Tv-out - What to expect


LTStone

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Ok, so I got the stuff to make my tv-out cable (composite) but I won't be able to put together for another day or 2 . So I'm just wondering to what to expect. Whats the quality, what works, what doesn't etc.

oh, not the quality of the cable but the picture of course :)
 
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IMO games look great, played a lot of SNES... the desktop looks a bit washed out, resolution is just too low for the big screen. I noticed that the tv-out cable signal is easily influenced by the power cable which distorts the picture a bit. Charging over the mini USB had the same effect, even worse so since you can't really seperate the cables from each other as the ports are so close. Properly shielded cables might help.
 
IMO games look great, played a lot of SNES... the desktop looks a bit washed out, resolution is just too low for the big screen. I noticed that the tv-out cable signal is easily influenced by the power cable which distorts the picture a bit. Charging over the mini USB had the same effect, even worse so since you can't really seperate the cables from each other as the ports are so close. Properly shielded cables might help.
So if you don't have the power plugged in im guessing you don't get the distortion?

I know on some devices like the Wiz or dingoo certain emulators just didn't work with tv-out.  Is this the case with the Pandora?

I'm also really looking forward to see how Android games like Shadowgun, Nova 3, Gangstar Rio etc look like on the big screen :)
 
I have enjoyed my cable for TV-Out.

I had a real hard time getting mine to work in the first place, though, because I have an old piece of shit big boxy RCA...and had no IDEA to tune the thing to Channel 00 to make it work, LOL!

Once I solved that, it worked great.  I seriously enjoyed playing Road Fighter for MSX on it.  There's some tricks involved in making PanMAME work on TV out, but MAME4ALL works fine.  Same for MAME-EX, I think you have to fineggle it a bit to make it work.

I have not had a chance to deal with it, but I had all kind of problems making ANY video program play over TV out, and I've not resolved it yet, so if anyone has, I'd appreciate a tip-off, so that I can watch movies on the big screen thru Pandy.

Real life has been imposing way too much on me lately to be able to do much of anything with the TV Out cable in over a month.  I got a new client for my busoiness, and the previous biller left this doctor's accounts in a mess I have been working to straighten out...plus recover some $35K that this man was out.  So all my time and energy has been going into that just lately, been working sometimes sixteen hours a day.
 
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That sounds like a poorly built cable or something wrong with the charger.. I haven't seen any distortion like that on the one I built.. Charger plugged in or not.

I use mine in two places, on a small CRT next to my desk and on my DLP projector projected on a 120" screen.. 

The CRT I have it set as NTSC and it's alright, can barely read small text but good for gaming.  The DLP projector I use Svideo and have it set to PAL, it gives me a widescreen resolution and looks almost as good a composite HD cables outputting at 480p, just lacks a bit of the sharpness that you expect from HD composite cables.
 
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I had all kind of problems making ANY video program play over TV out, and I've not resolved it yet, so if anyone has, I'd appreciate a tip-off, so that I can watch movies on the big screen thru Pandy.
What about the last post in your Support thread:

http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/11811-vlc-not-working-with-tv-out/page-2#entry223443

I've had no luck with VLC or Gnome mplayer to display at all with the TV-Out.. However this weekend I was playing with the latest version of Smplayer2 and it works when I select "HW scaler / Overlay" in the TV-out configuration tool.
SMplayer2 rather than VLC, but should do the trick.
 
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Power unplugged gives no distortion. Maybe the length of the cable plays a role here, it's over 3m. Easier to notice an influence I guess.
 
kumaki also added info in your vlc not working thread did get it to work, making the cable without tinybob can be a real pain the pins on the ext plug like to break off if heated a lot so make sure you have your wire going to right pin:) also not sure if mame4all was updated and fixed but it was mame4all that needed to trick to get it on the tv  http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/9028-tv-out-which-emulators-do-work/

tv-out doesn't look the best on big lcd atlest the desktop doesn't but a lot of the games look great. good luck hope it turns out great
 
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I had all kind of problems making ANY video program play over TV out, and I've not resolved it yet, so if anyone has, I'd appreciate a tip-off, so that I can watch movies on the big screen thru Pandy.
What about the last post in your Support thread:

http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/11811-vlc-not-working-with-tv-out/page-2#entry223443

>I've had no luck with VLC or Gnome mplayer to display at all with the TV-Out.. However this weekend I was playing with the latest version of Smplayer2 and it works when I select "HW scaler / Overlay" in the TV-out configuration tool.
SMplayer2 rather than VLC, but should do the trick.
I can try it, if real life ever gives me a chance!!

kumaki also added info in your vlc not working thread did get it to work, making the cable without tinybob can be a real pain the pins on the ext plug like to break off if heated a lot so make sure you have your wire going to right pin:) also not sure if mame4all was updated and fixed but it was mame4all that needed to trick to get it on the tv  http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/9028-tv-out-which-emulators-do-work/

tv-out doesn't look the best on big lcd atlest the desktop doesn't but a lot of the games look great. good luck hope it turns out great
I did not make the cable myself...a kind soul made it for me and I paid.

I have no idea what a tinybob is.
 
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yea i know you didn't make yours kumaki only  "kumaki also added info in your vlc not working thread did get it to work" was ment for you rest was talking to the op. sorry for not making it clear. :)

ps i really suck at writing/typing/spelling
 
Well I got a quick look at the Tv-out and I'm quite pleased , BUT as I was putting some epoxy to finalize the cable the wire came off and now I need a new ext connector :( Oh well I learned alot and i have some new ideas when i make my next cable.. I'm hoping Wizardstan has some connectors left..
 
Yeah, I was too excited and in a hurry so I just tried to slap the cable together quickly, BIG mistake, this time I'm gonna take my time and do it right, If I can figure out an efficient and consistant way to build the cable I'd like to build more for others who can't build their own, but I don't know. We'll see how things go this time around.
 
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well if your in the states link still has some http://ithic.com/en/3-official-op-accessories  

my 1st cable i made i forgot to slide the heat shrink tubing on the wire before i soldering:( and vid/audio was on wrong pins lol

good luck on 2nd try
Using differently colored wires and marking your pins on the connector with a bit of masking tape helps, I learned that. And using a multimeter on the diode setting to check connections, as simple as it may sound. A sturdy v-shaped bit of folded masking tape proved helpful in isolating the pin I was soldering to from his neighbors. I found it very easy to accidentally touch the next pins and removing solder from the connector is a pain in the neck, be careless with a soldering pump and you will quickly break pins.

I've been wondering if there isn't some kind of stock two-sided slot-in prototype pcb that has the same grid dimension as would be needed for the connector. Guess that's pretty uncommon, not only considering the dimensions. But I digress.
 
I've been wondering if there isn't some kind of stock two-sided slot-in prototype pcb that has the same grid dimension as would be needed for the connector. Guess that's pretty uncommon, not only considering the dimensions. But I digress.
Well we had the TinyBoBs that made things easier, a forum member Peca had them manufactured. But he disappeared from the scene a while ago.. I did get a few of them. However I ruined one, made a TV out cable with another and I have a project intended for my last one.
In the thread I posted there are some designs in a zip file that could be used to make more if anyone had the ability to manufacture them.
 
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I've been wondering if there isn't some kind of stock two-sided slot-in prototype pcb that has the same grid dimension as would be needed for the connector. Guess that's pretty uncommon, not only considering the dimensions. But I digress.
Well we had the TinyBoBs that made things easier, a forum member Peca had them manufactured. But he disappeared from the scene a while ago.. I did get a few of them. However I ruined one, made a TV out cable with another and I have a project intended for my last one.

In the thread I posted there are some designs in a zip file that could be used to make more if anyone had the ability to manufacture them.
Yeah, I knew about those. The need to have them custom manufactured put me off.

Edit: Admittedly that would be a great reason to start learning to make your own PCBs by etching/drilling/whatever
 
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Mostly it is the extra-thin PCB that is needed for those that is the show stopper for anyone manufacturing them - like even I could propably run the design with e.g. BatchPCB but it would be on a huge thick PCB and thus useless. So if you're etching them or routing with a cutter/driller type device (I cant remember the fancy names in english now), you still need to get the thin base material... which makes me think that if I had a suitably thin material for the cutter we have at work, it might be able to make them... (And yeah I own 2 tinyBoBs ... one is my really cheap TV-Out plug and the another one is waiting for a project but I'm indecisive on what to do with it since it is the last one...)

EDIT-side-note: If somebody wants untested schematics & board design for plugging an FT232RL (USB UART chip) into one of the UARTs (selectable via solder jumpers) on the ext GPIO with the help of an tinyBob (the board is designed to mate over or under (cant remember) the outside-ext-connector part of a tinyBoB and be soldered in with straight wires), or other like-that gimmicks (DB-9 RS232 level UART and +5V booster and FT232RL? :p ; ATmega328 on the ext port? :p ; just the RS232 (and +5V booster)... ? ...), I have some designed :p
 
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^ I may be interested, I was thinking about making a breakout box with a regular RS232 port. I was debating to use the rest of the GPIOs or not, I was concerned about isolating them. I haven't put much thought into the project yet.
 
^ http://urjaman.dyndns.info/tinybob-bob-dist/ (Or download all: http://urjaman.dyndns.info/tinybob-bob-dist.tar.gz ) - these are EAGLE 6.2.0 files (any eagle 6.x should work AFAIK, but >=6.2.0 should be safest). I generated png images of all of them for faster viewing. NO WARRANTY, UNTESTED STUFF*. License: CC-BY-SA 2.0

* that I made 3AM while thinking about what to do with the pandora ext port... so there could be bugs in there.

EDIT: I'm personally considering making one _usbonly that would work as an usb-connectable kernel output & serial terminal-port...
 
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