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I have to say, I really love this card. It's been nearly six years and the thing is still proving extremely useful.
I recently picked up a small LCD module and discovered the internal control board was set to accept RGB inputs with composite sync - and then suddenly found a use for the SCART RGB setting on the RRS.
The LCD module itself was inexpensive (GameVue 5.6" monitor for the PSOne, cleared out by Fry's and Outpost.com for about $50 a while back) and video input through its composite connection was terrible. All sorts of vertical banding, and rather soft image. However, image output using direct RGB + csync connections is incredible - complete bypass of the mess of encoding/decoding the video from S-video or (blech) composite. Sharpness is at the limits of LCD. Colors just POP. If you have an LCD module lying around somewhere, it may also have an accessable RGB interface to tap into.
Anyway, the fun started when I found that the pinouts for the RRS are not easy to come by.
You can find the basic pinouts through Matrox in the Mystique user manual, page 26. It's not in the RRS manual, or the Millennium II / Mystique 220 manual.
Composite + S-Video pinout:
1: Reserved
2: Reserved
3: Y Out
4: C Out
5: Composite Out
6: Y In
7: C In
8: Composite In
9-15: Ground
The RRS uses a Philips SAA7125 video encoder chip for video output. The chip can be configured in three possible output modes:
1) Composite + S-Video
2) Composite + RGB
3) Y + Cb + Cr through bypass of the YUV to RGB conversion (haven't played around with this to see if it can be enabled on the RRS)
When switching the RRS settings (in Matrox Display Properties, TV Out) to SCART RGB, the video signal is output on the different set of pins - you'll need to pick up a DB-15 connector, hood, four RCA/phono jacks, and an enclosure if you'd like easy access to the signal output.
Composite + RGB pinout:
1: Unknown
2: Blue Out
3: Composite Out
4: Red Out
5: Green Out
6: Y In
7: C In
8: Composite In
9-15: Ground
The RGB output signals were at standard 0.7v - shouldn't pose a problem connecting to an RGB capable display (at least, one that runs around 15kHz
).
Thanks to the RRS, what started as a quick project to get some basic computer display in a car turned into a two week project enabling excellent video display on some hardware I completely underestimated. Such a shame that the Matrox driver programmers have no desire to put together some functional drivers for the RRS in WinXP/2k...
HTH,
Nikhil
I recently picked up a small LCD module and discovered the internal control board was set to accept RGB inputs with composite sync - and then suddenly found a use for the SCART RGB setting on the RRS.
The LCD module itself was inexpensive (GameVue 5.6" monitor for the PSOne, cleared out by Fry's and Outpost.com for about $50 a while back) and video input through its composite connection was terrible. All sorts of vertical banding, and rather soft image. However, image output using direct RGB + csync connections is incredible - complete bypass of the mess of encoding/decoding the video from S-video or (blech) composite. Sharpness is at the limits of LCD. Colors just POP. If you have an LCD module lying around somewhere, it may also have an accessable RGB interface to tap into.
Anyway, the fun started when I found that the pinouts for the RRS are not easy to come by.
You can find the basic pinouts through Matrox in the Mystique user manual, page 26. It's not in the RRS manual, or the Millennium II / Mystique 220 manual.
Composite + S-Video pinout:
1: Reserved
2: Reserved
3: Y Out
4: C Out
5: Composite Out
6: Y In
7: C In
8: Composite In
9-15: Ground
The RRS uses a Philips SAA7125 video encoder chip for video output. The chip can be configured in three possible output modes:
1) Composite + S-Video
2) Composite + RGB
3) Y + Cb + Cr through bypass of the YUV to RGB conversion (haven't played around with this to see if it can be enabled on the RRS)
When switching the RRS settings (in Matrox Display Properties, TV Out) to SCART RGB, the video signal is output on the different set of pins - you'll need to pick up a DB-15 connector, hood, four RCA/phono jacks, and an enclosure if you'd like easy access to the signal output.
Composite + RGB pinout:
1: Unknown
2: Blue Out
3: Composite Out
4: Red Out
5: Green Out
6: Y In
7: C In
8: Composite In
9-15: Ground
The RGB output signals were at standard 0.7v - shouldn't pose a problem connecting to an RGB capable display (at least, one that runs around 15kHz
). Thanks to the RRS, what started as a quick project to get some basic computer display in a car turned into a two week project enabling excellent video display on some hardware I completely underestimated. Such a shame that the Matrox driver programmers have no desire to put together some functional drivers for the RRS in WinXP/2k...
HTH,
Nikhil
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