Hey,

I just got a very nice vg8020 and it works great. I can power it and press the caps lock key and see the caps lock led turn on and off.

To get some more fun out of the machine I'd like to connect it to a TV/Monitor. I found HansO's description on how to do a DIN8 to Scart connector. I was wondering if its possible to do something similar for S-Video. My TV also has component input (Y/Pb/Pr). I also have a converter that converts PAL composite video to XGA.

Flashing the caps lock led is fun but I feel ready for the next step in the vg8020 experience. Anyone know what I should do?

SVHS is a "worldwide" stndard, in that NTSC/PAL, are not dictated by TV standards, my NTSC TurboR SVHS output works fine on PAL TV/monitor. In fact it gives an excellent picture.

The vg8020 does not have a SVHS output?

Nop, it only has a PAL RF (uhf38) and a DIN8 monitor output. Not sure when they started with SVHS, my WSX has composite video and s-video output so that one is easy and looks great. The vg8020 is trickier.
Would be nice to find a 'generic' solution if possible so I could use the same cabling for my CX5M but thats not a requirement since my CX5M is not working and in Sweden.

The faq contains a list of connectors for monitors, PAL RF wont work on your NTSC monitor. RGB does not present a problem though, you will need to get your soldering iron out though!

TIP - when soldering DIN plugs place the plug in a lump of BlueTac - helps keep the pins straight!

Sorry - i forget to mention the URL

www.faq.msxnet.org/connector.html#rgbscart

The pal RF would indeed not work so I need to figure out a solution with the DIN. It looks like the Philips monitor connection is CVBS which is easy to connect to a SCART since its one of the supported video types. But I'm not sure how to convert that to something I can use. Any other ideas?

CVBS is composite video, right? Just curious about the Philips monitor connection. On msxnet, there is one diagram for Philips Monitor Connector (is this the output from the vg8020?):

   7      6       7 NC                     6 +12V

3     8     1     3 AUDIO      8 NC        1 +5V

  5        4      5 CVBS (color video PAL) 4 Ys (monochrome)
       2                       2 gnd           ('luminance')

For a color monitor, can I connect pin 5 and pin 2 directly to a standard RCA connector to get the yellow colored video RCA output (as on WSX or TR)?

and then connect pin 3 (and 2 to an audio RCA? If this works my life will be quite easy Then I only need to connect the video RCA to my PAL->XGA converter to get it correct on a PC monitor. Do I need any resistors or anything in between?

Assuming that's the proper pinout, yes, that would work. Just check if there is idd 5V between pins one and two, if so this is probably the pinout used. Normally you wouldn't need any resistors or anything...

Thanks. It did work. I didn't have an 8 pin DIN so I used a 5 pin DIN instead (an old MIDI cable) and connected pin 5 and 2 to the video RCA connector and pin 3 and 2 to the audio RCA. The pin layout above is the output from the MSX, so the DIN connector I did was of course mirrored.

Then I attached the video RCA to my PAL->XGA converter and connected to my PC monitor. It worked out great

Maybe something for HansO to put on his website along with all other useful info.

It will be on his website in the form of the service manual, it is a case of where to look....!

Quote:

SVHS is a "worldwide" stndard, in that NTSC/PAL, are not dictated by TV standards, my NTSC TurboR SVHS output works fine on PAL TV/monitor. In fact it gives an excellent picture. The vg8020 does not have a SVHS output?

No, The VG8020 does not have a S-Video output. PAL composite it is.

S-video is an international standard indeed, but comes in incompatible variants. PAL and NTSC for example. So it is dictated by TV standards.

If you are the lucky owner of a multistandard tv it will not matter, but that is not common.

JUst wondering.. given the different nature of RGB and SVHA, would an RGB to SVHS converter increase or decrease image quality?

(another option would of course be an XRGB2+ upscan converter for RGB -> SVGA )

Quote:

JUst wondering.. given the different nature of RGB and SVHA, would an RGB to SVHS converter increase or decrease image quality?

I'm no electronics expert, but I'd say "decrease".
S-VHS combines the R, G, and B signals to 1 signal. The receiving side (TV, monitor) has to reconstruct the original R, G and B signals from the 1 signal. And since it's all analog stuff, and not some digitally encoded format, you'll definitely lose some of the original signal --> quality loss.

i am not sure of opinions here - i feel that SVHS gives a clearer picture than RGB - so why convert it ?

Some interesting observations. I'm using the same TV/Monitor for the 8020 and my WSX, an Samsung LCD TV/Monitor. The 8020 is connected to the CVBS->XGA which is connected to the PC input of the TV. The WSX is connected directly to the TV using s-video.
The quality of both MSXes are very good but have some differences. The colors are not as good on the 8020. Black for example has different nyances on different parts of the screen (quite random it looks like) while the WSX has excellent color stability. But the output from the WSX has a shaddow image, especially when showing white text on black background and it also looks like a medium compressed jpg. The 8020 output doesn't have almost any shaddows.

Can someone explain these observations and is there something I can do to improve the output quality both for the 8020 and the WSX?