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Haig is a legend (aka TV related pin-outs uncovered)
Just wanted to tell you all about what I've sussed out about the TV-out feature
of the G400 DH. </p>
It all began when I was fiddling with the settings of the TV clone option,
in order to get the cruddy composite lead I used to perform a bit better. I
noticed a mention of RGB SCART under : Display Properties -> Advanced ->
DualHead -> Desktop TV settings / DVDMax TV settings.
The problem is that we only get supplied with a cable that passes the composite
and s-video signals. This relegates those of us without a s-video capable TV
to use a much lower quality composite signal. Anyone who knows anything about
video signals knows that in the order of quality it goes:</p>
tv signal--------composite--------------------------------------------s-video------RGB
and YUV.</p>
low-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------high</p>
This quality is also reflected in the length of conductor that can be used
before there is noticable degradation. The more you separate the signals the
less degradation there is over longer distances. </p>
</p>
Solution: several emails to Tech Support and hijacking someone elses thread
to finally get the attention of Haig. the patron saint of MURC. With his help
and a trusty multi meter I've managed to work out the following pin assignments.
</p>
<table width="452" border="1" align="center">
<tr>
<td width="23%">Job</td>
<td width="19%">SCART pin No.</td>
<td width="36%">7Pin Mini-DIN / Composite lead Pin No.</td>
<td width="22%">VGA Pin No.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="23%">Sync on composite</td>
<td width="19%">20 </td>
<td width="36%">composite lead</td>
<td width="22%">4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="23%">Ground</td>
<td width="19%">17</td>
<td width="36%">composite lead gnd</td>
<td width="22%">5,6,7,8,10,shell</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="23%">RGB Red</td>
<td width="19%">15</td>
<td width="36%">3</td>
<td width="22%">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="23%">Red gnd</td>
<td width="19%">13</td>
<td width="36%">1</td>
<td width="22%">5,6,7,8,10,shell</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="23%" height="21">RGB Green</td>
<td width="19%" height="42">11</td>
<td width="36%" height="42">4</td>
<td width="22%" height="42">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="23%" height="21">Green gnd</td>
<td width="19%" height="42">9</td>
<td width="36%" height="42">2</td>
<td width="22%" height="42">5,6,7,8,10,shell</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="23%">RGB Blue</td>
<td width="19%">7</td>
<td width="36%">5</td>
<td width="22%">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="23%">Blue gnd</td>
<td width="19%">5</td>
<td width="36%">1</td>
<td width="22%">5,6,7,8,10,shell</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="23%">RGB Enable</td>
<td width="19%">16</td>
<td width="36%">6</td>
<td width="22%">13</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="23%">En gnd</td>
<td width="19%">18</td>
<td width="36%">3</td>
<td width="22%">5,6,7,8,10,shell</td>
</tr>
</table>
Now before you get out your soldering iron, there are a few problems. The first,
is the availability of the 7 pin min-din connector. Here in Australia, It just
don't exist. The part is made by Singatron, part no. MSP7M and the Australian
distributor has no idea of how to get it. Maybe it's more available in Canada.
I believe that is may be possible to make an equivalent out of a standard 9
pin mini-din but I haven't tried yet. </p>
Without this connector, there are only two other ways of rigging it up. By
cutting off the connector and wiring up the cables directly, or by wiring up
the SCART / RGB directly to a VGA connector. Both of these methods have caveats(
I tried them both). By cutting off the connector you can introduce weakness
and you destroy the cable. (an alternative may be to splice) The problem with
using your own VGA connector is that there is some form of circuitry inside
the 'dongle' which tells the card to enable TV-out. This must be present when
the machine is booting up (I think) as I could only get the cable to work when
the original cable was in on boot up, then replaced once Windows started. DOS
mode tv-out does not affect this. I'll have to wait a few weeks to find out
what is actually happening there (exams)...</p>
To work out the pin assignments see:</p>
<a href="http://www.gamesx.com/hwb/co_SVideo.html">S-video</a> - the 7 pin
connector uses the same pin assignments, 5 is next to 1, 6 is next to 2, so
that 1,5,6,2 form a row across the top of the locator tab, with 5 and 6 slightly
offset towards 2. Pin 7 is between 3 and 4. (sorry I can't put up a picture
yet)</p>
<a href="http://www.gamesx.com/hwb/co_Scart.html">SCART</a></p>
<a href="http://www.gamesx.com/hwb/co_VGA15.html">Video</a></p>
I'll update this as I find out more....</p>
Hope this info helps.</p>
Thanks to Haig and Daniel at Tech support.
BTW Disclaimer, Disclaimer.........</p>
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