Is this PI3-CRT setup going to work?

Yuke

thanks for the answers. Glad to hear that the setup could work. Ill also take a look into the suggested method. Probably too late to order it for christmas, but good to know for the future! Whats so good about it?

I got this converter

https://www.amazon.de/SpeaKa-Professional-Konverter-HDMI-Component/dp/B00L925G0M/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1513121221&sr=8-9&keywords=AV+Converter+[HDMI+-+RCA+component]+SpeaKa+Professional

DD-Indeed

You could just get this addon card for the Raspberry:

http://arcadeforge.net/Pi2Jamma-Pi2SCART/PI2SCART::264.html?language=en&MODsid=aaaf7b37146bbadc733b4ef46809d5e6

Yuke

Hello again,

i ordered the PI2SCART hat for my Pi3. I read through the link provided by @Rion (thanks again) and i know that its not that good because of the RGB coverage, but i was able to order it from germany (delivery time was two days - nice!).

Hopfully ill be able to use the converter i also got weeks ago in the near future. I need an emulation solution for ps2 and Dreamcast Games and as far as i know is the PI3 not beefy enough to handle those two consoles.

I also found an Retropie Image for the PI2SCART hat, which has Timing profiles for all the consoles. Hopfully with this its gonna be plug&play all the way.

Here is the link for the retropie image: http://strike-devices.net/index.php/pi2scart/retropie-or-pi2scart/

If anyone uses this i would appreciate feedback!

Rion

@yuke Yes that the right image to get. This is the work of Michael Vencio from the Facebook Group Pi2Jamma

But you don't have to use the image. I would rather just download the scripts separately. You can get them here

It's a massive amount of work but it's sad that it's not here on the forums and on shi**y facebook

Edit: These setting and universal and will also work with RetroTINK devices.

Yuke

Hello again,

i finally finished setting everything up and it works like a charm!

Cant remember the picture being so brilliant in my childhood to be honest but i never used RGB-input back then :)

I had alot of noise in my sound output but i manged to fix it with the following config-file line:

audio_pwm_mode=2

Now i have one other issue to solve i hope someone can help me with:

I have too much overscan (left and right) in my games and in my retropie-menu, like maybe 1 cm too much if have to guess. Im not quite sure where i can fix this? I found some overscan values in the config.txt file and width-resolution settings in the Retroarch-Menu of the individual game. Where do i fix this without destroying the beautiful image?

Thanks again and merry christmas.

Rion

@yuke said in Is this PI3-CRT setup going to work?:

Hello again,

i finally finished setting everything up and it works like a charm!

Cant remember the picture being so brilliant in my childhood to be honest but i never used RGB-input back then :)

I had alot of noise in my sound output but i manged to fix it with the following config-file line:

audio_pwm_mode=2

Now i have one other issue to solve i hope someone can help me with:

I have too much overscan (left and right) in my games and in my retropie-menu, like maybe 1 cm too much if have to guess. Im not quite sure where i can fix this? I found some overscan values in the config.txt file and width-resolution settings in the Retroarch-Menu of the individual game. Where do i fix this without destroying the beautiful image?

Thanks again and merry christmas.

Do not change the with-resolution in Retroarch or you f up your correct resolution for every system that's already setup using the scripts.

Instead tweak your over scan values and last but not least enter service mode for your tv.

Edit:

DISABLE_OVERSCAN
Set disable_overscan to 1 to disable overscan.

OVERSCAN_LEFT
The overscan_left command specifies the number of pixels to skip on the left edge of the screen. Increase this value if the text flows off the left edge of the screen; decrease it if there is a black border between the left edge of the screen and the text.

OVERSCAN_RIGHT
The overscan_right command specifies the number of pixels to skip on the right edge of the screen.

OVERSCAN_TOP
The overscan_top command specifies the number of pixels to skip on the top edge of the screen.

OVERSCAN_BOTTOM
The overscan_bottom command specifies the number of pixels to skip on the bottom edge of the screen.

OVERSCAN_SCALE
Set overscan_scale to 1 to force any non-framebuffer layers to conform to the overscan settings

Yuke

Hey,

is changing overscan over service menu better than configfile?

:edit:

im asking because im apparently too dumb to input the code(s) i found on the web for Philips CRTs...do i need a certain rhythm?

Rion

@yuke Make a backup of your config.txt before changing anything. Then try out different overscan settings before you muck around in you're service menu. Always write the default values before changing anything.

Look at the service menu as a last resort.

Here is a guide to help you along the way with changing over scan setting in the config.txt

Edit: Getting in to the service menu do sometimes need some kind of rhythm.

Yuke

Ok, i dont get it. The changes ive been doing to the configfile only change the raspberry console menu (i can finally read it woohooo!) and the retropie menu but not the games?

Those are my values:

disable_overscan=1

overscan_left=22
overscan_right=7
overscan_top=-24
overscan_bottom=-12

overscan_scale =1 (this was already set further down in the config-file)

Does that mean i have to do it over the service menu?

Rion

@yuke You could try out a tool made by Frank Skilton to center the image using custom Hdmi timings before changing anything in you're service menu.

Tool script for video timings and center image on 15khz CRTs

Yuke

Hey,

i gave up on the service menu thing anyways. I tried all of the 12 philips codes i found on the web and still cant fucking access it.

Anyways...i was able to get rid of the overscan (left and right border) in SNES games via configfile edit, but my raspberry-console and retropie menu is totally cropped now left and right (3cm left and right).

It seems to be a trade-off? i cant mange to get both fill up the screen...Its either full-screen for the console/menu or full-screen for the games. Id appreciate if someone knows a solution for atleast the retropie menu (dont care if the raspberry console has borders)

I also cant change anything about the vertical position of the games, configfile edit is being 100% ignored, i think it is because of the fixed resolutions right? like 224p for snes and 240p for ps1 for example?

Well, its still working like a charm, hopefully i can finetune it in the near future. I would love a beautiful fullscreen theme for the retropie menu.

Yuke

Can anyone tell me where i have to put the Timing-Script i downloaded and how to start it?

Id appreciate it.

Rion

@yuke How to center image of retroarch with PI outputing 240p rgb via hat board/gert 666 to pvm?

Frank Skilton Pi2Jamma Facebook tread

Ps. Dislike facebook. This info should be on a forum instead.

Yuke

Hey,

im also not a facebook guy, dont worry :). I appreciate how you still try to help me!

Im having progress and it is far far away from unplayable. Let me show some pictures.

https://ibb.co/bELPZm
(this is the retropie menu (320x240 - cropped on both sides because of the overscan i need for the games)

https://ibb.co/kRydum
(same problem as above with settings menu)

https://ibb.co/dXmnn6
(224p SNES Game, left and right fits because of the overscan values, but i have black bars below and above that i cant change with overscan values)

https://ibb.co/ey97n6
(240p PS1 Game, pretty much perfect on all sides)

So basically i am only looking for a fix for the retropie-menu black bars (left and right) and if possible SNES Game black bars (up and down)

I dont know if i should mess around with the other HDMI timings. I only know what the third, fifth, eighth and tenth means from the guides i found

If its a trade-off because of the different systems, then i can live with that too. I just need conformation. ;)

Rion

@yuke Just make a backup of your config.txt file before changing anything. You need to get your Hdmi timings right before changing anything in the service menu.

Now that your Hdmi timings are as best as you can get them then go over to overscan settings.

We'll worry about the service menu later.

This is taken from the Video timings script readme file.

*Video timings script
*Version - 2.0

hdmi_timings=320 1 20 20 44 240 1 6 7 10 0 0 0 60 0 6400000 1

-Use ARROW keys to position screen
-Press Q to toggle test image
-Press I to input timings
-Press L to load timings from timings_load.txt
-Press B to load timings from boot/config.txt
-Press S to save timings to timings_save.txt
-Press C to save timings to boot/config.txt
-Press D to display current timings
-Press F to calculate frequencies
-Press SPACE or ENTER to reset timings
-Press M to display this menu
-Press X to exit to shell

Program first reads and displays hdmi_timings from /boot/config.txt

-Arrow keys | shift the screen left/right/up/down

-Q | displays a 320x240 test PNG image to visually aid in centering the screen (defined by $TEST_IMAGE variable)

-I | allows user to manually input and generate custom hdmi_timings

-L | loads timings from 'timings_load.txt' (defined by $LOAD_FILE variable)

-B | loads timings from 'boot/config.txt' (defined by $BOOT_CONFIG variable)

-S | saves and parses timings to 'timings_save.txt' (defined by $SAVE_FILE variable) and also saves and replaces timings to 'timings_load.txt'

-C | saves timings to 'boot/config.txt'

-D | displays current timings

-F | calculates and displays horizontal scan rate and vertical refresh rate frequencies

-SPACE or ENTER | resets timings (defined by $SAFE_TIMINGS variable)

-M | clears the screen and displays the main menu

-X | aborts the program and exits to shell

Edit: It's important that you center the image as perfect as you.

Edit 2: Read here here for an explanation about what each hdmi_timings settings mean.

Maybe @maxriptide @Dochartaigh can help out?