you better off with the OSSC or the new Akura from beharbros (or BBS). The OSSC does scale to 1080p and it's more simple to use and overall a little better than the Framemeister, while the Akura box is a simple VGA to HDMI format converter, it will output the same input video signal, and will not scale 480p to 1080p.

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RXShorty
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Re: Dreamcast through VGA - RGB - HDMI

Post#9 » Tue Jan 24, 2017 6:13 pm

Well the Framemeister works great as it is :)
The latest firmware is over 6 months old but it does the trick very well.

Akura is going to be much easier for new users!
Thought it doesn't have any upscaling.

OSSC is a thing that I didnt look into at the time but it seems it is not a out of the box thing you can buy?
DreamOn!

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Bob Dobbs
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Re: Dreamcast through VGA - RGB - HDMI

Post#10 » Tue Jan 24, 2017 10:28 pm

Rolly wrote:"... chinese box called VGA2HDMI (this one is without scaler - cost max 5$).
This combo generate really nice picture!"


Rolly, I used the same box which cost me a total of $4.90USD. Works really great, uses the DC's native resolution and allows me to view it on my HDTV. My direct VGA connection did not work because it did not like the VGA output signal. It really looks great. It uses the power from the HDMI as well, so no additional power supply and it is so small, you can put it in your hand and make a fist and no one would see it.
Regards,
Bob Dobbs

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